CHAPTER 13 – ARCHIVE ROOM 314
CHAPTER 13 – ARCHIVE ROOM 314
The phone slipped from Daniel's hand.
The library fell silent.
Only the ticking of the grandfather clock broke the stillness.
Emily unfolded Richard Caldwell's map again.
Every road led to the same place.
St. Gabriel's Children's Hospital.
Archive Room 314.
Daniel looked at the security chief.
"He said to come alone."
The chief immediately shook his head.
"Absolutely not."
"It's an ambush."
Emily stepped closer.
"Which means they need something from us."
Daniel nodded.
"They don't just want to kill us."
"They want us to find something first."
One hour later, the convoy stopped three blocks away from the abandoned hospital.
The old building stood against the rain like a forgotten monument.
Broken windows reflected flashes of lightning.
Weeds climbed the cracked brick walls.
A faded sign still hung above the entrance.
St. Gabriel's Children's Hospital.
Closed Since 1999.
Emily stared at it.
"My mother brought me here once."
Daniel looked surprised.
"You remember?"
Emily nodded slowly.
"I always thought it was a dream."
"I remember white hallways."
"A nurse gave me a stuffed rabbit."
"And someone kept telling me never say your real name."
Daniel turned off the engine.
"We're going in."
The security chief frowned.
"But the call..."
Daniel interrupted him.
"They expected me to obey."
"So we'll change the rules."
He divided the team.
Half the guards surrounded the building.
The others entered through different doors.
Emily stayed beside Daniel.
Margaret remained in the vehicle.
She whispered before they left,
"Be careful."
"I've buried too many people already."
Inside, the hospital smelled of mold and dust.
Old wheelchairs remained abandoned in the corridors.
Children's drawings still hung on faded walls.
Emily paused before one picture.
It showed three stick-figure girls holding hands.
Below it, a child's handwriting read:
Best Sisters Forever.
Emily frowned.
"Three girls again."
Daniel photographed it.
"Nothing here is accidental."
They followed Richard Caldwell's map.
Down one staircase.
Then another.
Finally, a rusted metal sign appeared.
Sublevel B.
The corridor beyond was completely dark.
The security chief forced open a steel fire door.
Its rusty hinges screamed.
At the end of the hallway, one door remained untouched.
A brass plate read:
Archive 314.
Emily held up Anna's silver key.
"It fits."
The lock clicked open.
The archive room had somehow escaped time.
Shelves stretched from floor to ceiling.
Every cabinet remained perfectly organized.
Boxes labeled by year filled the room.
Daniel searched the index.
"1998."
"There."
Emily opened the cabinet.
Inside sat three sealed patient files.
Only three.
Each carried the same admission date.
July 14, 1998.
The names read:
Sophia Ashford.
Emily Ashford.
Jane Doe.
The room became completely still.
Daniel whispered,
"Jane Doe."
Emily opened the third file.
No photograph.
No birth certificate.
Only a medical bracelet.
Patient Number:
314.
The same number engraved on Anna's key.
The security chief found another envelope beneath the files.
Marked:
For Richard Caldwell Only.
Daniel carefully unfolded the letter.
It was signed by the hospital director.
Richard,
We successfully admitted the unidentified child under Jane Doe.
No one outside the medical staff knows she exists.
As requested, the records have been separated from the Ashford twins.
May God forgive us for participating in this deception.
Emily slowly looked up.
"So the third child really existed."
Daniel nodded.
"And someone hid her inside this hospital."
Emily continued reading Jane Doe's file.
Every page had been heavily redacted.
Until the final report.
One paragraph remained untouched.
Subject displays severe trauma.
Subject repeatedly identifies herself as...
The line ended abruptly.
Someone had ripped away the bottom of the page.
Emily sighed.
"So close."
Daniel looked around.
"They wouldn't leave only half the truth."
"There has to be more."
The security chief tapped on the back wall.
"Hollow."
Daniel walked over.
The wall sounded different.
A hidden compartment.
Within minutes, the guards pried away the wooden panel.
Behind it stood an old videotape player.
Still connected to a small television.
Emily noticed a cassette already inserted.
A handwritten label read:
PLAY ONLY WHEN THE THREE FILES ARE FOUND.
Daniel looked at everyone.
"Ready?"
Nobody answered.
He pressed Play.
Static filled the screen.
Then the image cleared.
A hospital room appeared.
The recording date flashed briefly.
July 15, 1998.
A young Richard Caldwell stepped into view.
He looked exhausted.
His shirt was stained with blood.
He spoke directly to the camera.
"If you're watching this, then I failed."
Emily recognized the same voice from the nursery cassette.
Richard continued.
"There were never two children."
"There were never only three."
Daniel frowned.
"What?"
Richard took a deep breath.
"The Ashford twins were part of a protected witness relocation."
Emily's eyes widened.
"They weren't ordinary children."
Richard nodded toward someone standing off camera.
A man stepped into view.
Everyone froze.
It was William Ashford.
Alive.
Uninjured.
He looked directly into the camera.
"If Blackwood finds this tape, everything is over."
He placed four birth bracelets on the table.
Not two.
Not three.
Four.
Every person in the archive room stared at the screen.
William pointed toward the bracelets.
"There were four girls that night."
"The Ashford twins..."
"Anna Caldwell..."
"And one child whose name must never be written."
Emily felt the room spinning.
Daniel whispered,
"Four..."
William looked into the camera one final time.
"If my children are still alive, they must never trust the woman called Evelyn."
The tape suddenly filled with static.
Then a gunshot echoed through the recording.
Richard shouted.
"They're here!"
The image shook violently.
The screen went black.
At that exact moment, a woman's slow applause echoed from somewhere behind the archive shelves.
One clap.
Then another.
Emily turned.
A tall woman stepped from the darkness wearing a black coat.
Her silver hair framed a calm, elegant face.
She smiled as if greeting old friends.
"My..."
"What remarkable timing."
Daniel stared at her.
"Who are you?"
The woman tilted her head.
"You've been searching for Blackwood."
She smiled again.
"I've been searching for you."
May you like
Emily's heartbeat stopped when the woman introduced herself.
"My name is Evelyn Blackwood."
