Chapter 4 The Pale Man’s Game

The moment stretched thin like the air itself was holding its breath.

Selena Ward’s finger hovered over the trigger, her gun aimed squarely at the man who had haunted her dreams for a decade.

The Pale Man stood only a few feet away, face half-hidden beneath a hood, his gloved hands calm and still. His voice was low and deliberate, the kind that made the air around him colder.

“You shouldn’t have come here, Detective,” he said, stepping forward. “Curiosity… is how the mind begins to break.”

Selena steadied her breath. “You took my sister.”

He tilted his head. “Took? No. Saved her. From what she was. From what you were.”

Her jaw clenched. “You’re going to tell me where she is.”

A small, ghostly smile flickered across his lips. “She’s here, isn’t she?”

Behind her, Evelyn shifted on the cot, whispering incoherently. “He said… I had to remember… for you.”

Selena’s heart slammed against her ribs. The room was closing in the smell of damp metal, the faint hum of electricity, the weight of years collapsing in seconds.

The Pale Man’s eyes pale gray, nearly colorless locked on hers. “You’ve been searching for the wrong sister, Detective.”

The words struck like a blade.

“What do you mean?” she demanded.

He took another slow step forward. “You remember her as the victim. The sweet, lost girl. But what if she wasn’t lost at all? What if she chose to disappear?”

Selena’s grip faltered. “You’re lying.”

He chuckled softly, the sound unnervingly gentle. “Am I?”

From behind her, Evelyn whimpered, clutching her head. “Stop… please stop…”

Selena turned toward her, torn between fury and fear. “Evelyn, it’s me. I’m getting you out of here.”

But Evelyn’s eyes wide, trembling were fixed on something unseen. “He said I wasn’t real until I forgot. He said I had to forget you… to live.”

Selena’s stomach twisted. “Evelyn”

“Tell me, Detective,” The Pale Man interrupted, “when you heard her voice on that tape… did you notice the distortion?”

Selena frowned, gun still raised. “What about it?”

He smiled faintly. “It wasn’t static. It was memory being rewritten.”

Jamie’s voice buzzed through her earpiece, breaking the moment.

“Detective Ward, backup’s five minutes out. Are you secure?”

Selena’s voice was cold steel. “No. We’ve got a live suspect and a potential hostage.”

The Pale Man’s grin widened. “Hostage? Oh, no. She’s free. You’re the one still bound.”

He reached slowly into his coat not for a weapon, but for a small remote. He pressed a button.

Instantly, the lights flickered. The hum grew louder machinery roaring to life somewhere below them. The walls trembled faintly.

Selena grabbed Evelyn’s arm. “We’re leaving. Now.”

But Evelyn resisted, shaking her head violently. “You don’t understand. If you take me, it starts again!”

The Pale Man’s laughter echoed through the lab. “She remembers the loop, Detective. Don’t you see? She’s been here before. You both have.”

Selena fired. The bullet struck a steel beam, missing his head by inches as he slipped into the shadows.

“Jamie, track the power surge!” Selena barked into the mic.

“Already on it,” Jamie’s voice crackled. “Looks like an old generator’s powering something underground. Heat signatures two… no, three moving fast.”

Selena dragged Evelyn toward the exit, her pulse hammering. “We’re getting out. Stay with me.”

But before they reached the door, a low metallic groan filled the corridor. A steel shutter slammed down, sealing them in.

The Pale Man’s voice filtered through unseen speakers.

“Every mind can only hold so much pain before it creates its own escape. You, Detective Ward, created your own too.”

“Shut up!” Selena shouted, looking around wildly.

“Evelyn wasn’t lost. She was erased from you, from memory, from time. You begged me to make you forget.”

The words punched through her composure. “You’re insane!”

“Am I? Then why do you remember her differently every time you dream?”

Selena froze. For a second just a flicker an image crossed her mind. Evelyn, laughing in the sunlight… then crying, screaming as the machines hummed… then nothing. Just silence.

She blinked hard, shaking the vision away. “You drugged her. You manipulated her mind!”

“No, Detective,” his voice softened. “I completed yours.”

The lab’s power cut suddenly, plunging the room into darkness. Emergency lights flickered red. Evelyn began to scream not in fear, but pain, clutching her temples.

Selena rushed to her side, trying to steady her. “Evelyn, look at me!”

Her sister’s a came out fractured. “He said I had to forget everything or you’d die.”

“Listen to me,” Selena said fiercely. “You don’t have to listen to him. You’re real. I’m real.”

But Evelyn only stared through her, her eyes glassy. “You don’t remember the clinic, do you?” she whispered.

Selena hesitated. “What?”

“The day you came for me,” Evelyn murmured. “You said you’d do anything to make it stop. Anything to forget.”

Selena’s mind reeled flashes of a hospital room, white walls, a man with pale eyes whispering promises of peace. Her chest constricted.

“No,” she whispered. “That never happened.”

Evelyn reached for her, tears streaking her face. “You made it happen.”

Then the door behind them exploded open. Light flooded the room as Briggs stormed in with tactical units behind him.

“Selena!” he shouted. “Drop the weapon it’s wired!”

Selena froze. Only then did she notice the faint red dot blinking on the side of her gun the Pale Man’s fail-safe.

Briggs tackled her just as the device triggered, the explosion ripping through the lab. Heat and debris cascaded across the room.

When the smoke cleared, the Pale Man was gone. Evelyn, too. Only her silver locket remained lying amid the ashes, glinting faintly in the flashing lights.

Selena reached for it with trembling hands. Inside was a small note, burned at the edges.

“You asked me to take her pain. I took yours instead.”

Her breath caught.

Briggs knelt beside her. “You okay?”

Selena stared at the note, voice hollow. “No. I think I just found out… what I was trying to forget.”