Chapter 4 - Shadows Behind the Glass
The heavy oak door swung inward, casting a long, rectangular shaft of amber hallway light across the pristine white tiles of the laboratory floor. Dr. Vance stepped across the threshold, his shoulders slightly stooped beneath his canvas trench coat, his face etched with the deep, exhausted lines of a man who spent too many nights breathing in formaldehyde and formalin. He blinked against the bright fluorescent glare, running a tired hand through his thinning gray hair.
"It smells like cement in here," Dr. Vance noted immediately, his sharp eyes scanning the room with professional precision before landing on his daughter. He stopped a few feet away, eyeing the orange bucket sitting incongruously on the stainless steel table next to Leo. "Maya, what on earth are you doing with masonry supplies in the biological sciences wing?"
Maya stood tall, placing herself deliberately between her father and the table where Leo lay hidden beneath the oversized lab coat. A forced, bright smile stretched across her lips, though her fingers trembled slightly where they gripped the edge of the steel counter.
"Oh, you know, just a practical joke for the upcoming campus art installation," Maya lied smoothly, her voice remarkably steady considering her heart was racing a mile a minute. "We were experimenting with textures. Combining organic tissue models with industrial building materials to represent the decay of modern infrastructure."
Dr. Vance let out a low, skeptical hum, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn't look entirely convinced, but his attention was clearly stretched thin by whatever grueling research had kept him away until past midnight. He glanced toward the far corner of the room, where the red wax ear still sat near the baseboard.
"An art installation that requires a bucket of fast-setting concrete?" Dr. Vance asked, raising one eyebrow as he took a slow step forward. "That formula is rated for load-bearing pillars, Maya. It generates enough exothermic heat during curing to cause severe third-degree burns if mishandled. Where did you even find a bag of that stuff?"
"In the maintenance shed behind the gymnasium," Leo blurted out from beneath the lab coat, his voice cracking uncontrollably before he could stop himself. "We... we found it unlocked and thought it would be funny to test its density."
May you like
Dr. Vance froze. His gaze shifted slowly from his daughter’s tense face to the bulky, canvas-covered shape lying motionless on the metal examination table. The exhausted weariness vanished from his eyes in an instant, replaced by a cold, calculating intensity that made the hair on the back of Leo's neck stand straight up.
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