Chapter 12 - The Closed Loop
The front door clicked shut, the deadbolts sliding into place with a synchronized mechanical thud that echoed through the silent house like a prison gate closing.
Arthur ran down the stairs, pushing past Clara to reach the front door, slamming his palm against the wood and trying the handle. It was locked from the outside, completely immovable.
He spun around to face his double, but the entryway was empty. The man in the identical dark suit had vanished into thin air, leaving no trace behind except for a faint scent of ozone and chilled rain.
"Where did he go?" Maya whispered, clinging to the edge of Clara's satin blouse as she looked around the empty hallway.
"There's no secondary exit on the ground floor," Arthur said, breathing heavily as he searched the corners of the room. "Unless..." He stopped mid-sentence, remembering the architectural blueprints he had seen in the basement archive.
"Unless the house was built with radial corridors," Clara finished his sentence, her voice unnervingly calm. "A continuous loop designed to bring anyone who tries to escape right back to the central atrium."
Arthur looked at her, the pieces finally falling into place with sickening clarity. The strange déjà vu he had felt during every major milestone of their marriage, the unchanging weather outside the windows, the way the neighborhood streets seemed to repeat themselves whenever he drove beyond the perimeter.
"It's not a real house," Arthur said, the realization tasting like ash in his mouth. "It's a containment facility."
"And we are the specimens," Clara added, walking over to the hallway mirror and pressing her palm against the glass.
May you like
Instead of reflecting her hand, the glass rippled like water, opening up to reveal a brightly lit observation deck on the other side, filled with rows of empty chairs and computer monitors displaying their every move.
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