Page 175 of Stay Scared

Rook throws every image across the glass as I walk between them.

His voice follows from multiple speakers. “I made tonight possible.”

“You stole access.”

“I built the infrastructure.”

“Years ago.”

“I built what Langston was too weak to finish.”

“And then he threw you out.”

A loud crack hits the mirror to my right.

I turn, but nothing stands behind it.

The public comments appear again for half a second before Rook cuts them. Now only I remain beneath the red cameras.

His voice loses another layer of control. “He took my work and sold a softer version to people who wanted to pretend they were brave.”

I round the next corner. “There’s the jealousy.”

“Because I am correct.”

“That too.”

A shadow crosses the far end of the corridor.

I stop.

The shadow disappears.

Rook no longer needs speakers to feel close. The maze carries the scrape of his boots from somewhere beyond the mirrors. He is tracking me through the service channels.

I move faster.

The center chamber waits ahead. The opening widens into a circular room surrounded by angled mirrors, each one multiplying the exits until there are too many to trust.

Somewhere behind the one-way glass to my left, Owen’s analog camera is already running. Owen is completely hidden from me. Rook gets the same blank mirror.

I step into the chamber.

The public camera lowers from the ceiling.

Rook immediately fills the surrounding mirrors with his edit: Cade’s hand around my wrist, Owen’s photographs, Ash standing over the restraint chair. The cuts slam together faster now. The careful narration is gone.

Rook is angry.

His voice comes from above. “You keep pretending there is a difference.”

I look around the empty chamber. “Between you and them?”

“You wanted what they gave you.”

“Sometimes I did.”

“You went back to Mercer.”