Alex didn't know how long he'd been walking down the endless corridor. He could
hear Sara breathing nervously behind him, trying to keep up without falling
behind.Out of sight. A few steps behind them came Adrián and Helena,
murmuring to each other things he couldn't quite understand. Ever since the
librarian had warned them that "doors were older than human memory," Alex had
sworn never to open one without first examining it carefully. But this door, the
one they had just found, was different.
It was set into a fragment of wall that seemed older than the rest of the building, as
if it had been excavated from another era. The wood was blackened byTime,
gnawed away at the corners. On the surface, almost erased, letters could be seen
that seemed to change shape if one blinked too quickly.
Sara approached, breathing heavily.
"What is this place?" he asked, unable to hide the tremor in his voice.
"I don't know," Alex replied, without taking his eyes off the door. "But... this
wasn't..."
before.
"I swear we've never been this way before," Helena said, lining up beside him. "This
corridor was straight. It didn't have any forks.""The library is changing," Adrian whispered, staring into the darkness as if waiting
for an answer.
Everyone remained silent.
The phrase "the library changes" seemed to echo in the air, as if the wallsThey
waited for those words to spring into action. A subtle noise, something between a
whisper and a moan, echoed down the corridor. It was almost imperceptible, but
enough to make all four of them tense up immediately.
"Let's not open that," Sara suggested, taking a step back.
Alex placed a hand on the surface of the door. It was cold. Cold as marble. Aslifeless
skin.
And then he felt it.A
heartbeat.
He withdrew his hand immediately.
"There's something in there," he said, trying to remain calm.
—Or something wants to come out —Helena added.
Silence fell upon them once more. They all waited for Alex to make his decision.
He felt that the library had brought them there, that this room was important,
even though he didn't know why.
"What do we do?" Sara asked, seething with anxiety. Alex
took a breath.
—Let's go in. But slowly. The
door opened by itself.
Not with violence. Not even with a squeak.
She simply… gave in, as if she had been waiting for his decision before
move.
A chill of air wafted from the room. The hallway was left behind, swallowed by
the darkness that emerged from the doorway. Alex felt a shiver run down his
spine, but he took the first step nonetheless.
Sara followed him, squeezing his hand tightly. Helena and Adrián entered behind
them, silently.The room was strange. There were no shelves, no books, no tables. Nothing to
indicate that it was part of a library. It was an almost cubic room, with smooth
walls that seemed to be made of polished stone. The ceiling was too high,
disappearing into a gloom that made it impossible to see where it ended.
"This doesn't make sense," Helena whispered. "It doesn't look like a place to store
anything." The floor, however, caught Alex's attention.
It wasn't stone. It wasn't wood. It was something like… parchment.
He moved forward a little further and bent down.
The surface had lines. Marks. Traces.
"Are they drawings?" Sara asked.
Alex ran his fingers over them.
—No… they look like symbols. I don't know, they're like… scars.
Adrian bowed too.
—I think this is writing. Ancient. Very ancient. But I don't recognize the language.
Helena took a step back.
—Do you hear that?
Everyone froze.
A subtle sound, almost like a faint murmur, was coming from the
walls.Sara hugged herself.
—It seems… as if it's breathing.
The room
exhaled.Everyone
felt it.
A current of air, warm this time, rose from the walls and brushed against their skin. It
wasImpossible. It was as if the room were a living organism.
"I don't like this," Adrian said. "We should leave."
But the door behind them closed. Not with a bang. Not with violence.
It simply... disappeared. As if it had never been there.
"No, no, no!" Sara ran towards the wall, hitting it desperately. "ALEX, HELP ME!"Alex tried to find the joint where the door had been. There was nothing. Just
aSmooth wall. No marks. No cracks. As if the room had decided to seal itself off.
A new sound appeared. A soft ticking. Rhythmic. Like the ticking of an old clock.
Alex slowly turned towards the center of the room.
There, where before there had been absolutely nothing, there was now a pedestal.
On itA book was resting there.
The book wasn't open... but something beneath its surface was moving.
A pulse.
"That book... wasn't there," Helena whispered.
Adrian swallowed.
—Nothing was here a minute ago.
The ticking increased, marking each second with a deeper tone. It was as if the
room were synchronizing its breathing with the book's heartbeat.
Alex stepped forward.
—Perhaps… this is what the library wants us to find.
Sara took him by the arm.
—Alex, don't touch it. We don't know what it is.
"Whatever it was," he replied, "he locked us here for a reason."
Helena raised the flashlight, shining it on the book.
The surface tightened.
Like skin reacting to light.
The four of them retreated at the same time.
The book had an organic texture. Not leather, not fabric… something softer.
Something too much like human skin. And beneath that surface, a slow movement
could be discerned.underground, as if something were trapped inside.
A whisper came from the book. Not an external sound. Not a noise inside the room.It
was a voice inside each of their heads.
"Open up…"Sara screamed, covering her ears even though it didn't help.
—Alex, don't listen to that! Don't listen to it!
Alex felt an impulse. A primal need. Something within the book was calling his name.
And not only him.
"Can you hear it?" Helena asked, trembling.
—Yes… —Adrián replied, barely audible.
The book spoke again. This time in a clearer, closer, more intimate whisper.
"One of you already belongs to me…"
The four of them looked at each other, frozen.
"What on earth does that mean?" Sara asked.
But Alex had an idea.
An idea I didn't want to share.
Something in that room had changed since they entered. Something that wasn't the
book.Not even the walls. Something between them.
She looked at her companions. Helena seemed frightened. Adrián avoided her gaze.
SaraI was about to cry.
The book clicked again.
"Someone is not who they think they are…"
The ticking stopped.
The room fell silent.Alex took
a step back.
I didn't know when…
But he was sure there was an imposter among them.And
the book knew it.