[Ashe sat in the corner of the room.
The mirror was blank again.
The typewriter — silent.
Just silence. Endless silence.]
He didn't speak for a long time.
He just sat there, exhausted — with a kind of tiredness no sleep could cure.
It wasn't mental pain.
It was a peaceful kind of punishment…
the kind you feel when you truly believe you don't deserve to live.
[He scratched the wall softly with his foot, tracing faint lines for no reason at all.]
He looked at the typewriter.
It was empty.
The mirror showed nothing.
But something had changed.
Something new had appeared.
An eye had opened on the wall.
A literal, human eye.
No eyelid.
No blinking.
Just a motionless, living eye — staring directly at him.
Ashe (jolting back):
"What… what is that?"
[He stood up quickly.
Back hit the wall behind him.]
Ashe (shivering, whispering):
"When… when did that show up?"
[The eye didn't blink.
It just stared.
As if reading his thoughts.
All of them.]
And then — the typewriter began to move.
Chik. Chik.
Chik chik chik.
> "THE WALL WATCHES THE ONE WHO WATCHED NOTHING."
Ashe (softly, confused):
"I… wasn't watching? So what?"
The typewriter answered:
> "That's why you're still alive.
You didn't see.
And you didn't speak."
[The room grew colder.
As if someone had spoken a truth too ugly to exist.]
[The eye on the wall began to rotate — left to right, up to down.
It was scanning him.
Every breath.
Every move.
Every memory.]
Ashe (whispering, guilt in his eyes):
"...I could've said something back then..."
Ira (typewriter voice, sharper now):
"But you didn't."
[Another eye opened — on the second wall.]
> "You lie."
[A third eye — on the third wall.]
> "But the worst lie…
is the one you tell through silence."
[Ashe stood in the center of the room.
He didn't cry.
He couldn't.
He was far beyond tears now.]
Ashe (lost, numb):
"What was I thinking?
What… did I forget?"
[Suddenly, burning letters appeared on the wall.]
> "She was screaming…
and you stayed quiet."
Ashe (shouting):
"NO!!"
[He rushed to the mirror — punched it.
The glass didn't break.
But his hand did.
Blood smeared across his knuckles.]
Ashe (rage and guilt):
"I can speak now!
I can still say sorry!"
Ira (coldly):
"You're still lying."
[Eyes.
Eyes.
Everywhere.
Hundreds of them.
All four walls — covered in eyes — all of them staring at him.]
[The typewriter exploded with motion.
Its keys slammed down in rapid-fire madness.]
chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik chik—
> "You didn't stop it."
"You didn't scream."
"You didn't protect her."
"You forgot her name."
"You forgot… on purpose."
Ashe (gripping his head, trembling):
"What… what was her name…?
Who was she?"
[FLASH — in the mirror, a girl's face appeared.
Blurred.
Fading.
Her voice echoed, soft and broken:]
Unknown Voice:
"Ashe… I only existed…
as long as you remembered my name..."
[His heart cracked open.
Tears flooded his eyes.
His breath caught.]
Ashe (screaming):
"I—!!!"
[The eyes crept closer.
The walls felt like they were tightening — shrinking.
The room was swallowing itself.]
[Then, silence.
And one final message from the typewriter.]
> "Your silence was your first murder."
---
END OF CHAPTER 2 — PART 1