Love's Revenge

Chapter twenty two

A sick game. This is Zane's plan. He knew I would come here and get lost. Maybe there isn't really a scroll. He just plotted this for a quick way to end my miserable life.

My eyes peel open. The burning sensation has returned, creeping up my fingertips like a slow burning fire. I glance at the watch wrapped around my wrist. I was out for exactly twenty minutes, leaving me with less than half an hour to get the scroll and find Zane. 

 Noticing something new in the corner, I squint my eyes. A few feet away from me is a... sticky note?

I drag my body over to the corner, clasping the note in my hand desperately. I pull my body up to lean against the wall and slowly unfold the crumpled note. 

When everything is the same, you must find something new.
When nothing is new, you must find something the same.

What? I furrow my brows, reading the note a second and third time. Find something the same? Looking around the plain hallway, I study every door, looking for something different. 

The only thing new in this room is the note. Standing to my feet, I open one of the doors and walk into yet another identical hallway.

This time, there is the same sticky note in the same corner. I walk over and pluck it from the wood floor. 

Same scribble handwriting, same riddle.

I turn the paper over, searching for more. Nothing. 

"When nothing is new..." I whisper out, turning in a small circle in the hallway. 

Find something the same. What does that mean?

My eyes search every grain of wood in the entire hallway. Every door has scratches on them, same paint chippings. 

I am running out of time. 

I open another doorway, walk into another hall. I feel frantic now. My fingers tremble around the door knobs as I run through the hallways for my life. Everything looks like a blur. 

Finally I cave, stopping to catch my breath against the same wall next to the same sticky note. 

The same riddle. The same handwriting. That should be the clue. Something the same is the consistent sticky note. But it isn't. Something the same is the doors. I've been through every door.

I bang my head against the wall, checking my watch. 

Fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes until the poison ends my life. 

And nothing is the same but this damn hallway. I've tried patterns. Going through a left door and then a right. Going through the middle or the far door. Nothing. They all lead to the same place. 

I rip the note to shreds, the riddle still burned into my mind. 

You must find something the same. Something the same. Same. Same. Same.

Wait. 

I run to the door located directly in the middle of the hallway, opening it slowly. The same hallway passes me by as I return to the same middle door. Another identical hallway. Please let this work. I pass several more hallways, picking the same middle door.

I finally twist the cold knob, pushing the door open. It lets out a loud unfamiliar creak. My eyes widen as I see something new for the first time in what feels like years. 

An office. I cracked the code. Find something the same. Choose the same doors. 

The office is blanketed in darkness. I slowly creep in, studying all of the leather furniture. A large executive desk sits in the middle of the room with a computer to the left side, and a stack of papers to the right. Along both side walls are shelves full of colorful spined books. Behind the desk is a large leather chair and then a few feet away is a large window. Outside of the window I can see the outside world... but it looks like we are now on a different floor. The ground is farther down than I am.