Writers 
THE PERSON BEHIND THE SCREEN
The message stayed on Zara's screen.
ARIA — MEMORY STATUS: STILL ALIVE.
Zara stopped breathing.
“Aria?”
Kira looked at her.
“Who is Aria?”
Zara turned slowly.
“My sister.”
Daniel frowned. “You don't have a sister.”
“I did.”
“You told me she died.”
“I thought she did.”
The computer suddenly beeped.
A new message appeared.
YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO FIND HER.
Then another.
ROOM 17. NOW.
Daniel immediately stood up.
“We're going.”
Kira grabbed his arm.
“Wait. We don't even know who's sending these messages.”
Zara stared at the screen.
“I do.”
They both looked at her.
“I don't know how I know,” she whispered. “But I know it's her.”
They ran upstairs.
The school was almost completely empty.
Room 17 was at the end of a corridor that hadn't been used in years. The door was covered in dust, but there was a fresh fingerprint on the handle.
Daniel pushed it open.
Nothing.
Just an empty classroom.
Old desks.
Broken windows.
A blackboard covered in faded writing.
Zara walked toward the board.
Something was written underneath the dust.
ZARA, IF YOU'RE READING THIS, YOU REMEMBERED.
She touched the words.
Suddenly, a memory hit her.
She was seven years old.
Aria was holding her hand.
They were standing in this exact room.
A man was shouting at them.
Then Aria whispered:
“Don't tell them where I hid it.”
Young Zara nodded.
“Where?”
Aria pointed toward the wall.
Zara opened her eyes.
“The wall.”
Daniel looked confused.
“What about it?”
“She hid something here.”
They searched the room.
Behind an old cabinet, Zara found a small metal box.
Inside was a flash drive.
There was a label on it.
FOR ZARA.
Kira stared at it.
“Open it.”
Zara plugged it into an old computer.
One video appeared.
Aria.
Older than Zara remembered, but unmistakably her.
“Zara, if you're watching this, I'm sorry.”
Zara's eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't leave you. They made everyone believe I was gone.”
Aria explained that the school had developed a secret program that could manipulate memories. She had discovered it and tried to expose it.
But before she could, someone betrayed her.
The video suddenly paused.
A name appeared on the screen.
DANIEL.
Zara slowly turned around.
Daniel was staring at the screen.
“I didn't do anything.”
The computer played the rest.
Aria continued:
“Daniel didn't betray me. Someone used his memories to make him think he did.”
Daniel looked shocked.
“So I was manipulated too?”
Aria nodded in the video.
Then she said something that made Zara's heart stop.
“The person controlling everything isn't the school.”
The screen went black.
A new message appeared:
LOOK BEHIND YOU.
Zara turned.
Nobody was there.
But the classroom door was slowly closing.
Daniel rushed toward it.
Too late.
It locked.
The lights went off.
Kira whispered, “Zara…”
A projector suddenly switched on.
A video appeared on the wall.
It showed Zara, Kira and Daniel walking into Room 17.
The footage was live.
Someone was watching them.
Then a voice came through the speaker.
“You should have stopped searching.”
Zara stepped forward.
“Where is my sister?”
A pause.
Then:
“She is closer than you think.”
Zara looked around.
“What does that mean?”
The speaker crackled.
“Look at the person standing beside you.”
Zara slowly turned toward Kira.
Kira's face went pale.
“No.”
Daniel stepped back.
“Kira?”
“I don't know what they're talking about.”
The computer screen suddenly displayed:
SUBJECT KIRA — MEMORY ALTERATION DETECTED.
Kira started crying.
“I swear I don't know anything.”
Zara walked toward her.
“I believe you.”
Then another message appeared.
SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER BECAUSE SHE WAS THE ONE WHO DELETED ZARA.
Zara froze.
Kira shook her head.
“No… no, that's not true.”
But then Kira suddenly grabbed her head.
A memory returned.
She saw herself years ago.
She saw Aria.
She saw Zara.
And she heard herself saying:
“I'm sorry, Zara. I have to do this.”
Kira screamed.
The classroom door unlocked.
Nobody moved.
Then Zara's phone vibrated.
A final message appeared.
NOW YOU KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED.
Below it was a photograph.
Zara looked at it.
It showed four children standing together.
Zara.
Kira.
Daniel.
And Aria.
But someone had written something beneath the picture:
ONE OF THEM IS STILL LYING.
Zara looked at the three people beside her.
And for the first time…
she wasn't sure who she could trust.
