“I’m Savera.”
The sentence sounded simple.
Only two words.
But it felt as if someone had just pulled the floor out from under my feet.
I stared at the woman in front of us.
Her face.
My face.
The same shape of the eyes.
The same nose.
Even the tiny mole beneath her left ear was in exactly the same place as mine.
The only difference was the way she looked at me.
I had never seen myself with such a calm gaze.
The calmness of someone who had nothing left to fear.
“Not funny,” I said.
The woman didn’t smile.
“I’m not joking either.”
Taresa moved closer to me.
Her hand reached for my arm.
I could feel her fingers trembling.
“Elvar,” I whispered.
He didn’t answer.
“Elvar.”
I turned toward him.
His face was still pale.
Elvar’s gaze was fixed solely on the woman.
Not like he was looking at a stranger.
He knew her.
And from the way his jaw tightened, he didn’t merely know her.
He was afraid of her.
“Who is she?”
There was no answer.
I drew a harsh breath.
“Don’t go silent on me.”
Elvar finally looked at me.
“Savera—”
“Which one?”
My question made everyone fall silent.
I gave a small laugh.
It came out more fragile than I wanted.
“Great. Now even my own name has to be shared.”
The woman in front of us stepped inside.
Elvar moved immediately.
He stood between us.
“Don’t come any closer.”
The woman stopped.
Her gaze lowered to Elvar.
“You’re still protecting her.”
“Don’t touch her.”
“Cute.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
The woman looked at me over Elvar’s shoulder.
“How many times has he told you that you’ve died?”
I tensed.
Taresa tightened her grip on my arm.
“He knows?” she whispered.
I didn’t answer.
The woman continued.
“Three times?”
Elvar cut her off.
“That’s enough.”
“Has he also told you why you always come back?”
“Shut up.”
“Has he told you who opened Room 404 for the first time?”
“Elvar,” I said.
He didn’t look at me.
The woman smiled faintly.
“He hasn’t.”
I stared at Elvar.
“Of course he hasn’t.”
“Savera, this isn’t the time.”
“If not now, when? After I die a fourth time?”
Elvar closed his eyes.
I walked past him.
He tried to stop me.
I knocked his hand away.
“Don’t.”
“Savera.”
“I want to hear it from her.”
“That’s what the room wants.”
I looked at him.
“Every time you don’t like someone’s answer, you blame the room.”
Elvar fell silent.
I pointed at the woman with my face.
“If she’s lying, I’ll decide that for myself.”
“Savera—”
“I’m tired of everyone deciding what I’m allowed to know.”
He finally stepped back.
Only one step.
But it was enough.
I stood face-to-face with the woman.
Up close, our resemblance was even more disturbing.
But there were a few differences.
Her skin was paler.
There was a thin scar beneath her jaw.
And on her left ring finger—
A ring.
I immediately looked at Elvar.
Then at his hand.
Empty.
The woman noticed what I was looking at.
She raised her hand.
The ring was simple.
Dull silver.
A small pattern resembling interlocking lines.
The same ring from the flashes of my memory.
“Is this yours?” I asked.
The woman shook her head.
“It used to belong to both of us.”
I swallowed.
“Explain.”
She looked at Elvar.
“May I?”
Elvar didn’t answer.
The woman smiled.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
She walked to the bed and sat on its edge.
As if this horrifying room were her home.
“My full name is Savera Dahayu.”
“So is mine.”
“I know.”
“I was born in 2005.”
“I used to have a birth date too.”
I frowned.
“Used to?”
“When the world has forgotten you, your birth date doesn’t mean much.”
Taresa stood beside me.
“What do you mean, the room made her?” she asked.
The woman looked at Taresa.
For a moment, her expression changed.
Sadness.
“You’re still here.”
Taresa froze.
“You know me?”
“Not you.”
The woman studied Taresa’s face.
“But I once knew someone with eyes that were just as frightened.”
Taresa backed away slightly.
I cut in.
“Answer my question.”
The woman looked back at me.
“All right.”
She folded her hands in her lap.
“You’re not a fake human.”
I didn’t know why, but the sentence was slightly reassuring.
“But you’re not the first Savera either.”
The relief vanished at once.
“How many are there?”
The woman looked at Elvar.
“A lot.”
I clenched my fists.
“How many?”
“Eleven.”
Taresa flinched.
I just stood there silently.
Eleven.
The number spun around in my head.
Eleven Saveras.
Eleven versions of me.
“Liar.”
“I wish I were.”
“If there are eleven, where are they?”
“Some of them died.”
I swallowed.
“Some?”
“Some were erased.”
She paused.
“Some never managed to leave this room.”
I looked at Elvar.
“You knew?”
He didn’t answer.
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
The woman continued.
“Every time a Savera disappeared, the room made a way for her to return.”
“Why?”
“The room didn’t make you because you were important.”
The sentence cut deeper than it should have.
She looked at Elvar.
“The room made you because he was important.”
I followed her gaze.
Elvar.
“He was?”
“Room 404 is bound to him.”
Elvar finally spoke.
“Don’t believe everything she says.”
The woman let out a short laugh.
“Still the same.”
“I’m warning you.”
“And you still like threatening people when you’re afraid.”
“Elvar,” I said.
He looked at me.
“Is she telling the truth?”
Silence.
I nodded slowly.
“So it’s true.”
“Savera, it’s not the way she says.”
“Then what way is it?”
Elvar opened his mouth.
No sound came out.
The woman finished for him.
“He can’t die.”
I stared at Elvar.
“What?”
“Not really.”
The woman stood.
“Room 404 preserves its tenant. If his body dies, the room brings him back. If his memories are damaged, the room puts them back together.”
I looked at Elvar.
He looked human.
Too human for something that supposedly couldn’t die.
“Then what are you?”
“Someone who’s trapped.”
His answer was quiet.
The woman snorted.
“Maybe once.”
Elvar gave her a sharp look.
She didn’t care.
“Now he’s half the room.”
I didn’t understand.
My expression must have given that away.
The woman walked toward the wall covered in stains.
“Room 404 doesn’t have a shape of its own.”
Her fingers touched the wall.
“It needs a human being to remember the shape of a room.”
Her hand moved.
“A door.”
Then to the floor.
“A hallway.”
Then she looked at Elvar.
“And a tenant.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up.
“So if Elvar leaves…”
“The room loses its center.”
Taresa finished the thought.
“That’s why it needs a replacement.”
The woman nodded.
I hugged myself.
“And I’m the replacement.”
“At first, yes.”
“At first?”
Her gaze changed.
“Then you messed everything up.”
I laughed without humor.
“Which version of me?”
“The first.”
Silence.
I stared at her.
“You?”
She shook her head.
“I’m not the first.”
I was nearly out of patience.
“Then who is?”
The woman walked to the wall.
Using her fingernail, she scratched one of the black stains.
A layer of paint peeled away.
There was writing underneath.
A name.
SAVERA
Beneath it was a number:
01
I stopped breathing.
The woman rubbed another section.
The next name.
SAVERA — 02
Then—
03
04
05
The writing was hidden beneath the paint.
I moved closer.
My hand touched the wall.
There were eleven names.
The last one—
SAVERA — 11
I looked for twelve.
There wasn’t one.
The woman stood beside me.
“You’re number twelve.”
My heart pounded.
“If I’m number twelve, which one are you?”
She pointed to the number seven.
SAVERA — 07
I stared at her.
“Seven.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to you?”
“I failed.”
“Failed at what?”
“Getting out.”
Her answer was too calm.
“I was erased before I could succeed.”
“But you’re still here.”
“Because part of me was left behind.”
She looked around.
“The room likes to keep leftovers.”
Taresa whispered, “Like a ghost?”
The Seventh Savera smiled crookedly.
“If calling me a ghost makes you feel better, go ahead.”
I stared at the numbers on the wall.
“What about the others?”
“Some of them are still here.”
I spun around.
“Where?”
She didn’t answer.
Then—
Knock.
A sound came from the wall.
I froze.
Knock. Knock.
Not from the door.
Not from the closet.
From behind the wall.
Then a woman’s voice.
Quiet.
“I’m here.”
I looked at Elvar.
His face hardened.
Another voice came from a different side.
“Don’t listen to her.”
A third voice.
“Elvar, open the door.”
A fourth voice cried.
A fifth laughed.
All of them—
using my voice.
I backed away.
“Oh, God.”
Whispers filled the walls around us.
Dozens.
Maybe more.
Savera.
Savera.
Savera.
Elvar hurried toward me.
“Don’t answer them.”
I shoved him.
“Are all of these versions of me?”
“Not all of them.”
“What do you mean, not all of them?”
The Seventh Savera answered.
“The room learns.”
I looked at her.
“Learns what?”
“To imitate you.”
The voices in the walls suddenly stopped.
Silence.
Then one voice appeared.
Exactly my voice now.
“I’m Savera.”
I felt sick.
The voice repeated itself.
“I’m Savera.”
Then from another wall.
“I’m Savera.”
Then the entire room.
“I’m Savera.”
“I’m Savera.”
“I’m Savera.”
I covered my ears.
“Stop.”
Elvar grabbed my shoulders.
“Savera, look at me.”
“Stop!”
All the voices abruptly fell silent.
A harsh breath escaped my mouth.
I lowered my hands.
Elvar was still standing in front of me.
“I want to get out.”
“We will.”
“Now.”
“I’m looking for a way.”
“Look faster.”
Taresa suddenly spoke.
“My camera.”
We turned toward her.
The analog camera that had fallen earlier was still on the floor.
Taresa picked it up.
“I remember.”
“What?” I asked.
“Before I appeared here.”
She held the camera.
“I took a picture of the hallway.”
“And?”
“There was something in the result.”
Taresa opened the back of the camera.
Her hands stopped.
“The film is gone.”
The Seventh Savera looked at her.
“Because the film isn’t here.”
Taresa frowned.
“What?”
“Objects that pass through the door are sometimes separated from their own time.”
I sighed.
“I don’t understand anything anymore.”
“You don’t need to understand everything.”
I looked at the Seventh Savera.
“That line is starting to make me angry.”
She almost smiled.
Then her expression turned serious.
“You only need to know one thing.”
“What?”
“Don’t let Elvar remember his last night.”
Elvar immediately tensed.
“Shut up.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
The Seventh Savera stared at Elvar.
“Because if he remembers everything, Room 404 will fully open.”
“What does fully open mean?”
There was no answer.
“Elvar?”
He shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
The Seventh Savera laughed.
“He knows.”
“I don’t.”
“You forgot.”
“That’s different.”
“Not to the room.”
I moved closer to the Seventh Savera.
“What last night?”
She looked at me for a long time.
“The night Room 404 first appeared.”
The room fell silent again.
I felt something move inside my head.
Like a memory searching for a way out.
Rain.
Blood.
A piano.
A ring.
I pressed my temples.
The Seventh Savera watched me.
“You’re starting to remember too.”
“What?”
“That night.”
Elvar came closer.
“Don’t force it.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because your memories are connected to me.”
“How is that possible?”
He fell silent.
The Seventh Savera said,
“Because the first Savera created this room.”
I stopped.
Even Elvar looked as if he wanted to stop time.
“What?”
The Seventh Savera looked at me.
“Room 404 wasn’t a place that found you.”
She pointed at me.
“Our first version created it.”
I felt like there wasn’t enough air.
“Why?”
“To save Elvar.”
I turned to him.
Elvar lowered his head.
The Seventh Savera continued.
“He was dying.”
“Because of what?”
“Elvar.”
The woman’s tone changed.
“It’s finally time for you to say it yourself.”
I looked at him.
Elvar slowly raised his head.
“I died in this building.”
“When?”
“1989.”
“How?”
He looked at his own hands.
“I fell from the Fourth Floor.”
I froze.
“Fell?”
“I was pushed.”
“By whom?”
Elvar didn’t answer.
The Seventh Savera let out a humorless laugh.
“This is the best part.”
I looked at her.
She pointed at me.
“You.”
The world seemed to stop.
“I pushed Elvar?”
“The first version of you did.”
“Why?”
The Seventh Savera didn’t have time to answer.
Elvar spoke.
“Because I asked her to.”
I stared at Elvar.
“Why?”
He took a deep breath.
“The first Savera and I tried to perform a ritual.”
“What ritual?”
“To bring someone back.”
“Who?”
Elvar looked at me.
“Your sister.”
I didn’t have a sister.
Or—
at least, I had always thought I didn’t.
My head began throbbing.
An image appeared.
A young girl.
Older than me.
Long hair.
A warm hand holding mine.
Her voice—
“Don’t tell Mom we’re going out at night.”
I staggered.
Taresa caught my arm.
“Savera?”
“I…”
I held my head.
“I don’t have a sister.”
Elvar looked at me sadly.
“Not now.”
His words sent me into a panic.
“Don’t.”
“Savera.”
“Don’t say that.”
“You used to have one.”
“No.”
“Her name was—”
“DON’T.”
I covered my ears.
But Elvar had already said it.
“Meraya.”
Something shattered instantly.
I saw her face.
A girl of about seventeen.
Laughing in the rain.
Giving me a hair ribbon.
Scolding me for stealing her clothes.
Then—
A coffin.
My mother crying.
I screamed.
The memories came too quickly.
I fell to my knees.
“Savera!”
Taresa held me.
I sobbed.
“I remember.”
Elvar didn’t move.
“I had a sister.”
Tears fell before I could stop them.
“I had a sister.”
The Seventh Savera stared at me with an empty expression.
Maybe she had already been through this.
Maybe eleven times.
“They said she died in an accident,” I whispered.
Elvar closed his eyes.
“But the first Savera couldn’t accept it.”
I looked at him.
“Then what?”
“She found something about this building.”
“What?”
“There was a room that could hold the memories of the dead.”
I looked around.
“Room 404.”
Elvar nodded.
“But at the time, it didn’t have a door yet.”
“So we made one.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Elvar didn’t answer immediately.
Then he said,
“By offering the most precious memory.”
I swallowed.
“Whose memory?”
“Mine.”
“What did you sacrifice?”
His gaze met mine.
“I forgot why I loved you.”
The sentence hurt more than it should have.
I said nothing.
Elvar continued.
“The ritual failed. Meraya didn’t come back.”
“Then you died.”
“Yes.”
“Because I pushed you.”
“Because I asked you to.”
“Why?”
“The ritual required a second death.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“So you knew you were going to die?”
“Yes.”
“And I agreed?”
“No.”
Elvar smiled bitterly.
“You tried to stop me.”
The Seventh Savera cut in.
“He’s lying about that part.”
Elvar shot her a sharp look.
I turned quickly.
“What?”
“He didn’t just try to perform the ritual for Meraya.”
“Seventh Savera.”
“He also wanted to create a place where the two of you could never be separated.”
Elvar stiffened.
I looked at him.
“Is that true?”
“Savera—”
“Is it true?”
He didn’t answer.
I felt something cold descend into my stomach.
“So from the beginning…”
I pointed at the room.
“This was about us?”
Elvar looked shattered.
“Partly.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Taresa suddenly raised the camera.
“Quiet.”
We looked at her.
“There’s a sound.”
We all stopped talking.
I couldn’t hear anything.
Then—
Click.
The sound of a camera came from outside the room.
Click.
Once again.
Click.
The sound was getting closer.
From the hallway.
The Seventh Savera stood.
“She’s here.”
Elvar moved immediately.
“Who?”
The Seventh Savera looked at me.
“The first one.”
My heart stopped for a moment.
“The first Savera?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Click.
Footsteps sounded.
Slowly.
Coming closer.
The Seventh Savera backed away.
Fear finally appeared on her face.
“The person Room 404 has tried to hide from you for thirty-seven years.”
The bedroom door slowly opened.
A woman stood in the doorway.
She looked to be in her twenties.
Her long hair was wet.
Her white dress was covered in dirt stains.
In her hand was an analog camera.
Taresa dropped her own camera.
I didn’t move.
I recognized that woman’s face.
From the memory that had just returned.
The woman smiled at me.
“Little sister.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“Meraya?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
But her smile grew wider.
Far too wide.
She shifted her gaze to Elvar.
Her smile vanished.
“You’re still trying to bring me back to life?”
Elvar stepped backward.
Meraya walked inside.
Then she said,
“Even though I never died.”