THE ALGORITHM OF FEAR

4~the text!

Her bedroom door was slightly ajar.

Taking a deep breath, she nudged it open with the paperweight, her eyes darting around the room.

It was empty.

But as she stepped inside, her phone buzzed again from the bedside table.

She hadn't brought it upstairs. Eve's pulse raced as she approached the table. The phone screen lit up with a new message:

"I told you. I'm closer than you think."

Her reflection stared back at her from the mirror above the table but something was off.

The reflection didn't move.

It just smiled.

Eve got nervous.. She stared at the reflection but it just moved away.. Her heartbeat was high and she quickly went to her bedroom. She picked up her phone and dialed ivaan's number but she hanged up immediately having the same doubt whole day.. She called her mom and told each and every information about what was happening from few days.. Her mom replied " I already told you to move with us in another city. You don't know anything about that mansion" Eve assured her mom that all the incidents happening were related to her job and the mansion wasn't responsible for it.. However her mom tried to explain her but she didn't listened and hung up!

Eve decided to sleep after a tiring day but her thoughts were killing her. She wasn't able to configure whether the mansion's dark secret was responsible for these paranormal activities or whether the artist's case was really responsible. She got up from her large bed and opened the files from the drawer beside her bed. First page was titled " The missing artist's case no. 141" flipping the first page she found the picture of the painting which was left unfinished. However she was about to flip the page to next one but she noticed something..... Something that could change the case into different level. She saw that the picture of the unfinished painting was fully different from the one she had at her home. The picture showed a lady who was killing herself with knife and it was all red on that painting. She quickly called her forensic team to confirm which painting was real but the team said they clicked the pictures of the painting which had a lady who was staring. Eve got shocked and suddenly got up from her bed taking the file to the forensic as soon as possible. She told the team to recognize the red colour in the picture of painting. However they can't be fully sure as that wasn't the real ones.. It was just a clicked picture. The team suggested to find the real painting for further tests and they said it can be blood as per their experience.

Eve went to her home wanted to study the file more but she fell asleep as she was tensed the whole day. She woke up with the sun kissing her hairs and face. She smiled at the warm sun but then she remembered what happened few hours earlier..her smile faded in seconds and she quickly get ready. Made her breakfast and was about to leave the house but then she suddenly got a thought to visit upstairs once just to check the place where a shadow smiled to her. She went there and she felt that the air was more heavier . It was the proof that she wasn't alone but then she saw the wall in which the painting was hanged last time. She saw the same painting as last night and she went to the forensic team to get sure about the red paint whether it was blood or just an ordinary red colour. She gave the painting and waited a bit after the tests... she got to know that her feeling was correct and that was blood stains... she suddenly got a thought and went to her car.Eve get into the car and suddenly a sharp pain felt to her.she saw a sharp object on her seat...her hip started bleeding and the metallic smell of her blood spreaded in her car. The medical team took her in the room to get her treated. Eve winced as the medical team cleaned and dressed the wound on her hip. The sharp object that had caused it...a small, jagged blade....was sealed in an evidence bag and placed on the table nearby. The smell of antiseptic mixed with the faint metallic tang of blood lingering in the air.

As she sat on the examination table, she glanced over to the forensic lab through the glass window. Her blood sample had been taken for testing, and she knew the lab techs were running it through their standard procedures. Eve's thoughts swirled as the doctor stitched her up. Who would plant something so deliberate in her car? And why was it always her?

"You're lucky it wasn't deeper," the doctor said, pulling off his gloves. "But you should take it easy for a few days."

Eve nodded absentmindedly. "Thanks," she murmured, her mind elsewhere.

In the adjacent forensic room, her blood sample had already gone through initial testing. The technician frowned as he looked at the screen, then back at the printed reports spread across the table.

"This can't be right," he muttered, comparing the data. He grabbed another file from a shelf which was the reports of painting's blood and flipped through it. His frown deepened.

Moments later, Eve was startled by the sound of the lab door swinging open. The technician walked in, holding two sets of blood reports.

"Eve, I think you need to see this."

Her heart skipped a beat. "What is it?"

He placed the reports on the table in front of her. One set was hers-labeled with her name.

"It's your blood," he said, pointing to the data. "And it matches... . "

Eve's stomach dropped. She leaned closer, studying the results. They were identical.

"That's not possible," she whispered, shaking her head. "I've never even been involved in that case"

"This doesn't make any sense," Eve said, her voice trembling. "Could it be contamination? Or maybe a database error?"

The technician shook his head. "We've rechecked the database twice. The results are clean. This... this is your blood, Eve."

A chill ran down her spine...

Her phone buzzed again, breaking her thoughts. She hesitated before picking it up, dread pooling in her chest.

The message was short but chilling:

"You're starting to figure it out. Let's see how far you'll go."

Eve's hands shook as she showed the message to the technician.

"I don't know what's happening to me," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "But I think someone's been planning this for a long time."

The technician nodded gravely. "You need to be careful, Eve. Whoever this is-they're not just messing with your life. They're trying to destroy it. Mark my words THEY ARE TRYING TO DESTROY IT! "