Unseen Chains: In the Shadow of Control

Chapter Five: Paper Cuts & Blind Spots

Aarya's POV

I woke up to the hum of the ceiling fan slicing through the stale hostel air and the distant clatter of steel tumblers hitting each other in the mess hall below. Somehow, that sound had already wormed its way into my internal alarm system. Comforting, in a weird way.

My new roommate, Sanika, was still asleep. Her pillow had slid halfway to the floor, and her phone's charging light blinked in sync with the red dot of the corridor CCTV I could see from the window grill. Everything here blinked. Machines watching machines.

I tiptoed out.

I didn't have a destination—just a need to move. The corridors were quiet, and that suited me. Too much noise always feels like a trap.

I turned a corner and found the old stairwell that led behind the admin block. One of the seniors had whispered about it during orientation like it was some kind of urban legend. "No cameras there. Not really a place you're supposed to hang around."

Perfect.

It wasn't locked. Rusted, dusty, and narrow—but open. The kind of place that didn't mind secrets. I slid down the stairs, fingertips grazing the rough cement wall, and sat on the last step.

For the first time since arriving, I breathed.

The sketchbook came out automatically. Pencil to page, lines forming before thoughts caught up. A girl crouching near a locked gate. Hair whipping like a storm. Cameras for eyes.

That last part was new.

Because lately, I'd felt... watched. Not in a creepy way exactly, more like a prickle in my spine. Like someone was holding their breath near me, waiting to see what I'd do next.

I shook the thought off.

"You're being dramatic, Ary," I muttered.

But even as I said it, I knew I wasn't.

There'd been a moment yesterday, just before entering the mess. I'd paused—not out of hesitation but instinct. My eyes had drifted to a dome-shaped camera near the ceiling, and for a split second, I'd felt someone looking back.

It was ridiculous, right?

Still, I angled my head at the invisible lens above and whispered, "Boo."

Nothing happened.

I laughed at myself.

Back in the room, Sanika was up and brushing her hair in mechanical strokes. We nodded at ach other. She wasn't cold, just a little reserved. She told me to be careful of "getting noticed too much."

"Why?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Not everyone here likes noise in the system."

Noise in the system.

She didn't mean actual sound. She meant people like me. People who didn't glide into the current, who asked too many questions or sat in silence too long.

I looked down at my sketch—cameras for eyes.

Yeah. I had a feeling I was going to be trouble.

For someone.