"What's with that door?" Sue asked, standing up as she noticed him staring.
There, almost hidden behind a tattered curtain and a broken coat rack, was a narrow stairwell leading downward.
"My basement. It's the only place Sam didn't know about," Alex replied, his voice low.
This was the exact memory he had gotten—the basement. The same place he'd remembered when Sam and Sue had suddenly entered his house.
The basement had once been Alex's sanctuary—or rather, the original Alex's. A haven built with care, modeled after his dream gaming setup. Neon strips lined the walls, the space was soundproofed, and high-end custom hardware was neatly arranged throughout. It looked more like a sacred shrine to digital fantasy than a man-cave.
Alex paused as he spotted a few exotic, glossy posters of hot models plastered on the walls.
"Yeah… still definitely a man-cave," he muttered.
The kind of place only a true gamer could appreciate.
"This place must've cost over $10,000," Alex murmured, flicking the light switch. The room lit up in a soft glow, revealing an oasis hidden beneath the wreckage above.
Sue stepped down behind him and stared. "What the hell is this? Did you pour all your money into this junk?"
Alex gritted his teeth. For a moment, he wanted to snap at her—for calling this beautiful room junk. But he held it in.
As Sue moved closer to one of the sleek monitors, Cypher—the shadow fury—materialized behind her. His blade gleamed, flashing toward her neck in a silent, deadly arc.
Alex sensed it instantly. Stand down, he commanded mentally.
Cypher froze, the blade inches from her skin. He hesitated, confused—why was his master protecting her now, when not long ago he seemed fine with letting her die? But, obedient as ever, he stepped back slowly, tilting his head as if trying to understand.
Sue, unaware of how close she'd come to death, turned around slowly. "What was that just now?" she asked, frowning and brushing the back of her neck as if she'd felt something cold pass over her.
She looked around again, eyes narrowing. "This is the only clean place in the whole damn house."
Alex nodded. "Yeah. I kept it hidden from Sam. That's why it's in good shape. If he'd known about this place, he would've sold everything in here for drug money."
Sue crossed her arms, still scanning the room. "So this was your little hideaway, huh?"
Alex nodded as he walked over to the main gaming rig. He ran his fingers along the custom-built tower—surprisingly dust-free—and hit the power button. The fans whirred to life, lights flickering across the curved monitor.
He turned toward her. "You can stay here. At least until the investigation's over."
Sue raised an eyebrow. "Here? In your little nerd cave?"
Alex shrugged. "It's the cleanest, safest place in the house. Upstairs is a mess, and if the cops come poking around, they'll expect us to be right where they told us to stay. This way, we lay low."
She hesitated, then gave a small nod and sat on the old but plush gaming chair in the corner. "Not gonna lie... this beats the hell out of a holding cell."
Alex cracked a rare grin and took his spot at the setup, clicking through his library. "Might as well kill time the only way I know how," he said, launching a game.
The screen lit up with bright colors—some cyberpunk shooter he'd sunk hundreds of hours into. As his character loaded in, the familiar digital world wrapped around him like armor. The tension in his chest loosened, if only slightly.
Sue leaned back, watching him play. "You really built this all yourself?"
Alex nodded without taking his eyes off the screen. "Every piece. It was the only thing I could control in this house… in this life."
Sue was quiet for a while, then finally said, "Thanks. For letting me stay."
He paused the game and looked over. "Don't thank me yet. This is just the calm before the storm."
She gave him a tired half-smile. "Then I'll take the calm while it lasts."
The hum of the system filled the silence between them, the glow of LED lights casting long shadows.
Sue glanced around the room, clearly restless. The hum of the gaming system filled the silence as Alex sank deeper into his digital world, headphones slipping over his ears like a signal he was clocking out.
She wandered over to one of the tall, black shelves lining the far wall. Her eyes moved over rows of thick, dog-eared paperbacks stacked neatly side by side.
"What are all these books?" she asked, picking up one with a dragon coiled around a shattered moon on the cover.
Alex leaned back slightly in his chair, one eye still on the screen. "Those?" he said over his shoulder. "All fantasy novels. If you're into reading, help yourself."
Sue ran her fingers along the spines. Some were classics, names she half-recognized from school or movies. Others looked obscure—handmade covers, worn titles barely legible.
She cracked one open. A flicker of curiosity crept into her expression.
Alex chuckled softly to himself as his character vaulted over a glowing rooftop. "Figured you'd be bored," he muttered, not looking away. "Books are a good escape too. Just... less headshots."
Sue didn't reply right away. She sat on the edge of the small couch, flipping through the pages. For the first time in hours, maybe the whole day, she looked... almost calm.
In that quiet basement, surrounded by neon lights and enchanted paper worlds, they waited in their own separate corners of distraction—one battling through pixels, the other through prose.
Both now immersed in their own worlds, neither disturbed the other. The days blurred quietly into nights, the hum of the gaming rig and the soft rustle of turning pages becoming the soundtrack of their uneasy sanctuary.
Sue read more than she spoke. At first, it was idle distraction, but as the stories unfolded—tales of warriors, cursed blades, forgotten gods—she found herself pulled in. The novels were worn for a reason. There was something raw and personal about the selections. She wondered if they had once been the only escape the original Alex had.
Alex, for his part, stuck to his usual routines—games during the day, the occasional attempt at decent food, and at night, curled up in the dim corner of the room, he studied the Devil's book.
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