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t h e a n e c h o i c c h a m b e r
NAGHAHALO ang nararamdaman ni Astrid habang binabaybay niya ang daanan patungo sa kwarto ni Sophia. Huge mirrors are hanged on both sides of the wall showing an endless reflection like portal to never ending parallel universe. She was constantly looking on the map which Gianna took from the Cassandra Palais website.
"Ok, so where was I?" Tanong ni Astrid sa sarili nang huminto siya sa harapan ng tatlong malalaking pinto. Muli niyang binalingan ang mapang nasa cellphone niya.
Nalaman niyang nasa Hall of Mirrors siya kung saan naroon naka-display ang humigit kumulang na dalawang daang piraso ng malalaking salamin sa magkabilang tabi ng hallway.
Masusi niyang hinanap ang lugar kung saan naroon ang kwarto ni Sophia gamit ang kaniyang mapa. Nasa ikalawang pinto ang kwarto nito.
Astrid went to the second door, she twisted the knob and the door revealed a huge room inside. Pumasok si Astrid sa loob niyon at sinimulan niyang igala ang kaniyang mata sa loob ng kwarto.
The door automatically closed, she heard a low click sound.
Muling tinignan ni Astrid ang mapa sa cellphone, nagdadalawang isip siya kung tama ba ang pinasukan niyang silid.
The room is covered with foam wedges. She slowly walked towards the wall and touched the foam that covers the wall.
"It seems unusual, I can hear even my footsteps and my heartbeat." Sambit ni Astrid habang hinahawakan ang foam.
"This is an anechoic chamber, this foam wedges traps the sound waves so it will not reverberate inside the chamber," konklusyon ni Astrid. Back then during her high school days she picked Echolocation and Sound Waves as her topic in her Physics term paper nonetheless it will be very useful to her right on that moment.
The Anechoic chamber is the quietest place, the foam wedges discourages the sound waves to reverberate and trapping it to endless bouncing on the wedges. The said chamber is so quiet that the background sound measures negative decibel, making the ears of the visitors to hallucinate while adapting to the simulated environment of Anechoic Chamber.
She could almost hear even the smallest sound produced by the continuous rubbing of her skin to her mesh bomber jacket, the beating of her heart, the blood rushing through her veins, the inflation and deflation of her lungs and the loud gurgling of her stomach.
"So where do I start?" tanong niya sa sarili habang pinagmamasdan ang buong paligid. She made a full circle to check her surroundings. The room was empty. Nothing suspicious.
Tinignan niya muli ang mapa kung tama ba ang kaniyang napuntahan and it was indeed correct ngunit pakiramdam niya'y mali ang kwartong napuntahan niya. Hindi niya lubos maisip kung bakit walang laman ang kwarto ni Sophia at tanging mga foam wedges lang sa pader ang kaniyang nakikita.
Nag desisyon siyang lumabas na lang ng kwartong iyon habang naglalakad siya patungo sa pinto ay biglang may puting usok na lumabas mula sa apat na sulok ng kwarto ni Sophia at dahil sa pagkagulat ay awtomatikong siyang napatakbo papunta sa pinto ngunit hindi na niya maikot ang door knob nito. Sarado na ang pinto.
Ilang beses niyang pinihit ang knob at binangga ang pinto ngunit hindi pa rin ito bumubukas.
Muli niyang binalingan ang usok nag mumula sa kisame at mabilis itong kumakalat.
The silage of burning flesh dominated the room. Napaka pamilyar na amoy na ngayo't nanaig sa loob ng kwarto, tama ang hinala niya. "Sulfur," tanging nasabi niya nang maalala ang amoy at bigla siyang yumuko. Iyong amoy na iyon ang bumabalot sa kanilang Chemistry Laboratory.
BINABASA MO ANG
Make Up, Murders, And Macchiato
Детектив / ТриллерAstrid is a retired modern day Sherlock Holmes / Nancy Drew who stumbled on the gruesome murder of an unknown killer roaming around their university. She was then forced to instigate an investigation together with the one whom she hated the most- Ka...
