The lab

EPISODE 2: THE LAB

Yesterday Night

Thomas had managed to sneak into the luggage room of the train. There, he found another girl sleeping.

He wanted to escape to another city, but he knew he wouldn’t have enough money.

He opened his diary, his heart racing with hope. Finally… a new home. A place where no one would yell at him for dropping a glass of water. A place where he could live instead of just survive. No more rush—only calm. No more unnecessary hatred—only love. He was going to feel what freedom truly looked like. What it felt like to not be judged for every little thing. To not be doubted. To finally feel included… to feel peace.

But then his words turned bitter.

Why couldn’t I get all of this in my own home? Why do I have to do this just to feel peace? But if that’s the way… then so be it.

He drifted to sleep with the diary clutched in his hands, head resting against a dusty bag.

Suddenly, he woke up—thrown into the air, his mind spinning. An explosion roared. Half-conscious, he scribbled into his diary:

Train blasting. Explosion. Thirty days are done. Yes… I should leave this train. He is calling me. Thank you for guiding me, my soul’s twin.

Thomas fell to the ground. The other kid woke, terrified, and ran—only to be devoured by a wolf in the night.

---

Back to the Day of the Accident

Fred and Sarah were devastated by the news. They confessed to Chris how they had planned to help Thomas escape his toxic household.

Chris’s eyes filled with disappointment.

“What in the world made you think like that? Lester—get the car. We’re going to the site.”

Sarah begged to join. After some argument, Chris reluctantly agreed.

The spot was far from town, near a forested area. What they saw shook them—charred, unrecognizable bodies. Burnt to ash. Only fragments of legs and fingers remained.

Fred and Sarah stood frozen.

“I told you this wasn’t a good idea,” Sarah whispered.

“I wanted to help him,” Fred said, guilt washing over his face. “I couldn’t just ignore it.”

Chris went into the records office—no name registered under Thomas. He frowned, but Fred insisted, “There’s no way Tom didn’t take this train.”

Sarah suggested, “What if he lost his money and snuck into the luggage room?”

Frustrated, Chris stormed into the luggage section. There, he found three burnt bodies—only their hands visible. He ordered DNA tests immediately.

Fred and Sarah exchanged a look of sorrow. As they wandered the forest, Fred’s foot struck a crumpled paper. It was from Thomas’s diary:

Train blasting. Explosion. Yes, I should leave this train. He is calling me. Thank you for guiding me, my soul’s twin.

“Who’s calling him?” Sarah whispered. “Soul’s twin? Tom never mentioned a sibling.”

“I don’t understand,” Fred muttered.

They showed it to Chris, but he dismissed it. “Only DNA can give us the truth. He wrote… I should leave the train…”

Michigan’s lab scientists arrived, collecting what was left of the remains. Families wept. Chris took Fred and Sarah back to the station. Jennifer, shaken, broke down when Fred screamed:

“This is all because of you! You treated him so badly! You’re terrible!”

Tears of regret streamed down Jennifer’s face.

Later, Fred and Sarah searched Thomas’s room. Fred whispered, “What if he’s talking about Volark?”

Sarah shook her head. “None of that is real. Maybe he was just being dramatic.”

Fred clenched the paper. “No. Something is wrong. Let’s wait for the DNA results.”

---

Chris’s House – Outskirts of Town

Chris lived alone. His wife and daughter had been killed in a wolf attack last month. Since then, he was a broken man—cold, miserable, and drowning in drink.

Yet, despite his pain, the town knew him as an honest and respectable chief. Tonight, he sat slouched on his sofa, vodka in hand, thoughts racing about the case.

By evening, the DNA results arrived.

Jennifer’s DNA matched—the test declared Thomas dead. She collapsed in grief, tears of regret soaking her face.

Fred and Sarah refused to believe it.

“No! He’s not dead,” Fred cried. “He wrote it in his diary—he left the train! His instincts are strong. He can’t be dead!”

Chris tried to comfort them. “I know how it feels to lose someone you love. But sometimes all we can do… is accept and move on.”

But Fred couldn’t.

That night, Sarah convinced him to rest. “Tomorrow, we’ll go back. I promise.”

---

The Forest

Fred and Sarah snuck out, flashlights in hand. The woods whispered with danger. Suddenly, a scream pierced the night. The wind howled, tossing a paper against Fred’s face.

I don’t know what happened back there. I left the train, but I don’t understand why. Maybe instinct… But who is this soul’s twin calling me? And the boy near me—how did he return? Now I saw a tall man. I’m heading east. Maybe I can find help there. I still don’t understand what I wrote.

Fred’s eyes widened. “He’s alive.”

Before they could react, a wolf lunged at Fred. Its jaws locked on his arm. He screamed in agony. Suddenly, a girl appeared out of nowhere.

“Go away!” she screamed.

The wolf dropped Fred and slunk back into the shadows.

Fred and Sarah stared at the mysterious girl in shock. She refused to answer any questions, but they took her with them.

They tried to call Chris. No answer.

---

The Lab

Meanwhile, Chris had broken into the lab. Doubts gnawed at him. As he flipped through files, he noticed a disturbing pattern: the death reports all listed the same cause—wolf attacks. His own wife and daughter’s files were among them.

But something felt wrong.

He entered the storage room where body parts were kept for testing. His heart froze when he saw a tag: Thomas Hemsworth.

Chris had secretly taken a sample of Thomas’s father’s blood. He ran a test against the hand marked with Thomas’s name.

The results didn’t match.

The hand wasn’t real. It had been fabricated. Someone had poured the mother’s blood into it to fake the DNA results.

Suddenly, the lights flickered on.

“Chief Austin.”

Chris froze. Dr. Theodore stood in the doorway.

---

FADE OUT – TO BE CONTINUED

Written by Manav & Naman Modha

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