The scene before my eyes grew increasingly strange as I approached the exit door. My hand almost touched the cold metal handle when something caught my attention.

A simple painting, placed next to the door, caught my eye.

In it, a crowd of people, like in a graduation photo, were lined up in their extravagant and detailed costumes, a row full of varied colors, mostly quite vivid, and although hidden behind masks, certain smiles could be inferred.

"There's even cosplay in the library, wow," I murmured to myself, trying to resume my path to the exit. However, something in the painting caught my attention once again.

It wasn't the extravagance of the group that unsettled me, but the constant trembling that began to shake the frame, as if possessed by an invisible force. The edges of the painting creaked and the structure wobbled, as if it were fighting against invisible chains holding it.

With a deafening crack, the painting detached from the ceiling, shattering into a thousand pieces as it hit the floor.

The glass cover shattered like broken diamonds on the worn wooden floor.

A porcelain vase that had been next to the painting wobbled and met the same fate, breaking into fragments upon hitting the floor.

The walls began to crack, spreading like roots all over the wall.

A rain of dust and debris filled the air, enveloping me in a grayish cloud that blurred my vision and made it difficult to breathe.

The floor beneath my feet began to tremble violently, small pieces of ceiling breaking off and hitting the ground with a dull thud as the lights flickered frantically.

Almost instantly, a shrill alarm sounded, a piercing noise that filled the library, mingling with the creaking wood and the crash of falling objects.

I stood paralyzed, a knot of confusion and fear tightening in my chest, not knowing how to react to the chaos unleashed around me.

"We have to get out of here!" At that moment, I heard a voice behind me, and with more attention, I turned around, shocked to find a girl running towards me and grabbing my arm with unexpected strength.

"What's happening?" I asked, feeling panic rising inside me.

Her golden eyes were filled with determination and concern, and something in her gaze gave me the confidence to follow her.

She dragged me through the aisles, dodging falling shelves and flying books. The library was turning into chaos around us, but she moved with a precision and purpose that amazed me.

We reached a hidden door behind a bookshelf. She quickly opened it with a code typed into a concealed panel.

The wall slid to one side, revealing a staircase descending into the darkness, into the depths of the ground.

"Get in, quickly." She spoke as she pushed me, starting to hurry down the stairs, and the wall closed behind us, blocking out the chaos of the library.

Darkness enveloped us, only broken by the red emergency lights illuminating the path as we hurried down.

"What's happening? Where are we? What is this passage?" I asked as we continued descending the stairs.

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She only looked at me for a few seconds before looking ahead again, seemingly debating whether to tell me something.

But in the end, she remained silent. We continued on our way until we reached a narrow, dimly lit corridor, apparently one of the lights had failed due to the constant tremors.

Or so I supposed after a full 5 minutes without rest, we continued along the path until we turned a corner, finally arriving at what looked like a metal door, this one still illuminated by the red light from the ceiling.

"Another exit?" I said, trying to open it with my hands, but I couldn't move it an inch.

"Is it stuck?" I said, pressing harder until my hands turned red.

"Let me handle it." The girl stepped forward, and I instinctively moved aside, letting her pass, almost immediately understanding why the door hadn't opened.

"457KO12," the girl said, typing what seemed like the password to open the door on a control panel located next to the door, which I hadn't noticed under the circumstances.

With a clang and a high-pitched beep, the door opened without further ado.

I felt the darkness envelop me, interrupted only by a dim red light. The room was spacious, and my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. I saw several chairs scattered around the place, some against the walls and others in small groups. The floor was rough and echoed under my steps.

A long table in one corner held papers, a couple of flashlights, and an old radio. To one side, there were stacked boxes, their contents unknown, and a shelf full of canned goods. The air was humid and cold, with a slight smell of mold. The echo of dripping water added a sense of isolation.

I sat in one of the chairs, relieved to be in a safe, albeit austere, place as the red light enveloped me.

"Well," she said, much calmer, entering the room further after me, almost immediately scanning the surroundings.

The room was illuminated by the red light.

She sighed, moving away and sitting in one of the refuge seats. From her reaction, it was clear that she knew what was happening.

"What’s going on?! What’s happening?!" I asked again, this time feeling an even stronger tremor, losing a bit of balance and falling to the ground along with some boxes and cans from the shelf.

The pain registered in my body almost instantly.

I felt a sharp sting in my left wrist and a throbbing pain in my right knee as I hit the ground, then almost as a complement, I felt a blow to my head and back accompanied by moisture on my body and the smell of tomatoes, mushrooms, and pickles.

The cans had fallen off the shelf onto me, hitting my head and back, causing me greater pain than when I fell to the ground.

As the icing on the cake, some of these had opened due to the impact, spilling more both on my sides and on me, being bombarded by the smell of preserved food and more while I writhed in pain.

It took me a few moments to get up, followed by small particles of dust falling from the ceiling.

I had braced myself against the wall, trying to calm the nausea the blow to my head had caused.

My wrist burned with every movement, and my knee began to swell. I felt the throbbing pain in both parts, not helped by having my vision obstructed by what appeared to be tomato soup that had fallen on my face.

Or maybe the headache was caused by the cans, the truth was, I didn't know.

"Hmm?"

So engrossed in my pain and discomfort, that when I least expected it, the girl who had previously been sitting in the chair on the other side of the refuge was by my side, firmly taking my arm while she kept repeating words I couldn’t hear due to the sirens and the tremor that continued in the room.

However, this didn’t seem to bother her in the least, and she kept trying to communicate with me, despite only being able to hear the noise of the alarms.

I had underestimated the pain in my leg and head, causing me to fall to my knees and grab my head tightly in an attempt to mitigate some of the pain.

The girl who had let go of me when I fell to my knees on the ground knelt beside me. I felt her hand on my shoulder, her touch soft but firm, as if she wanted to convey her support without words.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a concerned voice, her tone warm and reassuring.

My thoughts were clouded by the pain, but her voice came through clear and comforting. I tried to nod my head, but the dizziness prevented me.

"Don’t move too much," she continued, noticing my attempt to get up.

"Let me lay you down for a moment, don’t move."

The sound of her voice, mixed with the persistent buzzing in my ears, but the words seemed to float out of my reach. I didn’t know if it was the noise or the pain that made me start hearing things.

"Relax," she said, her hand gently squeezing my shoulder.

"You don’t have to force it. Just rest for a moment. Everything will be fine, dad."

"..."

"What?"