Chapter 3

The room was quiet like a cat stare Cat staring at you, whats up?

Too quiet like a cat staying still.

Test Subject 1 sat perfectly still, eyes narrowed slightly, as if something deeply troubling had just occurred to them. Again, like a cat staring at you.

Test Subject 2, still leaning against the wall, noticed.

“…Why do you look like that?”

Test Subject 1 didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, they slowly turned their head.

“When you first showed up.”

“…Yeah?”

“You came from the hallway.”

Test Subject 2 froze.

For a brief moment, neither of them spoke.

Then—

“…No I didn’t.”

Test Subject 1 blinked.

“You literally walked in from outside the room.”

“I was already here.”

“No, you weren’t.”

“Yes, I was.”

Test Subject 1 stood up.

“You came from the hallway. You leaned against the doorway. You even did that thing—”

“What thing?”

“That… leaning thing.”

Test Subject 2 straightened slightly.

“That’s not evidence.”

“That is absolutely evidence.”

Test Subject 2 frowned.

“There is no hallway.”

Test Subject 1 pointed dramatically toward the door.

“It was right there.”

They both turned to look.

The door was closed.

Test Subject 1 walked over and opened it.

Beyond it—

There was nothing.

Just a blank wall.

They stared at it.

“…That’s new,” Test Subject 1 muttered.

“I told you,” Test Subject 2 said quickly. “No hallway.”

Test Subject 1 turned back slowly.

“You came from somewhere.”

“I came from the scene.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“None of this makes sense.”

“That’s not a defense.”

Test Subject 2 crossed their arms.

“It’s a formatting test.”

Test Subject 1 paused.

“…Right.”

Another silence settled between them.

Then Test Subject 1 spoke again, more cautiously this time.

“If there was a hallway before…”

“There wasn’t.”

“…and now there isn’t…”

“Correct.”

“…then that’s a plothole.”

Test Subject 2 immediately shook their head.

“No, it isn’t.”

“How is that not a plothole?”

“There is no plot.”

Test Subject 1 opened their mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again.

“…You can’t have a plothole without a plot?”

“Exactly.”

Test Subject 1 frowned.

“That feels wrong.”

“It’s technically correct.”

“That makes it worse.”

Test Subject 2 nodded.

“That’s usually how it goes.”

Test Subject 1 glanced once more at the door.

At the wall that definitely hadn’t been there before.

“…So we’re just going to ignore that?”

“Yes.”

“Completely?”

“Yes.”

“Even though it doesn’t make sense?”

Test Subject 2 gestured around the room.

“Does anything here make sense?”

Test Subject 1 looked around.

The chair.

The window.

The suspiciously consistent paragraph spacing.

“…Fair.”

They walked back and sat down again.

A moment passed.

Then—

“…But if a hallway can disappear,” Test Subject 1 said slowly, “then something could also appear.”

Test Subject 2 went very still.

“…Don’t say that.”

“Why not?”

“Because the author might hear you.”

They both fell silent.

The room remained unchanged.

Nothing appeared.

Nothing moved.

Nothing happened.

Test Subject 1 relaxed slightly.

“…See? It’s fine.”

Test Subject 2 didn’t respond.

They were staring at the wall.

“…What?” Test Subject 1 asked.

Test Subject 2 raised a hand slowly.

And pointed.

Test Subject 1 turned.

There, on the previously blank wall—

Was a faint outline.

Rectangular.

Like a door.

They both stared at it.

Neither of them moved.

“…We’re not acknowledging that,” Test Subject 2 said.

“Agreed.”

They sat back down.

Facing away from it.

Very deliberately.

The outline remained.

Unconfirmed.

Unexplored.

Possibly nonexistent.

After all, there was still no plot.

And therefore, no plotholes.

And with that extremely stable and logically sound conclusion, Chapter 3 came to an end.