Pro­logue opens with the pro­tag­o­nist in a state of esca­lat­ing pan­ic, aware that they are stuck in a seem­ing­ly inescapable sit­u­a­tion. They are keen­ly aware that leav­ing the house now would not only be impos­si­ble but would also like­ly result in their imme­di­ate arrest. The deci­sion to run, which they now regret not tak­ing ear­li­er, lingers in their mind like a missed oppor­tu­ni­ty. The police are in the house, and their dis­cov­ery of a body upstairs has turned what was once an uncer­tain sit­u­a­tion into a dire one. There is no turn­ing back now. The weight of their predica­ment press­es down on them, as they are moments away from being read their rights. The thought cross­es their mind that the police haven’t yet for­mal­ly charged them—maybe they’re hop­ing to extract more infor­ma­tion before mak­ing that move. It’s a slim hope, but the pro­tag­o­nist knows their win­dow for escap­ing this mess has closed.

The pro­tag­o­nist’s atten­tion is drawn to the detec­tive beside them, a man with gray­ing black hair and a bulky build who sits com­fort­ably on the lav­ish burnt-caramel Ital­ian leather sofa. His frame seems almost out of place on such an expen­sive piece of fur­ni­ture. The pro­tag­o­nist finds them­selves won­der­ing about his life out­side this inter­ro­ga­tion room, imag­in­ing him in a much less refined setting—perhaps a tacky, worn-out sofa at home, with rips and stains, far removed from the plush lux­u­ry he’s cur­rent­ly loung­ing on. This momen­tary dis­trac­tion, how­ev­er, doesn’t last long as the hor­ror of the sit­u­a­tion sinks back in. While the protagonist’s mind briefly drifts to triv­ial thoughts, the detective’s mind is focused on some­thing far darker—the dis­cov­ery of a dead body in the attic. The reminder of that grim real­i­ty only height­ens the ten­sion in the room. The ques­tion about the body is not just a for­mal inquiry but also a push for a response, a crit­i­cal point in the unfold­ing inves­ti­ga­tion.

The protagonist’s anx­i­ety grows as the detective’s ques­tion hangs in the air, the silence ampli­fy­ing the uncer­tain­ty. The need to give a clear, con­cise answer is over­shad­owed by their inter­nal strug­gle over whether or not to invoke their right to a lawyer. They are unsure about how the process works, caught between fear of say­ing the wrong thing and a need to pro­tect them­selves. Even though they know the right course of action is to ask for legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion, the cir­cum­stances feel so over­whelm­ing that their usu­al sense of self-preser­va­tion fal­ters. The pro­tag­o­nist hes­i­tates for a moment, won­der­ing if it’s too late to make the right choice. When they final­ly answer, it’s with the sim­plest truth they can muster: they found the body about an hour ago. But even as they say these words, they real­ize they are only telling part of the sto­ry. The full truth—what led to this dis­cov­ery, what they might have done or seen—remains unspo­ken, tucked away in the cor­ners of their mind.

This chap­ter mas­ter­ful­ly cap­tures the protagonist’s grow­ing unease as they try to nav­i­gate the inter­ro­ga­tion while deal­ing with the real­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion. Each ques­tion from the detec­tive seems more prob­ing than the last, adding lay­ers to the ten­sion that is steadi­ly build­ing in the room. The pro­tag­o­nist feels like they are tee­ter­ing on the edge, unsure whether to give in to the pres­sure and reveal more than they should, or to hold back, risk­ing more seri­ous con­se­quences. The com­plex­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion is reflect­ed in their inter­nal con­flict, as they try to main­tain com­po­sure while the weight of the dis­cov­ery upstairs looms over every­thing. The idea of being trapped, not just phys­i­cal­ly in the house but emo­tion­al­ly in this con­ver­sa­tion, starts to feel suf­fo­cat­ing. The ten­sion is not only about the dead body but also about the unrav­el­ing of the protagonist’s own actions and deci­sions, which have brought them to this moment. This chap­ter, with its psy­cho­log­i­cal depth, explores the fear and con­fu­sion of some­one caught in a web of cir­cum­stance, torn between self-preser­va­tion and the con­se­quences of their own choic­es. It high­lights the com­plex­i­ty of deal­ing with an inves­ti­ga­tion where every word can mean the dif­fer­ence between free­dom and guilt. The pro­tag­o­nist is left to wres­tle with the ambi­gu­i­ty of their own involve­ment, know­ing that any mis­step could change the course of the entire sit­u­a­tion.