Chapter 8 — Theater at the End of the Hallway

The watch repair shop next to the station is smaller than Lam thought. The facade is filled with clocks, wall clocks and an alarm clock that is always seven minutes late. Pham Tuan sat behind the counter, gray hair at the temples, in front of him was a plastic bandage box.

He looked at Lam and then at Huy, Tran, Vy and Quan standing behind her.

“Is the whole class following?”

“Filmmaking team,” Lam said.

“A large group can easily make noise.”

“We can listen first and then decide what to use.”

Tuan pushed the box of tape across the counter. "This version has never been heard in full. I'm afraid the children will hate the adults in the story."

Huy asked: "Do you hate them?"

Tuan laughed. “I hate myself for being quiet for so long.”

He took them into the back room, where there was an old cassette player and digitizer. The recording begins with the sound of rain, like a school scroll but clearer. Nhi voice said that she wanted to appear in the movie with her voice, not her face. She is afraid of her friends realizing that her family owes money, and is more afraid of being pitied than being teased.

Hoai An's voice asked: "What if someone recognizes you?"

Nhi replied: "They also know I'm not ashamed because I told the truth."

Khai said they would film the final scene using silhouettes of the three people. Tuan asked who would keep the original. Khai replied that he would deliver it to the school after the screening.

The recording turns to chaotic sounds. There were sounds of adults arguing outside the theater. A man's voice said it was not shown because the parents had not signed. Hoai An protested that Nhi had agreed. Tuan said he had to call Nhi's family. Then there was the sound of the door closing.

At the end there was only the sound of footsteps. Nhi said: “If the movie disappears, let at least the sound of rain remain.”

The recording stops there.

Lam didn't know what to say. Quan looked at the slowly running alarm clock. Vy wiped her eyes, pretending to be dusty. Tran asked Tuan why he didn't keep this version public.

"I sent it to the school. They said they had to wait for Nhi's family. Then Khai left, An didn't come back, and I was busy looking for a job. When I remembered, the theater was locked."

“Do you know where Nhi is?” Lam asked.

"No. But she once wrote a letter to Khai. An unsent letter."

Tuan took from the drawer a yellow envelope with wax on the edges. He did not open; On the envelope was written Nguyen Khai's name, old school address and the line "sent after the final scene is completed".

Huy asked if he could scan the envelope. Tuan agreed, but kept the original. Lam took a photo of the outside and then put the camera away.

Before leaving, Tuan gave Lam a small roll of tape. "This is the sound of the theater room after everyone left. There is no dialogue, just the sound of chairs and rain. Khai calls it the temporary final scene."

On the bus, Quan said they should put the sound of chairs in the movie. Tran said not to take it haphazardly. Vy asked Tuan for permission, then recorded the duration and source.

Lam looked through the glass window. The station runs backwards, the rooftops cut into frames like a movie. She texted her mother: **I listened to the recording. I don't blame mom. But do you want to tell your own part?**

Mom answered immediately: **Yes. But not via text message.**

Before Lam could ask further, the phone vibrated again. The old ticket account sent a photo of a yellow letter with handwriting on the back: **The last scene was not at school. It's where people learn to leave.**

Huy looked at the photo and said: "Maybe it's the station."

“Tuan just said he doesn't know where Nhi is.”

“Not knowing doesn't mean there's no mark.”

Lam opened the notebook and wrote three locations: theater, station, backyard. She connected it with straight lines, forming a triangle The shape resembles the diagram in the alcove.

In the middle of the triangle, this time a letter appears: **A**.

Lam zoomed in on the letter A, realizing that the handwriting resembled the notes in her mother's notebook. Hoai An did not confirm, only saying that the word could be a person's name or a path. She told Lam not to turn every sign into a prophecy.

Tuan sent another short audio file before the meeting. Including the sound of a clock ticking, the sound of a distant train and the sound of a girl laughing when someone dropped a chair. Vy compared the sound in the theater and saw that the ticking sound was identical to the alarm clock at the store. Tuan used that place as a way to keep the rhythm for the record.

Tran prepared questions, but crossed most of them when Lam reminded the narrator that he had the right not to answer. They only kept three sentences: what do you remember, what do you want us to use, and what do you want left alone.

Quan divided the dumplings into small portions, declaring that the logistics must also be ethical: do not eat the portions of people who have not yet arrived. Huy packed two of them and told him not to turn the trip into a picnic.

On the way home, Lam discovered that he had written down too many of Tuan's sentences. She categorizes them into three columns: can be used, need to ask again, and just stored. The second column is the longest. Tran said it was a good sign because they knew some things were not certain.

Hoai An listens to the audio copy. When her voice appeared, she asked to stop, drink water and then listen again. Lam does not touch the keyboard. Mom clicked to run again.

“Which part do you want to skip?”

“Then mom said ‘I know what to do.’ At that time, she didn't know.”

Lam edited the version as required, keeping the inhalation sound before the sentence. Mom says a person doesn't need to sound more courageous than they actually are.

Huy made a filter to reduce the noise without losing the sound of the chair. Vy compared the before and after versions with headphones and invited Duy to listen. Duy points out a frequency that makes people who are sensitive to sound uncomfortable. Huy corrected it and took notes in the instructions.

Quan suggested placing a sign "no eating dumplings near the machine" at the door. Tran agreed, but asked to write politely. Quan wrote: **The projector is not edible, please do not invite.**

In the theater, they held a listening session for ten students. Each person received a piece of paper with two questions: “Where do you feel respected?” and “What do you want to change?”. One student said the audio was too long; Another friend said it was the silence that made you stay.

Lam does not choose to follow the majority. She adjusted the tempo so that the long part had room to breathe, not cutting it because one person found it slow. Huy said editing a film is like repairing a machine: noise is not always an error, sometimes it shows what's going on inside.

The old ticket account sent a photo of a ticket in a beach town. On the back was the name Anh Duong theater and the letter A. Dat realized that the ticket was printed on the same type of paper in 2005, when the school sent the equipment.

Teacher Quang asked Lam if he wanted to look for Nhi. Lam said he didn't want to pull her out of her current life. They could send the film and the invitation, but not build a story around whether she would show up or not.

Dat agrees. He said he used to think everything had to have a clear answer, but there are people who choose an open question to live on.

In the evening, the group writes introductions. Lam reads: "This film does not restore an old scene. It attempts to create a new scene, with the consent of those standing in the frame." Tran changed "try" to "create together".

Huy looked at that sentence and said it could be used. He didn't say the projector was also waiting for a new scene.

Quan still brought cake, but this time Clearly state the ingredients for people with allergies. Praising him for his progress, Quan said this was the influence of cinema: looking closely at things that were only glanced at before.

Lam put the golden ticket in the file bag, not sticking it on the board. She told the group that anyone who sent a sign had the right to stop. Huy said that slowed down the investigation. Lam replied that being slow was a cheaper price than hurting one more person.

Tran took a screenshot of the message, recorded the time and who was authorized to view it. She does not transfer to another class. Quan said that from now on all secrets must line up for a license. Lam smiled, but still checked her mailbox before turning off the phone.

That night, a strange account posted a post implying the group was looking for "treasure" in the school. The article received several hundred likes just because of the sensational title. Quan wanted to respond immediately, but Tran held his hand. They open feedback rules: do not confirm unverified news, do not reveal the name of the person involved, do not turn curiosity into a game of hunting. Lam composes a short sentence: "The group is working on a project to preserve the screening room; information shared will be with the consent of the participants."

No one knows whether the correction was read or not. But the next morning, a tenth grader sent a message asking to delete the photo he had appeared in the hallway. Lam doesn't need to ask which song you saw; She opened the folder, found the correct file and deleted it from the test build. Huy said that would mean losing a beautiful scene. Lam replied that beautiful scenery can return, but faith is not certain. Quan sat still longer than usual and then proposed filming a privacy guide. For the first time, he actively talked about not appearing on camera.

Tran turned the instruction sheet into a small game for class activities. Each group receives a situation: friends sending private photos, passersby entering the frame, or a recording with a child's voice. They must choose to keep, ask again or delete, and then explain why. Quan chose "keep" too quickly and the whole class asked back if the person in the photo knew. He ruffled his hair and admitted that he often thought that if a photo was taken, it would automatically be used.

Lam told the story of the strange account without naming the person who posted it. One person asked the group to create a page explaining the right to withdraw content. Vy designed a simple version, without using difficult terminology. Huy checked the delete button and said there must be a confirmation message to avoid accidentally pressing it. When the site goes live, they send the link to people who have joined. Some people didn't respond, some people asked to adjust the scope, and the team handled each case. The post about the "treasure" gradually disappeared, and the instruction sheet continued to be used in other classes.