Chapter 9 — Theater at the End of the Hallway

The letter A caused the whole group to debate throughout the self-study period. Quan guessed it was An's name, Tran thought it was "address", Vy said it was probably just a symbol on the map. Huy did not guess; He looked for spots with the letter A in the school building.

“Room A is not available,” Tran said. “House A was demolished in 2010.”

Lam remembers the message: where people learn to leave. The station has a waiting area, the backyard has a side gate, and the theater has an emergency exit. All three locations have exits.

Mr. Quang showed them the map of the old school. Behind area B there used to be a staircase leading to the western alley, called "path A". The stairs were closed when the school expanded. If letter A was that way, the final scene could have been shot in the hallway that disappeared.

“Can't dig up walls,” Tran said.

“We don't dig,” Huy replied. “Let's find traces.”

Huy tapped on the wall at the back of the theater, measuring the echo. A solid wall, but close to the floor there is a hollow sound. Quan found a brick of a different color. Lam used a towel to wipe it, revealing a small star symbol.

Teacher Quang asked to stop because the area may not be safe. They made a record and invited maintenance staff. The brick is removed using specialized tools. There was no film inside, just a yellow cloth bag and an iron key.

The bag contains three photos. The first photo is of Nhi standing with her back facing the side gate. The second photo is Hoai An holding the camera, looking towards the stairs. The third photo has just an open door, with a rainy sky behind it.

On the back of the photo is the time and the words "scene 27". On the same day, in the club book there was a line “not in use due to insufficient lighting”.

Lam called his mother. Hoai An was silent for a long time then said: "That staircase is where Nhi chose to film the last scene. She wanted to open the door to the yard, but Khai said the camera was wet. Mom said she would come back the next day."

“Why didn't mom come back?”

"Because the show was canceled. People said that Mom filmed Nhi without asking permission, even though Nhi herself agreed. Mom thought that if she stayed, she would be questioned more."

“Did Mom tell Nhi?”

"Are not."

The answer hurt Lam more than any explanation. Hoai An protected Nhi by disappearing, and Nhi may have interpreted it as abandonment.

Huy gave the key to Mr. Quang. The key opens a filing cabinet in the old administration room. He promised to ask permission from the vice principal before opening. While waiting, the group filmed an interview about the stairs. Uncle Sau remembers that it used to be the way students ran out when practicing fire prevention. Ms. My said there was always the sound of wet shoes in the hallway on rainy days.

Quan wanted to re-enact with a prosthetic leg, but Tran forced him to use a brick-floor angle instead. Lam realized that stories do not need actors. Just leave the real marks standing in the frame.

Friday night, the projector turned itself on again. The fabric screen shows an image of an open door. But this time a figure stood outside the door, holding an envelope.

Lam walked closer to the curtain. The silhouette has a star-shaped hair clip.

"Mom?" she whispered.

Huy held her shoulder. “Old photos can be shown again.”

“But who turns it on?”

At the end of the hallway, there was the sound of shoes. A person walks through the glass window, stops briefly and then continues. Lam ran out, only to see the project advertisement blown away by the wind.

On the back of the paper is written in blue letters: **You are looking for the final scene. Ask the person who cut it.**

Teacher Quang read and no longer asked the group to leave early. He told them they would meet with the council on Monday morning, but before that they had to complete the proposal.

Lam looked at the members. Huy nodded, Tran opened the book, Vy Plugging in his headphones, Quan divided the bread into five parts.

For once, no one asked whether the theater was worth keeping. They just asked what needed to be done so that others could see what they saw.

Mr. Quang asked the group to submit a plan on Monday morning, including goals, risks and ways to protect the character. Sincerely compose a risk section that is longer than the introduction. Quan asked if it was necessary to write "risk of chair breaking"; Huy said there must be.

Lam called Ms. Hanh, who used to keep the warehouse. Ms. Hanh said the letter A could mean "light", because Khai often marks the position of the light with that letter. If so, the final scene is shown from an angle not shown in the theater map.

Huy brought a flashlight to the rooftop and tried shining it through the ventilation door. A streak of light fell right on the blue chair. Lam stood in the trail and saw the star clip reflected on the camera bag. She didn't turn on the phone; she just recorded the location.

That night, the old ticket account sent a sentence: **Not everyone standing outside the door wants to go in.** Lam saved it and added it to the conclusion of the plan, not used as dialogue.

Sunday morning, the group built a model of passage A out of cardboard. Quan made the door too small, making it impossible for Tran to get the chair through. Huy cut it back to the correct size, then said the model also needed safety standards. Lam filmed them editing, asking each person if they agreed to appear.

A new student named Quynh was assigned to hold the storyboard. She said she didn't want to be on the picture but wanted to write a quote. Lam gave her part of the script, reminding her that she could withdraw any sentence. Quynh wrote a paragraph about standing behind the door and deciding not to go out yet.

That part made Lam think of Huy. She asked him if he wanted to read it. Huy said no, but agreed to let his footsteps be the background.

Mr. Quang brought a technical map of area B. Path A was closed, but records showed that the stairs were still behind a thin wall. Groups cannot be opened arbitrarily; They just mark the location and invite the technician to check with a detector.

The detector detects a void and metal objects. The maintenance worker opened a small slot, took out a box of staples and a "REAR DOOR" sign. No movies. The plaque is included in the theater collection.

Huy looked at the screw marks and guessed that the door had been removed many times. Some people still use path A after the school announced it was closed. Teacher Quang promised to ask the old security guard.

Lam wrote the final plan. She clarified that they do not confirm who sent the tickets, who turned on the camera, or who cut the film. They only present evidence and unknowns. Dat said this version is difficult to cause a fever but is easy to believe.

Quan read and commented: "The sentence 'don't know' appears eleven times."

“Because we don't really know yet.”

"So stay the same. At least no one thinks you have superpowers."

When submitting the plan, the council responded that they needed a test screening with a real audience. Please create an invitation list, do not send it in bulk. Only ten tickets per class, parents must register in advance.

In the afternoon, Lam filmed the scene of the back door sign. She asked Mr. Quang if he wanted to say anything. The teacher just put his hand on the sign, then closed the door. The sound of the lock resonated as a clear note in Vy's voice.

Quan proposed drawing a door outside the theater so that anyone standing outside could write what they wanted to say. Tran allows if the board does not have the required name. A day later, the board had more than twenty lines, including one sentence: “I'm not ready, but thanks for not dragging me in.”

Lam read that sentence to Huy. He said maybe that was the scene they were looking for, even though there were no cameras close enough to record. Lam agreed to let the board appear in the film, after asking the writer's permission by posting a notice and allowing it to be withdrawn.

The writer does not want his name to appear in the credits. Lam wrote "a person standing outside the door" as suggested. Quan asked if he could use the sound of a pen to write; that person agreed, but only during the school screening. Vy saves the scope, then deletes the clearer version.

Vy showed the group a color palette for the movie: blue hallway, yellow projector lamp, red of the old curtain. She said the color also needs to be approved, because if the contrast is too strong, the room will look like a horror scene. Quan countered that a little bit of horror sells tickets. Tran asked who was selling tickets. The army is silent.

They tried three ways to create the scene where the writer stands outside the door. The first version shows shadows on the tile floor, the second version only shows the sound of a pen, and the third version shows the door closing and opening. Participants watched all three, choosing the second version because they did not want viewers to guess their identity based on their stance. Lam asked if he wanted to keep breathing; The person shook his head. Vy marked the audio area that had to be cut, even though that part made the scene more natural. After the repair, the group sat and listened for a long period of silence. Lam realized that silence can also be a narrative, as long as the person creating it has the right to choose.

Vy also discovered that the red color of the curtain was different from the stored photo. She wanted to adjust the color so viewers would see the theater warmer, but Lam reminded her to keep the silver stains from the sun. Huy said that if the curtains are too new, the audience will think they are creating a fake set. Quan suggested taking a close-up of a frayed thread and placing it next to the sound of a pen. The group asked the writer if he thought it was okay. That person agreed on the condition that the effect of making the sound of the pen sound like a knock on the door was not used.

The next day, a student asked to join the design team but could only do it after school. Tran arranges your schedule and doesn't force you to respond to messages at night. Lam realized that professionalism does not lie in doing things quickly; it lies in letting others have time to live outside the project. She posted the work schedule on the door, recording the hours when the group did not receive calls. Quan finished reading and said that this film group needed a movie about recess. No one objected.