The voice beneath the laboratory floor continued to echo through the reconstructed facility, carrying a terrible accusation that made Daniella’s entire body stiffen. “Open the door, Daniella. I know you remember killing me.”The words did not sound like a threat. They sounded like a wounded confession from someone who had waited too long for the truth to return.Fred immediately moved in front of Daniella, placing himself between her and the circular door embedded in the far wall.The metal surface had begun to pulse with a faint red light, and every pulse sent another tremor through the floor beneath their feet. “Stay behind me,” he said.Daniella stared at the door, her breathing becoming increasingly uneven. Her mismatched eyes—one warm brown and the other unnaturally black—reflected the red light as memories began flashing through her mind: a narrow corridor, a child crying.Fred standing beside a broken observation window. Blood spreading across a white laboratory floor. Then a v

“Now remember why you killed me, Fred.”The voice inside Daniella’s mind repeated the sentence until it drowned out every other sound in the laboratory. It did not come from the speakers, the damaged screens, or the figure standing behind Fred.The voice emerged from somewhere deeper, buried beneath layers of reconstructed memories and identities that Daniella had spent years believing belonged to her alone.Fred watched her face lose its color. “Daniella,” he said, taking a cautious step toward her. “Look at me.”She did not respond.Her brown eye remained fixed on him, but her black eye had turned toward the figure behind him. The two eyes seemed to follow different realities, each one witnessing a separate version of the same moment.The figure smiled. “You hear her now, don’t you?”Fred immediately turned around, positioning himself between Daniella and the man who shared his face. “Stay out of her mind.”“I have been inside her mind since before you were created.”The figure lift

The second chamber beneath the floor opened with a deep mechanical groan, and the sight inside made Daniella forget how to breathe.Another body lay suspended in a transparent preservation chamber. It had her face, her eyes, her hair.Even the small scar beneath her left collarbone was visible through the thin medical garment covering the body.For several seconds, Daniella could only stare. Then she slowly shook her head. “No.”Fred moved closer to her. “Daniella, stay behind me.”She did not answer. Her eyes remained fixed on the body. “That scar,” she whispered. “I remember getting that scar.”Fred glanced at the body. “Do you remember when?”Daniella pressed a trembling hand against her chest. “No. I remember having it, but I don't remember how it happened.”The woman who had claimed to be Mara stepped forward. “That is because the memory was removed.”Daniella turned sharply toward her. “You said you were never inside me.”“I wasn't.”“Then why do I remember you?”Mara looked at

The final words remained suspended across the darkness of the vault.YOU KILLED MARA BECAUSE SHE DISCOVERED WHO CREATED YOU.Fred stared at the message until the letters began to blur.His chest tightened as fragments of memory continued colliding inside his mind. He could see Mara standing before him, blood running from the corner of her mouth. He could hear Daniella screaming his name. He could feel the weight of the weapon in his hand.Yet something about the memory was wrong The scene looked real It felt real But Fred could not remember what had happened immediately before he pulled the trigger.That missing moment frightened him more than the memory itself. “Daniella.”His voice sounded weak She immediately stepped toward him. “What?”“I remember killing Mara.”Daniella shook her head while tears continued running down her cheeks. “You were not yourself.”Fred looked at her. “What does that mean?”“I don't know.”“You do know something.”“I remember seeing you with the weapon.”“