Chapter 5 - The staircase was older than the house.Ryan could see it immediately.
The wood was blackened.
The walls were stone.
Cold air rose from below.
Emily grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Ryan looked at her.
“You've been down there.”
“I had to.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“Why?”
Emily stared down the stairs.
“Because that's where Lily was born.”
Ryan felt the floor disappear beneath him.
“You said she was born in the hospital.”
“I lied.”
“No.”
“I had no choice.”
Ryan took the first step.
Emily followed.
Lily stayed behind.
“Noah, stay with Lily.”
Noah nodded.
Ryan descended.
Each step creaked under his weight.
Halfway down, he saw scratches in the wall.
Children's drawings.
A house.
A man.
A woman.
Two little girls.
And beneath them, written repeatedly:
WHO GETS TO BE REAL?
Ryan stopped.
He touched the writing.
“Who drew this?”
Emily whispered, “Your father.”
Ryan turned.
“Your father?”
“He used to make us draw.”
“Why?”
“To prove which memories belonged to whom.”
Ryan stared at her.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“He believed memory could be manipulated.”
At the bottom of the stairs was a steel door.
Emily pulled out a key.
Ryan looked at her.
“You have the key.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She didn't answer.
She unlocked the door.
Inside was a laboratory.
Not a basement.
A laboratory.
Old machines lined the walls.
Medical equipment.
Monitors.
Freezers.
Photographs.
Ryan saw children's handprints painted across one wall.
Then he saw the files.
Hundreds.
Names.
Dates.
Photographs.
Most of them had been crossed out.
He opened one.
MARA CARTER.
Female.
Age 6.
Status: TERMINATED.
Ryan nearly dropped it.
“Mara.”
Emily looked away.
“Who is Mara?”
“Your sister.”
Ryan froze.
“I don't have a sister.”
“You did.”
A memory flashed.
A little girl laughing.
Running through a hallway.
Ryan holding her hand.
His father shouting.
Then blood.
Ryan staggered.
“What happened to her?”
Emily whispered, “Your father said she died.”
“But she didn't.”
“No.”
“Then where is she?”
Emily looked toward the back of the room.
A glass window separated another chamber from the laboratory.
Inside it was a chair.
Straps.
A microphone.
And a wall covered in children's drawings.
Ryan approached.
One drawing caught his attention.
Two children holding hands.
One was labeled RYAN.
The other MARA.
Above them was a sentence.
WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER.
Ryan's breathing became shallow.
Emily spoke behind him.
“Your father conducted experiments on you.”
Ryan turned.
“What kind?”
“Memory.”
“Why me?”
“Because he wanted to know if he could erase trauma.”
Ryan stared at the equipment.
“He used us as test subjects.”
Emily nodded.
“Until Mara resisted.”
“And then?”
“He became afraid of her.”
Ryan looked through the glass.
“What does that have to do with Lily?”
Emily's face went pale.
“She had the same genetic markers as Mara.”
Ryan went still.
“What are you saying?”
“Lily isn't just your daughter.”
“Then what is she?”
Emily whispered:
“She carries Mara's memories.”
A loud sound came from upstairs.
Bang.
Noah screamed.
Ryan ran toward the staircase.
“NOAH!”
Emily followed.
They reached the kitchen.
Noah was gone.
The back door was open.
Lily stood alone.
Ryan rushed toward her.
“Where's Noah?”
She pointed toward the backyard.
“He came to me.”
“Who?”
“The man in the trees.”
Ryan ran outside.
Rain had started falling.
Noah's footprints crossed the mud.
Then stopped.
Beside them was another set.
An adult.
Ryan followed them toward the woods behind the house.
Emily screamed from behind him.
“Ryan, don't!”
He turned.
Lily was standing in the doorway.
Her face was strangely calm.
Then she said something that chilled him more than anything else that night.
“Daddy, don't worry.”
Ryan waited.
She smiled.
“Grandpa only takes children who remember.”
May you like
And deep in the woods...
Noah screamed.
Related Stories
