Chapter 9 - Ryan ran upstairs.“Noah!”
The boy was standing in the hallway.
Blood covered his shirt.
Ryan nearly collapsed.
“Where are you hurt?”
Noah shook his head.
“It's not mine.”
Ryan looked at the blood.
“Then whose is it?”
Noah pointed toward the kitchen.
“Mommy.”
Ryan turned.
Emily was gone.
The back door was open.
A trail of blood led outside.
Ryan chased it.
Mason followed.
Daniel remained behind.
Ryan reached the old shed.
The door was half open.
Inside was darkness.
Then a voice.
“Ryan.”
Emily.
He entered.
She was tied to a chair.
Her mouth was bleeding.
Standing behind her was a woman.
Older.
Thin.
Gray hair.
Ryan didn't recognize her.
But Emily did.
“No.”
The woman smiled.
“Hello, daughter.”
Ryan looked at Emily.
“Who is she?”
Emily's face collapsed.
“My mother.”
The woman stepped forward.
“Dr. Helen Carter.”
Ryan stared.
“She died.”
Helen smiled.
“Apparently everyone in this family is dead until they aren't.”
Mason raised his weapon.
Helen laughed.
“You're too late.”
“For what?”
She pointed toward Ryan.
“His memories.”
Ryan felt dizzy again.
Helen explained.
“Daniel built the machine, but I designed the conditioning.”
“You did this to me?”
“To all of you.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel thought memory was the key to controlling behavior.”
“And you?”
“I thought memory was the key to controlling identity.”
Ryan stared at her.
She continued.
“Mara was the first successful subject.”
Ryan looked toward the house.
“Where is she?”
Helen smiled.
“She is in your mind.”
Ryan shook his head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
She stepped closer.
“You keep trying to divide Lily and Mara.”
“Because they're different people.”
“Not anymore.”
Helen pointed to his head.
“Mara's memories were transferred into Lily.”
Ryan's voice cracked.
“So Lily is my daughter.”
“She was.”
Ryan stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
Helen looked at Emily.
“Tell him.”
Emily sobbed.
“We lost Lily.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
“Six years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Then who did I bury?”
Emily said nothing.
Helen answered.
“No one.”
Ryan looked up.
“What?”
“The coffin was empty.”
His stomach dropped.
Helen continued.
“Your wife couldn't bear to tell you that Lily's body had been stolen.”
Ryan remembered the funeral.
The rain.
The coffin.
But not the body.
Because he had never seen it.
Helen whispered:
“Lily was alive.”
Ryan's entire world shifted.
“Where?”
Helen smiled.
“Right here.”
She pointed at the house.
“Behind the wall.”
Ryan turned.
The girl's face appeared in the doorway.
She wasn't crying anymore.
She looked calm.
Almost adult.
“Daddy.”
Ryan approached her.
“Are you Lily?”
The girl nodded.
“I'm also Mara.”
“How?”
She touched her chest.
“Both.”
Ryan knelt.
“What happened to Mara?”
She looked at Helen.
“Helen killed her.”
Emily screamed.
“Don't!”
Ryan stood.
“You killed your own daughter?”
Helen didn't deny it.
“She was becoming unstable.”
“She was a child.”
“She was becoming something we couldn't control.”
Ryan grabbed Helen.
Mason pulled him away.
Helen smiled.
“She didn't die completely.”
Ryan looked at the girl.
“Where is she?”
The girl's eyes filled with tears.
“She lives here.”
She touched her temple.
“Inside me.”
Then she whispered something else.
“And that's why they hid me.”
Ryan frowned.
“Who?”
She pointed toward Emily.
“Mommy.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
Lily spoke softly.
“She didn't put me in the wall to hide me from Daniel.”
Ryan turned.
“Then why?”
Lily's voice became barely audible.
“She put me there to hide me from me.”
The lights flickered.
The laboratory alarm began again.
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And Daniel's voice came through every speaker in the house.
“Ryan, don't let her out.”
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