CHAPTER 8: THE MEMORY THEY STOLE
The voice kept calling my name.
“Daddy…”
I couldn't move.
It came from somewhere beyond the corridor.
A child's voice.
Weak.
Terrified.
Familiar.
But impossible.
Because it sounded like me.
Not the voice I had now.
The voice I had when I was a child.
“Daddy…”
Emily grabbed my hand.
“Dad?”
I couldn't answer.
My mother stood at the end of the corridor.
Watching me.
Smiling.
Daniel looked terrified.
“What did you do to him?”
My mother didn't answer.
She simply looked at me.
“You really don't remember?”
I shook my head.
“Remember what?”
“Your first daughter.”
I felt a pressure behind my eyes.
A headache.
Sharp.
Sudden.
Images flashed through my mind.
A red bicycle.
A yellow bedroom.
A little girl's hand holding mine.
Then darkness.
I staggered backward.
Daniel caught me.
“Michael!”
I pushed him away.
“I remember…”
My mother smiled.
“Do you?”
I closed my eyes.
The image came again.
A little girl.
Brown hair.
A blue dress.
She was laughing.
I was holding a birthday cake.
She said something.
I couldn't hear it.
Then the image vanished.
I opened my eyes.
“Who was she?”
My mother tilted her head.
“Evelyn.”
I looked at Daniel.
“You said she was my daughter.”
“She was.”
“How?”
Daniel swallowed.
“She was born before Emily.”
I stared at him.
“That's impossible.”
“You were married to Sarah.”
“Then how?”
Daniel looked away.
“You weren't.”
“What?”
“Not legally.”
I felt dizzy.
My mother interrupted.
“You were eighteen.”
She stepped closer.
“You were still a child.”
I looked at her.
“What are you talking about?”
“You had a daughter before you ever met Sarah.”
My entire body went numb.
“Who was the mother?”
My mother smiled.
“That is the part you were made to forget.”
A loud metallic bang came from behind us.
Reynolds shouted:
“Everyone move!”
He had found a control panel.
“Your mother has locked the doors remotely.”
My mother laughed softly.
“You're too late.”
Reynolds aimed his weapon.
“Step away from the controls.”
She didn't move.
“Put your hands where I can see them.”
She raised her hands.
“Of course.”
Then the lights went out.
Darkness.
A gunshot.
A scream.
I grabbed Emily.
“Stay with me!”
Something crashed nearby.
Someone ran past.
Then the lights returned.
My mother was gone.
Daniel was bleeding.
A thin line of blood ran down his forehead.
Reynolds was on the floor.
And Emily was gone.
I screamed.
“EMILY!”
No answer.
I ran toward the corridor.
Doors were opening and closing automatically.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then I saw her.
At the far end.
Someone was carrying her.
A woman.
Gray eyes.
Dark coat.
My mother.
“LET HER GO!”
She disappeared through a door.
I ran after her.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“Michael, wait!”
I tore free.
“No!”
I reached the door.
It slammed shut.
I grabbed the handle.
Locked.
Then I saw the number.
008.
Evelyn's room.
I looked at Daniel.
“Open it.”
“I can't.”
“You know how.”
“I don't have the key.”
I reached into my pocket.
The silver key.
I inserted it.
Nothing.
Daniel stared at it.
“It's not the right key.”
“Then what is it?”
He looked at the symbol.
“The key opens the archive.”
“What opens this?”
He pointed to the wall.
A fingerprint scanner.
I stared.
“Whose fingerprint?”
“Yours.”
I pressed my hand against it.
Nothing.
I tried again.
Nothing.
Then Daniel said:
“Not your hand.”
“What?”
“Your daughter's.”
My heart stopped.
“She took Emily because she needs her.”
I looked at the door.
Then at the scanner.
“Why?”
“Because Emily is the final key.”
I placed my hand against the scanner again.
Nothing.
Then I remembered something.
The necklace.
I pulled it from Emily's photograph in my mind.
She was wearing it.
But she was gone.
My mother had taken it.
I stepped back.
“We need another way.”
Daniel looked at the ceiling.
“There is one.”
“What?”
“The ventilation shaft.”
He pointed toward a narrow opening.
“Can you fit?”
“Yes.”
“Then go.”
I climbed.
The shaft was barely wide enough.
Metal scraped my shoulders.
Dust filled my lungs.
Daniel followed behind.
We crawled through darkness.
Then I heard something.
A child crying.
“Daddy…”
I stopped.
“Emily?”
No answer.
The voice came again.
“Daddy…”
I crawled faster.
The shaft opened into a room.
I looked through the grate.
My mother was standing beside Emily.
Emily was sitting in a chair.
The necklace was gone.
My mother was holding a small device.
She pressed it against Emily's temple.
Emily screamed.
I nearly broke the grate.
Daniel grabbed me.
“Wait.”
“What is she doing?”
“Memory extraction.”
I stared.
“What?”
“She can erase memories.”
“No.”
“She's done it before.”
“To whom?”
Daniel looked at me.
“To you.”
My stomach dropped.
My mother spoke.
“Emily, listen carefully.”
Emily cried.
“I want my daddy.”
“He is not your real father.”
“Yes, he is.”
“No.”
My mother held up a photograph.
“Look.”
Emily stared.
Her expression changed.
I couldn't see the photograph.
Then my mother said:
“Your real father is Daniel.”
Emily began shaking her head.
“No.”
“He loved you.”
“No.”
“He abandoned you.”
“No!”
My mother pressed the device again.
Emily screamed.
Daniel whispered:
“She is trying to make Emily remember the story she wants.”
I clenched my fists.
“What story?”
“That Daniel is her father.”
“But he isn't.”
“No.”
“Then why does she believe it?”
“Because someone planted the memory.”
I stared at the room.
My mother wasn't trying to discover the truth.
She was rewriting it.
I pushed against the grate.
It broke.
I dropped into the room.
My mother turned.
“Michael.”
I ran toward Emily.
My mother raised the device.
“Don't.”
I grabbed Emily.
She clung to me.
“Daddy!”
“I've got you.”
My mother stepped backward.
“You shouldn't have remembered.”
“What did you do to me?”
She smiled.
“Your father ordered it.”
“What?”
“You knew too much.”
“When?”
“When you were eighteen.”
I stared at her.
“What did I know?”
She looked toward Daniel.
“Your brother showed you Evelyn.”
Daniel lowered his head.
I turned toward him.
“You showed me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted you to know.”
“What happened?”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“You confronted Dad.”
“And?”
“He erased your memory.”
I felt the room spinning.
“How?”
“Drugs.”
“Who gave them to me?”
“Mom.”
I looked at my mother.
“You drugged your own son?”
She shrugged.
“You were going to destroy everything.”
“What did I know?”
She didn't answer.
I stepped toward her.
“What did I know?”
She smiled.
“You knew Evelyn wasn't dead.”
The room became silent.
I felt the headache again.
Images.
A hospital room.
A baby crying.
Sarah standing beside me.
Daniel screaming.
My father holding a syringe.
My mother crying.
Then a little girl.
Evelyn.
Older.
Maybe five.
She was standing in front of me.
She said:
“Daddy, don't let them take me.”
I gasped.
I remembered.
Not everything.
But enough.
I remembered her.
I remembered holding her.
I remembered her sleeping on my chest.
I remembered teaching her to say my name.
I remembered the night she disappeared.
I remembered screaming.
I remembered my father telling me she was dead.
And I remembered refusing to believe him.
Then I remembered something worse.
I had found her.
In the basement.
She was alive.
She was crying.
And someone had been standing behind me.
My mother.
I looked at her.
“You took her.”
She smiled.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“She was moved.”
“Where?”
“She grew up.”
I felt sick.
“Where?”
My mother looked at Emily.
“Right here.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She became Emily.”
I stared at my daughter.
“No.”
My mother stepped closer.
“Evelyn never died.”
Daniel whispered:
“She was given a new identity.”
My mother's voice became soft.
“We changed her name.”
“No.”
“We changed her records.”
“No.”
“We changed her memories.”
“No.”
“And we gave her to Sarah.”
I couldn't breathe.
“You're saying Emily…”
My mother nodded.
“Is Evelyn.”
Everything stopped.
I looked at my daughter.
Emily was crying.
She touched her face.
“I don't remember.”
My mother smiled.
“You will.”
Then she pressed a button.
The room filled with a high-pitched tone.
Emily screamed.
I grabbed her.
“STOP!”
My mother walked toward the exit.
I ran after her.
She stopped at the doorway.
“You wanted the truth.”
She looked at me.
“Now you have it.”
Then she said:
“Ask Daniel why he helped us erase her.”
I turned.
Daniel was standing behind me.
His face was devastated.
“Daniel?”
He couldn't look at me.
“Tell me she's lying.”
He remained silent.
“Daniel!”
He finally whispered:
“I was there.”
My heart shattered.
“You helped them?”
“I was eighteen.”
“You helped erase my daughter?”
“I thought I was saving her.”
“From what?”
He looked at Emily.
“From you.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“You were going to take her and run.”
“Yes.”
“You were going to expose Dad.”
“Yes.”
“And they would have killed you.”
“I didn't care.”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“But I cared about her.”
He pointed toward Emily.
“I thought changing her identity would keep her alive.”
I couldn't speak.
“You betrayed me.”
“I know.”
“You let me mourn my daughter.”
“I know.”
“You watched me raise her without knowing who she was.”
“I know.”
Then Emily suddenly screamed.
“Stop!”
We both turned.
She was holding her head.
“I remember something.”
I rushed to her.
“What?”
She looked terrified.
“Evelyn…”
I froze.
“What about her?”
“She wasn't alone.”
“What do you mean?”
“She had another little girl with her.”
My heart stopped.
“Who?”
Emily's eyes widened.
“She said her name was Lily.”
Daniel went completely still.
“The girl from the hidden room.”
Emily nodded.
“She wasn't rescued.”
“What?”
“She escaped.”
“Where?”
Emily looked toward the door.
Then whispered:
“She knows where they buried everyone.”
A loud explosion shook the facility.
The lights flickered.
An alarm began screaming.
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
“That's not good.”
“What happened?”
“Someone triggered the emergency lockdown.”
“Who?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Jason.”
I felt my blood run cold.
“How do you know?”
He pointed toward the security monitor.
The screen came alive.
Jason appeared.
He was standing in the main entrance.
Behind him were several armed men.
He smiled directly into the camera.
Then he said:
“Michael.”
The speakers carried his voice through the entire facility.
“You wanted the truth.”
He raised a small remote.
“Now you're going to get all of it.”
He pressed the button.
Every locked door in the facility opened.
And from behind them came dozens of voices.
Men.
Women.
Children.
All screaming at once.
Jason smiled.
“Welcome to the family.”
Then the screen went black.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“We have to get Emily out.”
“Where?”
He pointed toward a narrow passage.
“There's one exit Jason doesn't know about.”
I looked at him.
“How do you know?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Because I built it.”
We ran.
But before I entered the passage, I looked back at the room.
On the floor was the necklace my mother had dropped.
I picked it up.
There was something engraved on the back.
A date.
03/14/2006.
I froze.
My birth date.
I turned it over.
Underneath the date was a second line.
A name.
MICHAEL MERCER.
Not Carter.
Mercer.
My father's name.
And suddenly I understood why my mother had said:
“You're not who you think you are.”
Because the secret wasn't just about Emily.
It was about me.
I had spent my entire life believing I was Michael Carter.
But the evidence was telling me something else.
Something terrifying.
I wasn't the son of the man I thought was my father.
And somewhere in the facility, Jason's voice echoed again:
May you like
“Ask your mother who your real father is.”
Then the lights went out.
