Chapter 11: The Woman Who Looked Like Me
Nobody moved.
The woman standing at the bottom of the staircase looked exactly like me.
Not similar.
Not close.
Exactly.
Same dark eyes.
Same nose.
Same small scar near my left eyebrow.
Even the same tiny dimple appeared on her cheek when she smiled.
I instinctively pulled my daughter closer.
“Who are you?”
She smiled sadly.
“You already asked me that.”
“I've never seen you before.”
“You have.”
“When?”
“In your dreams.”
My blood turned cold.
The red door.
The screaming woman.
The little girl.
The shadow standing behind me.
I had always assumed the woman in those dreams was my mother.
But maybe it wasn't.
The woman took another step.
“I was there the night your father died.”
My mother stepped forward.
“Don't come any closer.”
The woman looked at her.
“You still hate me.”
My mother froze.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I was.”
My sister raised her gun.
“Put your hands where I can see them.”
The woman laughed softly.
“You still carry that old revolver.”
My sister's face changed.
“You know me?”
“I remember everything.”
Her eyes moved toward my belly.
“Especially you.”
I tightened my grip on my daughter.
“Who are you?”
She looked at me.
“My name is Claire.”
I shook my head.
“That's my name.”
“I know.”
“Then what's yours?”
She hesitated.
“Claire-2.”
The room fell silent.
I almost laughed.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
She touched her chest.
“It's what they called me.”
My mother whispered:
“The second prototype.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
My mother stared at the woman.
“They created another version of you.”
The woman nodded.
“Before Travis.”
My stomach turned.
“How many?”
She looked at me.
“Three.”
I stared.
“Three?”
“The first one died.”
“The second was Travis.”
“And you?”
“I was the third.”
Travis stepped forward.
“I thought there were only two.”
She smiled at him.
“You were never supposed to know about me.”
“Why?”
“Because I escaped.”
Elias suddenly laughed.
“You didn't escape.”
The woman turned toward him.
“You still believe you own me.”
“You belong to the program.”
“No.”
She raised her hand.
A tiny device was attached to her wrist.
“I belong to myself.”
Elias's face hardened.
“Remove it.”
She smiled.
“No.”
“What is that?”
My sister asked.
The woman looked at me.
“Insurance.”
“Against what?”
“Against Elias.”
She pressed a button.
Every screen in the clinic turned on.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Names.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Bank transfers.
Video footage.
My mother stared at the screens.
“No…”
The woman smiled.
“I told you I remembered everything.”
My sister walked toward one monitor.
“What are these?”
“Every woman they experimented on.”
She clicked another file.
“Every child they took.”
Another.
“Every doctor they bribed.”
Another.
“Every death they covered up.”
My stomach twisted.
“How did you get all of this?”
“I was inside Elias's system for twelve years.”
She looked at him.
“He thought I was obedient.”
Elias stared at her.
“You were.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I was waiting.”
“For what?”
“For Claire.”
She looked directly at me.
“I'm here because you were the only one who could unlock the archive.”
My mother whispered:
“You were supposed to be dead.”
“I was supposed to be erased.”
She pointed toward my daughter.
“But she changed everything.”
My daughter suddenly began crying.
The woman's face changed.
“She's awake.”
I looked down.
Her silver-ringed eyes were open again.
She stared directly at the woman.
Then she reached one tiny hand toward her.
The woman began crying.
“She recognizes me.”
I stared.
“How?”
“Because she remembers me.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“She remembers the future.”
My sister shook her head.
“No human being can remember the future.”
The woman looked at her.
“Not humans.”
Silence.
“What are you saying?”
She pointed toward my daughter.
“She isn't entirely human anymore.”
My heart shattered.
“Don't say that about my baby.”
“She is your daughter.”
“She is human.”
“Yes.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“She carries a sequence that can process information before it happens.”
My mother stepped forward.
“Predictive memory.”
The woman nodded.
“Exactly.”
I stared at my baby.
“You're saying she can see the future?”
“Not consciously.”
“Then how?”
“She dreams.”
I remembered my own childhood nightmares.
The red door.
The blood.
The screaming.
“Like me?”
The woman shook her head.
“No.”
“Then how?”
“She doesn't dream.”
“What does she do?”
“She remembers.”
“Remembers what?”
“What hasn't happened yet.”
A chill ran through me.
Elias suddenly stepped forward.
“Enough.”
The woman smiled.
“Afraid?”
He raised his gun.
“You're unstable.”
“Maybe.”
“But you won't shoot me.”
“Why?”
“Because if I die, the archive dies with me.”
Elias lowered the gun.
The woman smiled.
“That’s right.”
I looked at her.
“What is the archive?”
She turned toward me.
“The complete record of everything Elias has done.”
“Where is it?”
“Inside me.”
I stared.
“And inside my daughter?”
“A fragment.”
My mother suddenly understood.
“You split it.”
The woman nodded.
“When I escaped.”
“You transferred half into yourself.”
“And the other half?”
She looked at my belly.
“Into her.”
I felt sick.
“Why my daughter?”
“Because she was the only viable host.”
“Then why twins?”
“Because the sequence required two carriers.”
My sister whispered:
“One for the past.”
The woman nodded.
“One for the future.”
I looked down.
My firstborn stirred in my arms.
“The first remembers what happened.”
“Yes.”
“And the second?”
“She remembers what will happen.”
I stared at the woman.
“What happens when they're both born?”
Her expression became serious.
“They connect.”
“What does that mean?”
“They'll complete the archive.”
“And then?”
“Everyone carrying the Hale marker will receive the memories.”
I looked toward Elias.
“You.”
He smiled.
“Exactly.”
My sister raised her gun.
“Then we kill him.”
The woman shook her head.
“You can't.”
“Why?”
“Because Elias isn't the only person with the marker.”
I looked at Travis.
His face had gone pale.
“What are you saying?”
She looked at him.
“Travis carries it.”
He froze.
“I'm aware.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“You carry more than the marker.”
“What?”
She pointed at his chest.
“You carry the activation sequence.”
My mother gasped.
“That means…”
“Yes.”
The woman looked at me.
“Your husband is the key.”
I stared at Travis.
“You knew?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
Elias smiled.
“Of course he didn't.”
My sister stepped toward him.
“Then why did you create him?”
Elias looked at me.
“To make sure Claire would trust the key.”
I felt sick.
“You planned my marriage.”
“Yes.”
“You planned my pregnancy.”
“Yes.”
“You planned my twins.”
“Yes.”
“And Travis?”
Elias smiled.
“He was built for one purpose.”
“What?”
“To open the archive.”
The lights suddenly went black.
Again.
A low electronic tone filled the room.
My daughter began crying.
The second baby kicked violently.
Travis grabbed his chest.
“Claire…”
“What?”
“I can't breathe.”
He dropped to his knees.
My mother rushed toward him.
“His sequence is activating.”
The woman who looked like me stared at Travis.
“No.”
“What?”
She looked terrified.
“He's not the key.”
I froze.
“Then what is he?”
She stared at my belly.
“The key is the baby.”
Silence.
“The second twin.”
Elias smiled.
“Finally.”
The woman turned toward him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you lied to everyone.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elias looked at me.
“Because the baby doesn't just unlock the archive.”
He pointed toward my daughter.
“She chooses who receives it.”
My daughter suddenly stopped crying.
She opened her silver-ringed eyes.
Then she looked at Elias.
For the first time, her tiny face changed.
She frowned.
And whispered:
“Bad man.”
Elias stepped backward.
My sister raised her gun.
Travis looked at me.
And the woman who looked like me whispered:
“Claire…”
“What?”
“She just chose.”
“Chose what?”
The woman's face went pale.
“She chose who gets the memories.”
I looked at my daughter.
Then at Elias.
And suddenly every monitor in the clinic displayed the same message:
TRANSFER TARGET: ELIAS HALE
Elias screamed.
“No!”
The monitors flashed.
His body suddenly convulsed.
He collapsed.
And every secret he had spent his entire life hiding began appearing on the screens.
Names.
Dates.
Faces.
Deaths.
But one file appeared above all the others.
PROJECT CLAIRE: FINAL SUBJECT
I stared at it.
Then the file opened by itself.
Inside was a photograph of me.
Taken when I was six years old.
Beside me stood my father.
And behind us was a woman I had never seen before.
A woman who looked exactly like me.
Except she was holding a newborn.
My mother whispered:
“That photograph was taken twenty years before you were born.”
I looked at the woman.
Then at my unborn child.
And finally at the woman standing across from me.
She whispered:
“Now you know why I came back.”
The clinic doors suddenly blew open.
Police flooded inside.
But behind them stood someone I never expected to see.
Deborah.
My mother-in-law.
She looked at Elias on the floor.
Then at me.
Then at the baby in my arms.
And she said:
“I'm sorry, Claire.”
She raised both hands.
“I was never trying to hurt you.”
She looked at Elias.
“I was trying to protect you from him.”
Then she smiled.
May you like
And added:
“Unfortunately, I'm the only person who knows where he buried your father's body.”
