Chapter 7: The Girl on Level Seven
The laughter echoed through the darkness.
A child's laughter.
Soft.
Almost playful.
But Clara began trembling the moment she heard it.
“Ethan…”
“I hear her.”
“No.”
Clara shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“That laugh.”
She looked toward the darkness.
“I've heard it before.”
Ethan tightened his grip around her.
“Where?”
“In my dreams.”
The floor stopped moving.
A metallic bell sounded.
Level Seven.
The doors opened.
A corridor stretched before them.
Unlike the floors above, this level wasn't white.
The walls were black.
No windows.
No medical equipment.
No cameras.
Only dozens of closed doors.
Each door had a name engraved into it.
Evelyn stepped forward.
“Stay close.”
Daniel raised his weapon.
“What is this place?”
Evelyn looked down the corridor.
“The archive.”
“The archive of what?”
“Everything Margaret doesn't want anyone to remember.”
Ethan looked at the doors.
Some had names.
Others had only numbers.
Then he saw one.
ETHAN PARKER
His blood ran cold.
He walked toward it.
“Why is my name here?”
Evelyn grabbed his arm.
“Don't open that door.”
“Why?”
“Because your memories are inside.”
Ethan stared at her.
“You said I could recover them.”
“Not all at once.”
“Why?”
“Because some memories were suppressed for a reason.”
Ethan pulled his arm away.
“I don't care.”
He opened the door.
Inside was a small room.
One chair.
One camera.
One monitor.
And a single file sitting on the table.
Ethan picked it up.
The cover read:
SUBJECT E-17
He opened it.
The first page contained his photograph.
Then a medical assessment.
Then a sentence that made his blood run cold.
MEMORY SUPPRESSION SUCCESSFUL. SUBJECT DOES NOT REMEMBER FEMALE INFANT.
Ethan stared.
“She did this to me.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Your mother.”
“Why?”
“To protect the program.”
Ethan turned another page.
There was a photograph of him strapped to a chair.
An electrode attached to his temple.
Margaret stood behind him.
Ethan's stomach twisted.
Then he saw the date.
The day after Noah's birth.
He remembered nothing.
But the photograph proved it happened.
He turned the page.
A handwritten note appeared.
SUBJECT REFUSES TO ACCEPT SEPARATION OF CHILDREN.
Below it:
SECOND PROCEDURE REQUIRED.
Ethan's hands began shaking.
“What second procedure?”
Evelyn looked away.
“You don't want to know.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Ethan…”
“What did she do?”
Evelyn remained silent.
Daniel finally spoke.
“She made him choose.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Choose what?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Which child would live with him.”
Silence.
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
Daniel nodded.
“Your mother told you that if you didn't cooperate, both babies would disappear.”
Ethan's face crumbled.
“And I chose Noah.”
“No.”
Daniel's voice softened.
“You chose both.”
Ethan stared.
“You refused.”
“And that's why Margaret erased your memory.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
A memory flashed.
Margaret standing before him.
Two bassinets.
Two crying babies.
Her voice:
“Pick one.”
His answer:
“Neither.”
Then a needle.
Pain.
Darkness.
Ethan opened his eyes.
Tears were running down his face.
“I didn't abandon her.”
Clara stepped beside him.
“I know.”
“I didn't choose Noah over her.”
“I know.”
“I fought.”
Clara wrapped her arms around him.
“Yes.”
For the first time in eighteen months, Ethan remembered.
And the truth was worse than forgetting.
He had fought.
He had screamed.
He had tried to protect both children.
And Margaret had taken them anyway.
A soft voice came from the hallway.
“Daddy?”
Ethan froze.
Clara stopped breathing.
The voice came again.
“Daddy?”
Ethan stepped out of the room.
At the end of the corridor stood a little girl.
She was wearing a pale blue dress.
Six years old.
Dark hair.
Clara's eyes.
Ethan couldn't move.
The girl smiled.
“Are you Ethan?”
He nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
She tilted her head.
“You took a long time.”
Clara began crying.
The girl looked at her.
“Mommy?”
Clara covered her mouth.
Then she ran.
She dropped to her knees and pulled the girl into her arms.
“My baby.”
The girl hugged her tightly.
“You came back.”
Clara sobbed.
“I never left you.”
The girl's expression changed.
“Yes, you did.”
Clara froze.
“I looked for you.”
“I know.”
“How?”
The girl pointed toward the ceiling.
“Grandma showed me.”
Ethan's stomach dropped.
“Your grandmother?”
The girl nodded.
“She said Mommy didn't want me.”
Clara shook her head.
“That's not true.”
The girl looked at Ethan.
“Daddy didn't want me either.”
Ethan crouched in front of her.
“That's not true.”
She studied his face.
“You forgot me.”
“I was made to forget.”
“Who?”
Ethan glanced toward Evelyn.
“Your grandmother.”
The girl's face became strangely calm.
“She said you'd say that.”
Ethan frowned.
“What?”
The girl smiled.
“Because Grandma knows you better than you think.”
Suddenly Daniel raised his gun.
“Everyone back.”
A red laser appeared on the girl's chest.
Ethan's blood ran cold.
“Sniper.”
Evelyn grabbed the girl.
“Down!”
A bullet shattered the glass beside them.
Everyone dropped.
Another shot.
The girl screamed.
Clara covered her.
“Get her out!”
Ethan grabbed the girl's hand.
“Run!”
They raced down the corridor.
Daniel fired toward the distant silhouette.
“Keep moving!”
Ethan carried Clara with one arm and held the girl's hand with the other.
The girl ran beside him.
Then she suddenly stopped.
“Wait.”
Ethan turned.
“What?”
She pointed toward a door.
“That room.”
“What about it?”
“My brother is inside.”
Ethan froze.
“Noah?”
She nodded.
“Grandma said I wasn't allowed to see him.”
Evelyn looked horrified.
“That's impossible.”
The girl stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because Noah isn't here.”
The girl's face changed.
“Yes, he is.”
She pointed at the door.
“He's been here all night.”
Ethan opened it.
Inside was another nursery.
One crib.
Empty.
A monitor blinking.
Ethan's heart dropped.
“Where is he?”
The girl walked toward the crib.
“He was here.”
Daniel looked around.
“No.”
Evelyn checked the monitor.
Her face turned white.
“He's gone.”
Ethan turned toward her.
“Where?”
Evelyn stared at the screen.
“There was a transfer.”
“When?”
“Four minutes ago.”
“Who authorized it?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“Margaret.”
Ethan's fists clenched.
“Where did she take him?”
Evelyn pointed toward a monitor.
A security video appeared.
Margaret was carrying Noah through a corridor.
Beside her was a man.
Ethan recognized him immediately.
Michael.
But Michael wasn't fighting her.
He was helping her.
Ethan stared in disbelief.
“No.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“That's not possible.”
On the screen, Michael stopped.
He looked directly at the camera.
Then he smiled.
He raised one hand.
And held up a photograph.
The camera zoomed in.
It was a photograph of Ethan and Clara.
Taken eighteen months earlier.
On the back was a handwritten message.
YOU WERE NEVER THE FATHER.
Ethan's face went pale.
Clara stared at him.
“No.”
The screen suddenly went black.
The little girl grabbed Ethan's coat.
“Daddy?”
He looked down.
She was crying.
“I know where Grandma is taking Noah.”
“Where?”
The girl whispered:
“To the place where she keeps the fathers.”
Ethan's blood froze.
“What fathers?”
The girl pointed toward another door.
“One of them is your father.”
Ethan stared at her.
“My father died when I was ten.”
The girl shook her head.
“No.”
She smiled sadly.
“Grandma told me he never died.”
Then the door behind them slowly opened.
And a man's voice came from the darkness.
“Ethan.”
Ethan turned.
May you like
His breath stopped.
Because the voice belonged to the father he had believed dead for twenty years.
