Chapter 4 - THE CHILD YOU FORGOTThe room seemed to tilt.
“I don't have a son.”
Evelyn stared at me.
“You don't remember him.”
Sarah began crying harder.
“Daniel…”
I looked at her.
“What is she talking about?”
Sarah couldn't answer.
I turned toward Ethan.
“You know?”
He nodded.
“Tell me.”
“You had a son.”
“When?”
“Three years before Lily.”
My heart pounded.
“That’s impossible.”
“You were married before Sarah.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
I shook my head.
“I've never been married before.”
Ethan's expression was grim.
“You believe that because someone removed the memory.”
A cold sensation crawled down my spine.
“Who?”
“Project Lucent.”
I looked at Sarah.
She whispered:
“I thought the procedure failed.”
“What procedure?”
She wiped her face.
“You volunteered.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Why would I volunteer to erase my own child?”
“You didn't.”
She looked at Evelyn.
“She made you.”
Evelyn finally spoke.
“Your son was the first successful subject.”
“What happened to him?”
Nobody answered.
That silence told me everything.
“Where is he?”
Evelyn pointed toward the monitor.
The last photograph showed a teenage boy.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
A small scar over his eyebrow.
I stared at the photograph.
Then at Ethan.
“That isn't a baby.”
“No.”
“How old is he?”
“Fourteen.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“How can my son be fourteen when Lily is seven?”
Ethan lowered his voice.
“Because he wasn't raised here.”
“Where is he?”
Before Ethan could answer, the entire building began shaking.
A deep mechanical roar came from below.
Evelyn looked toward the floor.
“They're evacuating.”
Sarah grabbed Lily.
“Daniel, we have to go.”
I blocked her.
“Where is my son?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I don't know where they took him.”
Evelyn suddenly whispered:
“Level B.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Are you insane?”
“He deserves to know.”
“Know what?”
Evelyn pointed downward.
“His son is beneath us.”
We found a service staircase.
The deeper we went, the colder the air became.
Level B was nothing like the upper floors.
No offices.
No laboratories.
Only rooms.
One after another.
Each with a number.
I stopped at 117.
A handprint was smeared across the window.
Inside was a mattress.
A sink.
A camera.
And a child's drawing taped to the wall.
Three figures.
A man.
A woman.
A little boy.
Underneath were three words.
MY FAMILY WAITED.
I recognized the handwriting.
It was mine.
I turned to Sarah.
“I wrote that?”
She nodded.
“You remembered him once.”
“Then why don't I?”
“Because they erased you.”
A noise came from the far end of the corridor.
Metal scraping.
Someone was moving.
Ethan raised his weapon.
A teenage boy stepped from the darkness.
He had a bruised face.
Blood on his shirt.
And the same gray eyes as mine.
He stared at me.
For several seconds neither of us spoke.
Then he said:
“You came back.”
My heart cracked open.
“Who are you?”
His voice trembled.
“You called me Noah.”
I couldn't move.
He walked closer.
“You promised you'd come for me.”
“I don't remember.”
“I know.”
He looked at Lily.
“She doesn't remember either.”
Lily stared at him.
“Do I know you?”
Noah smiled sadly.
“You used to.”
Then the lights went out.
A red emergency lamp came alive.
Noah whispered:
“They know we're here.”
A voice came over the intercom.
A man's voice.
Calm.
Almost amused.
“Welcome home, Daniel.”
I knew that voice.
I had heard it once before.
At my father's funeral.
May you like
It belonged to my father.
A man I'd watched get buried twelve years ago.
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