Chapter 4 - Eleven Years AgoClaire grabbed Elliot and ran through the basement.
The creature did not chase them.
That frightened Elliot more than anything.
They reached a narrow hidden passage behind the shelves.
Claire pulled a loose brick.
A door opened.
They stumbled into the garage.
Claire locked the door behind them.
For several seconds, neither breathed.
“Mom,” Elliot whispered, “what happened eleven years ago?”
Claire stared at him.
“I wanted to tell you when you were older.”
“Tell me now.”
She looked toward the house.
“Your father and I discovered something beneath this town.”
“What?”
“An abandoned psychiatric facility.”
“That sounds like a hospital.”
“It was.”
Claire's voice trembled.
“People disappeared there.”
“How many?”
“Thirty-seven.”
“What happened to them?”
“They said they were studying memory.”
Elliot frowned.
Claire continued.
“But they weren't studying memory. They were trying to preserve consciousness after death.”
Elliot looked horrified.
“They believed a person's identity could survive if it was transferred into another human mind.”
“Like... possession?”
“Something worse.”
She looked directly at him.
“They learned how to copy memories.”
Elliot's stomach tightened.
“The creature?”
“Was once a person.”
“Who?”
Claire didn't answer.
“Mom.”
Her silence became unbearable.
“Who?”
“Your father.”
Elliot stepped backward.
“No.”
“Daniel was part of the experiment.”
“But Dad died.”
“He did.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“They killed him.”
“Who?”
“The people running the facility.”
Claire took the photograph from her pocket.
“Daniel tried to expose them. They caught him.”
“What did they do?”
“They copied him.”
Elliot stared.
“They created something that remembered being Daniel.”
“And that's the creature?”
Claire nodded.
“Not exactly.”
She looked toward the house.
“When Daniel died, something else came through.”
“What?”
“A woman named Evelyn.”
Elliot's expression changed.
“Who is Evelyn?”
“Your grandmother.”
Silence.
“My grandmother?”
“She was the person who funded the experiments.”
Elliot couldn't breathe.
“You said she was dead.”
“She is.”
“What does that mean?”
Claire whispered:
“She's the one inside the walls.”
Suddenly, the garage door slammed shut.
The creature stood on the other side of the glass.
Claire grabbed Elliot.
“Don't look at it.”
But Elliot couldn't stop himself.
The creature raised one finger.
Then pointed at him.
A whisper crawled through the glass.
“Elliot.”
Claire covered his ears.
“Don't listen!”
The creature smiled.
“You were never supposed to be born.”
Elliot stared at his mother.
“Why?”
Claire said nothing.
The creature continued.
“Ask her what she did to your first brother.”
Claire's face collapsed.
Elliot whispered:
“First brother?”
A loud pounding began against the garage door.
Claire grabbed Elliot and pulled him toward the car.
“There was another baby?”
Claire started the engine.
“Your brother was born before you.”
“What happened to him?”
She drove through the rain.
“He didn't survive.”
Elliot stared ahead.
“How did he die?”
Claire's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“He didn't.”
May you like
The car swerved.
“He disappeared.”
