CHAPTER 11: THE FACE UNDER THE FACE
Daniel stepped backward.
The man standing before him still wore Thomas Morgan's face.
But it was changing.
Not dramatically.
Not all at once.
The skin around his jaw tightened first.
Then his cheekbones shifted.
His eyes sank deeper.
The familiar lines of Thomas's face stretched as though something underneath was trying to escape.
Daniel pulled Emily behind him.
“What are you?”
The man's mouth opened.
The voice that came out was no longer Thomas's.
It was deeper.
Older.
Almost mechanical.
“I told you.”
Daniel's pulse hammered.
“The first Morgan.”
“No.”
The man's face continued changing.
“I am what the Morgans found.”
The skin around his eyes split slightly.
Daniel heard Emily gasp.
“Daddy...”
“Don't look.”
But it was too late.
Emily had already seen him.
She whispered:
“I know that face.”
Daniel looked down.
“What?”
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
“He was in my dreams.”
The man's expression changed.
He smiled.
“Of course.”
Daniel tightened his grip around her.
“You're not coming near her.”
The creature took one step forward.
Sarah suddenly moved between them.
“Daniel, listen to me.”
“What?”
“You need to open the red door.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You said that thing is dangerous.”
“It is.”
“Then why would I open the door?”
“Because David is inside.”
Daniel looked at his unconscious son.
David's breathing was shallow.
His eyes remained closed.
“How do you know?”
“Because I saw him go in.”
Daniel froze.
“When?”
“Before the explosion.”
“Why didn't you stop him?”
“I tried.”
Sarah's voice cracked.
“He wasn't walking like himself.”
Daniel looked at David.
“What do you mean?”
“He heard someone calling him.”
“Who?”
Sarah looked at Emily.
“Her.”
Daniel frowned.
“Emily?”
“No.”
She pointed toward the hidden room.
“The first Emily.”
Daniel turned.
The little girl was gone.
His heart dropped.
“Where is she?”
Nobody answered.
Then the red door opened by itself.
A narrow crack.
Warm light spilled out.
A child's voice came from inside.
“Daniel.”
Daniel knew the voice.
The first Emily.
“Come in.”
Sarah grabbed his arm.
“Don't go alone.”
Daniel nodded.
“Stay with the children.”
“I will.”
Daniel stepped through the doorway.
The room beyond was enormous.
Much larger than the basement above.
The walls were covered in old photographs.
Thousands of them.
Every Morgan.
Every child.
Every death.
Every replacement.
Daniel moved slowly.
At the center stood a single hospital bed.
David was lying on it.
Daniel rushed toward him.
“David!”
His son didn't respond.
Daniel grabbed his hand.
It was freezing.
“David, wake up.”
Nothing.
Then the monitor beside the bed flickered.
A heartbeat appeared.
Not one.
Two.
Daniel stared.
One rhythm belonged to David.
The second was slower.
Deeper.
And strangely familiar.
Daniel's own heartbeat.
“What is happening?”
The first Emily stepped out from behind the bed.
“He's remembering you.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because you gave him the memory.”
“I didn't.”
“You did.”
“How?”
“When he was born.”
Daniel frowned.
“I don't understand.”
The girl walked toward him.
“You forgot your first memory.”
Daniel stared.
“What was it?”
She pointed toward the far wall.
A screen came alive.
A hospital room.
A newborn baby.
Daniel.
Sarah was beside the bed.
She was younger.
Alive.
But there was something else.
A woman stood beside her.
The woman from the recording.
Daniel stared.
“That's my mother.”
The first Emily shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Her name was Elena.”
Daniel's eyes widened.
“Who is Elena?”
“She gave birth to you.”
Daniel's chest tightened.
“Then why did Margaret raise me?”
“Because Elena died.”
“How?”
The first Emily looked at the screen.
“Your father killed her.”
Daniel froze.
“Thomas?”
“No.”
She pointed toward the black-eyed creature.
“Him.”
Daniel turned.
The creature was standing at the doorway.
Watching.
Daniel stepped between it and David.
“Why?”
The creature smiled.
“Because she knew what you were.”
Daniel's voice hardened.
“What am I?”
The creature didn't answer.
The first Emily did.
“You're a memory carrier.”
Daniel frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“You can remember people who are gone.”
“That's all?”
“No.”
She looked at David.
“You can also give those memories to someone else.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“That's why David has my heartbeat.”
“Yes.”
“Why did I give him my memory?”
“You didn't know.”
“Then who did?”
The first Emily looked at Sarah.
Sarah lowered her eyes.
Daniel stared at his wife.
“You did this.”
Sarah began crying.
“I had no choice.”
“You put my memory into my son?”
“To protect him.”
“From what?”
“From Evelyn.”
Daniel's voice shook.
“What memory?”
Sarah looked at the screen.
“The memory of the night you were born.”
Daniel felt a pressure in his head.
A flash.
Elena holding him.
Thomas screaming.
Margaret running.
The black-eyed creature standing in the corner.
Then a gunshot.
Daniel grabbed the bed.
The memory became clearer.
Elena was crying.
She looked at the baby.
“Don't let him take him.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“I won't.”
The creature entered.
Elena screamed.
“Run!”
Thomas grabbed the baby.
The creature attacked.
Thomas fell.
Margaret appeared.
She took the baby.
And then Elena looked directly at Daniel.
Even as a newborn, he could somehow feel her fear.
She whispered:
“Remember me.”
The memory ended.
Daniel collapsed into a chair.
“She knew.”
The first Emily nodded.
“She knew you would forget.”
“Why?”
“Because the creature erased you.”
Daniel looked at it.
“You erased my memories.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your memories were dangerous.”
“To you?”
“To everyone.”
Daniel stood.
“What did I remember?”
The creature smiled.
“The truth about Evelyn.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“What truth?”
The creature said nothing.
The first Emily stepped forward.
“She wasn't the first.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“Evelyn wasn't the beginning.”
“Then who was?”
The girl pointed at the creature.
“Him.”
Daniel stared.
“What is his name?”
The creature smiled.
“Call me Morgan.”
Daniel frowned.
“Morgan isn't a first name.”
“It was never meant to be.”
The creature walked into the room.
“I was the first person your family copied.”
Daniel looked around.
“All these people?”
“Copies of copies.”
“Then what were you before?”
The creature's expression darkened.
“A man.”
Daniel waited.
“My name was Elias.”
The name echoed through the chamber.
Sarah suddenly gasped.
Daniel turned.
“You know him?”
Sarah nodded.
“He was Thomas's father.”
Daniel looked at Elias.
“You're my great-grandfather?”
“Biologically.”
“But you aren't human anymore.”
Elias smiled.
“Not entirely.”
“What happened?”
“Evelyn found my research.”
“And?”
“She improved it.”
Daniel stared.
“Improved it?”
“She learned how to move memories.”
“And you became this.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elias looked toward the photographs.
“Because I wanted to survive.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You destroyed generations of people to survive.”
“No.”
Elias smiled.
“They volunteered.”
Daniel glanced at the seven duplicates.
“They volunteered?”
Elias nodded.
“Some did.”
“And the others?”
“Evelyn chose them.”
Daniel felt anger rising.
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn believed love was weakness.”
Daniel thought of Sarah.
“She was wrong.”
Elias looked at him.
“Was she?”
Daniel said nothing.
Elias walked toward David.
Daniel immediately blocked him.
“Don't touch my son.”
Elias smiled.
“I don't need to.”
He pointed toward the monitor.
“His memory is already opening.”
The second heartbeat accelerated.
David suddenly gasped.
His eyes opened.
“Daddy?”
Daniel grabbed his hand.
“I'm here.”
David looked terrified.
“Daddy, I saw her.”
“Who?”
“Mommy.”
Sarah stepped forward.
“David.”
He shook his head.
“Not you.”
Sarah froze.
David pointed toward the wall.
“The other Mommy.”
Daniel felt cold.
“What did she tell you?”
David began crying.
“She said you killed her.”
Daniel looked at Sarah.
Then at the first Emily.
Then at Elias.
David whispered:
“She said you have to kill Daddy.”
Sarah's face went white.
Daniel slowly turned toward her.
Sarah shook her head.
“No.”
David continued.
“She said if you don't...”
His voice broke.
“What?”
David looked at Daniel.
“She'll kill Emily.”
A loud metallic bang echoed through the chamber.
The red door slammed shut.
Daniel spun around.
Elias was gone.
The first Emily was gone.
Only Daniel, Sarah, Emily, and David remained.
Then the lights turned red.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Evelyn's voice filled the room.
“Daniel.”
He looked up.
“It's time.”
Sarah stepped backward.
“What did you do?”
Evelyn laughed.
“I didn't do anything.”
Daniel stared at the speaker.
“Where are you?”
“Upstairs.”
“What do you want?”
“You.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“You've had me before.”
“Yes.”
“Then why now?”
A pause.
“Because now you remember enough.”
The speaker crackled.
“And I need you to remember one final thing.”
“What?”
Evelyn's voice became almost a whisper.
“The night you killed Sarah...”
Daniel's blood froze.
“You weren't trying to save her.”
The lights went out.
Sarah screamed.
Then Emily disappeared from Daniel's arms.
Daniel shouted:
“EMILY!”
A child's laughter echoed through the darkness.
Not Emily's.
The first Emily's.
Then Evelyn whispered:
“She chose you.”
Daniel turned toward Sarah.
“What does that mean?”
Sarah was crying.
“It means she found the memory.”
“What memory?”
Sarah looked at him.
“The one that proves who killed Elena.”
Daniel froze.
“My real mother?”
Sarah nodded.
“And the person who killed her wasn't Elias.”
Daniel's heart pounded.
“Then who?”
Sarah whispered:
“It was you.”
Silence.
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Sarah's voice broke.
“You were only a baby.”
“Then how?”
“I don't know.”
A light suddenly flickered on.
Daniel looked toward the wall.
A new recording appeared.
A newborn baby.
Elena.
Thomas.
Margaret.
Elias.
And Evelyn.
Then the image changed.
The baby began crying.
Evelyn picked him up.
She looked directly into the camera.
And said:
“This is the child who will replace me.”
Daniel stared.
Then another figure entered the room.
A younger Daniel.
Not a baby.
Twenty years old.
He walked toward Evelyn.
And smiled.
The recording showed him holding a syringe.
He approached Elena.
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“No...”
The younger version of himself whispered:
“I'm sorry, Mom.”
Then he injected Elena.
She collapsed.
The recording ended.
Daniel stood motionless.
Sarah was crying.
David was unconscious again.
And Emily was still missing.
Then a voice whispered from behind Daniel.
His own voice.
“You wanted the truth.”
Daniel slowly turned.
His duplicate was standing there.
But this time...
he wasn't smiling.
He was holding Emily.
And beside him stood Evelyn.
She looked directly into Daniel's eyes.
“Now choose.”
Daniel stared at his daughter.
Evelyn raised a knife.
“Your daughter...”
Then she pointed it toward Sarah.
“...or your wife.”
Daniel's world narrowed to two faces.
Emily.
Sarah.
May you like
And a choice he had already made once.
But couldn't remember.
