Chapter 10 - THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN
The hospital burned behind us.
Not completely.
Just enough.
Enough to destroy evidence.
Enough to erase another piece of history.
Victor Kane disappeared.
Elias disappeared.
And I was left standing outside with Captain Hayes.
Again.
Two people I couldn’t trust.
Two people connected to everything.
I looked at Hayes.
“Tell me the truth.”
He looked exhausted.
“I have been.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You’ve been telling me pieces.”
He looked away.
“That was the only way to keep you alive.”
I laughed.
“People always say that when they’re hiding something.”
We returned to the station.
But something was different.
People were watching me.
Whispering.
Then I saw the news.
My face appeared on the screen.
Headline:
DETECTIVE JAMES MILLER CONNECTED TO SECRET EXPERIMENT PROGRAM.
My stomach dropped.
Someone leaked everything.
But not the truth.
A twisted version.
According to the report, I was involved.
I was part of Project Mirror.
I helped create Elias Voss.
I helped cover up murders.
I looked at Hayes.
“They’re making me the monster.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what they always do.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“They don’t destroy the truth.”
“They replace it.”
My phone vibrated.
A final message.
A photo.
A courtroom.
An old courtroom.
The caption:
“Remember your first confession.”
I opened the image.
And froze.
Because the person standing in the courtroom was me.
But I was younger.
Twenty years old.
And sitting across from me…
Was my father.
Alive.
The message continued.
“You didn’t lose your memories.”
“You buried them.”
I felt dizzy.
Because suddenly I remembered something.
A conversation.
A night before my father disappeared.
He told me:
“James, if they ever ask what happened…”
“Don’t tell them the truth.”
“Tell them you don’t remember.”
I had spent twenty years believing someone stole my memories.
But maybe…
I gave them away.
The phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A familiar voice spoke.
Victor Kane.
“You’re finally close.”
I said nothing.
He continued.
“The truth is not that you were my experiment.”
A pause.
“The truth is that you volunteered.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
“You wanted to forget.”
The call ended.
I looked at the old photograph.
My younger self.
My father.
The courtroom.
Then I noticed something in the corner.
A person standing behind us.
Watching.
A person whose face had been hidden.
Until now.
I zoomed in.
And my entire world stopped.
May you like
Because the person behind me…
Was me.
