Innocent me.... Episode 16
297 Words
Ella’s whole body went rigid at the sound of the voice. It echoed through the empty mansion like it had been trapped there for years.
“That’s… not possible,” she whispered.
Jayden stepped slightly forward, his posture tense. “Show yourself.”
A slow, deliberate sound of footsteps came from the upper floor. One step… then another… until a figure finally appeared at the top of the staircase.
A man stood there.
Older. Pale. Tired eyes.
And unmistakably… familiar.
Ella’s breath caught painfully. “Dad?”
The man didn’t answer immediately. He just watched her, as if memorizing her face all over again.
Then he spoke softly, “You shouldn’t have come here.”
Ella shook her head, tears forming instantly. “Everyone told me you left. They said you abandoned us.”
Her father’s expression darkened with something between sadness and regret. “I never left you, Ella.”
Jayden’s jaw tightened. “Then where have you been?”
The man slowly walked down the stairs. “Hiding.”
“From what?” Ella asked shakily.
At that moment, another voice interrupted from the shadows behind them.
“From the truth she was never supposed to remember.”
Ella spun around.
The hooded man stood there again—free.
But this time, he wasn’t alone.
Behind him were files scattered across a table, covered in photos of Ella… Jayden… and Ryan Cole.
And at the center of it all was a single word written in bold red ink:
“SUBJECT E-1: ELLA MORGAN.”
Ella’s knees weakened instantly.
Jayden moved closer to her protectively, eyes burning with anger. “What is this?”
The hooded man stepped forward slowly. “She was never just a girl.”
A pause.
“She was an experiment.”
- Writer
