CHAPTER TWENTY: THE ORIGINAL BLACK ROOM
1587 Words
The old man smiled.
That was what frightened Sophia most.
Not the message.
Not the countdown.
Not even the threat against Lily.
His smile.
He had been waiting for this.
“You knew,” Sophia said.
He said nothing.
“You knew they would come for me.”
“I knew they would eventually.”
“You knew about Anna.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the fourth child.”
“Yes.”
Sophia's grip tightened around her gun.
“And you knew the woman we've been calling Lily isn't my sister.”
He looked at her calmly.
“I knew you would discover it.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is the only answer that matters.”
Cassian stepped between them.
“Enough.”
The old man looked at him.
“You should be careful, Cassian.”
“Why?”
“Because you may discover that your family was never as innocent as you believed.”
Cassian's expression hardened.
“My family was murdered.”
“Some of them.”
Cassian went still.
“What does that mean?”
The old man turned away.
“We don't have time.”
Sophia stepped forward.
“Then we're going to the original Black Room.”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
He looked at her.
“You already know.”
Sophia frowned.
“I've never been there.”
“You have.”
A memory flashed through her mind.
A long corridor.
White walls.
A black door.
A number painted beside it.
017.
Sophia's breathing changed.
“No.”
Her grandfather nodded.
“The facility beneath the old research center.”
Daniel looked shocked.
“It was destroyed.”
“Not completely.”
Victor suddenly stepped forward.
“I know where it is.”
Everyone turned.
Victor looked at Sophia.
“I found it twenty years ago.”
“And you never told me?”
“I didn't know who I could trust.”
Sophia laughed bitterly.
“You should have started with me.”
Victor lowered his eyes.
“You were a child.”
“I wasn't a child anymore.”
“I know.”
A distant alarm began sounding.
Cassian looked toward the corridor.
“We need to move.”
Daniel nodded.
“Now.”
They left the archive through a narrow service passage.
Sophia stayed beside Cassian.
“Are you sure you want to come?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
“You don't know what we're walking into.”
“I know.”
“You could die.”
“So could you.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is.”
Sophia looked away.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Cassian reached for her hand.
She let him.
“We come back together,” he said.
Sophia looked at him.
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
They continued walking.
Behind them, Victor stopped.
Sophia noticed.
“What's wrong?”
Victor stared at the old man.
“You're coming with us?”
Her grandfather smiled.
“Of course.”
Victor's face hardened.
“You're the one they want.”
“No.”
The old man looked at Sophia.
“They want her.”
Sophia felt a chill.
“Why?”
“Because the original Black Room is not a building.”
He paused.
“It is a test.”
They reached the underground elevator.
Daniel entered a code.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Victor stepped forward.
“Move.”
He entered six numbers.
The doors opened.
Sophia stared at him.
“You knew the code.”
“I created it.”
The elevator descended.
Deeper.
And deeper.
The lights flickered as they passed underground levels.
Level one.
Level two.
Level three.
Level four.
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
Sophia froze.
A corridor stretched before them.
She recognized it.
The walls.
The lights.
The smell.
The doors.
Her memories came rushing back.
She was six again.
A little girl running barefoot.
A boy holding her hand.
A woman shouting.
A door closing.
Sophia stepped out.
“This is it.”
Daniel looked around.
“You've been here.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
Her grandfather walked past her.
“You were born here.”
Sophia turned sharply.
“What?”
Eleanor's voice came from behind.
“He's lying.”
The old man smiled.
“No.”
Sophia stared at him.
“You said I was born in a hospital.”
“That was the official record.”
“Where was I actually born?”
He looked at her.
“Here.”
Sophia felt sick.
“You took me from my mother.”
“No.”
“I was born here.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor was already part of the project.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I didn't know.”
“You knew enough.”
“I didn't know they would use my children.”
The old man looked at her.
“You helped build the system.”
“I tried to destroy it.”
“Too late.”
Sophia walked farther into the corridor.
A door stood open.
Inside was a small room.
A bed.
A chair.
A mirror.
And a child's drawing taped to the wall.
Three girls holding hands.
Sophia touched it.
“I drew this.”
Lily's voice came from somewhere behind her.
“No.”
Sophia turned.
The woman from the speakers stood in the doorway.
Anna.
Or Lily.
Whatever her real name was.
She wasn't holding a gun anymore.
Cassian raised his weapon.
She looked at him.
“You don't have to.”
“Where is my sister?”
She smiled.
“Which one?”
Sophia stepped forward.
“Stop playing games.”
The woman looked at her.
“You still don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
She walked into the room.
“The Black Room didn't create assassins.”
Sophia said nothing.
“It created replacements.”
She pointed toward the drawing.
“We were children who could be trained to become someone else.”
Sophia stared at her.
“You were trained too.”
“Yes.”
“Who were you supposed to replace?”
The woman smiled.
“You.”
Sophia froze.
“What?”
“They wanted me to become Sophia Hayes.”
Sophia's heart dropped.
“Why?”
“Because you were the original.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Victor whispered,
“No.”
The woman continued.
“They created another identity for me.”
She touched the drawing.
“Lily.”
Sophia stared at her.
“Then who is the girl I grew up with?”
The woman smiled sadly.
“She was the real Lily.”
Sophia's blood ran cold.
“Where is she?”
The woman's eyes moved toward the old man.
“Ask him.”
Sophia turned.
Her grandfather's expression had finally changed.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
“Where is Lily?”
He didn't answer.
Sophia raised her weapon.
“Where is my sister?”
The old man looked at the woman.
Then at Sophia.
“She died.”
Sophia's face went blank.
“No.”
“She died twenty years ago.”
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
The woman stepped forward.
“You were never supposed to remember her.”
Sophia's eyes filled with tears.
The memories came flooding back.
The blue ribbon.
The rabbit.
The promise.
A little girl's voice:
Don't forget me.
Sophia dropped to her knees.
“No…”
Cassian knelt beside her.
“Sophia.”
She pushed his hand away.
“I remember her.”
The woman watched silently.
“I remember Lily.”
Her voice broke.
“She was my sister.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
The woman looked toward the old man.
“He ordered her death.”
Sophia slowly stood.
She pointed her gun at him.
“You killed her.”
The old man stared at her.
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
“I saved you.”
“You killed my sister!”
“I chose you.”
Sophia's face twisted with anger.
“You had no right.”
“I had every right.”
“Why?”
The old man stepped toward her.
“Because Lily was never the one they feared.”
He pointed at Sophia.
“They feared you.”
The lights suddenly turned red.
A deep mechanical sound echoed through the corridor.
Daniel looked at the walls.
“What's happening?”
Victor's face went pale.
“The system is waking up.”
Sophia looked at the old man.
“What system?”
He smiled.
“The reason Project Echo was created.”
A screen appeared at the end of the corridor.
One line appeared.
WELCOME BACK, SUBJECT 017.
Then another.
MEMORY RESTORATION: 62%.
Sophia stared.
The number began increasing.
63%.
64%.
65%.
Her head began pounding.
The old man watched her.
“Now you will remember everything.”
Sophia screamed as the memories hit her.
And among them was one memory she had never seen before.
She was six years old.
Standing beside Lily.
And someone was lying dead on the floor.
Sophia looked down.
The body belonged to her grandfather.
But he was standing in front of her now.
Alive.
Sophia opened her eyes.
Her voice trembled.
“I killed you.”
The old man's smile disappeared.
And for the first time, he looked genuinely afraid.
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