Ashes of Him

The Mirror

The lake had never looked more like glass—reflective, deceptive. As dawn broke over Ashvale, the mist hung low, curling like smoke across the water’s surface. Beneath it, under fifty feet of concrete and secrets, lay the facility known only to those who’d built it: The Mirror.

Ella stood on the edge of the wooden dock, staring out at the lake with tightened fists. Ivy and Mason flanked her, both silent, both changed. The weight of the truth,the existence of her replacement had hollowed something out in all of them.

"There’s a hatch," Ivy whispered, pointing toward the far side of the lake. "It’s disguised as an old pump house. That’s the entering point."

Mason’s jaw was tight. "And the security?"

"Automated for the most part. But if we trip a sensor, they’ll know we’re there."

Ella nodded. "Then we don’t trip anything."

The pump house was a rotting structure with rusted pipes poking from its roof and walls. It looked abandoned, forgotten but Ella had learned that in Ashvale, appearances were weapons.Inside, beneath a false floor and Ivy revealed a keypad embedded in the cement.

She keyed in a six-digit code.

Nothing happened.

She tried again. "They changed the code."

"Back up plan?" Mason asked.

Ivy pulled out a sleek device—a digital bypass tool. "It’ll take sixty seconds. Cover me."

Ella stood at the door with Mason as Ivy knelt at the panel. The silence pressed in. Seconds ticked by. Then, with a soft hiss, the door slid open, revealing a steep staircase of steel that vanished into darkness.

No alarms. No resistance.

That was almost worse.

The descent into The Mirror was like walking into another world. Fluorescent lights illuminated the narrow corridors.At the end of the hallway, a heavy door bore the words: “Phase 13B – Observation.”

Ella pressed her ear to the door. Muffled voices.

She glanced at the others,took a deep breath and pushed it open. Inside was a room with white couches,bookshelves and tea set on a side table.And in the center, sitting on the floor with her leg crossed, was a girl.

Ella

But not her.

Younger,softer eyes that hadn’t seen truth yet.

She looked up and smiled. "Hi. Are you here to visit?"

Ella’s heart hurt.

"What’s your name?" she asked, her voice barely coming out

The girl beamed. "Ella. Ella Grace. What’s yours?"

Mason stepped forward but Ivy grabbed his arm.

"She doesn’t know who is yet," Ivy whispered. "They haven’t told her. She thinks this is her life."

Ella took a careful step closer to her."Do you know Dana Kingsley?"

The girl frowned her face. "She’s my counselor. She says I’m doing great. That I've improved so much"

Ella’s stomach rolled. "Improved in what?"

"Learning who I was supposed to be."

The door behind them open

Mason turned.

Dana Kingsley stood there. Cold,composed with a clipboard in one hand.

"I see the experiment has been perfected" she said.

Ivy raised her weapon. "You’re done, Dana."

Dana didn’t react "You think I didn’t anticipate this? You think letting you find this place was by mistake?"

Ella stepped between Dana and her clone. "Why her? Why me again?"

"Because, dear, you were our most stable subject. Even after the collapse,you came back and you remembered. That’s success but you fought it. She won’t."

Ella's voice broke "You’re trying to erase me."

"No,we are replacing you" Dana said, smiling faintly

A siren suddenly blared. Red lights spun across the ceiling.

"Time’s up," Dana said, moving toward a hidden panel. "Phase 13B is no longer experimental. It’s operational."

She clicked on a button and disappeared through a sliding wall.

Mason grabbed the young clone’s arm. "We have to go."

She resisted"I don’t know you."

Ella knelt in front of her. "You do .Somewhere inside, you know this is something not feeling right. You know who you really are."

"They said I was made to love. To be loyal." Ella held her gaze. "Then trust yourself. Not what they told you."

"They’re sealing us in. We have minutes." Ivy roared

Ella stood, heart beating really fast "We’re not leaving her."

Mason nodded. "Then let’s break her out."

As the alarms blared and the corridors flashed red, the trio and their duplicate ran.

Down corridors of glass and echoes.

Through labs filled with digital hallucinations and training rooms built for lies.

At the exit shaft, the door was closing gradually.

Ivy wedged her body between it and the wall, screaming as Mason pulled the others through.

"Go!" she shouted.

Ella turned back. "No!"

"I’ll catch up! Move!"

They moved upward into the storm, the clone sobbing, Ella pulling her close.As the hatch slammed shut behind them, and The Mirror disappeared beneath the surface, Ella looked down at the girl—at her

self.

Not broken.

Not whole.

But real.

And worth fighting for.