A Familiar Scar
940 Words
The next morning—or what I assumed was morning—Ella brought breakfast.
I didn’t touch it.
She didn’t ask why.
“Raffael wants to see you in the East Wing,” she said quietly. “Wear this.”
She placed a black coat over the foot of the bed, neatly folded, like it was something normal. Like this was school. Like we were friends.
I didn’t move.
“Do I have a choice?” I asked.
“No,” she said, honest as always. “But you can choose how you survive it.”
---
The East Wing was different from the lab or my room. It looked like an art museum—hallways of marble, soft lighting, and expensive paintings. But behind the elegance, the tension was sharp. The guards here didn’t smile. Cameras followed every move.
Raffael was waiting in a wide room, dressed again in that perfect black. This time, he was staring at a wall of monitors.
Footage.
Security feeds.
One of them showed a boy in a cell.
My knees weakened.
“Chris.”
His name slipped from my mouth like a prayer.
Raffael didn’t turn around. “We’ve kept our word. He’s unharmed.”
“What do you want from him?” I snapped. “He’s not part of this.”
“No,” Raffael said, “but you are. And he’s the piece that makes sure you play.”
I walked toward him, fists clenched. “You’re a monster.”
He finally turned, calm as ever. “No. Monsters act without reason. I act with purpose.”
“I won’t do it. I won’t make your drug.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That’s unfortunate.”
Then he tapped the keyboard.
Another screen lit up.
And I froze.
It was me. Ten years ago. CCTV footage. A child, hiding behind a cabinet as flames tore through a house. The fire. The screams. The night my parents died.
My heart stopped.
“That’s not possible,” I whispered.
“There were cameras that night. Hidden ones. Not by us, but by someone else. A rival gang. They recorded everything.”
I stared at the screen, trembling. I knew this scene too well. But then—something I’d never seen before.
A man. Tall. Armed. Dragging someone out of the flames.
My mother.
She was alive.
At least for a moment.
“Who is that?” I choked.
“We don’t know yet,” Raffael said. “But we will. And if you work with us, you can find out everything. The truth. No lies this time.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“I thought they died instantly,” I whispered.
“Everyone did. But maybe... it wasn’t just a fire. Maybe it was something bigger.”
Another twist. Another hook in my heart.
He was good at this.
Too good.
“You’re manipulating me,” I said through clenched teeth.
“I’m giving you a choice.”
“And if I say no?”
He paused. “Then your brother disappears. And so does every trace of your past.”
---
I spent hours in the lab that day, pretending to work while my mind spiraled.
The serum’s structure was simple on paper. But adding what they wanted—triggers for obedience, silence of memory, controlled fear—would take weeks.
Good. That gave me time.
Time to plan.
Time to destroy them.
But I had to be careful. Every move I made was watched.
Every sample I touched was logged.
Except… one.
A vial on the back shelf. Labeled X-31. I recognized it instantly.
It wasn’t part of my original formula.
But it was something I’d created in college by accident.
A compound that enhanced memory—temporarily. It had been too unstable to use.
But what if…
I slipped it into my coat pocket when no one was watching.
That night, back in my room, I uncapped the vial and swallowed a drop.
Just a drop.
Just enough.
---
The memories hit me like a wave.
But they weren’t mine.
They weren’t recent.
I saw a hospital.
A woman—my mother—screaming.
A man holding her hand.
Then a mark.
A tattoo on his wrist.
A black serpent.
Klan Umbra.
No.
No no no.
Raffael…?
Was that his father?
Was it him?
My vision blurred.
Then everything went dark.
---
When I woke up, Ella was there.
She looked pale.
“What happened?” she asked.
I sat up slowly. “I took a memory enhancer.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s dangerous.”
“So is lying.”
She swallowed hard. “What did you see?”
I stared at her.
“You already know, don’t you?”
She didn’t answer.
Instead, she sat beside me, holding her hands together tightly.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” she whispered.
“I used to work at the same hospital your mother gave birth in.”
I froze.
“She wasn’t just some civilian caught in a fire,” Ella said. “She was one of us. A chemist. Like you.”
I couldn’t speak.
“She created the first version of the obedience serum. Decades ago. But when she realized what they planned to use it for, she ran.”
Everything spun.
“And you just let me live this whole time not knowing?”
“It wasn’t my choice,” she said, eyes filled with regret. “But if they find out you know... they’ll kill you.”
Another twist. Another lie uncovered.
Nothing in my life had ever been simple.
Not even my family.
- Writer
