The city looked the same, but everything had changed. Marrin stepped out into the street with Calvin at her side, the air thick with smoke and the acrid scent of burnt metal. The night was quiet, almost unnaturally so, as if the world itself was holding its breath after the chaos in Genesis headquarters.
She could still feel it—her clone's presence lingering inside her. Memories she hadn't lived, feelings that weren't hers, emotions echoing faintly at the edge of her mind. Every step she took was accompanied by a whisper of what had been stolen and returned.
Calvin kept glancing at her, his hands clenched in fists. "You okay?"
Marrin swallowed hard. "I… I think so. Mostly. But it's like a shadow is following me, inside my head."
He reached out, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
