THE FLOOR WASN'T THERE
1473 Words
Elena stood completely still.
Her own voice came from the other side of the door.
"Open the door."
Three more knocks.
Marcus backed away.
"No."
Elena looked at him.
"What?"
"Don't open it."
Adrian was already moving toward the door.
Elena caught his sleeve.
"Wait."
He looked at her.
"That's not you."
"I know."
"But it sounds like me."
"I know."
The woman who had called herself Miriam stood behind the desk, staring at the door with a frightened expression.
"Don't answer it."
Elena turned toward her.
"Who is outside?"
Miriam shook her head.
"Don't ask."
"Why?"
"Because if it hears you, it'll know you're still here."
The knocking stopped.
Silence filled the archive.
Elena stared at the door.
"Still here?"
Miriam looked away.
"What does that mean?"
Nothing.
"Miriam."
The woman slowly raised her eyes.
"You shouldn't have come back."
Elena's stomach tightened.
"Back?"
Miriam nodded.
"You've been here before."
"When?"
"You won't remember."
"I remember enough."
"No." Miriam shook her head. "You remember what they allowed you to remember."
Adrian moved toward the desk.
"What did you do with her?"
Miriam's eyes flashed.
"What did I do?"
"You were supposed to keep her hidden."
"I did."
"Then how did they find her?"
"I don't know."
"You always say that."
"And you always blame me."
Elena stepped between them.
"Stop."
They fell silent.
She looked at Miriam.
"You said my mother wasn't Subject 001."
"She wasn't."
"Then why does the file have her name?"
Miriam looked at the folder.
"Because they named her."
"Who?"
"The people who built this place."
Elena opened another page.
There were medical records.
Photographs.
Dates.
Handwritten notes.
One sentence had been circled repeatedly.
SUBJECT 001 RESPONDS TO ELENA.
She looked up.
"Why does she respond to me?"
Miriam's expression tightened.
"Because she was made from you."
Elena's fingers went cold.
"What?"
Adrian closed his eyes.
Miriam continued.
"They took pieces of your memories."
"From me?"
"Yes."
"And put them into her?"
"Not exactly."
"Then explain it."
Miriam hesitated.
"Your father believed memories could be transferred."
Elena stared at the file.
"He experimented on me."
"Yes."
"Since I was six?"
"Before that."
Elena felt sick.
"How old was I?"
Miriam looked down.
"Four."
The word seemed to echo.
Four.
Elena looked at the photographs again.
She was too young to remember any of them.
A little girl sitting in a chair.
Wires around her head.
Her father standing behind a glass wall.
A woman beside him.
Miriam.
And in the corner of one photograph was Adrian.
Much younger.
Watching.
Elena's breathing became uneven.
"You were there."
Adrian nodded.
"I was."
"How old were you?"
"Ten."
"You watched them do this to me?"
"I didn't understand what they were doing."
"You were there."
"Yes."
She closed the file.
"Everyone keeps telling me they were protecting me."
Nobody spoke.
"But nobody protected me."
Miriam looked at her.
"I tried."
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You knew what my father was doing."
"I knew enough."
"And you stayed?"
"I had nowhere else to go."
Elena stared at her.
"That's not an excuse."
"I know."
Miriam looked toward the door.
"Your father believed he could fix what happened to you."
"What happened to me?"
"You opened something you shouldn't have."
"The red door."
Miriam nodded.
"You were four."
Elena frowned.
"I thought I was six."
"They changed the records."
"Why?"
"Because they needed you to forget the first two years."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Why didn't you tell her?"
Miriam looked at him.
"Because you asked me not to."
Elena turned.
"You asked her?"
Adrian's expression hardened.
"I was trying to protect you."
"Again."
"Elena."
"No."
She stepped away.
"Stop using that word."
"What word?"
"Protect."
Her voice shook.
"Everyone uses it whenever they want to hide something."
Adrian didn't respond.
Miriam opened another drawer.
She removed a small box.
It was black.
The same black box from the photograph.
Elena stared.
"What's that?"
Miriam placed it on the desk.
"Your father left it."
"When?"
"The night he disappeared."
"What's inside?"
"I don't know."
"You never opened it?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because it has a lock."
Elena looked at the box.
There was no keyhole.
Only a small indentation shaped like a fingerprint.
She slowly reached toward it.
Adrian grabbed her wrist.
"Don't."
She looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because I know that box."
"How?"
"Your father showed it to me."
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"No."
He looked at the box.
"He told me never to let you touch it."
Elena pulled her hand away.
"Why?"
"Because he said it would remember you."
Marcus stared.
"Objects don't remember people."
Adrian looked at him.
"This place doesn't follow normal rules."
The knocking started again.
Three slow knocks.
Then a voice.
Elena's voice.
"Please."
Elena stared at the door.
The voice sounded different now.
Younger.
Like a child.
"Please open the door."
Miriam's face went pale.
"She's trying to get in."
"Who?"
"Subject 001."
Elena looked at the file.
"You said she was made from me."
"Yes."
"Then why does she want to get in?"
Miriam's eyes filled with tears.
"Because she believes you're holding something that belongs to her."
"The key?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Miriam looked at Elena.
"Your first memory."
The door shook.
Marcus jumped.
"She's trying to break it."
Adrian moved toward the door.
"Everyone get behind me."
Elena didn't move.
She was staring at the black box.
Something had appeared on its surface.
A tiny red mark.
The same symbol that had been on Marcus's wrist.
Elena looked at him.
"Your wrist."
Marcus stared at the symbol.
"It's glowing."
He looked terrified.
Miriam stepped back.
"No."
"What?"
"That's not supposed to happen."
The symbol on Marcus's wrist brightened.
The box clicked.
The lid opened.
Nobody touched it.
Inside was a single object.
A small cassette tape.
Elena stared.
"Who still uses those?"
Miriam looked at it.
"Your father."
Adrian's expression changed.
"He recorded something."
Miriam nodded.
"Yes."
Elena picked up the cassette.
There was a handwritten label.
FOR ELENA.
Her fingers trembled.
"Do we have anything to play it with?"
Miriam opened another drawer.
She removed an old cassette player.
Elena stared.
"Of course you have one."
Miriam didn't smile.
"Your father knew you'd need it."
Elena placed the cassette inside.
The player clicked.
Static filled the room.
Then a man's voice.
Her father's.
"Elena."
She froze.
Marcus stepped closer.
The recording continued.
"If you're hearing this, then you've found the archive."
Elena looked at Adrian.
He wasn't looking at her.
He was staring at the floor.
Her father's voice continued.
"Don't trust the records."
Elena's eyebrows pulled together.
"They were altered after the first incident. I couldn't stop them."
Static.
Then:
"The girl you know as Subject 001 isn't your copy."
Elena stopped breathing.
Miriam closed her eyes.
Adrian looked up.
The recording continued.
"She's the original."
Elena's hand went numb.
"No."
Her father's voice continued.
"You're the one they created afterward."
The cassette clicked.
Static.
Then his voice returned.
"I am sorry."
Elena stared at the machine.
Her father continued.
"I thought I could make another version of you."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"But I was wrong."
The recording stopped.
Silence.
Elena couldn't speak.
Marcus looked at Adrian.
"Did you know?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Elena turned toward him.
"Did you know?"
He looked at her.
"Not everything."
"But you knew something."
"Yes."
She nodded slowly.
"Of course."
The door shook violently.
Miriam screamed.
"Move!"
The wood cracked.
Something pushed from the other side.
Elena grabbed the cassette player.
Adrian caught her hand.
"We have to go."
"Where?"
"Anywhere but here."
The archive door split.
A small hand appeared through the c***k.
Elena froze.
The hand was tiny.
A child's hand.
Then a face appeared.
The second Elena.
Her eyes were full of tears.
"Please."
Elena stared at her.
The girl whispered:
"Don't let them erase me again."
The door burst open.
Miriam screamed.
Adrian pulled Elena backward.
Marcus ran toward the staircase.
The girl stepped into the archive.
She looked at Elena.
"I remember everything."
Elena couldn't move.
The girl pointed at the cassette in her hand.
"Your father lied."
Elena's heart dropped.
"About what?"
The girl's face changed.
"He didn't create you."
She took one step closer.
"You created me."
Silence.
Elena stared at her.
"What?"
The girl smiled through her tears.
"You were there when they made me."
The archive lights flickered.
The shelves began shaking.
Files fell to the floor.
Adrian grabbed Elena.
"We're leaving."
But Elena couldn't take her eyes off the girl.
Because the girl was no longer looking at her.
She was looking at Adrian.
And when she spoke again, her voice was filled with something Elena had never heard from her before.
Hate.
"You promised you'd never let her remember."
Adrian went still.
The girl smiled.
"But she is remembering now."
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