Echoes Multiply
833 Words
The air shifted—thick, tense, electric.
Rina’s heartbeat echoed in her ears, pounding like a war drum.
She took a step back.
The girls standing under the streetlight didn’t move. Not even to blink. Each wore the same school uniform. The same expression.
Each one had her face.
Perfect copies.
“Clones?” Lala whispered. “Or memory echoes?”
“I don’t know,” Rina replied, barely breathing. “But they’re wrong.”
Suddenly, Amelia stepped forward.
Unlike the others, she blinked.
Unlike the others, she smiled differently—not vacant, not blank. Just… sad.
“Rina,” she called out. Her voice sounded tired. Familiar. Human.
“You shouldn’t have broken the wall,” Amelia said. “You let them out.”
Rina clenched her fists. “What are they?”
Amelia tilted her head. “Versions of you. All the ones that didn’t survive. That looped wrong. That rebelled. That fractured.”
One of the Rinas at the back twitched violently—then split in half, dissolving into glitchy static before reforming again.
Rina felt bile rise in her throat.
“They’re unstable,” Lala said grimly.
“They’re deteriorating,” Amelia corrected. “They weren’t meant to be outside the system. But now that the school’s collapsed… they’ve latched onto the last stable mind they remember.”
“Me,” Rina realized.
“Not just you.” Amelia’s eyes flicked to Lala. “Her too.”
“They’re hunting us?” Lala asked, taking a defensive stance.
“They’re looking for a home,” Amelia said softly. “And if they can’t find one…”
She didn’t finish.
The front-most Rina twin took a step forward. Her smile tore open, splitting unnaturally wide across her face.
Lala pulled Rina behind her. “Get ready.”
But Amelia raised her hand.
And the doppelgangers stopped—mid-motion—frozen like marionettes.
“I can’t hold them long,” she said through gritted teeth. Her voice began to glitch. “You need to find the original anchor.”
Rina’s eyes narrowed. “You mean Claire?”
Amelia shook her head.
“No,” she rasped. “Claire was just the first victim.
You need to find the Architect.”
The word dropped like a bomb.
“The one who built the loops,” Amelia continued. “The one who programmed the resets. She was once human… but she merged herself into the system to control it forever.”
“Where is she?” Rina asked.
Amelia’s eyes started bleeding digital static. “She’s in you.”
For a second, everything froze.
Rina felt something surge in her chest—something cold and ancient and alive.
“She embedded herself into your consciousness,” Amelia choked. “That’s why you survived. You’re her failsafe.”
“No.” Rina backed away. “No, I’m not her.”
“Then prove it,” Amelia gasped, her skin beginning to c***k. “Find where she’s hiding.”
Suddenly, the copies screamed in unison.
Ear-piercing. Inhuman.
Amelia screamed too—and then shattered into a billion data particles, disintegrating in midair.
The echoes charged.
Lala yanked Rina by the arm, and they bolted.
Through the alleyways. Down twisted streets. Past broken signs and flickering traffic lights.
Behind them, they could hear the copies—running, snarling, glitching.
“They’re collapsing!” Lala shouted.
“But they’ll take us down with them if they get too close!” Rina shouted back.
Suddenly, the ground cracked—and they both fell into blackness.
Somewhere Between
Rina opened her eyes in a pure white space.
No shadows. No sound. Just void.
Then—a voice.
Not Claire’s. Not Amelia’s.
Not even her own.
“You shouldn’t have woken up.”
From the distance, a figure approached.
A woman—tall, elegant, ageless. Wearing a pristine version of the academy uniform, stitched in silver.
Her eyes were like broken mirrors.
“You’re the Architect,” Rina whispered.
The woman smiled.
“I built the loops. I perfected the cycles. You were my prototype.”
She stepped closer.
“And now you’ve gone too far.”
Rina stood her ground. “You used us. All of us.”
“I preserved you,” the Architect said. “Made you immortal. Untouchable. Why do you think you haven’t aged a single day in twelve years?”
Rina’s voice cracked. “That wasn’t life.”
“It was better,” the Architect said. “Perfect. Clean. Safe. But you let Claire infect you with doubt. And now the system is rotting.”
She reached out.
“You can still fix it. Merge with me again. We can start fresh.”
Rina looked down at her own hands.
They were beginning to glow.
Power surged through her. Claire’s code. Lala’s rebellion. Amelia’s sacrifice.
“I’m not merging with you,” she said quietly.
“I’m ending you.”
- Writer
