Chapter 6
1253 Words
CHAPTER SIX
WHAT I DIDN'T REMEMBER
“You killed your sister.”
The words wouldn't leave my head.
I stared at the grey-haired man.
“That's a lie.”
He smiled.
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Because I didn't know.
I didn't remember.
And that frightened me more than anything.
Liyana stepped forward.
“Don't listen to him.”
The man looked at her.
“You've always been protective of her.”
“Because she's my sister.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Because you owe her.”
Liyana's expression changed.
“Owe me what?”
The man didn't answer.
Adrian stepped between us.
“Father, leave.”
His father laughed.
“You still don't understand, do you?”
“Understand what?”
“The girl you spent seven years protecting isn't the innocent one.”
I looked at Adrian.
“Is that true?”
He didn't answer.
“Adrian.”
His eyes met mine.
“I don't know what happened that night.”
“But you know something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
He looked at Liyana.
Then at me.
“You weren't alone.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Someone else was in the room.”
“Who?”
He hesitated.
“Your mother.”
My stomach dropped.
“My mother was there?”
“Yes.”
Liyana shook her head.
“No. She wasn't.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You weren't there.”
“I know what happened.”
“You know what you were told.”
Silence.
I stepped backward.
Everyone was lying.
Or everyone believed a different version of the truth.
Then suddenly—
A sound.
A door slamming.
My head began to hurt.
I grabbed the wall.
“Liyana?”
My vision blurred.
The corridor disappeared.
I was somewhere else.
A bedroom.
Seven years ago.
Two girls stood in front of me.
Me.
And Elena.
She was crying.
“Please, don't do this.”
My hands were shaking.
“I have to.”
“No, you don't.”
“She'll hurt us.”
“Who?”
“Mom.”
Elena stepped closer.
“She won't.”
“She already did.”
I looked down.
There was something in my hand.
A small silver key.
Elena reached for it.
I pulled away.
“You can't have it.”
“Liyana, please.”
“I said no!”
The door suddenly opened.
Our mother stood there.
Her face was terrified.
“Girls.”
Elena turned.
“Mom—”
Our mother rushed toward us.
Then everything went black.
I gasped.
The memory vanished.
I fell to my knees.
Adrian caught me.
“Liyana!”
I pushed him away.
“I remember.”
Everyone froze.
“What?” Liyana whispered.
“I remember the room.”
Her face changed.
“What room?”
“The bedroom.”
She stepped closer.
“What happened?”
I looked at her.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You were crying.”
She nodded slowly.
“And Mom came in.”
Our mother.
I looked toward the hospital corridor.
She wasn't there.
I suddenly understood.
“She knows.”
Adrian frowned.
“Knows what?”
“What happened that night.”
Liyana grabbed my arm.
“Tell me.”
“I had a key.”
“What key?”
“I don't know.”
My head throbbed again.
Then another memory surfaced.
A locked door.
A metal box.
Our mother kneeling beside it.
She was crying.
She looked at me and said:
“If anyone asks, Elena died.”
I opened my eyes.
Liyana's face was pale.
“She said that?”
I nodded.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Then Adrian spoke.
“Where is the key?”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“The key from your memory.”
“I don't have it.”
“You might.”
I checked my pockets.
Nothing.
Liyana suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“Wait.”
She turned my hand over.
Her eyes widened.
“What's wrong?”
She pointed at the tattoo.
XVII.
“That's not a patient number.”
I frowned.
“What is it?”
She whispered:
“It's a room number.”
My heart stopped.
“Room seventeen?”
She nodded.
“Where?”
Adrian's expression changed.
“I know where.”
“Where?”
He looked toward the hospital basement.
“Under this hospital.”
I stared at him.
“There's a room seventeen?”
“There used to be.”
“Used to be?”
“It was sealed seven years ago.”
“Why?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Liyana did.
“Because that's where the memory treatment happened.”
My blood ran cold.
“You mean the procedure?”
“Yes.”
“Then we need to go there.”
Adrian immediately shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if that room still contains what I think it does, you won't like what you find.”
I stared at him.
“I'm done being protected.”
I walked toward the stairs.
Liyana followed.
Adrian sighed.
Then followed us.
---
The basement was colder than before.
We walked through a long corridor.
At the very end was a steel door.
There was no number.
No handle.
Just a small keypad.
Adrian entered a code.
The door opened.
Inside was a room covered in dust.
An old hospital bed.
Medical equipment.
A camera.
And a large mirror.
I walked toward it.
My reflection stared back.
Then I noticed something.
Someone had scratched words into the glass.
YOU REMEMBERED TOO LATE.
Liyana stood beside me.
“What does that mean?”
I touched the words.
The mirror suddenly shifted.
A hidden compartment opened behind it.
Inside was a metal box.
My heart pounded.
I opened it.
There were dozens of documents.
Photographs.
Medical records.
And one envelope.
My name was written on it.
LIYANA MKHIZE.
I opened it.
Inside was a single handwritten letter.
I read the first line.
And stopped breathing.
«If you're reading this, then the memory procedure failed.»
I looked at Adrian.
“Who wrote this?”
He didn't answer.
I continued reading.
«You were never supposed to remember Elena.»
My hands trembled.
Then I reached the final line.
It was signed with a name.
Not my mother's.
Not Adrian's.
Not Elena's.
It was signed:
Liyana Mkhize.
I looked at the woman standing beside me.
She was staring at the letter.
“I didn't write that.”
I turned the page over.
There was a photograph attached.
A photograph of me.
Sitting in this exact room.
Seven years ago.
But I wasn't alone.
Someone was sitting beside me.
A woman whose face had been scratched out.
Underneath the photograph were four words:
SHE WAS YOUR THIRD SISTER.
Liyana whispered:
“We never had a third sister.”
The lights went out.
A voice came from the darkness.
“Yes, you did.”
We turned.
A woman stepped out from behind the door.
She was holding the same silver key from my memory.
She smiled at me.
And I knew her face.
Because I had seen it before.
In my mother's house.
In every family photograph.
Except every photograph had been edited to remove her.
The woman looked at me.
“Hello, Elena.”
Then she smiled.
“It's time you remembered me.”
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