The Final Page
782 Words
04:31…
The countdown echoed through the collapsing chamber.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
The steel barrier that separated them from Arthur refused to move.
Vivian stared at the last page of Daniel Hart’s journal.
Her hands trembled.
Written in bold black ink were the words:
“Trust neither Arthur… nor Vivian.”
Silence.
Nadia slowly looked at her sister.
Vivian looked as shocked as everyone else.
“No…” she whispered.
“I’ve never seen this page.”
Adrian took the journal from her and examined it carefully.
Daniel’s handwriting was unmistakable.
It was genuine.
Nadia stepped back.
“My father warned me not to trust you.”
Vivian’s eyes filled with tears.
“I don’t know why.”
⸻
Another explosion rocked the chamber.
03:58
Sarah shouted over the noise.
“We don’t have time for this!”
Adrian nodded.
“Daniel never wrote anything without a reason.”
He turned another page.
There was nothing.
Then he held the journal near the fireplace.
Invisible ink slowly appeared.
A second message emerged beneath the first.
“If Vivian remembers everything… trust her. If she doesn’t… run.”
Everyone froze.
Vivian frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian looked at her.
“It means your memories may have been altered too.”
Vivian shook her head.
“No…”
But even as she denied it, flashes of forgotten moments began surfacing.
A laboratory.
Bright lights.
Doctors.
Arthur standing beside a hospital bed.
A syringe.
Then…
Darkness.
⸻
Vivian collapsed to her knees.
She clutched her head.
“I remember…”
Nadia rushed to her side.
“What do you remember?”
Vivian’s voice cracked.
“I wasn’t protecting you…”
“I was watching you.”
The room fell silent.
Arthur had done more than erase Emily’s memories.
He had rewritten Vivian’s.
For years, she’d believed she was acting on her own choices.
In reality, she had been manipulated into becoming Arthur’s unwitting guardian of Project Phoenix.
⸻
Suddenly, a hidden speaker crackled to life.
Arthur’s voice filled the room.
“Congratulations, Vivian.”
“You finally remembered.”
Vivian looked around wildly.
“You monster!”
Arthur laughed.
“I gave you purpose.”
“You stole my life!”
“I improved it.”
⸻
Adrian spotted another concealed panel behind the fireplace.
He forced it open.
Inside was a narrow escape shaft leading upward.
“This way!”
Sarah ushered the rescued survivors toward the ladder.
Nadia helped Vivian to her feet.
But Vivian refused to move.
“I can’t leave.”
“We have to!” Nadia cried.
Vivian shook her head.
“Not until we stop Arthur.”
⸻
The countdown reached…
02:30
The chamber shook violently.
Cracks spread across the walls.
Concrete blocks crashed to the floor.
Arthur’s escape route was somewhere beyond the sealed barrier.
Vivian looked at Adrian.
“You still have the flash drive?”
He nodded.
She smiled faintly.
“Good.”
Before anyone realized what she intended, Vivian snatched the flash drive from Adrian’s hand and ran toward the control panel beside the barrier.
“Vivian!” Nadia screamed.
Vivian inserted the drive into a hidden port.
The system beeped.
A message appeared on the screen:
PROJECT PHOENIX DATABASE DETECTED
DELETE ALL FILES?
YES / NO
Arthur’s voice exploded through the speakers.
“Don’t touch that!”
Vivian looked at Nadia one last time.
“Our father died protecting the truth.”
“It’s my turn.”
She pressed…
YES.
Every monitor in the Vault flashed red.
DATABASE ERASURE: 1%… 5%… 12%…
Arthur roared with rage from somewhere beyond the walls.
“No!”
He pounded against the sealed barrier.
“You have no idea what you’ve done!”
Vivian smiled through tears.
“I finally do.”
⸻
The countdown continued.
01:47
Alarms merged into one deafening scream.
The database deletion climbed to 42%.
Adrian grabbed Nadia.
“We have to leave!”
“But Vivian—”
“I’ll catch up!” Vivian shouted.
“Go!”
Nadia hesitated.
Vivian nodded firmly.
“For once…”
“…trust me.”
With tears streaming down her face, Nadia climbed into the escape shaft with Adrian and Sarah.
As the hatch closed behind them, she heard Arthur screaming in fury while the deletion reached 73%.
She had no idea whether Vivian would escape.
Or whether this would be the last time she ever saw her sister.
End of Episode 15.
Cliffhanger
As Nadia emerges into the night air, her phone vibrates.
A message from an unknown number appears.
It contains only one sentence:
“The woman you call your mother has been lying since the day you were born.”
- Writer
