Episode 3 — Elena
1655 Words
Amara couldn’t move.
She stared at the woman standing inside Apartment 307.
The woman from the photographs.
The woman everyone had told her was missing.
Elena.
Alive.
For three years, Amara had never heard her name.
Yet the moment she saw her, something inside her screamed that she knew her.
Not her face.
Not her voice.
Something deeper.
Something buried.
“Elena?”
The woman’s smile disappeared.
She looked past Amara.
Straight at Ethan.
“Don’t.”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
Ethan stepped forward.
“Elena.”
She immediately moved backward.
“Don’t come any closer.”
Amara looked between them.
“You know her.”
Ethan didn’t answer.
“You said she was taken.”
“I thought she was.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“You always thought you knew everything.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“What happened to you?”
“What happened to me?”
Elena’s eyes flashed.
“You helped them.”
Amara felt her stomach twist.
“Who?”
Neither of them answered.
She stepped forward.
“Who took you?”
Elena looked at her.
For a moment, her expression softened.
Then she whispered,
“Not who.”
Amara frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Elena glanced down the hallway.
“We can’t talk here.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
Elena looked at him.
“If you want her alive, you’ll let me take her.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then they’ll find her.”
“Who?”
Elena’s eyes moved toward Amara.
“The people who erased her.”
Amara’s heart stopped.
“Erased me?”
Elena nodded.
“You don’t remember because they made sure you wouldn’t.”
Amara felt dizzy.
She grabbed the wall for support.
“What are you talking about?”
Elena stepped closer.
“Three years ago, you were here.”
Amara shook her head.
“No.”
“You were.”
“I’ve never been here before.”
“You have.”
“Why don’t I remember?”
Elena’s eyes filled with something that looked like sadness.
“Because you asked me to make you forget.”
The hallway seemed to disappear.
Amara stared at her.
“I would never ask someone to do that.”
“You did.”
“Why?”
Elena looked at Ethan.
“Tell her.”
Ethan remained silent.
“Tell her what happened.”
He looked away.
Elena’s voice became sharper.
“You owe her the truth.”
Ethan finally looked at Amara.
“Three years ago, you came to Apartment 307.”
Amara’s heart pounded.
“Why?”
“You came looking for Elena.”
“I didn’t know her.”
“You did.”
Ethan took a breath.
“You were friends.”
Amara shook her head.
“No.”
“You were more than friends.”
Elena interrupted.
“She was my sister.”
Amara froze.
Silence filled the hallway.
“My… what?”
Elena stared at her.
“Half-sister.”
Amara’s mind went blank.
She had no sister.
At least, she didn’t remember having one.
“My mother only had me.”
Elena’s expression changed.
“That’s what they wanted you to believe.”
Amara stepped backward.
“No.”
She shook her head harder.
“This isn’t real.”
She turned toward Ethan.
“Tell me she’s lying.”
Ethan didn’t answer.
“Ethan.”
He looked at her.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know how much of your memory they changed.”
Amara stared at him.
“Who are they?”
Before Ethan could respond, Elena suddenly looked toward the staircase.
Her entire body stiffened.
“They’re here.”
Ethan immediately moved toward the apartment door.
“How long?”
“Not long.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
Amara’s voice trembled.
“Who’s here?”
Elena grabbed her hand.
“Come with me.”
Amara pulled away.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You have to.”
“Why should I trust you?”
Elena looked directly into her eyes.
“Because I’m the only person who knows what happened to you.”
Ethan stepped between them.
“She’s not going anywhere.”
Elena glared at him.
“You still think you can protect her?”
“I’ll do whatever I have to.”
“You said that three years ago.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“And I failed.”
A sound came from downstairs.
A door slammed.
Then footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Coming toward them.
Elena’s grip tightened around Amara’s hand.
“He’s here.”
“Who?”
Elena didn’t answer.
Ethan reached into his pocket.
“Take the stairs.”
Elena shook her head.
“They’ll be watching the exit.”
“Then the service elevator.”
“Too late.”
The footsteps were getting closer.
Amara’s heart raced.
“What are we doing?”
Ethan looked at her.
“Trust me.”
She almost laughed.
“You literally told me not to trust you.”
“I know.”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
A shadow appeared at the end of the hallway.
Ethan’s expression changed.
“Run.”
They ran.
Elena pulled Amara toward the opposite end of the corridor while Ethan stayed behind.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s another staircase.”
They reached a narrow door.
Elena pushed it open.
They rushed down the stairs.
Amara nearly slipped.
“Slow down!”
“We don’t have time.”
“Who is chasing us?”
Elena looked over her shoulder.
“Someone who has been looking for you for three years.”
“Why?”
“Because you survived.”
Amara stopped.
Elena stopped too.
“What does that mean?”
Elena stared at her.
“You weren’t supposed to.”
A loud crash came from above.
Elena grabbed Amara’s hand again.
“Keep moving.”
They reached the basement.
The air was cold and smelled of damp concrete.
Elena pushed open another door.
They entered a dark storage room.
She shut it quietly.
Then she pressed a finger to her lips.
Footsteps echoed somewhere above them.
Amara covered her mouth.
Someone was searching the building.
The footsteps stopped.
Then a man’s voice echoed through the stairwell.
“Amara.”
Her blood ran cold.
She knew that voice.
It wasn’t Ethan.
It wasn’t a stranger.
It was a voice she had heard before.
In her dreams.
The man called again.
“Amara, I know you’re hiding.”
Elena looked at her.
“You recognize him.”
Amara shook her head.
“No.”
“Look at me.”
Amara did.
“Listen carefully.”
Elena reached into the pocket of her dress.
She pulled out a small silver necklace.
Amara stared at it.
There was a tiny pendant shaped like a crescent moon.
Her heart suddenly skipped.
She reached for it.
“I know this.”
Elena nodded.
“It was yours.”
Amara touched the pendant.
A sharp pain shot through her head.
She gasped.
Suddenly—
A flash.
A bedroom.
Blood on the floor.
A younger Elena crying.
Someone screaming.
Then a man’s hand grabbing Amara’s arm.
Amara screamed.
The vision disappeared.
She collapsed against the wall.
Elena caught her.
“Amara!”
Amara struggled to breathe.
“I saw…”
“What?”
“I saw blood.”
Elena went pale.
“What else?”
“A man.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Amara closed her eyes.
Then another image appeared.
A door.
Apartment 307.
A woman’s voice.
Her own voice.
“If I forget, don’t let me come back.”
Amara’s eyes opened.
She stared at Elena.
“I said that.”
Elena nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you knew what they were going to do.”
“Who are they?”
Elena looked toward the basement door.
Then she whispered,
“The Blackwell family.”
Amara frowned.
“Blackwell?”
A terrible silence followed.
She slowly turned toward the staircase.
“Ethan.”
Elena nodded.
“Yes.”
Amara’s stomach dropped.
“You said Ethan helped them.”
“He did.”
“But he said he was trying to protect me.”
“He believes he is.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It will.”
A sound came from behind them.
The basement door creaked open.
Elena’s eyes widened.
Someone stepped inside.
Amara turned.
Ethan stood in the doorway.
His breathing was heavy.
He looked at Elena.
Then at Amara.
“She’s coming with me.”
Elena moved in front of Amara.
“No.”
Ethan’s voice became cold.
“Elena, move.”
“I won’t.”
“You don’t understand what’s happening.”
“I understand perfectly.”
Ethan looked at Amara.
“Your memory is coming back.”
Amara stared at him.
“How do you know?”
His expression changed.
“Because mine did too.”
Before Amara could respond, the basement lights suddenly came on.
A man stood behind Ethan.
Older.
Well-dressed.
Calm.
Amara had never seen him before.
But the moment she looked at him, her body reacted before her mind could.
Fear.
Pure, instinctive fear.
The man smiled.
“Hello, Amara.”
Elena whispered,
“No…”
The man stepped forward.
“I’ve been waiting three years for you to remember me.”
Amara couldn’t speak.
He looked at Ethan.
“You were supposed to bring her to me.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“I changed my mind.”
The man’s smile disappeared.
“Then I suppose I’ll have to remind you both what happens when you disobey me.”
Amara looked at Ethan.
Then Elena.
Then the stranger.
And suddenly she remembered one more thing.
A name.
A name she hadn’t heard in three years.
A name that made Elena’s face turn white.
Amara whispered:
“Father.”
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD