Chapter Fourty One
502 Words
Xavier’s POV
The morning light hit my room like it was trying to burn through secrets.
I hadn’t slept.
Couldn’t.
Every time I closed my eyes, that image of Mila flickered — the hospital bed, the cold data lines, the word rewrite.
What the hell was going on?
I shoved the flash drive into my pocket and slipped downstairs. The house was too quiet — the kind of quiet that made your skin crawl. Dad’s office door was half-closed, voices low behind it.
I stopped.
“—the file was accessed,” my father said sharply. “Last night. Someone breached the Mnemosyne archive.”
My blood ran cold.
“I’ve already run the trace,” another voice replied — unfamiliar, calm, too calm. “The signal came from inside this house.”
My pulse roared in my ears.
Dad’s voice lowered. “You think someone broke in?”
“No.” The man paused. “I think someone lives here.”
A chill shot down my spine.
They knew.
I backed away from the door — slow, careful — and slipped into the hallway before they could step out. My hands were trembling, my heartbeat loud enough to give me away.
Upstairs, I shoved the flash drive deep into my backpack. I needed to get out. I needed to find Mila. She had to see that file — to know what I’d found.
But part of me hesitated.
What if the photo was her?
What if everything she remembered… wasn't it real?
*****
I reached the garage just as Dad’s office door opened.
“Xavier?” His voice was steady, but his eyes…they were sharp. Searching.
“Where are you going this early?”
“School,” I lied. “Group project.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You’ve never been the ‘early riser’ type.”
“Trying something new.”
He stepped closer, and for a second, I thought he might pat my shoulder.
Instead, he glanced at the backpack.
“Be careful what you carry, son,” he said softly. “Some things are heavier than they look.”
Then he walked past me and out the front door — like he hadn’t just said something that made my skin crawl.
I stood there frozen, my fingers gripping the strap of the bag so tight it hurt.
Did he know?
Was he warning me… or threatening me?
*****
At school, nothing felt normal. The noise of the halls, the crowd — it all blurred.
Mila wasn’t in class.
Neither was her father, who usually dropped her off.
I texted her once. Then again.
No reply.
That’s when my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
> You’re digging too deep, Xavier. Stop before they erase you too.
I stared at the message until my hands went cold.
Erase.
The same word from the file.
And for the first time, I realized — maybe this wasn’t just about secrets.
Maybe someone out there was watching both of us.
- Writer
