Chapter 8: The Room Beneath the Ashes
The voice on the phone was mine.
Not similar.
Not close.
Mine.
Every instinct in my body told me to throw the phone away.
To pretend I hadn’t heard it.
But I couldn’t.
Because Ethan was still on the other end.
And he was crying.
“Ethan,” I said quickly.
“Stay on the line.””
A quiet breath.
Then the voice returned.
Not mine.
The other voice.
The one that sounded exactly like me.
“He can’t stay on the line forever.””
I tightened my grip.
“Who are you?””
A pause.
Then a quiet laugh.
“You really are asking that again?””
My eyes moved to Noah.
He was staring at the phone.
He knew.
“Where is he?”” I demanded.
The voice ignored the question.
“You always were different.””
“Different from who?””
“From me.””
The answer made my stomach turn.
Noah stepped closer.
“Put it on speaker.””
I did.
The voice continued.
“I wondered when Noah would finally tell you.””
My eyes moved to him.
The color drained from his face.
“You know him.””
“Of course I know him.””
The voice sounded almost amused.
“He’s the reason you exist.””
Noah looked away.
I noticed.
And that scared me.
Because Noah had never looked away before.
“What does that mean?”” I asked.
The voice sighed.
“You still think this is about Ethan.””
A pause.
“It never was.””
The station around me disappeared.
There was only that voice.
That impossible voice.
“Three years ago, you found the Morgan house.””
The memory came back.
Not as a flash.
As a wave.
Smoke.
Heat.
A child screaming.
My own hands shaking.
“You found Ethan.””
The voice continued.
“You found the files.””
I closed my eyes.
The images came faster.
A hidden room.
Photographs.
Children.
Names.
“You found out what they were doing.””
My breathing became uneven.
“And then?””
Silence.
Then:
“You made a choice.””
My eyes opened.
“No.””
Noah looked at me.
“Aaron…”
“I didn’t.””
The voice laughed softly.
“You did.””
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
Nobody spoke.
Then Marcus stepped closer.
“What happened?””
I looked at him.
“I don’t know.””
But that wasn’t true.
Somewhere inside me, I did know.
The memory was there.
Buried.
Waiting.
Noah walked toward me.
“We need to go.””
I looked at him.
“To the Morgan house.””
He nodded.
“Yes.””
Marcus shook his head.
“No.””
We both looked at him.
“That’s exactly what they want.””
Noah turned.
“Marcus—”
“No.””
His voice was firm.
“We don’t walk into a trap without knowing what’s waiting.””
He looked at me.
“And we definitely don’t do it with half the story.””
I wanted to argue.
But he was right.
Too many people had been controlling what I knew.
What I remembered.
What I believed.
I wasn’t going to make another decision blindly.
I looked at Noah.
“Tell me.””
He was quiet.
“Tell me everything.””
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he sat down.
“I was seven years old when they took me.””
I froze.
Seven.
“You were there?””
He nodded.
“I was the original subject.””
The room became silent.
“They wanted to prove they could duplicate a person.””
Marcus frowned.
“Duplicate?””
Noah looked at me.
“They studied twins first.””
I felt a strange pressure in my chest.
“But we weren’t twins.””
“No.””
He looked at his own hands.
“They made us.””
The words were horrifying.
“They took my DNA. My memories. My identity.””
He pointed at me.
“And they built a new version.””
I shook my head.
“No.””
“Aaron.””
“No.””
My voice cracked.
“I’m not some experiment.””
Noah’s expression softened.
“You’re not.””
“Then what am I?””
He looked at me.
“You’re the person who survived.””
I didn’t know why that hurt.
Maybe because part of me expected him to say something else.
That I wasn’t real.
That I was nothing.
But he didn’t.
“You grew up believing you were me.””
He continued.
“They gave you my memories until you were old enough to create your own.””
Marcus looked horrified.
“How?””
Noah answered.
“Conditioning. Drugs. Therapy. Repetition.””
I touched my forehead.
The headaches.
The missing years.
The strange gaps.
It all made sense.
“And Ethan?””
Noah looked toward the station doors.
“Ethan was different.””
“Why?””
“Because he remembered.””
I frowned.
“Remembered what?””
“The truth.””
Noah stood.
“Ethan saw the people behind the operation.””
“The people?””
He nodded.
“Not just Pierce. Not Adrian.””
My stomach tightened.
“Who?””
Noah looked at me.
“The people who funded everything.””
Before I could ask, Marcus’s radio crackled.
An officer’s voice came through.
“Detective Reed?””
Marcus grabbed it.
“Go ahead.””
A pause.
Then:
“We found something in the evidence room.””
Marcus frowned.
“What?””
The officer hesitated.
“Old case files.””
“About what?””
The answer came quietly.
“About Detective Cole.””
My body went still.
“What files?””
The officer continued.
“Your birth records.””
Nobody spoke.
“Bring them upstairs,” Marcus ordered.
“No.””
The voice changed.
“What?””
“Don’t bring them upstairs.””
A pause.
“Why?””
The officer whispered:
“Because someone is already here.””
The radio went dead.
Marcus immediately drew his weapon.
“We’re leaving.””
But before we could move, the station lights shut off.
Again.
The same darkness.
The same pattern.
I heard footsteps.
Not outside.
Inside.
Someone moved through the station.
Noah whispered:
“They’re here.””
I grabbed my weapon.
“How many?””
“I don’t know.””
A sound came from the hallway.
A door opening.
Then a voice.
“Aaron.””
I recognized it.
Adrian.
But when the lights returned, he wasn’t alone.
He stood beside Ethan.
The boy was alive.
But terrified.
Adrian held a folder.
And he looked at me with something I had never seen on his face before.
Fear.
“I found the last file.””
I stared.
“What file?””
He looked at Ethan.
Then at me.
“The one that explains why they needed you.””
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Move away from the boy.””
Adrian didn’t move.
Instead, he opened the folder.
Inside was a photograph.
A hospital photograph.
Two newborn babies.
Both with the same face.
Both with the same birth date.
But underneath them were two names.
One was mine.
The other was Noah’s.
Except one detail made my blood freeze.
The name next to Noah’s picture had been crossed out.
Replaced.
With mine.
Adrian looked at me.
“They didn’t create you to replace Noah.””
He swallowed.
“They created Noah to replace you.””
Nobody spoke.
I stared at the photograph.
The impossible truth sat in front of me.
My entire life had been built on a lie.
Adrian handed me the folder.
Then whispered:
“And the person who ordered the experiment…”
He looked toward the station entrance.
May you like
Where a shadow stood watching us.
“…was your mother.””
