PART 8
The clock read 11:17 p.m.
Daniel stared at the photograph on his phone.
Silas was sitting in a chair.
Alive.
Unharmed.
But behind him stood the old machine.
The machine Daniel had seen in the photographs.
The machine his father had spent decades trying to hide.
And behind the machine—
Someone was standing in the shadows.
Daniel zoomed in.
The image blurred.
He tried again.
Nothing.
The figure was deliberately positioned where the light could not reach.
Claire stood beside him.
“What does it say?”
Daniel showed her the message.
COME BEFORE MIDNIGHT, DAD.
Claire’s face changed.
“That’s not Arthur.”
Daniel looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because Arthur would never call you Dad.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows exactly what that word does to you.”
Daniel looked back at the photograph.
“You said you knew the laboratory.”
“I do.”
“Then take me there.”
Claire hesitated.
“Daniel…”
“What?”
“You cannot go there thinking this is only about Silas.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“My son is sitting in a chair beside a machine that was used on children.”
Claire nodded.
“I know.”
“So I’m going.”
Leah stepped forward.
“No.”
Daniel turned.
“She’s right.”
“About what?”
“You can’t go alone.”
Arthur had specifically told him to come alone.
Daniel knew that.
So did Leah.
But none of them trusted Arthur enough to obey.
Daniel looked toward Margaret, who was still being treated by the emergency responders outside the house.
She was conscious now, but weak.
Her hand was pressed against her side.
When Daniel approached her, she caught his wrist.
“Don’t go.”
Daniel crouched beside her.
“I have to.”
“No.”
Her eyes were filled with something he had never seen there before.
Not fear.
Recognition.
“You don’t understand what the laboratory is.”
“Then tell me.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Your father didn’t build it.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“He found it.”
“Where?”
“Under the old hospital.”
Daniel stared at her.
“The hospital where Silas was born?”
“Yes.”
Claire stepped closer.
“The laboratory wasn’t abandoned.”
Daniel looked between them.
“What are you saying?”
Margaret swallowed.
“It was moved.”
“Moved where?”
She whispered the name.
“Blackwood.”
Daniel frowned.
“Blackwood isn’t a town.”
“No.”
Margaret looked directly into his eyes.
“It’s a facility.”
A cold silence followed.
Leah pulled out her phone.
“Give me the address.”
Margaret shook her head.
“You won’t find it on a map.”
“Then how do we get there?”
Margaret looked at Daniel.
“You already know.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes.”
She lifted a trembling hand.
“Think about your childhood.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
At first, there was nothing.
Then—
A road.
Trees.
A red mailbox.
A stone bridge.
A long gravel driveway.
And a black iron gate.
Daniel opened his eyes.
“I’ve seen it.”
Claire stared at him.
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
Margaret whispered,
“You were there.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“You were ten.”
His breathing changed.
The memories came faster.
A truck.
His father’s hand on his shoulder.
A girl crying.
A yellow ribbon.
A door.
A machine.
And a sign.
BLACKWOOD RESEARCH CENTER.
Daniel stepped backward.
“I remember the sign.”
Claire grabbed his arm.
“What else?”
Daniel pressed his fingers against his forehead.
“I remember Dad telling me not to look.”
“What happened?”
“I looked.”
“And?”
Daniel stared at the floor.
“There were children.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Silas’s voice echoed inside his memory.
Not the seven-year-old Silas.
Another voice.
Older.
Terrified.
“Dad.”
Daniel looked at his phone.
11:24 p.m.
He had thirty-six minutes.
“Where is Blackwood?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“North.”
“How far?”
“Forty-seven miles.”
Leah looked at Daniel.
“We’re going.”
Daniel nodded.
Claire grabbed her coat.
Margaret caught her hand.
“Claire.”
Claire stopped.
“Do not let him remember everything.”
Claire looked at Daniel.
“Why?”
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because the last time he remembered everything…”
She stopped.
Daniel turned.
“What?”
Margaret whispered,
“He killed someone.”
Daniel froze.
“Who?”
Margaret looked toward Claire.
Claire’s face had gone pale.
“Margaret…”
“Tell him.”
Claire shook her head.
“Not now.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Who did I kill?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“You didn’t.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then why did you say I did?”
“Because you believed you had.”
The words made no sense.
Daniel stared at her.
“What happened?”
Margaret’s voice became barely audible.
“You were holding a gun.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Claire stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I know.”
“You knew me when I was ten.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Claire.”
“Yes.”
“You knew what my father did.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the children.”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“Then what happened to me?”
Claire looked away.
“You survived.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is the only answer I can give you right now.”
Daniel stared at her.
Then his phone vibrated.
Another message.
He opened it.
A video.
His thumb hovered over the screen.
Then he pressed play.
Static.
A dark room.
A chair.
Silas.
His hands were resting on the armrests.
His eyes were open.
But he wasn’t looking at the camera.
He was looking somewhere beyond it.
A voice came from behind the camera.
“Tell him.”
Silas said nothing.
The voice came again.
“Tell your father what you remember.”
Silas slowly lifted his head.
Then he looked directly into the camera.
“Dad?”
Daniel’s heart stopped.
“I’m here.”
Silas couldn’t hear him.
The recording continued.
Silas whispered,
“I remember the red light.”
Daniel’s entire body went cold.
Claire covered her mouth.
Silas continued.
“I remember the room.”
The video flickered.
“I remember the children.”
Daniel whispered,
“No.”
Silas looked frightened.
Then he said something that made Daniel’s blood turn to ice.
“I remember you.”
The screen went black.
Daniel stared at the phone.
Leah whispered,
“What does that mean?”
Claire answered.
“He doesn’t remember Daniel as his father.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
Claire’s eyes were wet.
“He remembers you as the boy who was there.”
Daniel felt the world shift.
“The boy?”
“The boy in the photographs.”
“The ten-year-old.”
“Yes.”
Daniel shook his head.
“But Silas wasn’t alive then.”
Claire said nothing.
Daniel stared at her.
“Was he?”
Silence.
“Claire.”
She looked at him.
“Silas wasn’t born seven years ago.”
Daniel’s heart slammed against his ribs.
“What are you saying?”
Claire took a slow breath.
“I’m saying you need to stop thinking of Silas as the beginning of this story.”
Daniel stepped toward her.
“What is he?”
Claire’s voice dropped.
“The continuation.”
Before Daniel could respond, a car horn sounded outside.
Leah looked through the window.
“Who’s that?”
Daniel moved toward the door.
A black SUV was parked at the end of the street.
No headlights.
No license plate visible.
The driver’s door opened.
A man stepped out.
Daniel recognized him.
Arthur.
He raised one hand.
Not waving.
Pointing.
Toward Daniel.
Then he held up a phone.
Daniel’s phone vibrated again.
A message.
YOU HAVE 28 MINUTES.
Daniel looked at Arthur.
Arthur slowly turned around and walked back to the SUV.
The vehicle disappeared into the darkness.
Leah stepped beside Daniel.
“That wasn’t an invitation.”
“No.”
“It was a warning.”
Daniel grabbed his jacket.
“Then we better be quick.”
They left.
The drive north was almost silent.
Daniel drove.
Leah sat beside him.
Claire sat in the back.
For ten minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Leah broke the silence.
“There is something I haven’t told you.”
Daniel didn’t look at her.
“What?”
“I found another file.”
“Where?”
“At Mom’s house.”
“What file?”
“Yours.”
Daniel’s hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“What does it say?”
“I didn’t read all of it.”
“Why?”
“Because the first page scared me.”
Daniel glanced at her.
“What did it say?”
Leah looked down at her hands.
“Subject 000.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“I thought there were 127 children.”
“There were.”
“Then what is 000?”
Leah shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Claire leaned forward.
“Where is the file?”
“In my bag.”
“Give it to me.”
Leah handed it backward.
Claire opened it.
Her expression changed immediately.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
Claire kept reading.
“Claire?”
She didn’t answer.
“What’s in it?”
Claire looked up.
“This isn’t your file.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then whose is it?”
Claire slowly turned the first page around.
Daniel saw a photograph.
A newborn baby.
A green blanket.
And beneath the photograph:
SUBJECT 000 — ORIGINAL.
Daniel’s breathing stopped.
The name beneath it was partially blacked out.
Only three letters remained visible.
SAM—
Daniel stared.
“Samuel.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
She pointed to the lower corner.
A second name had been written there.
DANIEL.
Daniel’s face went numb.
Leah whispered,
“What does that mean?”
Claire turned another page.
There were medical notes.
Measurements.
Dates.
A series of observations.
And one sentence circled in red ink.
Memory transfer successful.
Daniel stared at the page.
“No.”
Claire kept reading.
The next line was worse.
Recipient: Subject 000.
Daniel looked at her.
“Who received the memories?”
Claire’s lips parted.
“You did.”
Silence.
Daniel stopped the car.
“What?”
Claire looked at him.
“The memories weren’t transferred into Silas.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You said—”
“I was wrong.”
“You told me I was the archive.”
“You were.”
“Then why is this saying Subject 000?”
Claire stared at the document.
“Because there were two stages.”
Daniel felt sick.
“What stages?”
“First, they copied the memories.”
“And second?”
“They created a person who could carry them.”
Daniel’s eyes widened.
“You mean…”
Claire nodded.
“Subject 000.”
Daniel whispered,
“Me.”
Nobody spoke.
Outside, rain began striking the windshield.
Daniel looked at the clock.
11:39 p.m.
Twenty-one minutes.
He started the car again.
Blackwood was getting closer.
But something else had changed.
Daniel no longer knew whether he was driving toward a place…
or toward the truth about what he had been created to become.
A few minutes later, they reached the stone bridge.
Daniel slowed.
He remembered it.
The red mailbox.
The trees.
The gravel road.
Everything was exactly as it had appeared in his childhood memory.
Except one thing.
There was no Blackwood Research Center sign.
Instead, there was an abandoned gas station.
Daniel stopped.
“This isn’t right.”
Claire looked outside.
“It is.”
“There’s no facility.”
“There hasn’t been one above ground for years.”
Daniel stared at the empty station.
“Then where is it?”
Claire pointed toward the forest.
“Underneath.”
They got out.
Rain soaked their clothes within seconds.
Daniel found the red mailbox.
Behind it was a narrow path covered by branches.
They followed it.
After several minutes, Daniel saw the black iron gate.
It stood open.
No lock.
No guard.
No cameras.
Just darkness beyond it.
Leah whispered,
“This feels like a trap.”
Daniel nodded.
“It is.”
“Then why are we going in?”
Daniel looked at his watch.
11:47.
“Because my son is inside.”
They entered.
The trees swallowed them.
The path descended.
Then descended again.
Finally, they reached a concrete structure built into the hillside.
There was a single steel door.
Above it, barely visible beneath years of dirt, were three words.
BLACKWOOD RESEARCH CENTER.
Daniel reached for the handle.
Claire stopped him.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
She pointed at the door.
There was a small red light.
A camera.
Daniel stared.
The same red light from his memory.
The light Claire had told him to remember.
He stepped closer.
The camera moved.
It was watching him.
Then a speaker crackled.
A voice came through.
“Subject 000.”
Daniel froze.
The voice continued.
“Welcome home.”
Leah whispered,
“Who is that?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Because he knew the voice.
It was not Arthur.
It was not Elias.
It was not Walter.
It was his own voice.
The speaker crackled again.
“You have nineteen minutes.”
The steel door unlocked.
Daniel pushed it open.
Inside was a long corridor.
Bright white lights.
Glass walls.
Old medical equipment.
And dozens of empty rooms.
Every room had a number.
Daniel walked slowly.
The numbers continued.
Until he reached a door marked:
000.
He stopped.
Claire stood behind him.
“Don’t open it.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because I’ve never seen what’s inside.”
Daniel placed his hand on the handle.
The door opened automatically.
The room was empty.
No machine.
No chair.
No files.
Only a mirror.
Daniel stepped inside.
He stared at his reflection.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the mirror flickered.
The reflection changed.
Daniel was ten years old.
Standing in the same room.
Beside him stood Walter.
And behind Walter—
Elias.
Daniel’s younger self looked terrified.
Walter placed a hand on his shoulder.
“You have to remember.”
Young Daniel shook his head.
“I don’t want to.”
Walter leaned closer.
“You’re the only one who can.”
The image changed.
A young Claire appeared.
She was crying.
A baby lay in her arms.
Young Daniel looked at the baby.
Then at Claire.
Claire said something.
Daniel couldn’t hear it.
The recording distorted.
Then one sentence became clear.
“His name is Samuel.”
Daniel stumbled backward.
The mirror went black.
Then another image appeared.
Silas.
Seven years old.
Sitting in the same chair from the video.
But this time he wasn’t alone.
Someone was sitting across from him.
Daniel stepped closer.
The figure turned.
Daniel stopped breathing.
It was himself.
Not ten-year-old Daniel.
Not the Daniel standing in the room.
Another Daniel.
Older.
Scarred.
With gray hair.
And the same eyes.
The older man looked directly through the mirror.
Then smiled.
“You finally remembered.”
Daniel couldn’t move.
The older man leaned toward Silas.
“Tell him.”
Silas looked at the camera.
Then whispered:
“Dad…”
Daniel stepped toward the mirror.
Silas continued.
“The man who made you forget…”
The older Daniel smiled.
“…was you.”
The screen went black.
Daniel stood frozen.
Behind him, the door slammed shut.
Claire screamed.
Leah turned toward the corridor.
Footsteps began approaching.
Slowly.
One step.
Then another.
Daniel reached for the door.
Locked.
The footsteps came closer.
Claire whispered,
“Daniel…”
He looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed at the glass wall.
A figure was standing on the other side.
A man.
Tall.
Thin.
Wearing a dark suit.
Daniel stared.
The man lifted his face.
It was Elias.
But Elias was supposed to be dead.
The man smiled.
Then he held up a photograph.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
The photograph from the church.
The little girl.
The yellow ribbon.
Except now Daniel noticed something he had missed before.
There was another person standing behind Claire.
A boy.
A little boy.
The boy looked exactly like Silas.
Elias tapped the photograph.
Then he pointed at Daniel.
And finally—
He pointed at the boy.
Daniel’s phone vibrated.
One final message appeared.
YOU HAVE BEEN ASKING WHO SILAS IS.
A second message appeared beneath it.
ASK WHO YOU ARE.
Then the lights went out.
And in the darkness, a child’s voice whispered from directly behind Daniel:
“Dad…”
Daniel slowly turned.
Silas was standing there.
But the real Silas was supposed to be forty miles away.
The boy smiled.
And said,
“I remember everything.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
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