Chapter 5: The Man Wearing My Father's Coat
The man in my father's jacket smiled as if he had walked into the basement expecting to find us waiting.
For one impossible second, I could only stare at him.
He was older than my father had been when he died.
His hair was silver at the temples.
His face was narrower.
But there was something in the way he held his shoulders, the way he tilted his head before speaking, that made my stomach twist.
He looked like my father.
Or like someone who had spent years studying my father.
“Ryan,” he said.
I tightened my grip on the metal chair.
“Who are you?””
He smiled.
“You know me.””
“I don't.””
“Yes, you do.””
My mother stepped between us.
“Elias, stay away from him.””
The man's smile disappeared.
“Evelyn.””
She flinched at the name.
“You promised.””
“I promised to protect them.””
“You promised to keep them from me.””
His eyes moved past her.
Straight to me.
Then to Emma.
Then to the wall behind us.
“I see you've opened the house.””
Caleb took one step forward.
“You were supposed to be dead.””
The man laughed softly.
“So were you.””
I looked at Caleb.
“You know him?””
Caleb's jaw tightened.
“His name is Elias Voss.””
The man's expression turned almost amused.
“So the introductions are over.””
Megan pulled Emma closer.
I moved in front of them.
“You experimented on children.””
Voss looked at me.
“No.””
He glanced toward the files.
“I studied them.””
“That's your defense?””
“My work was not cruelty.””
I laughed.
“You locked my brother inside a wall.””
Voss's eyes narrowed.
“Your brother was never locked inside a wall.””
A pounding came from behind the concrete.
Michael.
“Don't listen to him!””
Voss turned toward the sound.
For the first time, his face softened.
“Michael.””
The pounding stopped.
The silence that followed was worse.
Voss took a step toward the wall.
“You've hidden long enough.””
Michael's voice trembled.
“You said you'd never find me.””
Voss smiled.
“You were a child.””
“And you promised.””
“I promised many things.””
My mother grabbed a metal pipe from the floor.
“Don't come any closer.””
Voss looked at her.
“You still think you can stop me?””
“I can try.””
He looked almost sad.
“Evelyn, you couldn't stop Thomas.””
My mother went pale.
“You don't get to say his name.””
“I was there when he died.””
My heart slammed.
“You knew my father?””
Voss looked at me.
“I knew him better than you ever did.””
“What happened to him?””
“He betrayed me.””
“Why?””
“Because he decided he loved one child more than the other.””
The sentence made the room go quiet.
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?””
Voss turned toward the files.
“Your father was given a choice.””
My mother shook her head.
“No.””
“Yes,” Voss said.
“He was.””
He picked up the photograph of the twins.
“One child would leave with Evelyn.””
He tapped the image.
“The other would remain.””
Michael whispered through the wall.
“He chose Ryan.””
I felt dizzy.
“No.””
Voss continued.
“Thomas thought he was saving the stronger child.””
My voice cracked.
“Why me?””
“You weren't Ryan.””
The room went silent.
I stared at him.
“What?””
Voss looked almost fascinated.
“That is the secret everyone has been desperate to keep from you.””
My mother whispered, “Elias, stop.””
He ignored her.
“Your father was supposed to take Michael.””
He lifted the photograph.
“But in the confusion, the babies were switched.””
I frowned.
“Switched by who?””
Voss looked at Caleb.
Caleb's face hardened.
“Not me.””
Voss smiled.
“No. Not you.””
He looked at my mother.
“By Evelyn.””
I turned.
My mother looked like she'd been struck.
“Mom?””
She couldn't look at me.
“You switched us?””
Her silence answered.
“Why?””
She finally raised her eyes.
“Because Michael was dying.””
Voss nodded.
“Now we're getting somewhere.””
My mother's voice broke.
“He wasn't supposed to survive the night.””
Michael said softly from behind the wall:
“I remember.””
I pressed my palm to the concrete.
“Michael, what do you remember?””
“The machine.””
My mother closed her eyes.
“They had him strapped to it.””
“What machine?””
Voss answered.
“The memory transfer system.””
Megan stared at him.
“You actually transferred memories?””
“Not memories,” he said.
“Patterns.””
“That's not better.””
He didn't react.
“We were trying to understand whether identity could be reconstructed.””
I felt sick.
“And you used children.””
“Yes.””
“You used me.””
“Yes.””
My mother's tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Elias…”
I looked at her.
“What did they do to me?””
She shook her head.
“I don't remember.””
Voss corrected her.
“You remember.””
She looked terrified.
“No.””
“You remember everything, Evelyn.””
Then he looked at me.
“Your mother was in the room.””
I stared at her.
“Mom?””
She backed away.
“I was trying to save you.””
“Save me from what?””
“From remembering.””
“Why?””
“Because the memories weren't yours.””
The room blurred.
“What?””
She whispered:
“The boy you grew up believing you were had memories planted into him.””
I looked at Voss.
“Whose memories?””
He answered without hesitation.
“Michael's.””
The world seemed to stop.
I heard Megan say my name.
I heard Emma crying.
But all I could hear was that one sentence.
Michael's memories.
My memories.
My childhood.
My first day at school.
My mother's kitchen.
My father's hands on my shoulders.
The bicycle in the driveway.
My first broken tooth.
Were they mine?
Or his?
Michael spoke from behind the wall.
“They made me forget.””
I whispered, “What?””
“They made me think I was you.””
I stepped back.
Voss watched me carefully.
“That's why you have his memories.””
I shook my head.
“No.””
“That's why some of your dreams don't make sense.””
I froze.
Dreams.
The recurring dream I'd had since childhood.
A yellow room.
A red light.
A woman crying behind glass.
A boy pounding on a metal door.
I had always assumed it was a nightmare.
Voss said quietly, “You never dreamed it.””
I looked at him.
“You remembered it.””
My mother sobbed.
“I was there.””
I turned to her.
“You knew?””
She nodded.
“For years.””
“Then why didn't you tell me?””
“Because every time I tried, you forgot.””
The answer cut deeper than anything else.
“What do you mean?””
“Your mind rejected it.””
Voss stepped closer.
“When you were six, you began asking about another bedroom.””
I stared at him.
“I don't remember.””
“Of course you don't.””
“You erased it.””
“No. Your brain did.””
Michael whispered:
“I remember asking for you.””
I looked toward the wall.
“Why?””
“Because they told me you were dead.””
My chest tightened.
“Did you believe them?””
“Yes.””
“Then why did you call me Daddy?””
Silence.
Michael answered.
“Because when they showed me your memories, they showed me you growing up.””
My throat closed.
I looked at Emma.
She was crying silently.
“What about her?””
Voss glanced at her.
“Emma is another failed transfer.””
Megan tightened her arms around the girl.
“No.””
Voss's eyes stayed on Emma.
“She was never supposed to exist.””
My mother moved in front of her.
“She was born naturally.””
Voss shook his head.
“No.””
Emma began trembling.
“You lied.””
Voss spoke softly.
“Your mother found you in the yellow room.””
I turned to my mother.
“You found her?””
She nodded.
“I thought she was a patient.””
“But she wasn't.””
“She was the daughter of one of Voss's researchers.””
Voss's expression hardened.
“She belonged to us.””
Megan stepped forward.
“She belongs to herself.””
He ignored her.
“Emma carries the same genetic marker as the twins.””
I looked at the birthmark beneath her ear.
The same crescent.
The one I had.
“What does that mean?””
Voss smiled faintly.
“It means the experiment didn't fail.””
My blood ran cold.
“What experiment?””
He pointed at me.
“You.””
Then at Michael.
“Him.””
Then at Emma.
“Her.””
Three generations of the same research.
Three children connected by the same mark.
“What are you trying to create?”” I asked.
Voss's answer was quiet.
“A family that remembers everything.””
Caleb suddenly lunged.
He hit Voss from the side.
The two men crashed into the filing cabinet.
Papers exploded across the floor.
My mother shouted, “Run!””
I grabbed Megan's hand.
Emma followed.
We sprinted toward the back exit.
Behind us, Voss shouted something.
Then came a gunshot.
Megan screamed.
I turned.
Caleb was on the floor.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Voss stood over him holding a handgun.
He looked at me.
“Ryan, wait.””
I kept running.
We reached the narrow stairwell.
My mother slammed the door behind us.
“Upstairs!””
We climbed.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Then Emma stopped.
She was staring at the wall.
“What's wrong?””
She pointed.
A small metal panel was set into the stairwell.
Her face went white.
“That's the yellow room.””
My mother froze.
“No.””
Emma touched the panel.
The door opened.
Warm yellow light spilled through the gap.
I stared into the room.
There were three small beds.
Three chairs.
Three cameras.
And on the far wall, someone had written three names.
*RYAN*
*MICHAEL*
*EMMA*
Underneath them was a fourth name.
One I had never seen before.
My mother's.
And beside it, written in fresh black ink:
*SHE KNOWS WHICH ONE OF YOU IS REAL.*
A sound came from inside the room.
A woman's voice.
My voice.
No—
Megan's.
Then my mother's voice whispered from behind me:
“Don't go in.””
I turned.
May you like
She was crying.
“Because the real Ryan is already in there.””
