Mira stared at the knife.

Her sister held it loosely.

Not threatening.

Almost casually.

But the smile on her face had changed.

It no longer looked sad.

It looked satisfied.

Elena stepped between them.

“Mara.”

The woman tilted her head.

“That’s not my name.”

Mira’s voice shook.

“Then who are you?”

The woman looked at her.

“I’ve had many names.”

She took one step forward.

“But you can call me Iris.”

Mira frowned.

“Iris?”

Iris smiled.

“The name they gave me after they decided Mara was dead.”

Elena shook her head.

“You weren’t supposed to survive.”

Iris laughed quietly.

“Neither was she.”

She pointed the knife toward Mira.

“That’s why they made two copies.”

Mira felt the blood drain from her face.

“Copies?”

Iris nodded.

“Your grandfather believed memories were nothing more than information. He wanted to know if they could be transferred.”

Mira looked at the computers surrounding them.

“And we were the experiment?”

“Not exactly.”

Iris walked toward an old machine.

“You were the first successful subjects.”

She touched the screen.

Two photographs appeared.

The girls were identical.

But the information underneath them was different.

SUBJECT A — ORIGINAL

SUBJECT B — MEMORY REPLICA

Mira stared.

“Which one am I?”

Iris didn’t answer.

Instead, she asked:

“What is your earliest memory?”

Mira thought.

“Mother reading to me.”

“What book?”

Mira hesitated.

She couldn’t remember.

Iris smiled.

“Exactly.”

Mira’s heart began pounding.

“That’s impossible.”

“You don’t have a childhood before the age of nine.”

Mira tried to remember.

School.

Friends.

Birthdays.

Her first bicycle.

Everything before nine was blurry.

Like photographs left in water.

Iris stepped closer.

“They didn’t erase your memories.”

Mira whispered, “Then what did they do?”

“They replaced them.”

The room became silent.

Elena covered her face.

Mira turned toward her.

“Mom.”

Elena looked up.

“Tell me the truth.”

Elena’s voice broke.

“You were the original.”

Mira froze.

Iris smiled.

“Finally.”

Elena continued.

“You were born first. Mara was born three minutes later.”

Mira looked at Iris.

“Then who is she?”

Elena swallowed.

“Your sister.”

“Then why did she say she was me?”

“Because she was given your memories.”

Mira’s mind went blank.

Iris laughed softly.

“They didn’t know which memories belonged to which daughter anymore.”

Mira looked at the screen.

“What happened to my real memories?”

Iris pointed toward the machine.

“They’re still here.”

Mira approached it.

A small glass container sat beneath the monitor.

Inside was a silver device.

She reached for it.

Iris suddenly grabbed her wrist.

“Don’t.”

“Why?”

“Because once you remember everything, you won’t be the same.”

Mira pulled away.

“Maybe that’s the point.”

She took the device.

The machine activated.

Lights flashed across the room.

Then the memories came.

Not one at a time.

All at once.

Mira saw herself as a little girl.

Running through the house.

She saw Mara beside her.

They were laughing.

Then they heard shouting.

Men entered the house.

Daniel fought them.

Elena screamed.

Someone grabbed Mara.

Mira followed.

They were taken underground.

She saw Dr. Voss.

She saw machines.

She saw her grandfather.

And then she saw something that made her scream.

Her grandfather was talking to Daniel.

“You know what must happen.”

Daniel shook his head.

“They’re children.”

“They are the future.”

“You promised no harm.”

“I promised results.”

Mira saw herself crying.

Mara was beside her.

Then Dr. Voss placed a device on Mira’s head.

The memory changed.

A strange machine.

Bright light.

Mara screaming.

Daniel shouting.

Then darkness.

Mira dropped to the floor.

The device fell from her hand.

She gasped for air.

Elena rushed toward her.

“I remember.”

Elena knelt beside her.

“What did you see?”

Mira looked at Daniel’s daughter.

“I saw Dad.”

Iris stood silently.

“He was trying to stop them.”

“Yes.”

Mira looked at Iris.

“And you were helping them.”

Iris’s expression changed.

“No.”

“You were.”

“I was eight years old!”

“You opened the door.”

Iris looked away.

Mira remembered.

The door.

The underground laboratory.

Iris standing beside Dr. Voss.

Holding the key.

Mira whispered:

“You betrayed me.”

Iris’s eyes filled with tears.

“I was afraid.”

“You gave me to them.”

“I thought they would let you go.”

“They didn’t.”

“I know.”

A loud sound came from the corridor.

Someone was approaching.

Iris wiped her eyes.

“They’re here.”

Elena looked terrified.

“Who?”

Iris answered:

“Dr. Voss.”

The door opened.

An elderly man stepped into the room.

He wore a dark coat and carried no weapon.

His expression was calm.

Almost gentle.

“Hello, Mara.”

Mira stared at him.

“You destroyed my life.”

Voss smiled.

“No.”

He looked toward Iris.

“She did.”

Iris stepped backward.

Voss continued.

“Your memories were never supposed to return.”

Mira raised the silver device.

“Why?”

“Because you remember the location.”

“What location?”

Voss’s smile disappeared.

“The vault.”

Mira frowned.

“What vault?”

Voss looked at the two sisters.

“Your grandfather didn’t build this facility to study memory.”

He stepped closer.

“He built it to hide something.”

Elena whispered:

“What?”

Voss looked directly at Mira.

“Evidence.”

Mira’s heart pounded.

“Evidence of what?”

Voss smiled again.

“That your grandfather wasn’t the first person to experiment with human memory.”

A loud explosion shook the building.

The ceiling cracked.

Voss looked upward.

“They’ve arrived.”

“Who?”

“The government.”

Mira stared at him.

“Why?”

Voss turned toward the exit.

“Because this facility was never abandoned.”

He paused.

“And now everyone knows you’re alive.”

The lights went out.

Gunshots erupted somewhere above them.

Elena grabbed Mira’s hand.

Iris grabbed the other.

For the first time, the three women stood together.

Then Mira noticed something on the floor.

A photograph.

It showed her father.

Beside him stood a young woman.

The woman was Mira.

But the date on the photograph was tomorrow.

Mira turned pale.

“That’s impossible.”

Iris looked at the photograph.

Then whispered:

“No.”

“What?”

Iris pointed at the woman standing beside Daniel.

“That’s not you.”

Mira looked closer.

The woman’s face was identical to hers.

But beneath the photograph was a handwritten message:

ONE OF THEM WILL DIE TOMORROW.

A gunshot echoed through the underground facility.

Then Daniel’s voice came through the speakers.

“Mara, if you can hear me, don’t trust either of them.”

Mira looked at Iris.

Then at Elena.

The speaker crackled.

Daniel’s final words came through.

“Your mother is the one who started everything.”