Chapter 11 - The Woman Who Looked Like Me
The video loaded.
Nobody spoke.
The first frame appeared.
And I saw myself.
Seven years younger.
Sitting in the hidden room.
The same room beneath the house.
The same room where I was standing now.
But I wasn't alone.
Someone was sitting across from me.
Someone who looked exactly like me.
I leaned closer.
My heart started pounding.
Because the woman sitting across from me had my face.
My eyes.
My voice.
But she wasn't me.
"What is this?"
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
Elena didn't answer.
She was watching the screen.
Sarah held my hand tighter.
The video continued.
The younger version of me looked terrified.
The other woman looked calm.
Too calm.
She placed a folder on the table.
Then she said:
"You have to decide, Claire."
My younger self looked at her.
"Decide what?"
The woman smiled sadly.
"Whether you want to remember."
The room became silent.
Because that sentence made no sense.
Remember what?
Why would I need someone else to tell me whether I wanted my own memories?
Then the woman reached toward the camera.
The video paused.
A message appeared on the screen.
FILE CORRUPTED.
Elena tried to restart it.
Nothing.
The video disappeared.
I stared at the black screen.
"No."
Elena looked at me.
"What?"
"That wasn't Rachel."
She frowned.
"You know who it was?"
I shook my head slowly.
"No."
My voice trembled.
"But I know she wasn't a stranger."
Victoria stepped closer.
She had been quiet for several minutes.
Too quiet.
I looked at her.
"You know."
Her expression changed.
"Claire..."
"You know who she is."
Victoria looked away.
That was enough.
"Tell me."
She didn't answer.
"Tell me who she is."
Finally, she whispered:
"Her name is Claire Bennett."
I froze.
"What?"
Victoria looked at me.
"The woman in the video is you."
My breathing stopped.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
I backed away.
"That isn't possible."
Victoria opened another file.
Inside was a photograph.
Two women standing together.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
But different scars.
Different lives.
One of them was me.
The other was me too.
"Twins."
Elena said the word quietly.
I looked at her.
"What?"
She pointed at the photograph.
"You're twins."
The room spun.
I grabbed the table.
"No."
Victoria nodded.
"You had a twin sister."
My voice became smaller.
"Then why don't I remember?"
Nobody answered.
Because everyone knew.
Someone had made sure I didn't.
Victoria finally sat down.
"I should have told you years ago."
I looked at her.
"Yes."
She accepted the anger in my voice.
"I was afraid."
"Everyone was afraid."
I looked at the files.
"Everyone except Adrian."
Victoria looked at the floor.
"Adrian knew how to use fear."
She took a breath.
"Your sister's name was Claire too."
I stared at her.
"What?"
"Your parents gave both of you names with the same meaning."
I felt sick.
"So who am I?"
Victoria looked at me.
"That is the question Adrian spent years making impossible to answer."
Elena immediately became focused.
"Start from the beginning."
Victoria nodded.
"Adrian met both of you."
The words hit me.
"Both of us?"
"Yes."
She looked at me.
"He realized your sister had something he wanted."
"What?"
"Your sister was brilliant."
I almost laughed.
"She was dangerous?"
Victoria shook her head.
"No."
A pause.
"She was the only person who understood what Adrian was doing."
The truth slowly came apart.
Piece by piece.
My sister had discovered Adrian's experiments years ago.
The files.
The manipulation.
The patients.
She tried to expose him.
But Adrian didn't attack her directly.
He attacked me.
Because he knew something.
He knew I was easier to break.
Not weaker.
Just more vulnerable.
I had children.
I had a family.
I had more to lose.
"He created a war between you and your sister."
Victoria said.
"He convinced you she betrayed you."
I closed my eyes.
A memory appeared.
A fight.
A woman crying.
Someone saying:
"You have to believe me."
I couldn't see her face.
But I heard her voice.
My voice.
"What happened to my memories?"
Victoria looked at the floor.
"Adrian and Daniel used a treatment they developed."
Elena's expression hardened.
"A treatment?"
"An experimental procedure."
Victoria looked at me.
"They couldn't erase memories completely."
"Then what did they do?"
"They buried them."
My hands shook.
"They made my own mind hide them."
Victoria nodded.
"Yes."
Sarah suddenly spoke.
"Mom."
I turned.
"What?"
She looked at the photograph.
"The woman in the video."
My heart stopped.
"What about her?"
Sarah pointed.
"She came to see me."
Elena immediately crouched beside her.
"When?"
"Before I called you."
My breathing changed.
"What did she say?"
Sarah looked scared.
"She said she wasn't my aunt."
A pause.
"She said she was my mother."
Nobody moved.
I looked at Sarah.
My daughter.
Then at the photograph.
Two women.
Same face.
Two identities.
Two possible truths.
"What do you mean?"
Sarah started crying.
"She said Dad lied."
Elena asked:
"Did she tell you anything else?"
Sarah nodded.
"She said Adrian took the wrong mother."
The words hit me.
Wrong mother.
I looked at Victoria.
"What does that mean?"
Victoria's face went pale.
Because she knew.
The computer suddenly turned on.
A new file appeared.
No one touched it.
The screen showed another recording.
This one was newer.
Yesterday.
The video opened.
Adrian was sitting in his office.
Across from him was the woman who looked like me.
But this time, her face was clear.
She wasn't hiding.
She wasn't afraid.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then Adrian said:
"She is starting to remember."
The woman replied:
"Then we need to finish what we started."
My blood froze.
Because her voice was my voice.
Adrian leaned closer.
"What if she finds out which one of you is the real Claire?"
The woman smiled.
And answered:
"She won't."
A pause.
Then she looked directly at the camera.
Directly at me.
And whispered:
"Because the real Claire died seven years ago."
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
I couldn't breathe.
Because the woman on the screen had just claimed I wasn't me.
Elena immediately searched the file information.
Then stopped.
Her face changed.
"What?"
She looked at me.
"This recording wasn't created by Adrian."
My heart dropped.
"Then who made it?"
Elena turned the screen toward us.
The file creator name appeared.
A name I had never seen before.
But Victoria recognized it immediately.
She whispered:
"No..."
I looked at her.
"Who?"
She stepped back.
Because for the first time, Victoria looked truly terrified.
"It's the person who started all of this."
The screen refreshed.
May you like
And a new message appeared.
WELCOME BACK, CLAIRE.
