Chapter 4 - The Memory I Was Never Supposed To Find
The woman on the screen looked exactly like me.
But she wasn't the Alyssa Dawson I knew.
She didn't look confused.
She didn't look afraid.
She looked like someone who had already accepted the truth.
The video continued playing.
My younger self sat in a dark room.
No decorations.
No windows.
Only a camera pointed directly at her.
The woman on the screen leaned forward.
"If you are watching this, then the procedure worked."
I felt my fingers tighten.
Procedure.
That word stayed in my mind.
I looked at the officers behind me.
None of them looked surprised.
That hurt more than anything.
They knew.
They all knew.
"You knew about this?" I asked.
Nobody answered.
The lead officer lowered his eyes.
"General..."
"Don't call me that."
My voice came out sharper than I expected.
"I want the truth."
The room stayed silent.
Then the video continued.
My younger self looked directly into the camera.
"First, I need you to understand something."
She paused.
"If you are watching this, it means you made the right choice."
I froze.
I made the right choice?
The woman on the screen wasn't talking to me.
She was talking to herself.
A version of me that existed before I forgot.
"Do not trust your memories."
The words sent a cold feeling through my body.
Because suddenly, small pieces of my past started appearing.
A hospital room.
A bright light.
A man's voice.
My father's voice.
I closed my eyes.
The memories disappeared.
But the feeling remained.
The video continued.
"You will think you are weak."
My younger self spoke slowly.
"You will think your father was ashamed of you."
A pause.
"But he wasn't."
I looked away from the screen.
Because those words were impossible to accept.
My entire life was built around one belief.
My father never believed in me.
My father thought I wasn't enough.
But the video was telling me something completely different.
"He made everyone believe you were ordinary because ordinary people are not targets."
The room became completely quiet.
Targets.
That word changed everything.
I opened my eyes.
"Target for what?"
Nobody answered.
The video continued.
"Someone inside the organization found out what you discovered."
My younger self looked nervous for the first time.
"They wanted the information you had."
She looked down.
"And they knew the only way to take it from you was to make you forget."
My heart started beating faster.
I stepped closer to the screen.
"What information?"
The video paused.
A security warning appeared.
FILE CORRUPTED.
The officers immediately reacted.
The lead officer moved toward the computer.
"No."
"What happened?"
"The file is being accessed remotely."
Everyone turned.
Someone else was trying to open it.
The officer typed quickly.
"Lock the system."
The lights in the room changed.
Red emergency signals flashed across the walls.
I stood there watching.
Someone had been waiting.
Waiting for me to find this.
"Who has access?" I asked.
The officer checked the screen.
His face changed.
"Only three people."
"Who?"
He hesitated.
I looked at him.
"Tell me."
He swallowed.
"Yourself."
A pause.
"The Director of Military Intelligence."
Another pause.
"And..."
He stopped.
I knew there was another name.
"Who?"
The officer looked at me.
"Your father."
The room went silent.
I felt anger rise again.
Not because my father was involved.
Because I still didn't know how.
I grabbed my phone.
I called him.
He answered after one ring.
"Alyssa."
His voice sounded tired.
Like he had been waiting.
"You knew."
Silence.
"About what?"
"Don't do that."
I walked away from the officers.
"You knew I had my memory erased."
Another silence.
Longer this time.
Then my father said:
"Where are you?"
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because he didn't deny it.
"You really don't know how to lie."
"Alyssa, listen to me."
"No."
My voice shook.
"Not this time."
I looked through the glass wall of the command center.
"My whole life, I thought you were embarrassed by me."
I swallowed.
"I thought every time you ignored my achievements, every time you acted like my career was a mistake..."
My voice became quieter.
"I thought you didn't love me."
My father didn't answer.
And somehow, that hurt more.
Then he finally spoke.
"I was trying to keep you alive."
I closed my eyes.
Those words.
The same words everyone used when hiding something.
"How many things have you hidden from me?"
He didn't answer.
"How many?"
"Alyssa..."
"Tell me."
His breathing changed.
Then he said:
"Enough that you would hate me if you remembered everything."
I stood completely still.
Because that was not the answer of an innocent man.
That was the answer of someone carrying a secret.
"Come to the facility."
My father went quiet.
"No."
The refusal was immediate.
"Why?"
"Because if you are there, they already know."
I looked around.
At the security cameras.
At the locked doors.
At the officers watching me.
"Who are they?"
My father lowered his voice.
"The people who wanted you to forget."
The call ended.
I stared at my phone.
My father had never sounded afraid before.
Not once.
But he was afraid now.
The lead officer approached me.
"General."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"We need to move."
"Why?"
He looked toward the security monitor.
A camera feed appeared.
Someone was inside the facility.
The officer enlarged the image.
A person wearing a dark coat walked through a restricted hallway.
Nobody stopped them.
Nobody questioned them.
Because the security system recognized them.
"Who is that?"
The officer didn't answer.
He just stared at the screen.
I stepped closer.
The person entered another hallway.
The camera angle changed.
I saw the face.
And everything inside me stopped.
Because I knew that person.
I knew that face.
But I had never met them.
Not in my memories.
Not in my life.
The officer whispered:
"That can't be possible."
I looked at him.
"Who is it?"
He didn't respond.
The person on the screen stopped walking.
Then slowly looked directly into the camera.
Like they knew we were watching.
Then the screen went black.
A single message appeared.
PROJECT DAWSON: SUBJECT HAS AWAKENED.
My hands went cold.
Subject.
Not General.
Not Commander.
Subject.
I turned toward the officers.
"What does that mean?"
Nobody spoke.
Then the security doors behind us unlocked.
Slowly.
The lights above the door flickered.
Someone was entering.
The lead officer reached for his weapon.
And a familiar voice came from the other side.
"Alyssa..."
May you like
The door opened.
And the person standing there was the one person I was told had died twelve years ago.
