Chapter 5 - The Man Who Was Erased
The person standing at the door didn't move.
Neither did I.
For a few seconds, my mind refused to understand what my eyes were seeing.
Because the man standing in front of me was impossible.
I knew his face.
I knew his name.
I knew the story everyone had told me.
Commander Ethan Dawson.
My older brother.
The man who died twelve years ago.
The man whose death was connected to the mission I couldn't remember.
The man my father never allowed anyone to talk about.
But he was standing there.
Alive.
Older.
Different.
And looking at me like he had been waiting for this moment.
"Alyssa."
Hearing my name from his mouth felt strange.
Not because I didn't know him.
Because some part of me did.
A part I couldn't reach.
A memory buried somewhere deep inside my mind.
I stepped back.
"No."
The word came out before I could stop it.
My brother looked at me with sadness.
"I know what you're thinking."
I stared at him.
"You're dead."
The room went silent.
Ethan glanced at the officers.
Then back at me.
"That's what they wanted everyone to believe."
My heart started racing.
I looked at the lead officer.
"Did you know?"
He didn't answer.
That was enough.
I turned away.
Every person in my life had known something I didn't.
My father.
The military.
Thomas.
And now him.
Everyone had pieces of my story.
Except me.
"Why?"
My voice was quieter than I expected.
Ethan walked slowly into the room.
"Because if you knew I was alive, you would have searched for the truth."
I looked at him.
"I already did."
He nodded.
"And that's why we're here."
The officers secured the door behind him.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
It felt like the entire world was waiting.
Waiting for someone to finally explain what happened.
I looked at Ethan.
"You let me believe you died."
His expression changed.
"I didn't have a choice."
"Everyone always says that."
I stepped closer.
"My father said he was protecting me."
I pointed toward the screen.
"The military said they had reasons."
I looked at Ethan.
"And now you're saying you didn't have a choice."
My voice became sharper.
"When does someone actually choose to tell me the truth?"
Nobody answered.
Because there was no good answer.
Ethan looked down.
Then he reached into his jacket.
He pulled out something small.
An old military identification tag.
He placed it on the table.
I recognized it immediately.
The same type of tag every soldier carried.
But this one was different.
Because the name was scratched out.
Only one word remained.
DAWSON.
"What is that?"
Ethan looked at me.
"Proof."
"Proof of what?"
"That someone wanted our family erased."
The words made the room colder.
I picked up the tag.
There was a small mark on the back.
A number.
I looked at Ethan.
"What does seventeen mean?"
His face changed.
And I knew immediately.
It mattered.
"That was the number of people involved."
"Involved in what?"
Ethan didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at the security cameras.
"Are these systems isolated?"
The lead officer nodded.
"Yes."
Ethan shook his head.
"No, they're not."
The officer frowned.
"What?"
Ethan walked toward the computer.
He looked at the screen.
Then he typed something.
I watched him.
The system immediately accepted his access.
The officers looked shocked.
"How do you have clearance?"
Ethan didn't look back.
"Because I created the system."
Nobody spoke.
I stared at him.
"You were military intelligence?"
He nodded.
"Before the mission."
"And after?"
He looked at me.
"After, I became the reason everyone thought you were crazy."
I didn't understand.
"What?"
Ethan opened another file.
A document appeared.
My name was at the top.
But the information underneath wasn't mine.
It was a report.
A psychological evaluation.
Subject: Alyssa Dawson.
Status: Memory suppression successful.
I stopped breathing.
I looked at Ethan.
"Subject?"
He nodded slowly.
"You weren't the mission."
The words hit me.
"You were the evidence."
I stared at the screen.
"What evidence?"
Ethan looked at my father.
Even though my father wasn't in the room.
Like he could somehow see him.
"The mission wasn't supposed to find a traitor."
He paused.
"It was supposed to expose one."
I felt a chill.
"Who?"
Ethan didn't answer.
He opened another file.
A list appeared.
Names.
Military officers.
Government officials.
Business leaders.
People with power.
People who could destroy anyone who stood against them.
My eyes moved down the list.
Then stopped.
Because one name was familiar.
A name I had heard my entire life.
Dawson.
My father's name.
I looked at Ethan.
"My father was involved?"
Ethan shook his head.
"Not the way you think."
"Then explain."
He looked at me.
"Your father wasn't protecting his reputation."
A pause.
"He was protecting you from the people who wanted you gone."
I wanted to believe him.
I hated that I wanted to believe him.
Because for years, I had convinced myself my father didn't care.
That he was cold.
That he was ashamed of me.
But now every truth I found made everything more complicated.
"What happened during the mission?"
Ethan became quiet.
Then he walked toward the screen.
He opened the original mission file.
A video appeared.
The date was twelve years earlier.
The same night I disappeared.
My younger self appeared on the screen.
But this time, she wasn't alone.
Ethan was beside her.
Alive.
They were inside a military facility.
My younger self looked angry.
Not afraid.
Angry.
"I can't believe they trusted him."
Ethan in the video responded.
"They didn't."
My younger self looked at him.
"They trusted us."
The video paused.
Ethan looked at me.
"You and I found something we weren't supposed to find."
"What?"
He looked toward the screen.
"The reason people disappear."
The video continued.
My younger self placed a file on a table.
The camera zoomed in.
The file had one word written across it.
PROJECT DAWSON.
My stomach dropped.
I whispered:
"What is Project Dawson?"
Ethan looked at me.
"It started before you were born."
The room became silent.
"Your father didn't create it."
A pause.
"He ended it."
I stared at him.
"Then why does it have my name?"
Ethan didn't answer.
Because suddenly, the computer screen changed.
A new notification appeared.
Incoming message.
Everyone looked toward the monitor.
The sender name appeared.
I felt every person in the room freeze.
Because the message wasn't from an enemy.
It wasn't from a stranger.
It was from someone who should have been impossible.
The screen displayed:
FROM: ALYSSA DAWSON.
I stepped closer.
My own name.
My own account.
My own clearance.
A message opened.
Only one sentence appeared.
"Stop looking for the truth."
Then another line appeared.
"Because the version of me you remember is not the real one."
May you like
The lights in the command center suddenly went out.
And in the darkness, someone whispered my name from behind me.
