Chapter 5 - The Memory I Was Not Supposed To Have
The black envelope was sitting in the stranger’s hand.
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
Not me.
Not Wesley.
Not even the person standing in the doorway.
The office felt frozen in time.
The woman holding the envelope looked familiar.
Not because I knew her.
Because I had seen her before.
On the security footage.
The same woman who had handed my younger self that envelope six years ago.
My breath caught.
"You."
Her eyes moved toward me.
A sad expression appeared on her face.
"Yes, Emma."
My name.
The way she said it made my skin crawl.
Not because it was threatening.
Because it sounded like she had known me for years.
Wesley stepped between us.
"Sarah, you shouldn't be here."
The woman looked at him.
"You knew this day would come."
My eyes moved from her to Wesley.
Sarah.
The name from the message.
The name he refused to explain.
"You’re Sarah Mitchell?"
She nodded.
And somehow, seeing her standing there made everything worse.
Because she wasn't a stranger anymore.
She was a missing piece of a story everyone knew except me.
"What is going on?" I asked.
Nobody answered.
I looked at Wesley.
"Start talking."
He opened his mouth.
But Sarah interrupted.
"He can't."
Her voice was quiet.
"Because if he tells you everything, he has to admit what he did."
My heart sank.
"What did he do?"
Wesley looked at Sarah.
"Enough."
She ignored him.
"He lied to you."
I looked at my husband.
"About what?"
Sarah walked into the office and placed the envelope on the desk.
"About the night you forgot."
Those words stopped me.
The night you forgot.
I had heard them before.
The message.
The video.
The woman on the phone.
Everyone kept talking about a night I couldn't remember.
A night that apparently changed everything.
I shook my head.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Sarah looked at me carefully.
"I know."
The answer surprised me.
"You know?"
She nodded.
"Because I was there."
The room went silent.
I looked at Wesley.
"You told me you didn't know her."
He looked away.
That was the answer.
The worst kind.
The one without words.
I stepped back.
"How long have you been lying to me?"
Wesley whispered:
"Emma..."
"No."
My voice cracked.
"No more."
I pointed at Sarah.
"She knows something about me."
Then I pointed at the folder.
"That folder has my name."
Then at the computer.
"That video showed me doing something I don't remember."
I looked at him.
"And you still expect me to believe you were protecting me?"
Wesley looked broken.
"I was."
"Then why don't I remember?"
He didn't answer.
Sarah looked down.
"Because you asked him to make sure you forgot."
I froze.
"What?"
Wesley closed his eyes.
"Sarah."
But it was too late.
I had heard.
"What did she mean?"
Nobody spoke.
I stepped toward Wesley.
"Did I ask you to erase my memory?"
His silence was terrifying.
"Answer me."
Finally, he said:
"Yes."
The room spun.
I grabbed the edge of the desk.
"No."
Wesley moved toward me.
"Emma, listen."
"No."
I looked at him.
"You did something to me?"
"No."
"Then explain."
He took a breath.
"Six years ago, you were involved in something dangerous."
I laughed bitterly.
"I was?"
"You don't remember because it was the only way to keep you safe."
I stared.
"Safe from who?"
Sarah looked at Wesley.
"He still doesn't want to tell you."
I turned.
"Tell me."
Wesley looked at both of us.
Then slowly walked to the desk.
He opened the drawer.
Inside was another file.
Different from the others.
This one had a date.
Six years earlier.
And a title.
"Project Identity Recovery."
I frowned.
"What is that?"
Wesley didn't answer.
Sarah did.
"Someone was replacing people."
My eyes moved to her.
"What?"
"They were creating false identities."
She looked at me.
"Making people disappear."
I felt a chill.
"Why?"
"Because some people knew information they shouldn't know."
I looked at Wesley.
"Did I know something?"
He looked at me.
"Yes."
"What?"
He hesitated.
Then he said:
"The truth about St. Alden."
My stomach tightened.
"What truth?"
Before he could answer, the office lights suddenly went out.
The room became dark.
Someone screamed in the hallway.
Then the emergency lights turned on.
Red.
Flashing.
Wesley immediately looked toward the door.
"What happened?"
His phone buzzed.
He checked it.
A message.
I watched his expression change.
"What?"
He didn't respond.
I reached for the phone.
He pulled it away.
"Emma."
"No."
I looked at him.
"After everything, you don't get to hide your phone from me."
He slowly handed it over.
The message was from the same unknown number.
There was a picture attached.
My hands started shaking.
It was a photograph.
Taken inside our house.
Our bedroom.
Our bed.
A place where only Wesley and I should have been.
But the picture showed something else.
A folder sitting on my pillow.
The same folder from his office.
The message underneath said:
"She is closer than you think."
I looked up.
"Someone was in our house?"
Wesley took the phone back.
His face was pale.
"No."
"Then what?"
He stared at the photograph.
"Someone never left."
The office door suddenly unlocked.
Slowly.
Nobody touched it.
Sarah stepped backward.
Wesley reached for the handle.
Then he stopped.
Because a voice came from the other side.
A voice I recognized.
A voice I had not heard in years.
"Emma..."
My blood ran cold.
Wesley looked at me.
"You know that voice."
I couldn't breathe.
Because I did.
I knew exactly who it belonged to.
The person I thought I would never hear again.
The person who was supposed to be gone forever.
May you like
The door opened.
And my missing sister was standing there.
