The steel elevator groaned as it descended slow, intentional, almost punishing. The smell of burnt oil lingered thick in the air, clinging to the silence between them. No one spoke. The only sound was the thundering of their hearts.
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Jayden Crowe had his head lowered, trapped in the haunting echo of those final words:
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"Prepare to lose something precious."
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With a jolt, the elevator stopped.
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The doors slid open with a hiss.
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They stepped out into a room flooded with golden light, but it wasn't from any source they could see. The floor beneath them gleamed like glass but it wasn't just any glass. Beneath it shimmered images... reflections of memories. Each of them saw someone they had loved or still did. Someone their soul still whispered to in the dark.
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Jayden saw Evelyn Mayfield. Arms around him, sunlight warming their faces, her smile reaching every corner of his heart. His chest tightened. His knees nearly buckled.
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Rhea Morgan stared at a little girl Daisy. Her daughter. The one who had been ripped from her after a filthy custody battle stained with lies and corruption. Rhea forgot how to breathe.
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Connor Black's eyes locked onto a frozen moment in time: his older brother, wide-eyed and bleeding. A gun in Connor's 14-year-old hands. An "accident" he had lied about for years. Said it was suicide. But it wasn't.
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Sienna Volk saw the patients. All of them. The ones who died under her care. They stared back from beneath the glass, cold and accusing.
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A voice returned. Calm now. Almost... soothing.
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"Welcome to the Chamber of Truth. Here, each of you will face a choice: lose someone... or lose a part of yourself."
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"We begin with Jayden Crowe."
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Jayden froze.
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"You have one minute to decide. Either sacrifice someone still living someone who matters deeply to you or erase every memory you've ever had of Evelyn Mayfield. If you refuse to choose... you lose them both."
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His throat was dry. The others turned to look at him, the weight of the room unbearable.
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"Anna. Evelyn's daughter. She's still alive. She's with Evelyn's family. If you choose to give her up... she dies. If you choose to forget Evelyn, you lose everything you shared. You won't even remember loving her."
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Jayden slowly sank to the floor. His breath shook. Evelyn had been his anchor to humanity. But Anna? She was innocent. She didn't even know him.
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He closed his eyes.
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Then whispered, "Erase her from me. All of it. Every piece."
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Silence.
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"You have chosen to erase part of your soul. You have shown mercy and real pain. Proceed."
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Jayden blinked.
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A vacuum filled his chest.
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He stood... hollow.
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"What is this?" he muttered. "Why does it hurt... when I don't know why?"
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Rhea bit her lip, tears threatening. She knew. Evelyn was gone from him now. Forever.
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One by one, they were called. One by one, they chose. Some clung to memory, letting go of the people they loved. Some gave up pieces of themselves. Others couldn't choose and the room made the choice for them.
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When it was over, only five remained:
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Jayden Crowe
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Rhea Morgan
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Sienna Volk
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Connor Black
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Luisa Delvane
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A new voice emerged this one female. Soft. Familiar.
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Jayden's heart skipped. It sounded like Evelyn.
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"This was never a game. It was a process. Designed to strip away the shadows inside you. Now... it's time for the final truth."
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A panel in the wall slid open.
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A single chair sat in the center of the room, surrounded by cables, needles, and a curved screen with pulsing radiation monitors. Below the chair, engraved into the metal, read:
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"Only one can know the whole truth."
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"One of you will sit in the chair. The others will vote. Whoever sits will learn everything who created this, why it began, who's behind all the deaths. But after one hour... they will die. Exposure to the radiation of truth is fatal."
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Dead silence.
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Rhea whispered, "I can't anymore... I've already lost everything."
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Connor looked at Jayden. "You seem strong. Maybe it should be you."
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Jayden didn't answer.
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Sienna curled in on herself, shaking. "I wish I had died earlier..."
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Then Luisa stepped forward.
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Her voice didn't tremble.
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"I'll do it."
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Everyone turned.
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"I've been searching for answers since the day I disappeared. They blamed me for what happened. Said I killed my friends. I didn't. I was innocent. If dying gives this pain meaning then let me die for something."
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Jayden's voice was hoarse. "Luisa... you know this isn't normal, right?"
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She smiled through her grief. "I've been dead inside for years, Jayden. This... is the closest I'll get to living again."
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They voted. One by one.
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Four votes.
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All for her.
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Luisa sat down.
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The restraints clicked. Lights flared red, then blue. The screen in front of her blinked on, showing the image of a man.
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Cold eyes. A scar on his forehead in the shape of the Greek letter "Ω."
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Luisa gasped. "It's him. That's the man. Dr. Kain Ezekiel. He ran the government's cognitive trial program. We were part of it."
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Jayden stumbled back. The voice Evelyn's voice returned.
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"Dr. Kain initiated Project SIREN a system designed to remove guilt from field operatives. But it went too far. It became torture. Everyone in this room... was an early test subject. And now... it ends."
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Jayden's memories came crashing back.
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The training. The mission. Evelyn.
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"If you ever remember, Jayden... tell them the whole truth."
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Luisa, weak now, whispered her last words:
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"Project Siren never ended. This whole thing... was the final test. To see if any of us... were still human."
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She collapsed.
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Blood trickled from her ears.
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She was gone.
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The walls glowed.
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A final door unlocked, hissing open.
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Glowing letters above it read:
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"ONE FINAL ROOM: THE HEART OF IT ALL."
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Jayden rose to his feet.
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He didn't know what waited in that room.
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But for the first time, he understood:
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This wasn't about survival any
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more.
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It was about truth.
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And he was finally ready to face it.
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(To be continued..................)
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