How It All Began

Emma couldn't move.

Her mother stood at the top of the basement stairs, one hand on the edge of the trapdoor, her face calm and unreadable. Next to her was a man, taller and older.

It was her father.

"Emma," her mother said softly, like nothing had changed. "We've come for you."

Emma stepped back slowly, bumping into the cold metal of a file cabinet. Her thoughts were spinning.

"Why?" she asked, her voice low and shaking. "You left. You didn't say goodbye. You just…disappeared and left me with Aunt Bertha."

Her father's voice was steady and firm. "It wasn't safe for us to stay. We were being watched."

"That's a lie," she snapped. "You left me behind. With no answers. With this…curse."

Her mother came down a few steps, pausing halfway. "Emma, what you call a curse is actually a gift. One we tried to control. One we tried to protect. But it's growing too fast now."

Emma's heart pounded in her chest. Nathan was frozen beside her, eyes darting between her and the two strangers above them.

"You were behind all of this, weren't you?" Emma said. "The Organization. The Cell. The children. The experiments. The voices. Clarise."

Neither of her parents answered right away. Her mother finally nodded. "We built the framework, yes. But we didn't expect the results to spiral the way they did."

Emma stared at them in disbelief. "So all those children—they were your test subjects?"

Her father sighed. "Not test subjects, Emma. Potential solutions. You must understand, the power you and others like you carry is not meant for the world. It's too unstable. Too dangerous."

"Then why give it to us at all?" Emma asked, her voice rising. "Why create something you couldn't control?"

Her mother stepped down to the last stair. "We didn't create it. We unlocked it. From inside you. You were born with it, Emma. But we didn't know that it would grow this strong."

Emma shook her head, trying to make sense of their words. "So what? You've come to take it back?"

"Yes," her father said simply. "It doesn't belong to you anymore."

Nathan stepped forward, standing in front of her. "You can't just take something that's a part of her."

Her father looked at Nathan as if he were a bug. "It's not a part of her. It's a possession. Something we allowed to grow—temporarily."

"We made you into what you are," her mother added. "And now we have to undo it. You weren't meant to carry this forever, Emma. The longer it stays inside you, the more you lose yourself."

Emma took another step back, tears in her eyes. "That's not your choice to make. Not anymore."

Her mother's expression changed for the first time. She looked tired. "Emma, do you remember the headaches you used to have as a child? The voices?"

Emma didn't respond.

"You were breaking," her mother said. "Until we stepped in. We stabilized you. But it was temporary. If we don't remove the core—what we call the Keeper gene—it will collapse. You'll collapse."

Emma stared at her parents like she was looking at strangers. "You're telling me I'm going to die unless you rip out everything that makes me me?"

Her father's voice was cold. "Yes."

Nathan stepped in again, voice steady. "Then we'll find another way."

"There is no other way," her mother said. "We've tried. We spent the last year in the West Indies researching alternate containment methods. None of them work. You're our last solution, Emma."

Emma took a long, deep breath.

Then she turned and ran.

Nathan followed instantly, and together they shoved open the door at the far end of the basement. The tunnel beyond was narrow and filled with dust, but it led to the side exit near the yard. They sprinted through the dark, through the weeds, through the rain that had started again.

Behind them, they heard voices—her parents shouting her name.

But she didn't stop.

She ran until the old house was gone behind them. Until the only sound was her heartbeat and the wind.

Back at the underpass, they collapsed onto the concrete floor, breathless.

Emma pulled the folder from her backpack again. The words Project Keeper: Subject – EMMA stared back at her.

"I can't believe it," she whispered. "They were behind it all along. My parents."

Nathan sat beside her, shaking his head. "They don't see you anymore. Just your power."

Emma wiped her eyes. "They said I was going to fall apart. That my memories would break me."

"Do you believe them?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "But I know this—I'm not letting them take it from me. Not until I understand what's going on."

Nathan reached over and gently closed the folder. "Then we find the other Keepers. And we stop whatever they started."

Emma nodded slowly. The fear was still there, heavy and cold, but under it was something stronger.

Resolve.

If she was going to lose herself, it would be on her own terms—not theirs.