STOLEN MEMORIES

The pier was quiet. Selene stood at the edge, the wind tugging at her coat, the waves below crashing like distant applause. Midnight had turned the city into shadows. She checked her phone again. No new messages. Then - footsteps. A figure emerged from the darkness. Hooded. Tall. Male. "You have no idea what he's hiding," the voice whispered. Selene didn't move. "Who are you?" The man stepped closer. "Someone who used to work for him." "Darius?" He nodded. "Before Ember. Before the collapse." "What's Project Ember really about?" The man looked around, then handed her a flash drive. "Everything's on here. But you need to be careful. He's not just protecting a company. He's protecting something buried." "Buried where?" "In you." Selene blinked. "What?" "He didn't just destroy your mother. He erased her legacy. And yours." She stepped back. "Why should I believe you?" "Because I was there. I saw what she built. What he stole." Selene gripped the flash drive. "What's on this?" "Proof. Of what she created. Of what he turned into Ember." She looked at him. "Why now?" "Because you're the last piece. And he knows it." The man turned to leave. "Wait," she said. "What's your name?" He paused. "Call me Ash." Then he disappeared into the night. Selene stared at the flash drive. Her fingers trembled. She didn't go home. She went to the only place she could think of - her mother's old apartment. It had been locked for years, untouched. But she still had the key. Inside, dust coated everything. The air smelled like memory. She plugged the flash drive into her laptop. Files loaded. Blueprints. Notes. Voice memos. Her mother's voice. "If you're hearing this, it means I failed. Or I was silenced. Ember was never meant to be a weapon. It was a cure. For memory loss. For trauma. For pain." Selene's breath caught. "But Darius saw something else. Control. Power. He took it. Twisted it. And now he's using it to erase people. To rewrite them." She clicked through the files. Names. Photos. Dates. People who had vanished. People who had changed. And then - her own name. Selene Marlowe. Age 9. Subject: Phase 1. She froze. There was a video. She clicked play. A younger Selene. In a lab. Her mother beside her. "Do you remember what we talked about?" her mother asked. Selene nodded. "The memory box." "And what's inside?" Selene smiled. "My favorite day." Her mother kissed her forehead. "Good. We'll keep it safe." The screen went black. Selene sat back, heart pounding. She had been part of Ember. She had been a test subject. She didn't remember. She couldn't. She opened another file. A report. "Subject shows signs of memory suppression. Emotional triggers may restore fragments. Risk of instability." She closed the laptop. Everything tilted. Her mother hadn't just built Ember. She had used it. On her. Selene stood, pacing the room. Her hands shook. Her breath came fast. She had come for revenge. But she didn't even know who she was. Her phone buzzed. Darius. "We need to talk. Now." She didn't reply. She grabbed the flash drive and left. Back at Vane Holdings, the building was dark. But his office light was on. She walked in without knocking. He looked up. "You saw it." She threw the flash drive on his desk. "You lied to me." "I didn't." "You used me." "I protected you." "From what?" "From yourself." She stepped closer. "You erased me." "I preserved you." She slapped him. He didn't flinch. "You were breaking," he said. "Your mother begged me to help." "She used Ember on me." "She didn't know it would work." "She didn't know what it would cost." He nodded. "Neither did I." Selene's voice cracked. "What did you take from me?" "Only the pain." She stared at him. "You don't get to decide that." "I didn't. She did." Selene turned to leave. "Selene," he said. She paused. "There's more." She looked back. "You weren't the only one." "What does that mean?" He opened a drawer and pulled out a photo. Her mother. And a child. Not Selene. A boy. "Who is that?" "Your brother." Selene's world stopped.