CHAPTER 3 — THE IMPOSTOR
CHAPTER 3 — THE IMPOSTOR
The door exploded open.
Police rushed in.
“Hands up!”
Mia screamed, backing away.
But Daniel didn’t move.
He just looked at them.
And said quietly:
“You’re late.”
The officers froze.
One of them whispered:
“…Subject confirmed.”
Mia turned. “Subject?! What are you talking about?!”
Daniel finally looked at her.
And for the first time… his voice changed.
Colder.
Stronger.
“You weren’t supposed to find out like this.”
Gunshots.
Chaos.
Mia dropped to the floor.
“WHAT ARE YOU?!”
Daniel grabbed her arm and pulled her behind the wall.
“I’m not your husband,” he said.
Mia’s world collapsed.
“I knew it…”
He shook his head.
“I’m what they built after him.”
She froze.
“…What does that mean?”
A flash of memory hit her.
A lab.
A body.
Her screaming.
“No—NO—STOP THE PROJECT—”
She gasped.
“I remember…?”
He looked at her carefully.
“Yes. Pieces of you are coming back.”
Another explosion.
The officers were gone.
Replaced by black-suited operatives.
One of them said:
“Prototype unstable. Terminate both.”
Mia grabbed his arm.
“Prototype?!”
He looked at her.
And finally said the truth:
“The real Daniel died two years ago.”
“I was made to replace him… to watch you… and to see if you’d remember who you really are.”
Mia stepped back.
“…And who am I?”
Silence.
Then he said:
“You were the one who created me.”
FINAL ENDING — ACTIVATION
Hidden servers came online across the city.
A system voice echoed:
“ORIGIN SUBJECT DETECTED.”
“MEMORY FRAGMENT RESTORATION: 67%”
Mia fell to her knees.
Images flooded her mind.
Not love.
Not marriage.
But labs.
Bodies.
And her own voice saying:
“IF THIS WORKS… WE CAN BRING THEM BACK.”
She looked up.
The man wasn’t smiling anymore.
He was waiting.
Like a machine finally meeting its creator.
And Mia whispered:
May you like
“…I didn’t just lose my husband.”
“I built him.”
