Emma and Nathan didn't stop running until the old library was far behind them. The streets were quiet, and the sun was starting to set, casting long shadows across the sidewalk. Emma's heart was beating so fast she could barely breathe. Her fingers were still holding the photo of the girl—the same strange girl who had appeared and disappeared right in front of them.
Nathan finally slowed down and leaned against a lamppost. "Emma… wait. We need to stop for a second."
Emma stopped near a small bench and bent over, breathing hard. "You saw her, didn't you?"
Nathan nodded slowly, still trying to catch his breath. "Yeah. She was real. But what was she?"
Emma stood up and looked at the photo again. The girl looked peaceful but sad, almost like she knew everything that had happened. "She's not just a ghost. She's part of all this. I think she was one of the first children they tested. Maybe even the first Memory Keeper."
Nathan's eyes widened. "You mean… before you?"
Emma nodded. "She was part of the same project. But they said she was terminated. That she didn't survive." She looked at Nathan. "But she's still here."
Nathan frowned. "You think she's still alive?"
"I don't know," Emma said. "But she's not gone. She left something behind. A piece of her mind, her memories… something."
Nathan rubbed his hands through his hair. "Emma, this is too much. First Dave dies, then we're being chased by this secret group, and now there's a ghost girl leading you through a hidden room in the library?"
Emma sat down on the bench. "We can't tell anyone, Nathan. No one would believe us."
Nathan sat next to her. "So what do we do?"
"We find out who she is," Emma said. "She looked like me, Nathan. Not exactly, but enough. What if I was made from her? What if she was the original?"
Nathan stared at her, speechless.
Back at Emma's house, the sky had turned orange. Aunt Bertha's car wasn't in the driveway. Emma felt relieved. She didn't want to explain anything yet.
Inside, the house was quiet. Emma threw her bag onto the couch and took the photo out of her pocket. She placed it on the kitchen table and sat down. Nathan opened the fridge.
"Still empty," he muttered. "Your aunt really needs to buy more than yogurt and cookies"
Emma chuckled a bit. She reached into her notebook and pulled out the drawing she found at the library—one labeled E-005. The face in the sketch looked calm and familiar. Like someone she almost remembered from a dream.
"What if she's trying to guide me?" Emma asked softly.
Nathan leaned on the counter. "You mean she's leading you to something?"
Emma nodded. "She didn't speak, and she didn't move. But she kept showing up. And she wanted me to find that room. She wants me to know who she is."
Nathan looked at her. "Then we find out. We go back. Together."
Emma smiled a little. "Yeah. But no running next time."
That night, Emma had trouble sleeping. She woke up again and again, sweating and shaking. In one dream, she was in the library again. The girl was standing by the window, but when Emma got close, the girl disappeared. Then Emma saw her own reflection—but it wasn't her face staring back. It was the girl's.
The next morning, Emma sat on her bedroom floor with all the papers they took from the library. Some of them were damaged or unreadable, but others had real information. She studied them carefully.
Nathan was sitting on the bed with the yearbooks. "If she was a student here, she has to be in one of these."
Emma picked up a different folder. It had drawings of another boy—Subject F-007. He was only eleven years old. The note at the bottom made Emma freeze:
Memory failed. Subject lost identity.
She covered her mouth. "They didn't just take memories… they erased them. They made these kids forget who they were."
Nathan looked at her, shocked. "That's horrible."
Emma's hand touched another thin folder. She opened it—and her blood turned cold.
It was her.
Name: Emma Sanders
Observation: Keeps memories she didn't live through. May be recalling lives of others.
Status: Active subject. Uncontrolled.
Note: Linked to E-005. Possible copy.
Nathan stood up and looked over her shoulder. "Emma… they've been watching you."
Emma's voice was small. "They knew who I was the whole time. I didn't just happen. They made me."
She looked at the note again. Linked to E-005. The girl in the library wasn't just another test subject. She was one of the originals. Emma was a result. A continuation. A second try.
Nathan sat down beside her. "So what does that mean? You were made from her? Like a copy?"
"I don't know. What about my parents?" Emma whispered. "But if she's still out there, if she's still stuck… I have to help her."
Nathan nodded. "Then we go back. We find out everything. And we end it."
Emma folded the photo of the girl and placed it in her notebook, right next to her own file.
"We finish what she started."