Episode 17
The sky outside had turned a bleak gray, casting dull shadows across the cold tile floor of Iris's hospital room. Morning had broken, but the weight of what she'd learned overnight kept her tethered to the edge of her bed, staring at the tiny flash drive in her trembling palm.
Toby's whispered warning echoed in her mind.
> "Everything they tried to erase is on this... Don't trust anyone. Not even me."
Iris stared at the device like it was a live wire.
So small.
So dangerous.
She glanced toward the door. Still locked. No cameras in her room. She'd learned that from the stolen maps. But there were audio monitors. They listened.
She grabbed a small radio from the side cabinet and turned up the volume to a random station. Soft jazz filled the room—just enough to mask quiet voices. She slid to the floor and pulled open the tile beneath her bed where she had stashed the stolen hospital files. From beneath the folders, she took out the old medical tablet she had hidden days ago.
It was outdated and cracked, but it still worked. She inserted the flash drive into the port, and the screen flickered to life.
A folder labeled: "Elara_V."
Her heart skipped.
She opened the folder.
> FILE 01: Audio_ElaraFinalLog.mp3
FILE 02: Footage_Trial212.mp4
FILE 03: Patient_Logs_12B.pdf
FILE 04: BlackRose_Directive.txt
The screen swam in her vision. She clicked the audio file.
A girl's voice.
Shaky, but familiar—like hearing her own soul echo through time.
> "My name is Elara Vale. I am recording this because if you are listening, I'm gone. Dead or worse. They've been testing on us. Alec Draven... he's not who he says he is. None of them are."
Iris's throat constricted.
> "They call it Project Black Rose. It's not therapy. It's control. They suppress memories, inject behavioral modifiers. At first, they told me it was to help me heal. Then I realized... they wanted obedience. Not healing."
A pause. A shaky breath.
> "They're doing it to my sister too. Iris doesn't remember me. They made sure of that. But I remember her. Her laugh. Her dreams. Her defiance."
A sob in the recording.
> "If anyone finds this, protect her. Because they'll stop at nothing to keep her under control. She's different. More powerful than she realizes. And they're terrified of what she might remember."
The file ended abruptly.
Iris covered her mouth to hold back a sob.
She hadn't cried in days. Not real tears. But now, the weight of Elara's voice, her desperation, cracked something inside her wide open.
She moved to the next file.
Footage_Trial212.mp4
It opened with static.
Then—an underground room. White walls. Harsh lights. A young woman strapped to a medical chair. Iris gasped.
It was her.
Only... not her. Slightly younger. Hair longer. Eyes dull, unfocused.
Dr. Kaine stood beside her. Alec Draven stood behind the observation glass, his face unreadable.
Kaine's voice was clinical.
> "Subject 12C. Memory suppression successful. Preparing for Phase 2 of compliance training."
The screen flickered.
The girl in the chair screamed.
They injected her with something.
She convulsed.
The footage glitched. Then it cut to black.
Iris threw the tablet across the room. It hit the wall with a dull thud and clattered to the ground, screen cracked again—but still on.
She forced herself to pick it up.
Patient_Logs_12B.pdf
Dozens of pages. Lab reports. Emotional assessments. Dreams recorded. Elara had been tested, pushed, drained.
She skimmed the last entry.
> "Subject 12B displayed high resistance to Phase 3. Severe emotional spikes when confronted with images of Subject 12C. Risk deemed too high. Subject terminated under pretense of overdose."
Her stomach turned.
It wasn't just an accident.
They had killed her sister.
BlackRose_Directive.txt
She opened the final file.
A single sentence glowed on the screen.
> "When Subject 12C reaches 70% cognitive restoration, initiate 'Rose Fall Protocol.'"
Iris whispered, "What is Rose Fall?"
She didn't know what scared her more—that she was being measured by percentages, or that something deadly awaited if she ever remembered too much.
Suddenly, the radio shut off.
The room lights flickered.
Her tablet went dark.
Panic seized her.
She ran to the window.
The hallway outside was empty, but she felt it—someone was coming.
A slow knock at the door.
Three soft taps.
Then Alec's voice, calm and terrifying in its gentleness.
"Iris. You've been very busy."
Her mouth went dry.
"You broke into the security room. You stole data. You accessed Project files. Naughty girl."
He sounded amused.
Like a hunter.
She gripped the tablet tighter.
"Go away," she said.
"I can't do that." His voice lowered. "You're progressing too fast. I told them this would happen. I begged them to slow it down, to let me handle you gently. But you just had to rush, didn't you?"
"I know everything," she spat. "You killed her. You lied. You're a monster."
"I did what I had to," Alec replied coolly. "You were unstable. You still are. I saved you."
"You drugged me. You locked me away."
"And still, you trust the wrong people," he said. "Toby, for instance."
She froze.
Alec chuckled darkly.
"You think a janitor just found a classified flash drive? Elara never made backups. You didn't find her voice, Iris. You found mine."
Her fingers clenched the tablet in horror.
No. No. It couldn't be.
Alec continued, "Everything you watched... was real. But it was meant for you to see it. To push you toward obedience through fear. We call it accelerated compliance through engineered rebellion."
She gasped. "You wanted me to rebel?"
"To test your limits. And now... we've reached them."
A heavy click echoed.
The door opened.
Two guards entered.
"No!" Iris backed away.
Alec appeared in the doorway. Immaculate in his dark suit, but his eyes burned with something cruel.
"Sedate her," he ordered.
"No! Please—"
A needle jabbed her arm.
Her vision blurred.
"Iris," Alec whispered, cradling her as she slumped, "it didn't have to be this way. But now... it's time you finally forgot everything."
---
Hours later…
The lights above her swirled in dizzy halos. The world floated. She couldn't feel her legs.
Was she awake? Or still dreaming?
Then a soft voice pierced through.
"Iris. Wake up."
Elara?
No. Not Elara.
Toby.
"I switched the injection," he whispered into her ear. "Act drugged. Now."
She lay still.
"You were right to doubt me," Toby continued, hurried. "Alec wanted you to rebel. But I couldn't let them wipe you again. You need to escape. Tonight."
Her heart pounded.
He slipped something into her palm.
A key card.
And a whisper of hope.