The girl in the pod didn't move again
Just floated
But that single word shook something loose in Kai
They kept walking
But the hallways looked different
Lights flickered in patterns
Like morse
Like code
Kai blinked
Suddenly
He was somewhere else
Not the facility
A bedroom
His bedroom
The posters
The cracked window
The smell
He was ten
Voices downstairs
His sister calling him
His name echoing through the hall
"Kai come down"
He tried to answer
But no sound came
Tried again
Nothing
He ran to the mirror
No reflection
He looked at his wrist
No countdown
No name
Nothing
The dream cracked
Static flooded in
A siren
Flashing lights
Echo grabbed his shoulders
"Kai
You're not supposed to remember that far back"
He gasped
Back in the facility
Floor cold
Breath shaking
"She said my name
And it's disappearing"
Echo looked pale
"That's how they erase you for real"