**EPISODE SEVENTY-SIX**
**THE CHILD WHO REMEMBERED THE WRONG UNIVERSE**
**Part Seventeen: THE NAME THAT WAS NOT HIS**
The darkness...
ran with them.
Not behind them.
Not ahead of them.
With them.
Milo knew this...
because every time he looked over his shoulder...
the darkness was there.
And every time he looked forward...
it was there too.
Diana ran beside him.
One hand in his.
The other...
pressed against her stomach.
Tarzan ran somewhere behind them.
Milo could hear him shouting.
"WAIT FOR ME."
A pause.
"AND THE BANANAS."
Another pause.
"MAINLY THE BANANAS."
The witness clutched the burning manuscript.
The old man carried the pen.
The nameless child...
ran without looking back.
No one knew where they were going.
That was...
perhaps...
the problem.
Or...
perhaps...
it was the only thing keeping them alive.
Behind them...
the name continued writing itself.
MILO__
MILO__
MILO__
Milo tried not to look.
He failed.
Again.
He looked.
The letters were no longer on the manuscript.
They were...
everywhere.
Written across the darkness.
Written beneath their feet.
Written in the spaces between heartbeats.
MILO__
Diana stumbled.
Milo caught her.
"Diana."
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
"I am running through a universe that may have already failed several times."
She gasped for breath.
"Nobody looks fine."
Tarzan ran past them.
"FALSE."
He pointed at himself.
"I LOOK EXCELLENT."
Milo stared at him.
Tarzan stopped.
Looked down.
His hair was on fire.
"OH."
He slapped it.
The fire went out.
Milo blinked.
"How?"
Tarzan shrugged.
"JUNGLE."
The witness suddenly stopped.
Everyone crashed into everyone.
The old man hit Tarzan.
Tarzan hit a wall.
The wall screamed.
Tarzan screamed back.
The nameless child turned.
"Why did we stop?"
The witness held up the manuscript.
The flames...
had gone out.
Milo stared.
The title was gone.
No.
Not gone.
Changing.
The words twisted.
EPISODE SEVENTY-SIX
THE CHILD WHO REMEMBERED THE WRONG__
The final word disappeared.
Diana whispered...
"Universe."
The manuscript remained silent.
Diana frowned.
"What?"
The old man stepped closer.
His face changed.
"It's refusing."
Milo looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
The old man did not answer.
The manuscript moved.
A single sentence appeared.
THE CHILD REMEMBERS A UNIVERSE THAT NEVER EXISTED.
Silence.
Tarzan slowly raised one hand.
"I WOULD LIKE TO VOTE AGAINST THAT."
No one looked at him.
Tarzan lowered his hand.
"THIS IS A BAD DEMOCRACY."
Diana looked at her stomach.
The second heartbeat continued.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Milo whispered...
"Hello?"
The heartbeat stopped.
Everyone froze.
Milo looked at Diana.
"Diana?"
She shook her head.
"I didn't... "
THUMP.
The heartbeat returned.
But...
it was different.
Not one heartbeat.
Two.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Milo stepped backward.
The nameless child whispered...
"There are two."
Diana stared at him.
"No."
The child pointed.
"I can hear them."
Tarzan leaned toward Diana's stomach.
Diana slapped him away.
"Don't."
Tarzan looked offended.
"I WAS LISTENING."
"You were putting your ear on me."
"THAT IS HOW LISTENING WORKS."
The witness opened the manuscript.
A new sentence appeared.
ONLY ONE CHILD IS REAL.
Everyone became silent.
Then...
another sentence.
THE OTHER REMEMBERS.
Milo whispered...
"Remembers what?"
The darkness answered.
"Home."
---
1. THE UNIVERSE THAT LOST
Everything stopped.
Even the darkness.
Milo turned.
"Where are you?"
No answer.
The voice had not come from behind them.
Or ahead.
It had come...
from everywhere.
Diana held Milo's hand tighter.
"Don't ask it anything."
Milo looked at her.
"It already knows we're here."
"That doesn't mean we should make conversation."
Tarzan nodded.
"GOOD ADVICE."
A pause.
He looked into the darkness.
"HELLO."
Diana closed her eyes.
Tarzan whispered...
"What?"
The darkness laughed.
Not cruelly.
That was worse.
Almost...
sadly.
Then...
the world changed.
No explosion.
No light.
No warning.
One moment...
they stood in darkness.
The next...
they stood beneath a blue sky.
Milo looked around.
A city.
Destroyed.
Buildings leaned against each other like exhausted giants.
Cars floated above the streets.
Rain fell upward.
In the distance...
something enormous...
moved beneath the earth.
Diana stopped breathing.
"No."
Milo looked at her.
"You know this place?"
She shook her head.
"Not me."
The second heartbeat began pounding.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Then...
a voice.
From Diana.
But not Diana's voice.
"Home."
Milo stepped away from her.
Diana looked terrified.
"That wasn't me."
The nameless child began crying.
"I know this universe."
Everyone turned.
Milo stared at him.
"What?"
The child pointed toward the broken city.
"I was here."
The old man whispered...
"No."
The child looked at him.
"I remember dying here."
Silence.
Milo's face changed.
"You remember another life?"
The child shook his head.
"Not mine."
He looked toward the sky.
"Yours."
Milo stopped breathing.
A figure stood on top of a distant building.
Far away.
Almost invisible.
But...
Milo knew him.
Older Milo.
The First Author.
He was not writing.
He was running.
Behind him...
the sky was opening.
Not like a door.
Like a wound.
Tarzan whispered...
"THAT IS A VERY BAD SKY."
The old man stepped backward.
"No."
Milo looked at him.
"What happened here?"
The old man whispered...
"I ended it."
Silence.
Diana turned toward him.
"You said you stopped writing."
"I did."
"Then what is this?"
The old man's face collapsed.
"The first time I tried to finish."
Milo stared.
The city trembled.
The distant sky...
screamed.
The old man whispered...
"I thought an ending would save them."
Milo looked at the ruined world.
"And?"
The old man closed his eyes.
"The story disagreed."
---
2. THE CHILD WHO REMEMBERED DYING
The nameless child walked into the street.
Milo grabbed him.
"Wait."
The child looked at Milo's hand.
Then...
at Milo.
"I have to see."
"Why?"
"Because I was there."
The child pulled free.
He walked toward a small house.
Half destroyed.
Its front door was missing.
Inside...
a bedroom.
A bed.
A wooden desk.
Books.
A window.
Milo stopped.
The same room.
The sleeping child's room.
But older.
Broken.
Abandoned.
Rain floated upward through the ceiling.
The child entered.
Everyone followed.
On the wall...
words had been written.
Thousands.
No.
Millions.
Scratched.
Painted.
Carved.
The same sentence...
again and again.
HELLO.
HELLO.
HELLO.
HELLO.
Tarzan stared.
"WHO WAS VERY FRIENDLY?"
No one answered.
Diana touched one of the words.
It disappeared.
Another appeared.
Milo stepped closer.
His blood went cold.
The writing changed.
HELLO, MILO.
Milo froze.
Then...
HELLO, DIANA.
Then...
HELLO, TARZAN.
Tarzan stepped backward.
"IT KNOWS MY NAME."
Milo looked at him.
"Tarzan, everyone knows your name."
Tarzan pointed at the wall.
"NOT THE WALL."
The wall continued.
HELLO, WITNESS.
HELLO, AUTHOR.
HELLO, CHILD.
HELLO, CHILD.
HELLO, CHILD.
Milo frowned.
"Why twice?"
Diana looked at her stomach.
THUMP.
THUMP.
The second heartbeat answered.
The nameless child stepped toward the desk.
There was a notebook.
Old.
Burned.
He opened it.
The pages were filled with drawings.
A city.
A jungle.
A hospital.
A black door.
Milo.
Diana.
Tarzan.
And...
another child.
The child turned the page.
Everyone stopped.
A drawing of Diana.
Pregnant.
Milo whispered...
"No."
The drawing was old.
Years old.
Maybe centuries.
Beneath it...
written in a child's handwriting...
were four words.
THEY CAME BACK AGAIN.
The nameless child began shaking.
"I remember."
Milo turned.
"What?"
The child looked at the notebook.
His face pale.
"We were here."
Diana whispered...
"All of us?"
The child nodded.
"Not like this."
Milo stepped closer.
"Then how?"
The child looked at him.
"As the first attempt."
The room went silent.
Tarzan whispered...
"I DO NOT LIKE BEING CALLED AN ATTEMPT."
Milo stared at the child.
"First attempt at what?"
The child looked toward Diana.
Then...
her stomach.
"At making someone who could remember."
---
3. THE SECOND CHILD
The heartbeat changed.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Diana fell to her knees.
Milo caught her.
"Diana!"
She gasped.
"Something's wrong."
The witness opened the manuscript.
A sentence appeared.
THE REAL CHILD IS DREAMING.
Another.
THE OTHER CHILD IS A MEMORY.
Milo stared.
"A memory?"
Diana screamed.
The entire room shook.
The walls peeled away.
Behind them...
another room.
And another.
And another.
Thousands of bedrooms.
Thousands of desks.
Thousands of sleeping children.
Milo looked left.
A child.
Sleeping.
Milo looked right.
Another.
Then...
another.
Some were human.
Some...
were not.
One had no face.
One had six eyes.
One was old.
One was already dead.
Tarzan stared.
"THERE ARE TOO MANY CHILDREN."
The darkness whispered...
"Because there were too many universes."
Milo turned.
"Who are you?"
The darkness did not answer.
Diana whispered...
"Ask the question."
Milo looked at her.
"What?"
"The question we've been avoiding."
Tarzan immediately covered his ears.
"NO MORE QUESTIONS."
Milo stepped toward the darkness.
"Who was the first child?"
Silence.
The manuscript screamed.
Not a sound.
A word.
NO.
Milo froze.
The old man shouted...
"Don't ask that."
"Why?"
"Because I did."
Milo looked at him.
"And?"
The old man began crying.
"Everything after that became an answer."
The darkness moved.
Closer.
Milo saw...
eyes.
Not black.
Not glowing.
Human.
Thousands of them.
Opening.
One by one.
The voice whispered...
"The first child..."
The old man screamed.
"STOP."
The voice continued.
"...was not born."
The nameless child fell to his knees.
Milo looked at him.
"What?"
The child looked up.
Tears covered his face.
"I remember."
Diana whispered...
"Remember what?"
The child pointed at himself.
"I was the second."
Silence.
Milo's heart stopped.
The child continued.
"The first child woke up."
A pause.
"And everyone else..."
He looked around.
"...became the wrong universe."
---
4. THE BABY WHO WOKE UP FIRST
The darkness vanished.
A hospital appeared.
Not Diana's hospital.
Older.
Colder.
Machines from a future that no longer existed.
Milo recognized the bed.
The old man recognized it too.
He whispered...
"This is where it happened."
Diana looked at him.
"What happened?"
The old man couldn't speak.
On the bed...
a woman was sleeping.
Or...
trying to.
Her stomach was enormous.
Machines surrounded her.
Monitors screamed.
The old man stepped forward.
Milo followed.
Then stopped.
The woman...
was Diana.
But not.
Older.
Her hair was gray.
Her face carried years that Diana had never lived.
Older Diana opened her eyes.
She looked directly at Milo.
And screamed.
"RUN."
The hospital lights exploded.
Tarzan ducked.
"I WAS ALREADY RUNNING."
The old man whispered...
"She remembers."
Milo stared.
"How can she?"
The old man looked at him.
"Because this was before you changed the story."
The unborn heartbeat became deafening.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Then...
another sound.
A voice.
Not the unborn child's.
Older.
Calmer.
From somewhere inside the darkness beneath the hospital bed.
"Father."
Milo froze.
The old man screamed.
"Don't listen."
The voice continued.
"Father."
Milo whispered...
"No."
The voice laughed.
"You always say that first."
The bed shook.
Older Diana grabbed Milo's arm.
Her hand passed through him.
She looked at him.
Terrified.
"You don't remember."
Milo whispered...
"Remember what?"
She looked toward the old man.
Then...
at the nameless child.
Then...
at Diana.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You promised."
Milo froze.
"What?"
"You promised you wouldn't let him wake up again."
The second heartbeat stopped.
Complete silence.
The darkness beneath the bed...
opened its eyes.
A child's eyes.
Ordinary.
Human.
Terrified.
The nameless child whispered...
"The first child."
The voice answered...
"No."
Everyone froze.
The eyes beneath the bed looked at Milo.
"I was never a child."
The universe...
blinked.
---
5. THE WRONG UNIVERSE REMEMBERS
Milo woke up.
On the floor.
Alone.
No Diana.
No Tarzan.
No witness.
No old man.
No nameless child.
Just...
the bedroom.
The first bedroom.
The ordinary one.
Rain against the window.
A child sleeping in the bed.
Milo stood slowly.
His head hurt.
The child whispered...
"You're early."
Milo froze.
"Who are you?"
The child sighed.
"You asked that in the last universe too."
Milo stared.
"The last—"
"Don't."
Milo stepped closer.
"Don't what?"
"Try to remember."
Milo stopped.
The child turned.
Milo finally saw his face.
And screamed.
Not because the child looked like him.
That would have been simple.
Not because the child looked like the old man.
That would have been worse.
The child...
looked like no one.
That was the horror.
Milo's mind searched for a name.
A face.
A memory.
Nothing.
The child had no identity.
And yet...
Milo knew him.
The child smiled sadly.
"I am what happens when you remember the wrong version of yourself."
Milo whispered...
"That's impossible."
The child nodded.
"I know."
A pause.
"That's why I survived."
Milo looked at the blank page floating above the desk.
It was no longer blank.
There was a name.
MILO—
Milo stepped closer.
The final letters appeared.
Not Milo Finch.
Not the old man.
Not the child.
MILO...
Milo's hands began shaking.
The name completed itself.
MILO MAXIMUS.
Silence.
Milo stared.
"I don't understand."
The child whispered...
"Of course you don't."
Milo turned.
"Who is that?"
The child looked toward the window.
Rain stopped.
Everything stopped.
The child whispered...
"The one who dreamed you before you became Milo."
Milo stopped breathing.
The page trembled.
A second name appeared beneath the first.
Not complete.
Only a beginning.
I.
Then...
V.
Then...
A.
The child stood.
"No."
Milo looked at him.
"What?"
The child backed away.
"He's finding us."
The room began disappearing.
Milo grabbed the child.
"Who?"
The child looked directly into Milo's eyes.
And for the first time...
Milo saw fear.
Real fear.
"Don't let Diana remember."
Milo froze.
"Why?"
The child whispered...
"Because she wasn't supposed to survive the first universe."
The room cracked.
The name on the page burned brighter.
I.
V.
A.
N.
Milo screamed...
"WHO IS IVAN?"
The darkness answered.
Not with a voice.
With a memory.
A man.
Sitting alone.
Writing.
A pen.
A page.
One sentence.
ONCE UPON A TIME...
The child screamed...
"NO."
The universe began folding.
Milo reached for the page.
Another letter appeared.
I.
V.
A.
N.
A pause.
Then...
the page wrote something else.
NOT THE AUTHOR.
Milo froze.
The darkness whispered...
"The reader."
The child shook his head.
"No."
The darkness continued.
"The dreamer."
"No."
"The witness."
The child covered his ears.
"STOP."
Then...
the final answer appeared.
THE ONE WHO REMEMBERS THE FAILURES.
Milo looked toward the collapsing room.
"Diana."
He ran.
The child grabbed him.
"Wait."
Milo turned.
"I have to find her."
The child looked terrified.
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
The child whispered...
"You're not running toward her."
The room broke.
Milo saw darkness.
Beyond it...
Diana.
Standing still.
A hand against her stomach.
Her eyes...
open.
Milo screamed her name.
She looked at him.
And smiled.
Not Diana's smile.
Milo stopped.
Diana whispered...
"I remember everything."
The child screamed...
"TOO LATE."
Diana's stomach moved.
Once.
Twice.
Then...
a hand...
pressed outward from inside.
Milo stared.
Another hand.
Smaller.
From the other side.
Two unborn children.
One inside her.
One...
trying to get out.
Tarzan's voice echoed from somewhere far away—
"WHY ARE THERE TWO?"
The darkness answered...
"Because one belongs to this universe."
A pause.
The second hand pressed harder.
"And one..."
Diana began screaming.
Milo ran toward her.
The darkness whispered...
"...belongs to the next."
The manuscript appeared.
Floating above them.
A new title burned across the page.
EPISODE SEVENTY-SEVEN
THE UNIVERSE THAT WAS BORN BY MISTAKE
Diana looked at Milo.
Tears ran down her face.
She whispered...
"Don't let it choose."
Milo reached for her.
"What?"
The second unborn voice answered.
Not the child they had heard before.
Another voice.
Older.
The voice of the child who had already woken up once.
"Father."
Milo froze.
The darkness opened.
Diana screamed.
The universe...
took its first breath.
And somewhere...
before the beginning...
someone started writing...
again.
**TO BE CONTINUED...**
Written By,
Ivan Edwin
Pen Name :Maximus.
©All Rights Reserved