What Was Left Behind

Chapter 12: Down the Surface

The engine of Levi's car roared as they sped through the winding roads, leaving the ominous figure of Patient #57 far behind. But even as the facility disappeared in the rearview mirror, Maia could feel the weight of what had just happened pressing down on her chest. The cold night air whipped through the open windows, but it did nothing to cool the burning questions racing through her mind.

Levi was silent beside her, his jaw tight as he gripped the steering wheel. He hadn't spoken since they escaped, and Maia knew he was processing the same thoughts she was. Patient #57 was real, and everything they had feared about her father's work was far worse than they had imagined. But there was still something missing, something she couldn't shake.

"We need answers, Levi," Maia finally said, her voice trembling with frustration. "We're close, but we're still missing the biggest piece. Why was my father involved in this? What was the point of those experiments?"

Levi glanced at her, his face shadowed in the dim light. "You said Camilla found something before she disappeared, right? Something she was going to expose?"

Maia nodded, her mind racing back to the last few conversations she had with Camilla before everything fell apart. She remembered the fear in her best friend's eyes, the urgency in her voice when she spoke about the experiments. Camilla had been onto something, something big.

"I just wish I knew what she found," Maia said quietly. "It's like we're dancing around the truth, but every time we get close, it slips away."

Levi's expression darkened, and he pressed harder on the gas, the car surging forward. "We'll find it, Maia. We have to."

They pulled up in front of Maia's apartment an hour later, the weight of exhaustion settling in. The adrenaline from their escape had worn off, leaving them both feeling drained. But sleep was out of the question. There were too many unanswered questions, too many threats lurking in the shadows.

As they entered the apartment, Maia's eyes flicked toward the table where her father's files still lay scattered. She moved toward them instinctively, her fingers brushing over the patient records, searching for anything she might have missed. But it was all the same—cryptic references to memory erasure, fragmented details about the patients, and the ever-present specter of Patient #57 looming over everything.

Levi poured himself a glass of water, his face still tense as he leaned against the counter. "I don't know how much more of this we can dig through without something concrete. We need a break."

But Maia wasn't ready to give up. Not yet. Her fingers sifted through the files again, and then, her eyes caught something she hadn't noticed before. A single sheet of paper buried under the stack of records. It was old, yellowed with age, and the handwriting on it was different—hurried, almost frantic.

She pulled it out and scanned the words, her pulse quickening as she realized what she was looking at. It was a letter. From her father.

"Levi," Maia whispered, her voice tight with disbelief. "Come here. Look at this."

Levi set down his glass and crossed the room, leaning over her shoulder to read the letter. As his eyes scanned the page, his expression shifted from confusion to shock.

The letter was addressed to Maia's mother. Dated years before her father's death.

"Elizabeth,

I know this is hard to understand, but I need you to listen. Everything I've done, every experiment, every trial—it's been for Maia. You know about the project, about the memory trials, but what you don't know is that it's already begun. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before, but it was for her safety.

Maia is the key. Everything hinges on her."

The words blurred before Maia's eyes as she read them over and over again, her heart hammering in her chest. Maia is the key.

"What... what does this mean?" she whispered, her voice barely audible.

Levi's face was pale as he stared at the letter. "It means this wasn't just about the patients. Your father... he did all of this for you."

Maia's mind spun, her stomach churning as she tried to process the revelation. For her? But why? What did her father mean by calling her the key? She had never been involved in his work, had never even known the full extent of what he was doing until now. But the letter suggested something much darker, something she hadn't anticipated.

"He kept this from my mother," Maia said, her voice trembling. "She didn't know. No one knew."

Levi took a step back, his brow furrowed in deep thought. "He was hiding this for a reason, Maia. Whatever he was involved in, it wasn't just about experimenting on other people. He was experimenting on you."

Maia's blood ran cold. Experimenting on her? The very thought made her skin crawl, but the pieces were beginning to fit together in the most terrifying way.

"The memory manipulation... the erasures... it's all connected to you," Levi said, his voice low, almost afraid of the truth he was uncovering. "You don't remember it, Maia, but I think you were one of his subjects."

Her heart felt like it stopped in her chest. She was a subject? The idea was too horrible to consider, but her father had made it clear—everything he had done was for her. And if she was the key, if she was part of the experiments, then that meant... her memories weren't real.

She staggered back, the room spinning around her. Her childhood, her life, everything she had known—was it all a lie?

"Levi, if what you're saying is true... then I don't know who I am."

Levi's face softened with concern, but there was a hardness beneath it—a determination to get to the bottom of the truth. "We're going to figure this out. But first, we need to know what they did to you. There has to be a way to find out."

Maia sank into a chair, her hands trembling as the full weight of the revelation crushed her. She was a subject. Her father's work, the experiments, the disappearances—it was all connected to her. But why? What had he done to her? What had he erased?

Her mind spun with questions, but the most terrifying realization was still to come.

Levi's voice broke through her thoughts. "Maia, there's only one way to know for sure."

She looked up at him, her heart pounding with dread. "What?"

He swallowed hard, his voice barely a whisper. "You need to recover your memories.