CHAPTER 7 — “Lily Saw the Girl in the Photograph… Standing Outside the Window.”
The cabin fell silent.
Only the crackling fire and the distant rumble of thunder broke the stillness.
Ethan stared at the old photograph in his trembling hands.
Three children.
One face had been deliberately burned away.
Another looked exactly like Lily.
He turned to Evelyn.
"Tell me the truth."
She closed her eyes.
"There weren't supposed to be three."
"What does that mean?"
"The project created twins."
Ethan frowned.
"What project?"
Evelyn swallowed hard.
"They weren't studying diseases."
"They were studying memory."
She looked toward Lily, tears filling her eyes.
"They wanted children who could remember everything... even things they had never experienced."
Ethan couldn't understand.
Then Lily suddenly stood up.
Her face had turned ghostly white.
"Mommy..."
She pointed toward the rain-covered window.
"The other girl is here."
Every head turned.
Outside...
A little girl stood motionless beneath the pouring rain.
She looked exactly like Lily.
Same blonde hair.
Same blue coat.
Same teddy bear.
Even the same tiny scar above her eyebrow.
Ethan's heart nearly stopped.
"No..."
The girl slowly smiled.
Then she raised one finger...
...and pointed behind Ethan.
He spun around.
The cabin door was already open.
Someone had entered without making a sound.
A masked man stood inside the living room holding a pistol fitted with a silencer.
He calmly spoke one sentence.
"Thank you for bringing Subject S-17 home."
Before Ethan could react...
The stranger fired.
The bullet struck Evelyn in the shoulder.
She collapsed, screaming in pain.
The masked man grabbed Lily.
But something impossible happened.
The little girl outside the window suddenly smashed through the glass.
She tackled the masked man to the floor with shocking strength.
The two identical girls stared at each other.
One whispered,
"I'm Lily."
The other replied,
May you like
"No..."
"...I'm the real one."
