I stared at the other version of myself, the one standing in the darkness, gazing at me with glowing blue eyes. My heart pounded wildly, but this time, I didn't step back. I didn't want to run anymore.
I took a step forward, locking eyes with her. She looked just like me… yet somehow different. There was something unsettling about the way she smiled, as if she knew everything about me—more than I knew about myself.
"What do you mean you're me?" I asked, keeping my voice steady despite the tension coiling around me.
She didn't answer right away. Instead, she lifted her hand, studying it as if it held some kind of secret. Then, in a whisper, she said, "I'm what you've been hiding from, Iris. I am the truth you refuse to face."
A chill ran down my spine. "What truth?"
She met my gaze sharply, then turned toward the passage behind her. Suddenly, the dark walls shifted, like curtains being drawn to reveal something that wasn't there before.
My eyes widened in shock.
A scene unfolded before me—not just an image or a memory, but something real, as if the past itself had come alive.
I saw myself. A younger version of me—no more than ten years old—sitting in the corner of a cold room, hugging my knees, my eyes filled with tears.
I knew this place.
I knew it too well.
This… was the house I lived in before I forgot everything.
A sharp gasp escaped me as I instinctively took a step back. But the other me gently grasped my wrist and whispered, "Don't run, Iris. Not this time."
I turned to her, feeling the weight of her words press down on me. I had always run—run from my memories, my fears, the truth I refused to remember. But now… I couldn't anymore.
I looked back at the little girl—at myself—and felt a deep ache in my chest. I had been alone. I had been scared. But why? What happened to me that made me forget?
The other me sighed, as if she could hear my thoughts, then whispered, "It's time to remember, Iris. It's time to know who you really are."
Then… the door swung open before me.
And the truth was waiting on the other side.
To be continued...