[This part might be a little confusing as it has flashbacks, past and present all in one single part so please read carefully.]
"If everything i remember is a lie..... then what part of mine is still real?"
The hospital lights buzzed louder today. Or maybe it was the silence between them.
Nyra's eyes fluttered open. Morning. The air was colder than usual. She reached under her pillow, fingers searching.
Gone.
That note was gone.
The one she wrote last night. About allen. About aarav. About not trusting herself.
She sat up sharply.
"Nurse!"
A woman peeked in, smiling too gently, "Yes, dear?"
"There was a paper. I left it here. Did someone come in last night?"
The nurse blinked. "You must have dreamed that, sweetheart. You didn't write anything."
Nyra's lips parted, but no sound came.
She did. She remembered writing it. Her hands trembeled.
The nurse adjusted her IV drip, almost too carefully.
"Try to get some rest. You've been through a lot."
Nyra didn't answer. Her eyes drifted to the mirror on the wall. Her reflection was still. Frozen. Watching.
Later that afternoon.
Aarav came in with a tea and a cautious smile.
"You look better today."
She didn't smile back.
"You found it. Didn't you?"
He tilted his head, "Found what?"
"The note."
"I didn't see any note."
She stared at him for a long, long time and then finally:
"Where did you get the red bracelet?"
He froze."The one you gave me yesterday?" she added. " It was in my dream. But it's real. How?"
"I found it in the drawer near your bed. Maybe you had it when you were brought in."
Nyra looked down. She wasn't wearing it now.
She wasn't wearing anything that felt like hers.
That night.
The air felt thick. Like smoke. But colder.
She sat up and sat to the mirror again. But slowly
Her reflection stared back.
No smile.
Not yet.
"Say something.", nyra whispered, "I know you are not just....me."
The reflection tilted its head.
And then it spoke:
"You are remembering too much. That's why they are watching again."
Nyra chocked back a scream. The reflection blinked in reverse - closing one eye then the other.
"Who are you?"
"I'm the one who stayed when you left."
Suddenly - flash.
A searing pain behind her eyes. And then.
[ FLASHBACK]
White walls. Cold metal. A chair. Straps around her wrists.
She was younger. Thinner. Her hair shorter.
Behind a glass stood allen. Silent. Unmoving.
And beside him - Aarav. Looking....older?
Allen:"She's destabilizing. Reboot her memory. Again."
Aarav's voice, quiet, reluctant:
"She won't survive another reset."
Nyra's body twisted in the chair. She screamed - but no sound came out. Just light. Bright blinding light.
Back in present.
She gasped and fell off the bed, hitting the floor hard.
Nurse ran in. Someone tried to sedate her.
She kicked them away.
"Where is Aarav? I need to see him...now!"
Later. Quiet.
A soft knock.
Not aarav. A woman stepped in. Dark glasses. Clipboard. Smile like plastic.
"Nyra, I'm Dr. Meera. Your assigned therapist."
Nyra narrowed her eyes. She has heard this name before.
"You were in the white room." Nyra said," You whispered to me. I remember."
The woman didn't react just wrote down something.
Nyra clenched her fists.
"Tell me." she said.
"What is my real name?"
Dr. Meera paused:
"Does it matter.... if you're not the one who chose it?"
Nyra's heart cracked somewhere invisible.
Aarav returns. Quiet. Holding something.
"I found this in my car. This might be yours."
He holds out the red bracelet.
Her dream.
Her past.
Her identity.
She doesn't take it.
"Where did you really find it?"
"It was always yours...Elira."
Nyra doesn't respond just stares at him and says:
"You lied before. Don't lie again."
His face shifts. Like something slipped.
Aarav set the bracelet on the nightstand beside her. Slowly. Like he was holding a bomb.
"Nyra i am trying to protect you."
"From what?""From yourself."
The room went silent.
She stood shakily. Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"You're one of them...Aren't you?"
He didn't answered.
Just looked at her the way someone looks at a broken thing that you still want to keep.
"I loved you once." she said. "Maybe I still do. But if you really care - tell me the truth."Aarav opens his mouth.
And then - closes it.
Instead, he said:
"They're listening."
Nyra blinked:
"What?"
He stepped closer, almost too close, and whispered, barely audible.
"There is a mic in the mirror. There is a camera in the IV pole. You were never meant to remember the fire."
She stared at him, trembling.
"Why are you helping me now?"
His voice cracked for the first time.
"Because last time...you forgot everything."
"Including me."
[ Cut To. ]
The hospital corridor.
Aarav walks out. He doesn't look back. He slips something into the hands of the shadowy figure near the end of the hallway."
It's Allen.
Allen studies aarav with blank expression.
"She's close." Aarav says.
Allen smirks.
"Let her get closer."
[ Scene cuts to nyra's reflection again.]
This time, it moves before she does. And whispers -
"Tick, Tick, Tick, Little fire starter."
"You only have until 3."
What is happening with Nyra or should we say Elira?
Comment down your thoughts.