"Memory is a lie we all tell ourselves to survive. But what if somebody else is doing the lying."
Scene: Archive Basement [ The Forbidden Floor ]
Nyra stumbles into a hidden elevator tucked behind a rusted bookshelf in the Archive. The
elevator shudders and takes her underground. The basement is nothing like The Archive above - here, the air is stale, the walls lined with observation windows and surgical equipments lies rusting on the steel tables.
As she walks her nose starts bleeding. The deeper she goes, the louder a mechanical hum gets.
Then - Blackout.
Sequence: Induced Memory Loop [ But she doesn't know that ]
She wakes up, not in the present, but in a perfectly recreated version of the past - The Archive basement as it used to be, functional and alive with activity.
She hides behind a door. Two people are talking.
Aarav (frustrated) : " I'm starting to remember things....things that don't make any sense. What the hell did our father do? "
Allen (smirking) : "Good work Sorav"
Nyra freezes.
What?
She peers through the glass. The boy she thought Aarav is standing there. But now, Allen calls him Sorav.
Her breath catches.
"He's not Aarav..."
"He never was!"
The scene shifts again - this time she is not observing. She is inside a memory that isn't hers.
Flashback 1 [ Sorav's Backstory ]
A child sits in a cold room. Mr. Raghavan stands over him.
"You are subject 3. You'll replace Aarav. You'll be better. No emotions. No attachments. Just control."
Sorav is fed lies. Shown videos of Nyra. Forced to believe that love means manipulation.
When he turns 16 - he is trained to impersonate Aarav.
His voice.
His face.
His personality. Everything.
Sorav ( in mirror ) : "You're Aarav now. Make her believe it."
His obsession with Nyra doesn't begins with love but with power and manipulation.
He plays his role perfectly. For Nyra he is Aarav.
Flashback 2 [ Aarav's Backstory ]
Meanwhile the real Aarav grows up far away - sent abroad for studies, unaware of what's happening underground.
When he returns home, everthing is gone. His father's files are burned. His
memories.....altered.
But he finds a photograph of himself and Sorav as children. A twin he doesn't remember.
And beneath it, a note in Mr. Raghavan's writing:
"Erase Aarav, keep Sorav."
"Then who was I talking to all this time? Who kissed me? Who whispered my name like a promise."
She sees flashes of a boy with her at the hospital holding her hand and comforting her:
"You are safe with me....Nyra."
But now the voice overlaps with Sorav's.
With Allen's smirk.With Mr. Raghavan's shadow.
[ The twist that hits hard ]
In the centre of the room, a screen lights up. Her name appears.
Subject 0: Nyra
Paired with subject 3: Sorav
Failed experiment: Emotive corruption detected.
Then another screen.
Unlogged pair: Subject 0 + Subject 2 ( Aarav)
Outcome: Undefined. Emotionally unstable. Access denied.
Nyra screms. Blood drips from her nose again. The room spins.
"I loved a lie!"
A voice echoes from the speaker:
Sorav:"You were never supposed to know. But now that you do...tell me, Nyra - who will you believe, when both of us wear the same face."
A light above her flickers.
And the real Aarav steps in, bruised, bloodied. His eyes met hers. Silent. Unreadable.
Fade to black.
"Who is real or should we say who is not real."
"Sorav or Aarav."
Comment down your thoughts.
Red heart for Aarav.
Black heart for Sorav.