I've learned from you guys that pretty much all the things I thought were normal weren’t. Thank you so much for giving me advice, I really appreciate it. You guys have been really helpful.

I listened to your advice, and I ended up finding out a lot more information. I pretended that my laptop died, and I asked my mom if I could play video games on her laptop. She said yes, and after she left the room, I closed the game, and opened up the files, and went through every single one. It took five hours to get through all of them, and half of the stuff I looked at was irrelevant, but it was worth it.

Pretty much all the important stuff was stored in two files. One was called “Phase One,” the other was called “Phase Two.” There was a file called “Phase Three,” but it was empty.

I saw a couple pictures of my mom with a man that has blue eyes like mine in the “Phase One” file. I think he is my dad. He doesn’t look like me as much as my mom does, but maybe that’s because I happen to look more like my mom? I heard that most people look a little more than one of their parents than the other.

There were a lot of videos in that file too. The first one I saw was all black, the only thing I could hear were people’s voices.

“I’ve already made up my mind, Annalise. I’m volunteering.”

“But why? Why does it have to be you?”

(Annalise is my mom’s name, by the way. That voice also sounded like hers.)

“Look, someone needs to volunteer for phase one-”

“But Derek-”

“You said it yourself, Annie. I’d be the perfect person to be granted eternity to.”

“That was before I realized what you’d have to do! Your mind is too brilliant to be wasted away.”

“Annie. Annie. Look at me. I know. I know what will happen. But if losing me lets us have a link to talk to those who we’ve already lost, and lead the way to giving eternity to others, I don’t care.”

“So that’s it, then? You’re just gonna throw your life away?!”

“Annie. Don’t think of it as throwing my life away. Think of it as saving others. We’re all passionate about this project.”

The video ends there.

The next video is of the man that is maybe my dad, sitting in a chair, talking to someone behind the camera. His voice sounds exactly like the guy from the last video’s, and they call him Derek too. The person behind the camera sounds familiar. I think it’s one of my mom’s old work friends, but I don’t remember their name.

“Once we inject the serum, it should start working extremely rapidly. It will immortalize you, but not without causing decay to your mind and body. By the time the procedure ends, you will be a living husk.”

“And…how does this allow you guys to speak to dead people?”

“You will be forever suspended between life and death. The research we’ve done has confirmed that it allows us to hear the voices of the dead.”

“So we’ve effectively confirmed the existence of a soul, then.”

“Not necessarily. It could just be memories…an imprint of the past, and not the person themselves.”

“What happens after that?”

“Phase two. We harvest some of those still-living cells into those who volunteered to be surrogates. The children that they produce should retain most of your abilities, but their bodies will be able to handle it much more effectively. They’ll be indestructible, but with one fatal flaw.”

“And that is?”

“Aging. They will be indestructible, but will eventually grow old and die. Even though your newfound abilities will grant them long lives, we cannot achieve eternity quite yet. That’s where phase three comes in. We use some of those children’s stem cells when they’re fully grown, create clones, and boom. We’ve got immortal, ageless people.”

“Why do we have to wait until they grow up? Why can’t we just do it when they’re little?”

“Because the clones won’t age. We need adults. God, you can be so dense sometimes, Derek.”

“So how long do you think this is all going to take?”

“If we start today, twenty-five to thirty years.”

“Well, then. I’m glad that most of the team will get to see the finished product. Maybe even I will, if…if there’s still a bit of me left in that shell.”

The video ends.

The next one is of the same guy lying down on a table in that doctor’s office I saw in the video with the breathing goop. I think it’s actually the same table.

A voice from off-screen starts talking.

“Well, that’s everything. Anything else you want to say before we start this?”

“Tell my family I love them. And tell them I’m happy. If this sacrifice helps the world, then I’m happy to do it.”

“...Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

A mask is put on his face, and he falls asleep. A hand from offscreen injects something in his arm.

And then his skin started to pop. Small bumps started to form underneath his skin. The person behind the camera grabs his hand and just starts pulling, like they’re unwrapping a present. They pull and pull, and he just unravels, stuff just falls off him and they scrape it into a bucket, until the table looks exactly like the one in the video I saw before.

I couldn’t keep watching the video after that. I felt like I was about to vomit, so I turned it off.

There was one more video in that file, of my mom having an interview with the same work friend in the last video.

“Phase one was successful. Phase two will begin soon. Do you still want to be a part of this project, Annalise? I know you were planning on raising the child with Derek’s assistance.”

“...I still want to continue.”

“Alright. Do you want me to assign you to another partner, then?”

“No. I can handle things on my own. Besides, everyone else is having disagreements with their partners. Why didn’t we assign actual couples to do this, instead of randomly pairing up co-workers?”

“Because there aren’t many couples that BOTH work here.”

“I see.”

That was where the video ended. I opened up the “phase two” file next.

There were a lot of pictures of me as a kid, and all those other kids in the video I saw before. I recognized most of my pictures. Heck, most of them are hung up our walls. There was me at the park, me at mom’s work, me at my birthday parties…that kind of thing. Two of the other kids had pictures that were similar to mine, but the rest of them…

Most of them were crying, and the rooms they were in were small and empty. They weren’t smiling. Some of them looked angry.

There were tons of videos of all of us doing our tricks in front of the camera.

And then…there was the document that said “Recall.”

Colette and Henderson were killed by their child, Willow. She managed to kill three more people before we were able to contain her.

This marks the fourth Phase Two child that has caused fatalities.

I have decided to cancel this project. Phase Three will not occur, and the remaining uncontained Phase Two children will be sent to one of our containment facilities.

The last thing in the file was another all-black video where you could only hear people talking.

“This is ridiculous! You can’t just ask me to get rid of my daughter like that!”

(By the way, that was my mom’s voice. The next voice is another one of her work friends’s.)

“Annalise, an order is an order. She could be dangerous.”

“She’s twelve! She wouldn’t hurt a fly!”

“What if she develops a grudge against you? What then?”

“She wouldn’t try to kill me, because I ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO PARENT HER!”

“Really? She told me she hates getting grounded.”

“Who likes getting in trouble?”

“Annalise, this is the best solution for her. She’s not going to be able to function in society. And you can still visit her at the containment facility. You can-”

“She can blend in just fine. I’ve educated her at home since she was five years old. She knows everything a normal child her age does!”

“Really? How well does she function socially?”

“For Christ sakes, you’ve met her before! She’s been to your daughter’s birthday parties! I’ve taken her to the park before, and she plays with the other children there just fine!”

“She’s been listed as a potentially dangerous suspect. You know what that means. If she were to go rogue, she’d be basically impossible to stop.”

“She won’t GO rogue. I promise.”

“You can’t guarantee that. Besides you could always have another child or-”

“I’m sorry, are you saying I should just replace her?!”

“No, I’m just saying, there are ways to make this easier on you and-”

“What if it was Taylor? Would you just give her up?”

“Taylor is not one of our subjects.”

“What if she became one? Would you just let her go?”

“Annalise, you signed a contract.”

“So did you. What if the boss told you to give Taylor up? Would you?”

“Annalise-”

“Answer. The. Question.”

“I…It’s a company order.”

“She hasn’t proven herself to be dangerous. I’ve worked for you guys for twenty-three years, and I’ve never once asked a favor from you. Just for once, can you grant me a bit of leniency?”

“....Your co-workers will accuse me of playing favorites.”

“Transfer me to another building then.”

“We still don’t know if she’s able to-”

“I’ll put her in school. We’ll move to a house in the suburbs. She’ll do just fine.”

“....Alright. I’ll allow an exception, just this once. But if she EVER attacks someone, we will be forced to contain her.”

That was all the stuff from the videos. I’ve…I’ve pieced a lot together, but I don’t know what I’m going to do next.

I know for sure that Mom’s company experimented on me. And other kids. And that apparently, I’m considered dangerous.

I know that my father is Derek, and that he is that pile of goo on the table in that video. I also recognize his voice from somewhere else.

He is the last voice I hear, every time my mom grounds me. The one I don’t become. The one that calls me an abomination. I think I might actually be one.

And I know that there are nine other kids, just like me, who have been locked away somewhere and I want to help them.

I just don’t know how.

Some people suggested I run away, but I don’t know where I’d even go. And if I tried to go to the police, they might try to lock me up or something.

If I talked to my mom, she might give me answers, or she might get mad. I just…don’t know how to feel anymore.

Can someone please tell me what to do?