October 2026

  During the meeting, Aymee raises her hand. Marianne takes a deep breath and focuses on her wristwatch.

  What are you doing?

  “Go ahead, Miss Ortiz.” Edward says.

  “Thank you, sir. I wanted to share some lovely news. Dr. Olsen believes…”

  Don’t you dare. Marianne looks up and smiles.

  “That the gene is evolving and allowing deviants with abilities to develop them earlier.”

  “Earlier than seven years old?” Laurence asks.

  “Yes, the first cases were in Eurasia, documented in the late 90s. Rare. However, Dr. Olsen has studied the matter and believes that it’s not an anomaly. It’s an evolution.”

  “What would it take to confirm it, Marianne?” Edward asks.

  “More specimens.” Aymee replies.

  Edward nods and Laurence starts explaining where and how to find them. After a few minutes, the meeting ends. Marianne follows Aymee to the elevator.

  “Heading to the lab, Dr. Olsen?”

  “No, Aymee, we are heading to my room.” She pushes the button and the doors close.

  Once they are inside, Aymee closes the door and sees the view.

  “Aymee, why would you mention the children? It’s still too soon to confirm it, and it’s not your call to make.”

  “How will you get more specimens? Your hypothesis needs to be studied. Dr. Olsen, I thought everyone should know how brilliant you are.”

  “You don’t get to decide when things are shared. Don’t do it again.”

  Aymee laughs.

  “Mmm, you’re such a piece of work. Walking around like you own the place.”

  “I do own it.” Aymee winks at her.

  “No wonder that no one puts up with you. If it weren’t for your money, you’d be by yourself. Even your ex-husband couldn’t deal with you. I’m so sorry to hear that things didn’t work out. He put up with your nonsense for six years. Surely, if heaven exists, there’s a place granted there for him. What a saint.”

  “Is that all? Are you done?”

  “No, I’m not. You’re truly a sociopath. You know that despite working for me, you’re above me in so many ways and you use it. You know I can’t fire you, so you’ll do whatever you want for the protagonism and to piss me off.”

  “Piss you off, Dr. Olsen? All I did was tell the others the brilliant work that you do.”

  “When you know that, I don’t want it to be known. But you know that you can do that, because you are Edward’s lapdog.”

  “I’m no one’s lapdog.” Aymee turns around and starts to leave.

  “Which word would you use to describe yourself, then? Spy?”

  “This is ridiculous.”

  “At least, admit it. Be honest once in your life.”

  “Yes, I work for Hall. Is this what you want to know?”

  “No, I want to know how many times have you read my mind.”

  “Many times during our first weeks working together. Not ever since.”

  “That’s a lie.”

  “It isn’t. I know that Hall is responsible for your husband’s death because you told me. Not because I read it. I know that Sofie, I’m sorry, Sophie, is your daughter and thinks that her sister killed her father because you told me.”

  “I would never tell you that!”

  “Marianne, so how would I know? When those parts of you are hidden, not even available to mental controllers. How would I know?”

  “If I told you is because you messed up with my head. You’re a sociopath. Heartless.”

  “Well, this heartless sociopath has kept quiet for years about you. Has protected you from Daniel, who, by the way, read your mind when you slept together and was going to tell Hall. Has protected you from the other mind controllers. I haven’t said so much to him.”

  “No, you are protecting yourself. You don’t care about anyone other than yourself. Why don’t I remember telling you things, then?”

  “We had a major fight in 2022. You paid someone to erase your memories. And ever since we fought, you asked me after to erase that argument. And I have.”

  “So, erase this one, too. I want no memories of you in my mind.” Marianne’s voice breaks. She’s unsure why.

  Aymee goes nearer her, “close your eyes, please.”

  “How can you so effortlessly pretend that you even care?” Marianne closes her eyes. Tears fall down.

  You can’t love someone who hates themselves.

  ***

  November 2028

  Aymee knocks on Marianne’s office. Is late in the evening. They are the only ones there.

  “Come in.”

  Aymee walks in. As soon as Marianne notices that it’s her, she tries not to roll her eyes but her lack of enthusiasm is visible.

  “Alexander Williams.” Aymee says.

  “What about him?”

  “He’s the one responsible for his parents’ death. Not the government. He mixed their memories up. They got confused and jumped out of the balcony. He’s remorseful about it. He doesn’t believe in the movement. He wants a carefree life. With money. Away from all this mess.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “The others didn’t tell me anything about it. Why?”

  “I’m far superior to them, Dr. Olsen. Alexander thought about his parents when we were running the machine on him. I sensed his remorse and went looking for the memories. Found them.”

  “Is that all on Alexander? You wouldn’t happen to know where they are staying, would you?”

  “No, Dr. Olsen. If I knew where they were hiding, I would’ve informed the Council.”

  “Of course. Just like you will about this.”

  “No. It’s up to you to decide if this is valuable information for the Council to know.”

  ***

  December 2028

  On the day after Aymee erased Padma’s memories, Marianne notices that Padma doesn’t seem to remember their conversation.

  Aymee. Marianne texts her, asking her to meet at her room in the hotel.

  "Come in." Marianne opens the door and welcomes her in.

  “Is everything okay, Dr. Olsen?”

  "Padma was here yesterday after the meeting. She has no recollection of that. Would you know anything about that?"

  "Yes, I erased her memories. Of your get together, of the plan to use Ikubor, of her intent to warn him. Whenever it’s mentioned again in front of her, I’ll have to erase them again."

  "Memory erasing is-"

  "The best course given the options."

  Marianne shakes her head. “I thought… deep down you actually cared about Padma. You are a sociopath, Aymee. This confirms it.”

  "I do care about Padma."

  "No, you care only about yourself. I knew that you were Edward's lapdog-"

  "I'm no one's lapdog."

  "No? You had no problem erasing Padma's memories."

  "I did a good job. Also, those memories were recent. She won’t have any short or long-term effects from it. I did what I had to do to protect her. You failed to convince her, Marianne."

  "Dr. Olsen."

  "Failed. She was going to tell Ikubor!"

  "Mmm, of course… and destroy Edward's plan! You just couldn’t allow that."

  Aymee laughs loudly. "Hall was going to kill her, Marianne. Don't you know him better than anyone else? Don't you think he would? I read his mind. If the girl messes up with this plan, she'll kill herself in the bathtub."

  "You are lying."

  “Sure. He was going to kill Emily Roberts despite Thomas being there. He killed everyone that stole the bodies and guns... including his own advisor. He killed the President. He killed the former head of strategy. Threatened with killing Thomas' advisor. Killed Daniel…”

  Marianne covers her mouth with her hand.

  “Killed your husband-”

  "Shut up, Aymee!"

  “But he wouldn't kill Padma. A no-one… A poor immigrant… No, he would spare her life. Why exactly?”

  “You are very convincing. I’ll give you that.”

  “Hall asked me to spy on Padma since Aminu came around, because Ahktar told him about their friendship. Yesterday, he asked me if she was going to mess up with the plan. When you failed-”

  "Shut up."

  "I did what I had to do to protect her."

  “Protect her? You pretend to care about her. All you care about is yourself. You’re manipulative, controlling, and you take pleasure in knowing you can play with anyone.”

  Aymee turns around.

  “Of course you’d leave. When things don’t go your way.”

  “I care about Padma,” Aymee faces her again. “You failed. I didn’t.”

  “You don’t care about her. If Hall asked you to make the girl kill herself, you would, Aymee!”

  Aymee takes several steps forward. Facing Marianne. She smiles while her eyes fill with water. “Is that what you think of me?”

  Marianne smiles back and takes one step forward. “You don’t care about anyone.”

  “I don’t care about anyone…” Aymee sighs. “No. However…” she exhales loudly while shaking her head. She finally stops and faces Marianne again. “I haven’t told him anything about you.”

  “Don’t lie. You have.” Marianne scoffs. “Need a reminder?” Marianne puts one finger up. “The bullets…?” Another finger. “The machine?” She laughs and puts up another one. “The children…? Those are just the ones I know.”

  “That’s nothing, Marianne! If I had told everything,” she pauses and takes another step forward. There’s no more distance between them. “Really everything…” she almost whispers now. “How you have parts of your memories hidden? Do you really think that just because you two screwed each other that he’d spare your life?”

  “Shut up.” Marianne doesn’t look away.

  “He has found several younger replacements. You mean nothing to him. He would kill you right away.”

  “You’d help him kill me, Aymee. The only good thing out of this conversation is that at least finally you admit that you read our minds. That no one can trust you. You’re-”

  “Heartless.” Aymee holds back the tears with another smile.

  Marianne shakes her head and looks away for a moment. “You erased my memories. We’ve had this conversation before, haven’t we?”

  “Yes. I only erased the more recent ones. You had someone else erase everything since I started working with you.”

  Marianne faces her again. “I wish…”

  “We’d never met.” Aymee looks away now. “Me too, Mari… Dr. Olsen. Close your eyes, please.” Aymee places her hand on Marianne’s head.

  Marianne closes her eyes. Tears fall.

  You can’t love someone who hates themselves.

  ***

  Several weeks later. Marianne has her hands on Aymee’s shoulder.

  “You erased my memories.”

  “This is tiring…” Aymee takes Marianne’s hands off her.

  “Aymee!” Marianne raises her voice without shouting.

  “What, Dr. Olsen?” Aymee faces her and takes a few steps toward her. They are face to face.

  “Why did you do it?”

  “Because you asked me to. I refused to erase the years we were… friends. You went ahead and had someone do it. Every time we get into a fight, I tell you about Hall-” Aymee’s phone rings. “Speaking of the devil. Yes, sir?”

  Marianne is about to open her mouth and Aymee puts a finger on it. Closing it. She looks at her.

  “Dr. Olsen only pretended not to care about what was described at the meeting. In fact, sir, she sincerely thought the specimen had killed her daughter. She wasn’t aware of any plan, sir. I came to her room, she’s fast asleep. I could read her mind to confirm it. Sophie Myers acted by herself.”

  What are you doing? Marianne takes Aymee’s hand away from her.

  “Is that necessary, sir?” Aymee looks away.

  Marianne notices that Aymee’s voice is serene, but her hands shake. She reaches out and helps her to keep them steady. Aymee looks at her again and her eyes glow.

  “I’ll pass by the medical office first thing tomorrow. Good evening, sir.” Aymee hangs up and sits on the bed.

  “What does he want?” Marianne sits next to her.

  “I have to erase the memories of the other people that went to your daughter’s house. They work for us for years. It will take a toll on their minds.” Aymee shakes her head. “That’s a concern for tomorrow.”

  “I want my memories back, Aymee. You are talented enough to give them to me.”

  “You wanted them gone.”

  “Now, I want them back.”

  “I thought I was a sociopath… I can manipulate those memories. Create fake ones. Why are you asking me for it?”

  Marianne gets up and goes to her desk. She grabs a book from it and comes back. “You always came back after your little trips with Ikubor and the machine. Always. Why?”

  “The mental controllers try to read your mind. When I’m around, I block them. But my command doesn’t last that long with other mental controllers.”

  Marianne opens the book and takes several polaroid photos from inside. One is of her, smiling, others are from landscapes in Norway. “I found these pictures a few months ago. Whenever I look at them, I feel a mixture of emotions. Same whenever I look at you. Did you take these photos?”

  Aymee nods and smiles while looking at them.

  “Why should I trust you, Aymee? I probably shouldn’t. However, I have no one to trust. Rationally, I have no reasons to feel like you will be truthful. Emotionally, part of me wants to believe in you.”

  “For me to bring back your memories, you need to be asleep. I’ll do it when you fall asleep.”

  “You can just order me to fall asleep.”

  “I’d never order you.” Aymee gets up and calls her assistant to ask for clothes to be delivered to the room.

  Marianne goes inside the bed. Aymee comes back wearing her athletic leisure. She sits on the couch facing Marianne. One hour later, Marianne finally falls asleep. Aymee heads there and carefully enters Marianne’s mind. She starts with their latest discussion. Slowly moves to the one before it. Every discussion. She finds it easily because she erased them. Aymee takes a deep breath in.

  I don’t care about any of this. Why am I even doing it? Her side effects slowly begin. She counters them and continues.

  Two hours later she’s finally done lies awake next to Marianne. Completely drained. Her eyes with no sign of life.

  One hour later, Marianne wakes up. She remembers everything. When she looks to her side, she notices Aymee. Her eyes are open and lifeless.

  “Aymee…”

  The girl doesn’t respond. Marianne shakes her.

  “Leave me alone.” She softly says, almost inaudibly. “Go away.”

  Side effects. You used too much.

  Marianne orders breakfast. Aymee refuses to eat. Instead, she gets up, heads to the bathroom, takes a shower, changes clothes and is about to leave.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Erase the memories of the others.”

  “Aymee…” Marianne tries to reach for her hand and Aymee flinches. “You shouldn’t head there alone.”

  Aymee turns around and laughs, “better alone than with you. Try not to kill yourself, Dr. Olsen. Or do. I couldn’t care less. I wouldn’t shed a single tear.”

  “These are your side effects talking. You don’t mean it.”

  Aymee laughs again. “No, Dr. Olsen. This is me truly telling you how I feel about you and how I’ve always felt about you. Stay away from me. We work together, that is all. Padma is going to check on you any moment now.”

  “Aymee…”

  “I mean it, Dr. Olsen. Leave me alone.” Aymee turns around and closes the door.

  Marianne’s phone rings.