Lira tried to write something.
She wasn't sure what anything. Her hand hovered over the page, pen resting between her fingers. She started with the letter L, like always.
But halfway through, her fingers stiffened. Shifted.
The stroke changed.
The letter curved into an A.
She blinked.
No... she hadn't meant to write that.
She tried again, this time slower, more careful. The ink trailed smoothly across the paper, but the moment she relaxed, her wrist twisted. Her hand added loops that didn't belong to her style.
And there it was again.
Alina.
The name stared back at her.
She dropped the pen. Her breathing shallow. She stared at her own hand like it had betrayed her.
It looked the same. It was hers.
But it moved like it wasn't.
---
She walked to the mirror by her closet.
Her face still looked like hers. Tired, pale, but familiar.
And yet...
When she raised her hand, the reflection moved a fraction of a second before she did.
It was fast, barely noticeable.
But she noticed.
She leaned in.
Her reflection smiled.
She hadn't.
---
In the kitchen, she tried to shake it off. She picked up a glass to fill with water, but her grip slipped. The glass started to fall.
Before she could think, her other hand shot out and caught it.
Perfect timing.
Too perfect.
Her reflexes had never been that fast.
And she hadn't meant to move.
Her body had acted on its own.
---
At school, she sat in her usual seat, but everything felt off. Her limbs felt light, disconnected. Her hand rested on her notebook, but she wasn't sure she could trust it anymore.
She lifted her pen. Tried again.
But before she could write, her hand moved by itself.
Not violently.
Just... independently.
It scribbled:
"Don't resist. We're only sharing for now."
Her breath hitched.
She dropped the pen again.
She looked at her fingers.
And whispered, "Are you there?"
Her hand... nodded.
No.
No. That was impossible.
She backed away from the desk.
Something inside her moved with her.
But it wasn't her.
***
Reva didn't sit in her usual spot.
Normally, she would've thrown a grin at Lira or asked about her breakfast. But today, she kept her head down. She didn't even glance up as Lira passed.
Not angry.
Not confused.
Just… afraid.
Lira watched from across the room. Reva looked restless, scribbling something furiously into the back of her notebook. The lines were messy. The pen slipped once, twice. She tore the page out, folded it, stuffed it between the pages of another book... then looked up.
Their eyes met.
And Reva stood. Quietly. She walked out of the classroom.
Lira followed.
---
They met behind the school building, in the quiet stretch of shadow just beyond the courtyard. Reva leaned against the wall, clutching her bag like a shield.
"I had a dream," she said, her voice low.
Lira said nothing.
"In it, you were standing in front of a mirror. But what moved inside the mirror… wasn't you."
Reva's fingers tightened on the strap of her bag.
"She whispered to me. But not with her mouth. She spoke straight into my head. Like a thought I didn't have."
Lira took a step closer. "What did she say?"
Reva's mouth trembled, then steadied. "She said... you're cracking. And if you crack just a little more… she can walk out."
Lira's pulse skipped.
Reva glanced up. Her expression was full of things she hadn't dared to say.
"Her name. It's Alina… right?"
Lira's lips parted, but she couldn't form the word.
Reva shook her head slowly. "I don't know how I know that. I didn't hear it. I didn't read it. But it was in my dream. And now… when I look at you..."
Her voice broke into a whisper.
"I'm not sure you're still Lira."
---
Lira didn't go back to class.
Her feet led her somewhere quieter. Somewhere empty.
The infirmary.
She lay on the cot, staring at the ceiling.
She tried moving her fingers.
They moved. But the sensation felt lagged, like she was playing catch-up with her own nerves.
Her body… didn't feel like home.
And then, slowly, without her command, her hand reached into her bag.
Pulled out the journal.
Opened it.
Turned to a blank page.
She tried to stop it, but couldn't.
Her fingers moved.
Wrote.
"I just need one day. One space. One body that doesn't fight."
Her chest ached.
She clenched her jaw.
And whispered, "Stop."
But her hand… kept writing.
***
She didn't know how long she had been lying there.
The infirmary was quiet, sterile, humming faintly with the sound of old lights. Time felt detached... like the world outside had stopped moving while something inside her shifted without warning.
Then a knock.
Not sharp. Not hesitant.
Just… inevitable.
The door opened, and Leon stepped inside.
But this time, he didn't look curious or concerned. He looked like someone who had come to deliver news he already knew would hurt.
He closed the door behind him.
And said, "It's happening, isn't it?"
Lira didn't answer.
Leon walked to the edge of the cot. "Your hand moves without you. You write things you don't remember. You wake up in positions you never fell asleep in."
She sat up, slowly. "You knew this would happen."
"I hoped it wouldn't," he said. "But I've seen the signs before. You're being overridden, Lira. Like software being patched while still running."
Her throat felt dry. "Why now?"
"Because you've remembered too much," he said. "And the system doesn't like memories it didn't assign."
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper.
It had two empty boxes and two sentences beneath them.
[ ] Unlock prior version memory
[ ] Maintain current identity control
Lira stared at it. "What is this?"
"A decision," Leon replied.
"If you choose the first," he continued, "you'll regain everything. The truth. The original sequence. But it may break your current consciousness. You'll know who Alina was… and possibly become her."
"And if I choose the second?"
"You'll remain Lira," he said, "but your body will keep rejecting you. Gradually. Subtly. Until no part of you obeys anymore. The system will isolate you like a virus."
Her chest tightened.
"So it's either lose myself… or lose my body."
"Exactly," Leon said.
Lira looked down at her hands.
They looked normal. Still hers. But now she couldn't tell if they were still listening.
"What would you choose?" she asked quietly.
Leon's eyes softened. "I don't know. I've never been in your position. I've never been a version."
That word...
Version.
It cut deeper than she expected.
"Why are you helping me?" she asked.
He hesitated. "Because I don't know which one of you is the real one. And maybe that means both of you deserve a chance."
---
Lira didn't tick either box.
Not yet.
But something told her the choice had already been made... long before she saw the paper. Long before Leon walked in.
Her body was no longer asking for permission.
It was waiting for her to give up.
***
Lira opened her eyes slowly.
The ceiling above her was cracked, unfamiliar, flickering with weak fluorescent light.
This… wasn't the infirmary.
She sat up fast. Her heart slammed against her ribs.
A small room. No windows. One chair. A table. A mirror bolted to the wall.
Her bag sat in the corner.
She didn't remember coming here. She didn't remember walking, or standing, or even falling asleep. Her last memory was sitting in the cot, talking to Leon.
Now this.
She was wearing a different outfit. Not her school uniform. A faded hoodie. Different shoes. Her sleeves had dust on them.
She stumbled toward the mirror. Her reflection looked back... tired, pale, anxious... but not… wrong.
Not yet.
She reached into her pocket. Her phone was there.
It lit up immediately.
There were photos in the gallery. Dozens of them.
Lira.
Smiling.
Laughing.
Sitting beside Reva.
Standing in front of the school gate.
But she didn't remember taking any of them.
She didn't remember being in them.
Her hand trembled.
She scrolled through the images.
In every photo, she looked like she belonged. Like someone had built a perfect version of her… and placed her inside it.
But the real her?
The one holding the phone?
She felt like a leftover.
---
She opened her Notes app.
There was a file she didn't create:
Alina_memseq03
She opened it.
There were no full sentences. Just fragments.
"Stable host."
"Echo memory patterns found."
"Primary version too volatile."
"Emotional resistance: high."
"Storage protocol initiated."
Lira closed the app.
The phone buzzed again.
A new message appeared.
"You are not being erased.
You are being overwritten."
She gripped the edge of the table.
Her eyes shifted back to the mirror.
Her reflection stood still, but her mouth…
...smiled.
And then, letters appeared, written across the mirror, in faint condensation:
"I promise I won't take all of you.
Just what can be saved."
Lira stumbled backward.
This wasn't a takeover.
It was a negotiation.
She just hadn't been invited to the table.
***
She didn't know how long she sat there.
The room stayed dim. The mirror never cleared. Her phone stopped buzzing.
She tried to speak once... to say anything... but her mouth didn't move.
Not hers.
Not anymore.
She was still inside.
Still aware.
But awareness meant nothing if the body had stopped listening.
---
The door creaked open.
Reva stepped in slowly, eyes darting around the unfamiliar room until they landed on her.
"Lira?"
No answer.
Reva approached, careful. Like she was stepping closer to a cage.
"You vanished from school," she said softly. "Nobody knew where you went."
She crouched down, meeting Lira's eyes. "Are you okay?"
Still nothing.
But the body sitting in front of her blinked. Calmly.
Then... smiled.
But not the way Lira used to smile.
It was too steady. Too practiced.
Too foreign.
Reva leaned back. "You're not her."
The girl tilted her head.
And replied, in a voice smoother than Lira's had ever been:
"I never meant to hurt her."
Reva froze.
"Then why are you here?" she whispered.
"Because the world chose me," said the girl, "before she even knew she existed."
Reva's eyes watered. "Her name is Lira."
The girl paused. "She's still here. Somewhere."
Reva shook her head. "Then give her back."
There was a silence.
And then the girl's voice dropped to a whisper.
"You don't give back what's already part of you."
---
The phone buzzed again.
The screen lit up with a single notification:
SYNC COMPLETE
Active Version: ALINA_00 (Primary)
Reva stood, stepping away.
She looked one last time at the girl who used to be her best friend.
And the girl looked back... same eyes, same face.
But nothing left behind them.
---
When Reva finally walked out of the room,
Lira tried to scream.
But all she could do
was blink.
***