Chapter 11: What Remains Within
One Month Later
Neha sat on the edge of her bed in a small flat in Oslo, staring out the window.
Snow fell slowly outside, dusting the streets in silence.
The world looked calm.
Peaceful.
But inside her — nothing was calm.
Since returning from the Arctic, her days had blurred.
Sleep was shallow.
Dreams were strange.
Every reflection felt like it watched her just a little too long.
And every time she tried to forget… something pulled her back.
Not to the research station.
Not even to Rishi.
But to the Core.
The voice.
The presence.
It was still inside her.
**
Strange Occurrences
It began small.
Neha would hear her name — whispered — when no one was near.
Then lights flickered when she walked past.
One night, she found her mirror fogged, as if someone had breathed on it — but she hadn't used the bathroom in hours.
Then came the writing.
Words appeared on her notebook page, even before she could start writing.
One line repeated again and again:
"We remember."
She threw the notebook away.
It didn't matter.
The words came back.
Scrawled in frost on her window.
In her dreams.
In her own voice.
**
The Call from Dr. Solberg
One morning, her old supervisor, Dr. Ingrid Solberg, called.
Her voice was tense.
"Neha, I need to see you. Something's happened."
They met at the University's research center.
Dr. Solberg looked pale, hands shaking slightly as she handed Neha a report.
"Two more teams went to the Arctic," she said. "Separate expeditions. No connection to Project Thule."
Neha flipped through the report.
Three dead.
One missing.
Notes mentioned hallucinations.
Voices.
People seeing loved ones who had been dead for years.
One survivor claimed his partner spoke in his own voice.
"I thought the chamber was sealed," Neha whispered.
Dr. Solberg nodded.
"It was. Still is."
Neha looked up.
"Then how?"
Dr. Solberg didn't answer.
She didn't have to.
Neha already knew.
It was never just in the ice.
**
The Scan
Dr. Solberg had arranged a private medical scan for Neha — full body and neurological.
The results were… strange.
A region of Neha's brain, once dormant, was now active.
Very active.
Patterns not matching any known mental state.
The technician said it looked like she was dreaming while fully awake.
Even worse — faint, pulsing signals were detected.
Like a frequency.
As if her brain was sending something out.
Or receiving.
She left the hospital in silence.
That night, she stood before the mirror again.
Her reflection blinked a moment too late.
Then smiled.
She didn't.
**
Return of the Forgotten
Neha began having vivid dreams.
But they weren't hers.
She saw memories from people she had never met.
A woman crying in a Russian bunker.
A boy lost in an avalanche in Greenland.
A man staring into a frozen lake in 1941.
She lived each one.
Felt every fear.
Every scream.
Every death.
When she woke up, she wrote down names she had never heard.
Dates.
Places.
She looked some up — they were real.
Forgotten people.
Missing reports.
Unsolved cases.
It was like the Core had stored them — and now, through her, they were leaking out.
**
Warning
One night, she received an anonymous message.
A single sentence:
"If you're still dreaming in other lives, they'll find you."
She tried to trace the number — no luck.
Tried to ignore it.
But the next day, two men in black coats appeared near her building.
They didn't approach her.
Just stood and watched from across the street.
Next morning — they were gone.
But a mark had been scratched into her front door.
A symbol.
A snowflake with an open eye in the center.
The same as the one from the Core chamber.
Neha realized something terrifying:
She wasn't the only one carrying it.
**
She Visits the Survivor
Dr. Solberg managed to arrange a meeting with the last survivor of the new Arctic team — a man named Jonas.
He was held in a private facility under observation.
His eyes were wild.
Unblinking.
But when he saw Neha, he calmed.
"You're like me," he whispered.
Neha nodded slowly.
"What happened to you out there?"
Jonas smiled.
"I saw her. My wife. She died years ago. But there she was — real, warm, alive."
He looked down.
"But she wasn't her. She asked me to stay. She said we could be together forever."
Neha felt her skin go cold.
"What did you do?"
"I ran. But she followed me back. Not her body. Just her… voice. Her smile. It lives inside now."
He looked into Neha's eyes.
"You understand, don't you?"
She didn't answer.
She didn't have to.
**
The Mirror Breaks
Back home, Neha finally broke the mirror.
Smashed it with a hammer until the glass lay in glittering shards across the floor.
But in every broken piece — her reflection still stared back.
Not scared.
Not angry.
Just… waiting.
She whispered, "What do you want?"
A shard near her foot began to fog.
And in the frost, one word appeared:
"To live."
**
Decision
That night, Neha sat in her room, staring at her old Arctic coat.
The one she had worn when she discovered the Core.
She knew now — the chamber had been a gate.
Not just a source of memory.
Not just a parasite.
A door.
And she was the key.
But what had come through?
A ghost?
A god?
A virus of the mind?
She didn't know.
But it had chosen her.
And she couldn't run forever.
So she made her decision.
She would return.
Not to seal it.
Not to fight it.
But to understand it.
And maybe… to control it.
**
The Final Note
Before leaving, she wrote a message to herself.
And sealed it in an envelope marked:
In case I don't return.
Inside, the last line read:
"If I forget who I am… remind me that I was never just one memory. I was many. And I chose to remember."
She put on the coat.
And stepped out into the falling snow once more.
Not as a scientist.
Not as a survivor.
But as something new.
Something not quite human.
Something that remembered everything.