I turned the photograph towards Phoebe.
"Do you know this date?"
She nodded slowly.
"It's the day Esther said you stopped remembering."
Before I could ask another question, the dormitory door opened.
Sister Catherine stood in the doorway.
Her eyes moved to the photograph in my hand.
For the first time, she looked genuinely afraid.
"Where did you get that?" she demanded.
"From my sister."
Sister Catherine's face went pale.
I rose to my feet.
"Did you know I was hypnotized?"
She said nothing.
"Did you know someone made me forget my own childhood?"
"Taya, please—"
"WHO DID IT?"
My shout echoed through the dormitory.
Sister Catherine closed the door behind her.
When she finally spoke, her voice was barely audible.
"You weren't supposed to remember."
Tears filled my eyes.
"Then it's true?"
She looked at me helplessly.
"Yes."
One word.
One confession.
And suddenly, the entire life I thought I understood began to crumble.
I stepped towards her.
"Who hypnotized me?"
Sister Catherine opened her mouth.
But before she could answer, someone knocked on the door.
A folded paper slid underneath it.
Nobody moved.
I picked it up and unfolded it.
There was a single sentence written inside.
SHE'S LYING, TAYA. SISTER CATHERINE WASN'T THE ONE WHO HYPNOTIZED YOU.
Beneath the message was a name.
FATHER MICHAEL.
I looked up in disbelief.
Sister Catherine covered her mouth.
And in that moment, I realised the most frightening part of my discovery.
I had spent years running to Father Michael whenever I needed comfort.
I had trusted him with my fears, my tears, and my secrets.
But what if the man I had trusted to help me remember the truth…
…was the very man who had made me forget it?