The Memory I Died to Hide

Three years ago, my best friend Juliana Pierce was raped and jumped from a twelve-story building. I was there. I saw everything. I know exactly who did it.

Alexander Knight—Juliana's boyfriend, brilliant scientist, the man I've secretly loved for seven years—has spent every moment since hunting for answers. He believes I'm shielding a predator. He's dedicated his life to making mine hell.

Now I'm dying of ALS, and Alexander's dragged my broken body onto his "Memory Judgment Stage" for the world to see. His new technology can rip memories straight from my brain and broadcast them as holograms.

"Tell them who killed Juliana," he shouted.

I refuse. So he cranks up the machine, letting the neural probes tear through my dying brain. My hand shatters. My body convulses. But I won't break.

Until the memories start bleeding out anyway.

And when Alexander sees the rapist's face—Completely loses his mind.

Seraphina's POV

"Seraphina Ward, you KNOW who the killer is! Tell us!"

Freezing rain hit my face like ice needles. Two security guards dragged me forward, my feet sliding helplessly on the wet stone steps.

Late-stage ALS left me weak as a rag doll. I could barely lift my head. But I forced my eyes open, focusing on the man at the judgment platform—Alexander Knight.

Seven years. I'd loved him for seven whole years.

Now he was looking at me with pure hatred.

This was all my fault. I knew the truth about what happened that rainy night three years ago, but I chose silence. Now I was paying the price.

"Listen up, people!" Alexander shouted to the tens of thousands of angry citizens below. "Three years ago today, my girlfriend Juliana Pierce was raped and driven to suicide! And this woman—she was RIGHT THERE! She knows exactly who did it, but she chose to protect the bastard!"

Rain dripped from his clenched jaw, his voice turning savage: "Three years! Three WHOLE years! Every goddamn night I dream of Juliana's bloodied face! And that monster walks free because this bitch covered for him!"

The crowd exploded.

"Murderer's accomplice!"

"Rape-protecting whore!"

"Make her PAY!"

A middle-aged woman suddenly broke through the crowd—Mrs. Pierce, Juliana's mother. She lunged at me, hands wrapping around my throat.

"You evil bitch! You got my daughter killed!" Tears and rain streamed down her face. "My Julie was only twenty-three! Just a baby! WHO WAS IT? Tell me who killed my baby!"

Her nails dug deep into my skin. Blood filled my mouth as I gasped for air.

Security guards dragged her away, but she kept screaming: "She HAS to tell the truth! I want the son of a bitch who killed my daughter!"

Watching Mrs. Pierce's broken face crushed me.

God, if only I could tell her. But I couldn't. I just couldn't.

Alexander turned to the cameras: "For three years, I've worked day and night developing this memory extraction device. Today, the whole world will see the TRUTH!"

Reporters pressed forward: "Dr. Knight! How does this thing work?"

"Brain-scanning tech," Alexander's eyes gleamed with madness. "It reads memories directly from the brain and projects them as holograms. This thing doesn't lie."

They strapped me into the judgment chair, cold metal biting into my skin.

The probe descended toward my head. Terror shot through me: "NO! Don't do this! Alexander, please!"

"Last chance, Seraphina." Alexander stepped close, ice-cold. "Tell me the killer's name, and I'll dial down the pain. Otherwise..."

I shook my head frantically: "Alexander... I really can't... please... you'll regret this..."

His face went dark. He straightened with a bitter laugh: "Regret? Hell, the biggest regret of my life is ever knowing a poisonous woman like you! You don't DESERVE to call yourself Juliana's friend!"

The audience chanted:

"Enough talk!"

"Fire it up!"

Alexander walked to the control panel: "Fine. Since you won't talk, let's show the world what filthy secrets you're hiding!"

"NO! Alexander, listen!" I struggled desperately. "When you see the truth, it'll destroy you! Please, just trust me!"

"Destroy me?" His laugh was unhinged. "I got destroyed when Juliana died! What the hell could be worse than that?"

He slammed the button.

The probes bit into my skull. Pain ripped through me like fire. I tried to scream, but only weak whimpers came out.

"AHHH—!"

The massive holographic screen flickered to life. The image sharpened—that rainy night three years ago, the night Juliana killed herself.

I was covered in blood, kneeling beside Juliana's broken body, sobbing. She'd fallen from the twelfth floor, lying twisted and bloodied in the rain.

Sirens wailed in the distance.

Before the cops arrived, I reached into her clenched fist with shaking hands and pulled out a silver cufflink.

The memory showed me stumbling toward a storm drain.

"No... nobody can know..." my past self whispered. "Nobody can EVER know..."

I dropped the crucial evidence into the dark sewer.

The crowd erupted:

"She WAS protecting the killer!"

"Evidence-destroying BITCH!"

Alexander rushed up and grabbed my hair: "You fucking bitch! That was the ONLY evidence! You destroyed it!"

He slammed my head back, then ripped off my necklace—the only thing Mom left me.

"No... don't... that's from my mom..."

"TELL ME! Whose cufflink was it?!"

CRACK!

The necklace shattered on the ground, my mother's silver pendant breaking into pieces.

I collapsed, reaching desperately for the fragments.

But Alexander stomped toward my left hand. "NO! Alexander! My hand was already—"

He ignored me and crushed down hard. Bone snapped.

"AHHHHH..."

"Still playing victim?" Alexander ground his heel deeper. "Keep going! I want MORE! I want to know who the hell you're protecting!"

The crowd roared:

"Make her suffer!"

"Justice for Juliana!"

He shoved me back into the chair, cranking up the power. The probes drove deeper. Blood ran down my face.

Through the agony, memory images jumped wildly—

The scene shifted to years earlier. Sunny spring afternoon in the college dorms.

A beautiful girl appeared on screen, glowing with life.

"Sera, I TOLD you this dress would be perfect on you!"

It was Juliana Pierce—Juliana alive.