Chapter 1

Project Chimera wanted to erase me.

They called it "consciousness integration therapy."

A clean way to say they would cut Sarah out of Anna' s head.

Forever.

I knew it was a choice. My choice, deep down.

A way out.

Maybe it was what everyone wanted anyway.

They all preferred Anna.

Michael, my brother. Caleb, the man I once thought loved me.

The whole damn Hollow.

They liked Anna' s smile, her soft words.

Not me. Not Sarah.

I was just the one who got her hands dirty, who faced the Spore-Walkers.

The one who kept them alive.

But no one wanted to see the blood, the fear.

They just wanted the supplies I brought back.

And then they wanted me to disappear, so Anna could present them.

I was just a ghost in Anna' s body, the one called "Subject 7" in some old, fragmented files Chimera got their hands on.

They said my resilience was "extraordinary."

Useful for their "advancement of human adaptation."

A lab rat.

I felt the familiar weight press down.

The weight of being the strong one, the capable one, the one nobody truly saw or valued.

Just now, I' d dragged myself back to The Hollow.

Another solo run into the wastes.

Brutal. Spore-Walkers everywhere.

I got the medicine, the fuel.

Anna was already taking the credit, fluttering her eyelashes at the council.

"We were so fortunate," she' d said, her voice like honey.

Not "Sarah risked her life." Just "we."

Meaning her.

Michael found me by the old well, where I sometimes surfaced when the stress got too much for Anna to handle alone.

He didn' t look at me. Not really.

"Sarah," he began, his voice tight. "The Chimera people are here. They want to talk to Anna."

He meant they wanted to talk to the body, and he preferred Anna be the one to do it.

"Let Anna handle this. She' s better at... talking to people."

He still wouldn' t meet my eyes.

He was asking me to sink back down, to let Anna take control.

To be invisible. Again.

My existence, my skills, they were just tools for him, for them.

Convenient when danger struck, an embarrassment otherwise.

My strength was a burden to them.

My quiet endurance, my refusal to break, it made them uncomfortable.

It reminded them of the fire, of everything lost.

Anna was their blank slate, their chance to pretend the world wasn' t ending.

I was the grim reality.

The runs I made, the close calls, the nights I spent patching up the fences while they slept.

Those were just... expected.

And when I was too tired, too grim, too much Sarah... I was an inconvenience.

"Don't be so dark, Sarah," they'd say. "You're scaring people."

Anna never scared anyone. She just smiled.

Caleb was there too, standing a little behind Michael.

His eyes, once warm for me, now held a different light when he looked at Anna.

He shifted his weight, uncomfortable.

"Yeah, Sarah," Caleb said, his voice softer than Michael's but carrying the same message. "Let Anna talk to them. She knows how to be... diplomatic. This Chimera group is important."

He wanted Anna' s charm, not my bluntness.

He used to admire my strength. Now, it seemed to push him away.

My throat felt tight.

This was how it always was.

Their preference for Anna, a constant, dull ache.

Today was also the anniversary. The day of the fire. The day my parents died. The day I became this... echo.

And, ironically, the day they celebrated as Anna's "birthday."

My "birth" day as a ghost.

A cold resolve settled in my chest.

The exhaustion was too deep this time.

The thought of fighting to be seen, to be valued, it was just... too much.

I looked past Michael, past Caleb, at the struggling community of The Hollow.

They relied on me, but they didn' t want me.

Let them have Anna.

Let Project Chimera do their work.

Maybe disappearing was the only peace I' d ever find.

"Alright," I said, my voice flat, devoid of emotion.

I let go. Let Anna surface.

Let them have what they wanted.