A Voice in the Static

Jessica sat on the edge of the hotel bed, the early morning light slanting through the blinds, cutting the room into sharp, uneven lines. The phone lay in her palm, her thumb hovering over Sam’s number. She could hear his voice already, the steady weight of it, the quiet certainty.

She should call him.

Instead, she stared at the screen, her mind looping through the nightmare. The van. The cold steel table. Jason’s voice fading as his memories were poured into her. The hollowness she had woken up with, the realization that she had never been anyone at all.

How did you tell someone you weren’t real?

The cursor blinked against Sam’s name. Call or don’t call. An act of free will, if she still believed in such things.

She exhaled sharply, muttered a curse, and pressed the button.

It rang twice before his voice cut through the static. “Jess?”

Her grip tightened on the phone. Hearing him was like stepping onto solid ground after drifting in open water.

“Hey, Sam.” Her voice came out quieter than she intended. “Hope I didn’t wake you.”

A low chuckle. “You didn’t. I was already up.”

She closed her eyes for a moment, grounding herself in the familiarity of the exchange. “Still drinking that terrible instant coffee?”

“Freshly brewed today, actually. Thought I’d treat myself.”

She huffed a quiet laugh. “Damn. Maybe the world really is ending.”

Silence stretched between them, not uncomfortable, just full. Sam was never the kind to push, but she could feel him waiting, giving her space.

“I remembered something last night,” she finally said. “Something I think I was never supposed to remember.”

Sam didn’t respond right away, and that was why she had called him. He never rushed her, never tried to fill the gaps with empty words.

She took a breath and forced the words out. “I saw it happen, Sam. Jason’s abduction. The lab. The transfer. I wasn’t Jason. I was made to be him.”

A quiet exhale on the other end. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah.”

Another pause. “And how are you handling that?”

She let out a humorless laugh, leaning forward, elbows on her knees. “How the hell do you think?”

“Like someone who just realized they were never the person they thought they were.”

She swallowed, staring at the carpet. “Yeah.”

Sam sighed. “Jess, you’re more than the sum of what they did to you. You know that, right?”

“Do I?” Her voice cracked slightly, and she hated it. “Because right now, it feels like everything I am is just the remnants of a life that was never mine.”

“Then maybe it’s time to stop looking backward.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You said you saw the lab. That means it was real. And if it was real, it left a footprint. Maybe it’s still out there. Maybe it’s erased. Either way, if you want answers, you stop following memories and start following evidence.”

Jessica was quiet for a long moment. It was so simple when he said it like that.

She nodded to herself. “Yeah. I think I need to find that lab.”

“Then start looking. And Jess?”

“Yeah?”

His voice was steady, warm. “You’re still you. No matter what you find.”

She didn’t respond right away. But when she did, it was soft. “Thanks, Sam.”

She ended the call, staring at the phone for a second longer before setting it aside. Enough waiting. It was time to move.