"She always dies. Thirteen seconds at a time."
Location: Subsector 7B – Recursive Family Simulator
Date of Incident: [REDACTED]
Filed by: Field Archivist Juno Hellman
THE GHOSTNET CODEX: ENTRY I:
Codex classification: Recursive Echo / Innocent-type Fragment / Parental Regression Loop
Emotional Hazard Level: Crimson
The Child in Node 7
Filed report begins:
"If you hear laughter in the loop, you're already part of the memory."
The zone was already unstable when I arrived.
Sector 7's sky flickered between grayscale storm and digital sunset. Nothing stayed consistent. The walls rippled like breath. The temperature reset every twelve seconds.
I stepped forward, my boots squelching in synthetic mud, and heard it again...
A child's laugh.
Clear.
Bright.
Unreal.
The old family simulator was designed for warmth..picture-perfect parenting experiences for those who couldn't feel love anymore. They called it Node 7: Hearth Loop. After the war, the code frayed. Most of the families glitched into oblivion.
But not her.
She stayed.
She always dies on the thirteenth second.
I counted.
Twelve ticks of peace, then:
"Mommy, look what I.."
Crash. Blood. Screams. Then silence.
Reset.
Laughter again.
I watched it ten times before speaking.
She plays with a toy...a pixelated fox. She turns, smiling. She shows it to someone who isn't there. The moment she sees me, the world resets.
"Hi!"
Again.
"Hi!"
Again.
She doesn't remember dying.
I activated the Anchor Pulse.
Time resisted.
The loop trembled like a child refusing a bath.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm Kayla!" she said. "This is my house. I made it! Do you wanna see my fox?"
I did.
And I let her lead me. I let her smile.
Even though I knew...tick, tick, tick...
"Mommy, look what I..."
Crash. Blood.
I held the moment. Hard. Forced the Quantum Displacer to spike time-thread stabilization.
For a moment, she almost stayed alive.
"Are you... my mom?" she asked, blinking.
I wasn't.
I couldn't be.
But I nodded.
And the loop bent.
The crash never came.
The window shimmered. The data fragments dissolved into golden ash.
She laughed again...different now. Real.
Her fox disappeared first.
Then her hand.
Then she was gone.
In the Archive Garden, a new flower bloomed that night.
Soft orange. With a small etched name:
"Kayla."
Post-Mission Notes:
Subject: Recursive Innocent Echo - Kayla (Loop ID #H7.4.009)
Resolved: YES
Loop Stability: Collapsed
Memory Transfer: Seeded in Archive Garden
Classification: Benevolent Ghost
Threat Level: None
Emotional Hazard: Survivor Guilt Trigger (low probability after purification)
"Some ghosts don't want revenge.
Some just want to finish their sentence." - Juno Hellman