The room fell into a heavy silence after Mark finished speaking. No one interrupted him at first. His story filled in missing pieces, yes, but it also opened new wounds and new questions. It felt incomplete, like only half of a confession.
Mark himself seemed to shrink after reaching that point in the narrative, as though that moment on the dock had already been the place where he should have died.
"Then what did you choose?" Seamus asked, his voice steady but sharp.
Mark slowly lifted his head. "I chose to stand on my own side," he replied.
"Living while someone else controls your body and listens to every breath you take is a nightmare. I would rather risk death than surrender my mind. I believed that was the end of it. I was already old. I had already failed enough. But it wasn't the end." He gave a thin smile. "I ended up like this."
"Is this your real body or a clone?" Seamus pressed.
