Phoenix Project: Her True Self

The date of my father' s funeral, circled in red on the kitchen calendar, also marked the day I decided to leave Mark.

The decision settled into me with a cold, hollow certainty as I washed dishes, my hands immersed in warm water but my soul feeling frozen.

Then, a black government car pulled up, out stepped General Sterling, my father' s commanding officer and once mine, now the only one who checked in on me.

He sat in my living room, explaining the program needed me, that my name was at the top of the list for the elite "Phoenix" project.