The Version That Cannot Die

by Daniel Seamster

A final archival review of the Thornhurst case is convened before the record is permanently sealed. Forensic historian Ellen Price is tasked with verifying the documents—but as she examines the materials, she discovers that every contradiction in the official record has already been corrected.

Whenever someone challenges the “truth,” new evidence appears to support it—letters surface, witnesses remember, artifacts reappear. The truth does not collapse under scrutiny; it repairs itself.

Ellen realizes this is no accident. It is design—an engineered truth, built to survive belief itself. Its creator—unseen, unnamed—no longer needs to protect it. The world maintains it automatically, because everyone needs it to be true.

Final a line typed inside the spine of the official ledger—

“I did not need to survive. I only needed my version to.” — E.

Kindle Edition

Expected publication July 20, 2026