Mirrored

By Austin Coates, WFU JD Candidate ’22

About mid-day on a Tuesday, Mera sat on a bench, weary and tired, yet relieved. She’d been up late the night before, studying for her computer science final exam into the morning hours. A senior in college now, it was the last final exam she would take as a student. As she sat on the bench, she couldn’t help but be proud of herself. The first in her family to go to college, she’d worked tirelessly to get to this point. She held a 3.89 GPA, would graduate at the top of her class, and had a job lined up with a leading ancestry analysis company, Family Tree, as a biometrics analyst.  She knew very little about her own family history and was fascinated by the opportunity to work at Family Tree while learning more about her ancestors. She would start the following Monday; her dreams realized and the world ahead of her. But for now, at least, it was time to celebrate.

Her parents had set up a graduation party following her final exam and had invited many of her extended family and friends. While grateful to be surrounded by all of her loved ones, she was also heavily involved with playing host. Everyone had their questions about her time in college, what her job at Family Tree would be like, and her personal favorite, “Mera, why haven’t you found a boyfriend in all this time at school?” However, the boyfriend question often proved easier to explain and evade than explaining what being a biometric analyst meant. Biometrics is complex and involved a myriad of different types of identification methods. But the dictionary definition made it sound so simple: “the process by which a person’s unique physical and other traits are detected and recorded by an electronic device or system as a means of confirming identity.” Mera tried to explain to her family and friends that as a biometric analyst she’d be looking at DNA, fingerprints, facial scans, voiceprints, and retina scans, all characteristics that identify individuals, and using that data to analyze and determine a customer’s genetic history. Her uncle, always ready to bash on big tech companies, was quick to tell her how no big corporation would be getting any of his information. But in the end, most of her family and friends seemed to care less about the “boring” science and more about the family history facts and DNA traits that they had inherited.

After playing host for several hours, her guests started to trickle out of her apartment. Her parents were the last ones out, and as the door closed behind them, she let out a sigh of relief. At last, after all the snacks, cake, and questions, Mera was left to herself.

***

Sunday came, and Mera was preparing for her first day at Family Tree.  She was an organized and meticulous person, and she took comfort in planning out her weeks. With her first week at Family Tree and her graduation ceremony on the following Saturday, planning this week was the only thing keeping her head on straight at the moment. The company had sent her an onboarding packet with an opening line that read,

“Welcome to Family Tree, where we treat the whole world as family.”

The onboarding items included a complementary DNA test, as well as a miniature device that scanned her face, fingerprints, and eyes and registered her “voiceprints.” The packet notified her that these were all for her employee family history information, as well as for company security measures. She took multiple personality tests and questionnaires. It felt like a lot of information to give up, but how could she refuse and risk disappointing her new company? She shook off her nervousness and comforted herself with the notion that millions of customers had taken these same tests already, and they weren’t even going to work for Family Tree! After several hours of signing release documents and non-disclosure agreements, and reading about Family Tree’s history, she uploaded her completed onboarding packet to the Family Tree website. With a deep sigh of relief, she crossed the first assignment off her planner.  She then laid out her outfit for the following day, completed by the gold bracelet engraved with her name that her parents had given her as a graduation gift. Although she was both nervous and excited, she eventually fell into a comforting deep sleep.

***

“Hey! Mera! Meraaaa! Over here!”

Mera whirled around on her way in from the parking lot to see a boy who looked younger than herself.  As he walked up to her, Mera almost let her jaw drop open. This kid couldn’t be older than 17, but here he was, fitted with a Family Tree employee badge.

“Hey! I’m Derek,” he said. “I’m your, uh, tour guide for the week, I guess you could say?” He smiled awkwardly at Mera. She chuckled at the statement, taking in the longhaired teen. He had the young Justin Bieber haircut, a haircut she had admired as a young teen, but maybe without the Justin Bieber trademark good looks.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Derek! I’m Mera! So you work here at Family Tree?”

“For almost two years now, actually. I started when I was 16, but I turn 18 next month!” Derek was now blushing, clearly nervous at the prospect of talking to an older girl. “I was umm… kind of a nerd in high school. I was really big into computers ever since I could get my hands on one. I hacked into the security database of Family Tree when I was 15, and it was either work for the security team here or face charges, so you can probably guess which option I chose,” he chuckled. Mera was shocked. Here was a kid nearly five years younger than herself who had been at the company for two years already! To think that he could work at Family Tree, let alone hack into one of the largest corporations in the world, was a lot to take in.

She smiled at Derek in amazement and said, “Alright, Derek! I’m ready for my big tour when you are!”

Derek walked Mera into the Family Tree headquarters, a giant tinted glass building surrounded by beautiful trees and wildlife. The amount of security was bizarre, and Mera couldn’t help but question it all. Each morning, she would have to complete a retina scan of her eye to enter the building, access the elevator with her fingerprint, and undergo a full facial and voice scan just to get off on the right floor.

“Isn’t it all a bit much for an ancestry analysis company?” she asked Derek.

He let out an audible sigh. “Ancestry analysis isn’t all they do, but, uh, yeah. I mean, they’ve got to be careful, so nothing we do here gets out. They wouldn’t want any hackers like me snooping around where they shouldn’t be!” Derek said, laughing nervously. Despite the joke, he clearly wasn’t comfortable talking about all the great lengths Family Tree was going to in order to keep the office secure. Mera decided to let it go for now, but reminded herself to ask about exactly what else Family Tree did besides ancestry analysis. It surprised her that despite all her research about Family Tree, it was the first she had heard about other projects by the company.

They spent the rest of the day walking around the Family Tree campus, touring the campus Zen gardens, eating lunch at the cafeteria, meeting some of her other coworkers, and getting her workstation and computer set up. It was a truly complex building all in all. While beautiful ornamental floral arrangements, sculptures, and paintings decorated the halls, the most striking part of the Family Tree headquarters was a giant tree in the center of the building. Nearly ten stories high, its limbs stretched over the circular building, creating a canopy over it all—a real-life family tree. But despite the beauty of the Family Tree campus, Mera felt claustrophobic. Sure, Derek was a nice kid—a genius one at that—but everyone seemed on edge at all times.

Derek interrupted her inner train of thought. “Wanna go see the view from the roof before the day’s over? Best sunset views I’ve ever seen, guarantee it’ll take your breath away.”

She plastered a smile on her face, and thought to herself that after such a long and stressful day, a sunset view sounded relaxing. “Sure!” she said, “Lead the way, my faithful tour guide!” Having ridden up and down the elevator more times than she could count at this point, Mera was surprised to see a button she had yet to notice. It was a clear standout from the rest, one red button among several white ones.

The one marked “G” for the ground floor was the one she had come in on when Derek had first started their tour. However, the one below it, the red button, had a small and italicized “MM” next to it. What could “MM” mean? Sure it was below the ground floor, clearly a basement level, but Mera had never seen “MM” used to signify a basement floor.

“What’s MM supposed to stand for, Derek? We haven’t been down to that floor either,” Mera said.

“It stands for… um… honestly, I don’t really know,” he said. He looked stunned by the question, and it had clearly caught him off guard. “All I know is that it’s some top-secret stuff; even my security card won’t get me down there.” He was slightly sweating now, uncomfortable at the line of discussion that they had taken. “Anyways, nothing down there can match what’s up here! Just look at that view!”

The doors to the elevator had slid open, revealing the top floor of the Family Tree building. It was a sight to behold. The sun was setting over the lake behind the Family Tree campus, its light glistening with hues of pink, purple and yellow across the water. It was breathtaking; Derek had had that part right. It was a spectacle that nearly pulled Mera’s mind away from the strangeness of the day. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and decided to chalk up the oddness of the day as merely the chaos of starting her first job at a massive company. Surely other companies had this level of security, she thought, and whatever “MM” was probably didn’t pertain to her anyway. Top-secret stuff was for top-secret people, she thought. She just needed to do her job as a biometrics analyst and forget the rest. Every other employee at Family Tree had adapted to the building and whatever oddness it entailed, and she would too.

After saying goodbye to Derek and making the short drive home, Mera was more than ready to get some sleep. She made her list for the next day and tossed the planner on her nightstand. All but asleep, there was just one small thing that couldn’t leave her mind, and Mera wasn’t sure why. She reached over and grabbed the planner again and quickly scribbled “MM?” in the margins of the next day’s list. She would figure that out, top-secret or not, she promised herself.

***

Thursday! It was going to be a good day—Mera truly believed it. She’d been doing hands-on work throughout the week: analyzing Family Tree customers’ biometric data, compiling the results, and preparing the detailed analysis packet for the users to read. She was excited. This is what she had signed up for, after all! She got to the office and went through the security measures like a pro. Passed the retina scan, fingerprint accessed the elevator, and right through the facial and voice scanners required to get off on her office’s floor. Easy-peasy, she thought. It had all seemed so complex and overkill on her first day, but now it seemed silly to her that she had ever questioned it.

It was an exciting morning of work, to say the least. She had helped an adopted customer find out their biological roots, helped a woman find her long-lost sister, and had also found out that one user’s father was not actually her biological father. That last one wasn’t necessarily a good thing, but it was exciting, and Mera couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. Was the mailman the father? The next-door neighbor? An old ex of the wife? Who knew? But it had definitely made her chuckle. It was certainly an awkward situation for the family, but it was what the customer had paid for.

With thirty minutes left until her lunch break, she decided to complete the analysis for one more customer. She clicked the “request new user” button on her computer, signaling to the system that she was ready to take on her next assignment. The user who came next was puzzling to Mera; it was someone she recognized. She wasn’t one to keep up with politics, but she had seen the man’s face before. Wasn’t he some sort of politician? Or a spokesperson? Maybe an activist of some sort? She couldn’t quite place the man. Oh well, she thought. Politicians or activists or spokespeople, or whatever he might be, might want to know about their family history, too, right? She worked through this file like all the rest, analyzing his biometric identifiers and matching them to other users, finally compiling the man’s Family Tree. As she finalized her results, she noticed something different about the base-level data on the man’s profile. In small red letters, at the bottom of all the data, was a mark. Two letters. MM.

She was frozen, unable to move after what she had just read. She had almost forgotten about it all: the red button in the elevator, the secret level that Derek couldn’t or wouldn’t tell her about. Those two letters now appeared on this man’s profile, and Mera knew that this man was important. Did she close out the profile? Submit it? Forget about it and move on? But how could she? It couldn’t just be a coincidence. She had to tell Derek. The man’s importance, the elevator, the red-lettered MM. It all meant something, and Mera had to find out.

She found Derek in the cafeteria, sitting by himself and listening to something in his earbuds. They’d eaten lunch together every day this week, and she’d grown fond of his quirkiness. She paced over to him, probably walking too fast to appear normal, but she couldn’t calm herself at the moment. She had to talk to Derek.  About twenty feet away, Derek saw her coming and pulled the earbuds from his ears.

“Hey Mera! How’s day four treating you at the lovely Family Tree campus?” He was grinning, clearly poking fun at her by giving her the corporate spiel. She awkwardly smiled back, more important things on her mind.

“It’s been a pretty good day!” she said awkwardly. “But um, listen, do you have time to talk about something real quick? Just a small question I had about one of my user’s profiles.”

“Well, uh, you know we’re not supposed to talk about individual profiles, right?” he said as he adjusted his collar in discomfort.

“Oh, I know, this is just something about the profile settings, not really about the user.” She had to tread carefully now. She was in a cafeteria surrounded by coworkers, and anyone could be listening to their conversation. And could she trust Derek? After all, he was just a kid, still seventeen for Christ’s sake. But she had no other choice. He was the only one who she knew more about than his name. He was the only one who hadn’t seemed abrasive, the only one who really cared about getting her acquainted. Mera thought the risk was worth it. Derek was a hacker, after all, someone who had broken into Family Tree’s database, past all the security systems. He could be trusted with risky conversation.

“You remember the red button in the elevator, the one marked MM?” she whispered. “The one you said was top secret?”

“Listen, Mera, I don’t think we should talk about this…”

“MM was on my user’s profile,” she interrupted. Derek looked shocked. He said nothing and scanned the room around them. What was he doing? Did he not hear what she just said? Was he not also wondering what MM meant? He finally turned back to her, staring her down now.

“We can’t talk about this here. Not now. Meet me in the parking lot after work.”

Mera said nothing, just nodded. Derek grabbed his tray and walked out of the cafeteria. She sat down, her lunch bag laid down sideways on the table. She had to look normal, she knew. They couldn’t raise any suspicions. She ate lunch alone, eventually returning to her desk. Her desk was as she’d left it. She woke the screen and up popped the mysterious man’s profile again. She saw it again, MM in red letters. She wrote the man’s name down in her planner so that she could talk to Derek about it later. She submitted the profile and started back on other users. No others had the MM mark. Her anxiety built as she watched the clock. Five o’clock couldn’t come soon enough.

***

Derek was waiting for her by her car, nervously tapping his leg as he leaned against it. He was nervous, with an anxiety level clearing matching Mera’s own. She sure had spooked him; she hadn’t seen him this nervous even when they’d met for the first time.

“Hurry up,” he said. “Let’s talk in the car.” She unlocked the doors, and they sat down. It was silent for what seemed like an eternity. Then Derek let out a deep breath. “Look. I could get fired for even meeting with you like this. Hell, they can still press charges for what I did when I was a kid, or worse.” It was serious then. On top of that, it meant he knew more than he had said about MM.

“Is it really that serious?” Mera asked.

“This thing goes all the way to the highest levels, Mera. If I’m going to tell you anymore, I need to know I can trust you and that we’re in this together.” He was staring at her now, needing affirmation, an assurance that he could count on her.

“You can trust me, Derek. I don’t know why, but I just can’t let this all go. I almost forgot about it when I was working this morning, but then I saw those red letters on this man’s profile. He was the only one that had it, the same lettering as the elevator. Whatever it is, I need to know.”

He had been holding his breath, waiting for her response. He let it out slowly, relieved at her reply. “Well, it all started for me before I started work here. You remember how I told you I hacked into the Family Tree security systems when I was 15?” Mera nodded. “At the time, I really just wanted to know more about my family history. I knew some relatives had taken the Family Tree test kits, and I thought it would be a fun test of my skills at the time.” Derek laughed dryly. “Boy, was I surprised.”

“But wait, how does that relate to MM?” Mera asked. “Hacking in to find some information about your relatives seems harmless. They really threatened charges for that?”

“It wasn’t my relatives’ information that was the problem. It was all of the other things I found.” So that was it. He’d stumbled upon something he shouldn’t have seen, something deeper than just a few profiles of information.

“MM stands for Mirror, Mirror,” he said. Finally, an answer, albeit a puzzling one.

“Mirror, Mirror?” Mera asked. “What the heck does that mean?”

Derek appeared increasingly anxious now, his legs shaking, knees tapping rapidly on the dash. “How do you think Family Tree makes enough money to run a facility like this? The test kits? For $100 a kit? For all of this?” He gestured to the grand complex around them. Mera was confused. What else could it be? Family Tree certainly didn’t advertise any other products or publicize any other ventures.

“I mean, I’m not sure, really. What else could they be up to?” she posed.

“Family Tree is selling all that biometric data on the black market. All of it, to the highest bidder, at astronomical prices,” Derek said in frustration.

Mera felt the blood drain from her face. “But there are laws against that, privacy laws! Businesses can’t sell that information without facing huge sanctions—how are they hiding it all from the government?” Mera felt as if she was losing it now, her voice trembling as she talked. “All those people, all of their information is being sold? And nobody is doing anything about it or even knows this is going on?” Derek began to laugh now, his hands eventually covering his mouth to stop himself.

“Who do you think is Family Tree’s number one buyer? It’s the government, Mera. They work hand in hand. Family Tree provides the government with users’ biometric data, and in return, the government turns a blind eye to their black-market deals. But that’s not even the worst of it.” Mera wondered how could it be worse. Millions of people had used Family Tree’s services, their biometric data entrusted to the company in exchange for their ancestry and health profiles. Their biometric identifiers were lost to them now, unable to be changed, gone in the name of profits, to whoever was willing to pay for them.

“What else could it be? How does selling information have anything to do with a mirror? Or Mirror, Mirror for that matter?” Mera reached into her bag and removed her planner, turning to today’s list. “And what does Nick Ramos have to do with it? He’s the one who was marked, the user that had the MM on their profile.”

Derek looked at her intensely now as if something had piqued his interest. “Nick Ramos’ profile had the mark? He would never send his biometric information. He’s a biometric privacy advocate, well known around here. He does his best to attack Family Tree’s practices any opportunity he gets. They must have gotten his DNA somehow, stolen it without him knowing. Family Tree must be getting ready to make their move.” Derek shook his head. “Another one bites the dust, I guess.”

“Make their move? What do you mean?”

“They call it getting mirrored. Any time some advocate or politician or activist speaks up against Family Tree, they mirror them.”

“Mirror them?” Mera asked. “Like follow them around, track them or something?”

“No, like a mirror image, a reflection, a duplicate, a copy of the original,” Derek sighed. “It’s a clone, is what it is. Family Tree has their biometric data, all their DNA, and they make a clone based on user profiles and information. They kill the original, replace them with the controllable clone, and nobody ever notices the difference. It’s sick.”

Mera was shaken. The depth of it all. The government, the black-market deals, the mirroring. Clones were walking about, replacing Family Tree adversaries. It was horrific. Derek’s voice rose now, the stress of it all clearly getting to him.

“Hell, they’ve probably already mirrored us. They have all of our information, our DNA, our biometric identifiers, and personality profiles. We gave it all up when we took the job. They’re probably down there right now, in the basement, our mirror images, our copies. It’s the reason I didn’t want to even talk about this. I shouldn’t have even shared this with you. I’ll probably get mirrored for this, replaced. My parents won’t even notice the difference.”

“There has to be something we can do,” Mera said. “Someone we can talk to, someone who can do something about this.”

“Do something about this, Mera? Who’s there to tell? Nick Ramos would’ve been the guy, and we know he’s probably already been mirrored.”

“Well, there has to be something we can do!” Mera said, slamming the steering wheel with both of her palms. She had an idea. A dangerous one perhaps, but the only idea that came to her. “Let’s do it ourselves. Wipe the Family Tree database, take the story public, and run.”

Derek laughed again, appalled by the idea. “Ourselves?” he asked. “You can’t be serious.”

“Sure, I’m serious! They’re murdering people and taking over their lives, Derek! Who knows how many people have been mirrored? Look. You work in security, don’t you? And you’ve already accessed the Family Tree database once. Can’t you do it again and wipe it? Imagine the destruction we’d stop.”

Derek paused. He was thinking about the idea seriously now, possibly considering it for the first time. “I’d have to get down to the basement to wipe it. Access the server directly to delete it all and save the incriminating documents. Past the security measures and guards too. It won’t be easy.”

“But you can do it? With my help?” Mera asked.

“I could do it,” he said. “Give me until tomorrow morning to get things ready. We’ll meet in your car before work then. Make sure you act as normal as possible. Nobody can see you spooked or nervous. I’ve got a lot of work to do.” With that, Derek hopped out of the car, headed home or wherever he needed to prepare his things for the next day. As the door closed, Mera rubbed her forehead, the stress of the day hitting her now. Tomorrow it was then. All she had to do now was wait, all while maintaining her cover.

***

She was buzzing. It was the day of action. The day they would stop Family Tree and the Mirror, Mirror program. She hoped Derek was ready, that he wouldn’t back out on her now. She’d shown up early today, around 6:45 a.m., to wait in her car for Derek. It was 7:30 a.m. now, thirty minutes before work was supposed to start. Derek had yet to show. Then there was a rap on her passenger side window. Mera gasped and grabbed her chest. It was Derek, smiling, waiting for her to open the door. She unlocked the door, and Derek climbed in.

“God, you scared me!” Mera said. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

Derek chuckled. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you! I promise! I am sorry I scared you, though.”

“It’s okay,” Mera sighed. “Do you have everything you need? Are you ready to do this?”

Derek reached into his backpack and pulled out a folder and two key cards with fingerprint readers on them. “Everything we need is right here. Passcards to get us to the basement, fingerprint covers, and 3D printed eyeballs to get us past the scanners. I also brought snacks because I tend to get hungry when I work.” Mera couldn’t help but be amazed. A seventeen-year-old kid could do all this? And she thought she had done well just to keep herself together.

“Where’d you get the equipment for all this?” she asked.

“Oh, I’ve just collected it over the years. Like I told you, I’m kind of a nerd.” He was smiling, clearly proud of himself.

“Well,” she said. “You’re certainly very impressive, Derek. I think we’re ready. Let’s do this.”

They walked into the Family Tree building together, side by side, ready for whatever faced them. They got past the front desk easily, using their own identifiers to get into the elevator. Now came the hard part, testing Derek’s work. Derek slipped on a fingerprint cover, one that had been copied by someone with access to the basement floor. It worked. Mera let out a sigh of relief.

“One step down,” Derek said. He pressed the red button with the MM next to it, and down they went. The elevators opened on a dimly lit room, red lighting around the floor and ceiling. “Creepy, isn’t it?” Derek asked. “Let’s wipe the information and get our evidence and get out of here.”

Mera was worried. It seemed all too easy. They hadn’t run into a single problem. Derek plugged a USB drive into the main storage consoles, pulled out his laptop, and began to work. A clock on the wall ticked on, it was 8:30 a.m. now, and Derek was sweating, having been hard at work for thirty minutes while Mera watched the door. Mera turned around. “How’s it going?” she asked.

“I just got through the main encryption to the Mirror, Mirror files. It shouldn’t be long now.”

Just then, Mera heard something behind her. The elevator doors had been opened. She was stuck in time, almost too scared to turn.

“Did you think they wouldn’t notice?” a voice asked. Mera knew that voice. It was familiar. It was her own.

Mera turned around. She saw herself. A reflection in the flesh, a mirror image made real. She’d been mirrored. She was standing there, her copy, and Mera didn’t know what to say. “Surprised to see me? Your mirror image?” Mera 2 asked, laughing.

“You’re too late,” the original Mera said. “Derek’s already broken past the encryption, and he’s deleting all the biometric data now. It’s over.”

“I need some more time,” Derek whispered urgently behind her. “I’m ready to delete it, but I need time to copy our evidence for the press.”

“There is no time,” the original Mera said. “Just get what you can. We have to get out of here!”

The clone charged now, a knife in her hand, ready to take out Mera and Derek at any cost. Mera ducked, tackling the clone while Derek frantically finished his work. The two of them wrestled, and Mera knocked the knife out of the clone’s hand and across the floor. They stood up, the knife by Mera’s foot now. She stood between the clone and Derek. From behind her, Derek spoke up, “I’m done!” he yelled. “It’s all deleted; let’s get out of here!” Mera reached to the floor and picked up the knife and faced the clone.

“You really think you can take me?” Mera 2 asked. God, it was freaky. Listening to herself talk, looking at herself, a mirror in real life. “You really think you can take over my life?” Mera called back.

“Get out of here, Derek,” Mera said. “I’ll be right behind you.” The clone charged again, and Derek darted out from behind Mera, headed for the elevators. Mera dodged the clone, sidestepping her, slashing with the knife, and hitting her target. The clone’s hand was gashed, bleeding profusely on the floor. They were still fighting as Derek looked back, the clone bleeding on the floor as the elevator doors closed in front of him. She had told him to go. He had wanted to stay. But now she was on her own, without any help, and all he could do was run.

***

It was Saturday now, and with Derek’s help, Mera’s employee profile and biometric data had been wiped from the Family Tree databases, along with every other user for that matter. Mera was relaxed as she sat in her seat for graduation, the craziness of the week behind her. Derek was off the grid now, she knew, and even if she hadn’t been able to find him afterward, he had done his part. On top of deleting users’ biometric information, he was able to get enough incriminating evidence to send to the press. Family Tree was finished, its nefarious ways finally exposed to the public.

After graduation, she could move on, find a job somewhere else, anything to get away from Family Tree, anything to forget that place. Her friends and family were here to support her, smiling and waiting for her name to be called to cross the stage. Her row stood up, and she followed her classmates to the stage, her family whistling and clapping as she went. “Mera Camilleri! Suma cum laude!” the announcer called. She crossed the stage and accepted her diploma. She was an official college graduate at last. She and her classmates tossed their caps to the sky in celebration, and then she went to meet with her parents and friends outside the graduation hall. As they talked around her, she couldn’t help but look down at the gold bracelet that her parents had given her, her name etched on the side of it. “Mera,” it read. Her name had a whole new meaning to her now.

“Wait, what happened to your hand?” Mera’s dad asked, grabbing her wrist for a better look. “Oh, nothing she said, just scratched it getting ready this morning!” Mera said. She then looked down at her bandaged hand. It was a small scratch, an annoyance, a reminder of the original. It would heal in time. Not even Family Tree could control her now. She was free. With all her data deleted, she would be forgotten, and nobody would ever be the wiser.

_{Photo Credit: A. Photograph/ 500px.com}