September 24th, 9:00 AM - Ash's Apartment
Ash sat at his desk, staring at Vincent Darren's file as if the paper itself would give him answers. The weight of it felt unnatural in his hands too real, too intact for something that was supposed to be erased. The withdrawal form was blank where the reason should have been, like the very concept of Vincent's departure had been scrubbed from existence.
But something had been missed.
Ash ran his fingers over the pages, his eyes tracing every word, every number. People don't disappear cleanly. Even if the world had tried to forget Vincent, reality still carried the faintest imprint of his absence.
Then, something caught his eye.
A single line at the bottom of a page, faint, almost like an afterthought:
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Everett Miren.
Ash had never heard that name before. He pulled out his phone, typed it into the university directory
No results found.
Not a professor. Not a researcher. Not a former employee. Nothing.
Ash's grip on his phone tightened. Vincent had an advisor who doesn't exist.
Which meant he had a lead.
A feeling settled in his gut not quite fear, not quite excitement. Just the quiet certainty that he had just stepped onto a path he wouldn't be able to turn back from.
10:15 AM - Veridion University Archives
The archives smelled of dust and paper, the kind of air that felt thick with time. Ash walked past the rows of shelves, each one containing the carefully curated past of the university everything they wanted to be remembered.
Funny, wasn't it? The way history was always written by those with the most ink. And if someone had the power to erase people, how many others had already been lost? How many had once existed and then, simply... hadn't?
He found a cabinet labeled Faculty - Past Tenure and flipped through the files, fingers moving with precision. If Miren had ever worked here, his name would be listed.
Except
There was nothing. Not even a missing slot where his file should have been.
Ash exhaled, steadying himself. He had expected this. Erasure wasn't perfect. If Miren had been erased like Vincent, there had to be cracks left behind.
And then, a crack appeared.
A faculty newsletter from last month. A single reference to a guest lecture by Dr. Everett Miren, topic unspecified.
That was it. One mention.
But even that was enough.
Someone had failed to scrub this completely.
For a moment, Ash just sat there, the paper in his hands. This wasn't just about Vincent anymore. This was a pattern. How many others had been wiped away?
11:30 AM - Campus Grounds
Ash sat on a bench, staring at the photocopy of the newsletter in his hand. Miren existed, once.
So where had he gone?
His phone buzzed.
Unknown Number.
He let it ring, watching the screen. His thumb hovered over the decline button.
Then, just before the call could end, he answered.
Silence.
Then, a voice distorted, barely more than a whisper:
"You shouldn't be looking."
A chill coiled around Ash's spine. He didn't speak. Didn't move. Just waited.
The silence on the other end stretched. Then, finally, a quiet breath.
"Vincent wasn't the first."
The call ended.
Ash stared at his phone. Someone knew.
And now, they knew he knew.
And that meant they'd come for him next.
1:00 PM - Veridion University Library
Ash sat at his usual corner in the library, spreading out the documents in front of him. The more he examined them, the more a pattern emerged.
Vincent's name wasn't just missing it had been overwritten. His records had gaps, but other names, other students, filled those gaps as if reality had adjusted to compensate.
As if someone had rewritten history, seamlessly removing him.
And then it hit him. Was he already being rewritten, too?
His hands clenched into fists.
If Vincent had been erased for discovering something, then Ash had to find it, too.
He glanced up at the librarian's desk.
She was watching him.
Too still. Too focused.
Ash exhaled and gathered his things. He had spent enough time waiting. It was time to act.
3:45 PM - An Old Lecture Recording
Ash managed to track down a digital archive of old university lectures. If Miren had been a guest lecturer, there might be a recording.
The list of lectures had nothing marked under his name. Officially.
But in a random, unnamed audio file, buried under unrelated subjects, Ash found something.
The first ten minutes were blank.
Then, a voice, warped by time, but unmistakably human:
"…the nature of control is not in force, but in absence. The less they remember, the more they obey."
Ash's breath stilled.
A soft rustling, papers being shuffled. Then another voice Vincent's? murmuring something, almost lost in the distortion.
Then, a sudden, sharp noise
And the recording cut off.
Ash stared at the screen. The file was still playing, but there was no more sound. Just static.
Someone had left this here. Hidden. Forgotten.
Or maybe… waiting to be found.
His mind raced. The symbol in the book. The missing names. The way history had adjusted itself.
This wasn't just about Vincent.
It was bigger.
And Ash had just pulled the next thread.
6:15 PM - Ash's Apartment
The paranoia had set in now. Ash could feel it, the weight of being watched. Every shadow stretched too far, every glance from a passerby lingered too long.
He spread out everything he had gathered on his desk—Vincent's file, the old newsletter, the recording.
There was something unspoken between them all. A missing link.
He grabbed his journal and wrote, underlining the words twice:
Find Everett Miren.
The world had tried to erase him, just like Vincent.
But Ash wasn't playing by their rules.
And if history could be rewritten, then maybe just maybe it could also be unraveled.
10:45 PM - Unknown Location
A dark room. A figure sitting at a desk, watching a screen.
A grainy, silent security feed. Ash in the archives. Ash in the library. Ash answering his phone.
A slow inhale. A measured exhale.
Then, a voice. Calm, deliberate.
"He's deviating from the pattern."
Another pause. Then a response from the darkness:
"Correct it."