Jake had been eyeing him curiously for the last few days, his suspicions growing stronger with each passing moment. Noah and Maya, who had been supportive, hadn't yet caught on to the strange things Elias had been saying, but Jake was different. He could tell that something was off. Elias wasn't the same as he had been a few weeks ago. There was a certain distance in his eyes, a layer of fatigue beneath his otherwise calm exterior. It was as if the weight of the world had begun to press down on him.
Elias couldn't shake the feeling that Jake was getting closer to discovering the truth. He had always trusted him—Jake had been there for him through thick and thin. But this… this was different. Elias wasn't ready to open up to him yet, not fully. He couldn't risk it. Not until he had more control over the power that had begun to tear at the fabric of his existence.
Today, as they sat across from each other in their usual coffee shop, Elias felt the tension in the air. Jake wasn't the type to hold back, and Elias knew that if he didn't say something soon, his friend would press him for answers.
"So, Elias," Jake began, stirring his coffee absentmindedly, his eyes narrowed. "You've been acting... strange lately. Not like yourself. What's going on with you? You seem... distracted. And your memory, it's like you're forgetting things, or remembering things that didn't happen."
Elias stiffened, his heart racing. He had expected this, but hearing it out loud made it feel all the more real. He had been trying to hide the changes, but no matter how hard he tried, it was becoming impossible.
"I—I'm fine, Jake. Just a little stressed, you know? Work, life... everything's just piling up," Elias said, forcing a casual tone into his voice. He hoped Jake would buy it, but the look in his friend's eyes said otherwise.
Jake wasn't buying it. He leaned forward, his gaze fixed on Elias. "You've been saying that for weeks now. But it's not just stress, Elias. There's something else. It's like you're... I don't know, trapped in your own head. Something's happening, and you're not telling me about it."
Elias felt a pang of guilt, but he couldn't let Jake in on this—at least not yet. He was still struggling to comprehend everything himself. The jumps through time, the strange memories, the feeling of being pulled between two worlds. It was all too much to explain, even to his closest friend.
"I'm really okay, Jake. Just... give me some time," Elias replied, his voice faltering slightly despite his best efforts to sound convincing.
Jake didn't look convinced, but he seemed to sense that pushing further would only make things worse. He leaned back in his seat, eyes still studying Elias, but said nothing more. The tension hung in the air like a thick fog, neither of them sure how to move past it.
The conversation shifted to something more mundane, but Elias couldn't shake the feeling that the truth was inching closer to the surface. Jake wasn't going to let this go for much longer. Elias needed to figure out what to do before his friend discovered the secret that he wasn't ready to face.
Later that night, as Elias lay in bed, the familiar weight of exhaustion settled in. He closed his eyes, hoping for some sleep, but his mind was restless, swirling with fragments of memories and glimpses of events that hadn't happened yet. He felt the pull again, the strange sensation that had become all too familiar.
And then, just like that, he was gone.
---
Elias opened his eyes to find himself standing in a completely different place. The world around him was dark and hazy, as if he were seeing it through a fogged window. His heart raced, and for a brief moment, he wondered if it was just another dream. But this felt different—more real, more immediate.
He could feel the cool air on his skin, the weight of his body shifting as he moved. There was no longer a feeling of being disconnected from his surroundings. He was there. He was part of it. But something was wrong. This wasn't his world, not in any sense he could understand.
"Elias," a voice called out, breaking through the haze.
He turned quickly, his heart pounding in his chest. There, standing in the distance, was the same girl. Her face was still obscured, her features hidden behind that same blur, but he knew it was her. The girl from his dreams.
"Where am I?" Elias tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come. His mouth moved, but no sound escaped. It was as if something was holding him back, keeping him from communicating.
The girl didn't seem to notice. She stepped closer, her presence comforting yet unsettling. Her voice, when it came, was soft, but filled with urgency. "You're not supposed to be here. This place… it's not for you. You need to go back, Elias. You need to fix what you've started."
Elias tried to respond, to ask her what she meant, but the words still wouldn't come. He was trapped in this silence, unable to speak, only able to watch as the girl continued to speak, her voice growing more strained with each passing moment.
"I... I can't... let you... do it..." she muttered, her voice cracking in a way that sent a chill down his spine. "You don't know what you're... what you're becoming…"
Her words faded into the darkness, leaving Elias with more questions than answers. And then, just like that, the dream ended. He was back in his own bed, gasping for air, his heart racing as though he had just run a marathon.
It had happened again.
But this time, something was different. The girl's warning lingered in his mind, echoing like a distant drumbeat. What had she meant? What had he started? And why couldn't he speak? Why was he being pulled into these strange timelines, these fragmented memories of a life he didn't understand?
Elias sat up in bed, his mind reeling with confusion and fear. He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up. The dreams were getting stronger, more vivid, more connected to the reality he knew. If he didn't figure out what was happening soon, he was going to lose himself completely.
And then, just as quickly as the thought entered his mind, something else occurred to him. Was it possible that his next jump could be different? Could he find a way to break free from the cycle? Or was he doomed to keep falling through time, pulled into the unknown, without any way of escaping?
The questions weighed heavily on his mind, but Elias knew one thing for sure—he was no longer just a passive observer in this strange game. He had become a player, and the stakes were higher than he could have ever imagined.
The future was waiting, but it was unclear whether he would be able to face it.
---