Elias sat at his desk, staring at his laptop screen. The words on the document blurred together, his mind too cluttered to focus. The coffee beside him had long gone cold, untouched since morning.
He rubbed his temples, exhaling sharply. It had been days since the first dream—the one that refused to fade like all the others. And now, everything around him felt… off. No, not just off—wrong.
The déjà vu was growing worse. He would think of something, and moments later, it would happen. A colleague dropping their pen, a car horn blaring outside at just the right moment, a random phrase appearing in a conversation exactly as he imagined it seconds before.
It wasn't normal.
And the worst part?
He wasn't sure if he was imagining it all or if reality itself was slipping through his fingers.
A voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Elias? You good?"
He turned to see Maya, his coworker, standing by his desk. She held a file in her hands, but her usual sharpness was softened by concern.
Elias forced a smile. "Yeah, just tired."
Maya raised an eyebrow. "You sure? You've been zoning out a lot lately. Like, more than usual."
He hesitated, then chuckled lightly. "Didn't know I had a usual."
"You do," she said flatly, placing the file on his desk. "You're either lost in thought, muttering under your breath, or staring at nothing. And lately? It's been the third one."
Elias looked away. Had it been that obvious?
Maya sighed. "Look, if something's up, you can talk to me. Not as a coworker, but as a friend."
For a moment, he considered it. Telling someone—anyone—about the things happening to him. But then he shook his head. No. Not yet.
"It's nothing," he said. "Just a rough week."
Maya didn't look convinced, but she let it go.
"Alright," she said, tapping the file. "Boss wants this done by today. Don't let your 'rough week' be an excuse."
Elias smirked. "Yes, ma'am."
Maya rolled her eyes and walked away.
---
Later that evening, Elias sat at a café, stirring his coffee absentmindedly. Across from him sat Noah, his longtime friend, an engineer with a sharp mind but a laid-back attitude.
"So," Noah leaned back in his chair, "what's with the existential crisis face?"
Elias exhaled. "You ever feel like… something's wrong with the world? Like you're seeing things before they happen?"
Noah raised an eyebrow. "Like déjà vu?"
"No, not déjà vu. More like… I remember things before they even happen."
Noah whistled. "Damn. Sounds like either a superpower or a mental breakdown."
Elias chuckled dryly. "Yeah, I don't know which."
Noah studied him for a moment, then leaned forward. "You're serious, aren't you?"
Elias hesitated, then nodded. "It's been happening a lot lately."
Instead of laughing it off, Noah looked thoughtful. "Could be your brain playing tricks on you. Or…" He tilted his head. "You ever consider that maybe—just maybe—you're actually remembering the future?"
Elias stared at him. "That's insane."
"So is half the stuff in science," Noah shot back. "Time isn't as straightforward as we think. Maybe you're onto something."
Elias rubbed his face. "I don't know, man. I just—" He stopped. His breath hitched.
Across the café, a man was walking toward the exit.
And Elias knew—knew with absolute certainty—that the man's phone was about to slip from his pocket.
Three… Two… One—
The phone fell.
Clattering against the floor exactly as Elias had foreseen.
Noah blinked. "Okay. That was freaky."
Elias swallowed.
This wasn't just coincidence anymore.
Something was really, really wrong.
And he had no idea how deep it went.
---