Elias woke up to a dull ache in his temples, his vision blurry as his surroundings slowly came into focus. He was sitting at his desk, the dim light of his laptop casting eerie shadows across his room. The blinking cursor on the screen seemed almost hypnotic, a silent mockery of the countless unanswered questions swirling in his mind.
His fingers trembled as he reached for his phone. The date displayed confirmed his worst fear—it had happened again. Another shift. Another unexplained fracture in time. His last memory had been of stepping out of the café with Maya, the conversation about déjà vu still fresh in his mind. Now, it was hours later, and he had no recollection of what had transpired in between.
Heart pounding, he scrolled through his call logs. Nothing unusual. His messages with Maya and Noah remained the same. But something felt wrong—an uncanny sensation, like the pieces of a puzzle had been forced into the wrong places.
A notification popped up—a message from Maya.
Maya: "Hey, are you okay? You left so suddenly earlier. Didn't even say goodbye. Kinda rude, Elias."
Elias frowned. He didn't leave. At least, not willingly. His mind raced as he tried to craft a response that wouldn't make him sound insane.
Elias: "Sorry, wasn't feeling great. Did I say anything weird before I left?"
The typing bubbles appeared, then disappeared. Then again. He could picture Maya hesitating, debating what to say.
Finally, her response appeared:
Maya: "Not weird, just... you seemed confused? You kept saying something about 'shadows repeating themselves' and then just walked off. I figured you needed some air."
Elias's blood ran cold. He had no memory of saying that. No memory of walking away.
Noah's voice rang in his mind from their last conversation: "If you really are slipping through time, how do you know you're the only one affected?"
The thought sent a chill down his spine. What if… what if someone—or something—was aware of his jumps? Watching him?
Determined, Elias grabbed his notebook and flipped to a fresh page. He needed to keep better records. Patterns. Clues. Something to prove to himself that he wasn't losing his mind.
Entry 7
Shift occurred again. Last memory: talking with Maya. Next memory: alone in my room. Time lost: approx. 4 hours.
Maya says I mentioned 'shadows repeating themselves.' No recollection.
Need to check security footage? Confirm movements?
He let out a shaky breath, rubbing his temples. His entire reality was unraveling, and he was running out of ways to stitch it back together.
A knock at the door jolted him.
It was Noah.
Elias opened the door, barely managing a greeting before Noah pushed past him. His friend's usual laid-back demeanor was gone, replaced by something far more serious.
"Dude, I need to tell you something. It's about what you told me before. About the time jumps."
Elias stiffened. "What about it?"
Noah ran a hand through his hair, his expression uneasy. "I think I've noticed something too. Not a jump, but… glitches. Things that don't match up."
Elias's pulse quickened. "Like what?"
Noah hesitated, then took out his phone and scrolled to a picture. He handed it over.
Elias felt the air leave his lungs.
It was a picture of the two of them at a bar last night. Except Elias had no memory of going there. And worse—he was wearing a hoodie he hadn't seen in years.
His mind reeled. If this was real, if there were now photographic discrepancies in his timeline, then the cracks weren't just in his mind.
Reality itself was breaking.
To be continued…