"Some cycles are endless. Some fates are bound to repeat." – Anonymous

  ?? Song Suggestion:"The Sound of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel

  The air in Ashbourne felt like a living thing—heavy, dense, pressing against them as if the estate itself were alive, breathing in time with their heartbeats. Harrison and Emilia stood side by side, deep within the bowels of the house, their footsteps barely audible over the constant whisper of the wind through the trees outside. Every room they entered seemed to hold its breath, as if waiting for them to unlock a secret that had been buried for centuries.

  The house was older, its bones weary, its walls full of stories that had long since stopped being told. But still, there was an undeniable pull, a magnetic force that guided them deeper, as though they had both lived here before—had always lived here.

  They passed through the grand hallway where portraits of unknown figures lined the walls, their painted eyes following them with a silent gaze. The walls seemed to bend and stretch, as if they had taken on a life of their own, warping and shifting the rooms around them. Emilia felt as though the house was trying to tell them something, trying to show them the truth they had yet to fully understand.

  Her fingers brushed against the walls, as though hoping to unlock the secrets hidden within the crumbling pster. Her breath quickened as fshes of memories flickered behind her eyelids—the burning fire, the colpsing hallway, the distant screams. And then there was the feeling, the overwhelming sense of déjà vu, that this moment, this very room, had been lived before.

  Harrison reached for her hand, his grip tightening as if grounding himself to the present. “This pce is changing,” he murmured. “It’s not just in our memories. It’s here—alive.”

  They entered what looked like the heart of the estate—the library. Dust hung thick in the air, and the bookshelves sagged with age. There, sitting in front of a long, cracked window, was the figure they had seen in their dreams: the woman in blue, her back to them.

  Emilia’s breath caught in her throat. She could see the woman clearly now, standing in a dress that shimmered like the night sky, as though the fabric held the weight of time itself.

  “You’ve come,” the woman’s voice echoed, almost like a whisper in the wind, but it was clear. “I’ve waited for you.”

  Harrison stepped forward, but the woman did not turn around. She stayed facing the window, her silhouette the only thing visible in the dim light. “We’re here,” Emilia whispered, her voice barely audible, “to find the truth.”

  The woman’s head tilted slightly, as though considering their words. “The truth,” she repeated softly, as if tasting the word. “The truth is not what you think it is. It never has been. The past is a door, not a memory. You’ve opened it.”

  The Rising Fear

  “What do you mean?” Harrison asked, his voice tight with the pressure that was building between them.

  The woman turned slowly, and her eyes—deep, haunted eyes—met theirs. They were the same eyes they had seen in their dreams, only now they were wide open, staring into their souls. “You’ve seen it. You’ve felt it. The fire, the betrayal. The woman you lost,” she said softly, her voice tinged with sorrow. “You can never escape it. It’s in the walls. It’s in your blood.”

  The walls of the library seemed to close in, the space growing smaller with each word she spoke. Harrison felt the rush of panic rise in his chest as the house seemed to shift and distort, the truth just out of reach.

  “No,” Emilia said, stepping forward. “We have to change it. We have to make it right.”

  The woman in blue looked at her with something like pity in her eyes. “You can’t change it, child. Not without paying the price.”

  Suddenly, the room shifted, and the fire roared back to life. Harrison and Emilia found themselves standing on the edge of the burning stairwell, the heat so intense they could feel it in their skin. The woman in blue stood just out of reach, as if urging them to come closer.

  “What happened?” Emilia cried out, her voice full of desperation.

  The woman’s voice echoed in their minds, “You have lived this moment countless times. The betrayal you witnessed, the loss you endured. You can’t change it, but you can learn from it.”

  But as the words echoed in their ears, the fmes grew higher, the inferno threatening to swallow them whole. “We can stop this,” Emilia cried, her eyes fixed on Harrison. “We can end the cycle. We don’t have to let it consume us.”

  She reached for Harrison’s hand, but before she could touch him, the woman in blue’s voice stopped them.

  “You must choose,” she said, her words heavy with warning. “Will you face the truth? Will you live with the consequences of what you learn?”

  As they stood there, caught between the truth of the past and the future they both desired, they understood—the fire was not just a memory. It was a test. A test of their strength, their resolve, and their ability to rewrite what had been lost. But every choice had a cost.

  Harrison stood frozen, the weight of everything pressing against him. “I’m scared,” he admitted, his voice shaky. “What if we can’t break the cycle? What if we’re meant to repeat this forever?”

  Emilia stepped forward, clutching his hand tightly. “We’re not alone in this,” she said, her voice full of quiet resolve. “We’re together. And that’s how we’ll break free.”

  End of Chapter 9.