"Some truths must burn, before they can heal." – Anonymous

  ?? Song Suggestion: "Unfinished Sympathy" by Massive Attack

  The mirror seemed to watch them.

  Harrison stared at his reflection in the gss, feeling the eerie weight of the room settle over him. The bookshop was familiar—the shelves stacked high with forgotten words, the dusty air thick with memories—but nothing felt the same. Not anymore. Every corner, every movement felt off, like there was a crack in the very fabric of reality.

  He wasn’t sure when it had happened, but time seemed to be losing its edge. The days blurred together. The nights? Filled with the same haunting visions. Ashbourne. The fire. The woman in blue. And then, the whispers.

  “You must remember. You must come back.”

  Harrison had to talk to Sloane again.

  After their st session, Emilia and he had found themselves adrift in the vast sea of their memories, struggling to make sense of the dreams, the visions, and the painful sense of déjà vu that crept in like an unwelcome shadow. Sloane had helped them unlock pieces of their past, but she was still holding something back.

  As they walked into her office, the heavy weight of their questions hung between them. Emilia felt it, too. The expectation. They had to know. They had to break free from the confines of their memories, no matter how painful the journey was.

  “You’re closer,” Sloane said, her calm voice cutting through the tension. “But the memories are still fragmented. You must learn to piece them together—gradually. Trust the process.”

  The room grew still as Sloane guided them into hypnosis, her voice a soft lull that settled into their minds. They closed their eyes, surrendering to the familiar rhythm, trusting her as they had before.

  This time, when they entered the depths of their shared memories, the images weren’t as blurred. They were sharper. More real.

  Ashbourne in Fmes

  They were back. Ashbourne. The grand staircase. The scent of smoke thick in the air. But this time, they weren’t alone. Emilia was standing next to him, just as she had been in their earlier dreams. But her eyes—they were different. More vivid, more alive.

  “It’s happening again,” Harrison whispered, but his voice wasn’t his own. It was distorted, echoing off the walls as if it had come from a long-forgotten time.

  In the distance, the woman in blue appeared, standing at the edge of the fire. Her pale figure was shrouded in mystery.

  The fire roared louder, and as they moved toward her, a sudden fsh of memory broke through—a key, a locked door. The woman reached out, and for a moment, Harrison could see her face clearly. It was Emilia’s face—but it was distorted, filled with pain and despair.

  “I failed you,” the woman whispered, her words barely audible over the crackling fmes.

  Before Harrison could speak, the vision shifted. The fire grew stronger, and the smoke swirled until it consumed them, wrapping them in a suffocating bnket of heat. Emilia clung to him, but her face was unrecognizable—full of fear.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, but the words were lost in the chaos of the fire.

  Then, the image of the woman in blue vanished, repced by a single word.

  “Ashbourne.”

  They snapped back to the present, gasping for air, the room around them spinning. Emilia was trembling, her face pale as she looked at Harrison.

  “I saw it too,” she said, her voice trembling. “The fire. The woman. She... she was me.”

  Harrison swallowed hard, the weight of her words sinking into him. “I saw it. I saw everything. But it doesn’t make sense. Who was she? Why did she look like you?”

  Sloane’s voice broke through their thoughts. “You’ve both seen it. You’ve unlocked a part of your past, but there is still so much more to understand. The woman in blue... she is your guide, but she is also the one you must learn to forgive.”

  Harrison’s eyes flickered toward Emilia, who was still caught in the wake of the vision. “Do you believe her?” he asked softly.

  Emilia nodded, her face still etched with confusion and unease. “I don’t know what’s real anymore, but I trust her. Sloane... she’s been helping us.”

  Harrison took a deep breath, the weight of the moment settling in. They had come so far, but the truth seemed so far out of reach. “We need to keep going,” he said, determination filling his voice. “We can’t stop now.”

  The Path Ahead

  They left Sloane’s office with more questions than answers. The fragments of their past were slipping into pce, but the picture was still incomplete. Ashbourne, the woman in blue, the key—everything was connected, but the threads were too tangled to pull apart.

  As they walked down the street, the sense of uncertainty still hung between them. The road ahead wasn’t clear, but they both knew they had to keep moving forward. Sloane had given them the keys to their memories, but the final truth was still locked behind a door they hadn’t yet opened.

  End of Chapter 10