“The heart remembers. The mind invents reasons to forget.”

  ?? Song Suggestion: "Outro" – M83

  The rain had stopped, but the world felt heavy with it—the sky a darkened, restless weight above the city. Harrison opened the door to his bookshop that morning, the familiar chime of the bell ringing softly in the stillness. Yet, everything felt different now. The city outside seemed unchanged, but within him, there was an undeniable shift, an unsettling pull toward something he couldn’t grasp. Something ancient. Something far beyond the books and shelves that surrounded him.

  He ran a hand through his hair, the words from st night’s conversation with Emilia still lingering in his mind, but more than that—the unspoken connection between them, the growing sense that Ashbourne had been more than just a pce. It had been a life—a life they had shared, and perhaps, lost.

  His fingers brushed against the worn spines of the books on the shelf, but today, they weren’t just books. Each one seemed to pulse with a hidden significance, as though they were signposts pointing him toward something far more elusive.

  The Pull of the Past

  Harrison’s mind drifted to the journal he had found just days before—the cryptic entry that had seemed to call to him, as though it had been left for him to find. “The past is not a memory. It is a door, a threshold between worlds.”

  The words felt like a key, unlocking something buried deep inside him. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Ashbourne was a door, a pce he needed to return to. But why? Why did he keep dreaming of it, as if those dreams weren’t dreams at all, but fragments of something he had lived before?

  He gnced at the journal again, the weight of it in his hands pulling him back into his thoughts. He had to know. He had to understand why it all felt so familiar, why Emilia had become such a crucial piece of this unfolding puzzle.

  The sudden buzz of his phone startled him. The number was unfamiliar—he hadn’t shared his struggles with anyone beyond Emilia, so how did someone know what he was going through? Curiosity outweighed his hesitation, and he answered the call.

  “Harrison Kessler?” The voice on the other end was calm, but there was something almost knowing in the woman’s tone. “I’m Dr. Sloane. A colleague recommended me to you. I understand you’ve been having some... unusual experiences tely? Dreams. Memories.”

  Harrison’s heart skipped. How had she known? He hadn’t told anyone about the strange memories, the feeling of being haunted by Ashbourne. He barely knew how to expin it himself.

  “Yes,” Harrison replied, his voice uncertain. “I’ve been having these recurring dreams... memories that don’t make sense. And strange things are happening. I don’t know what’s real anymore.”

  “I think I can help,” she said, her voice steady, confident. “I specialize in unlocking memories that are hidden beneath yers of the subconscious. Particurly memories tied to past lives. If you’d like, I can help you make sense of this. We can set up a session for tomorrow.”

  Harrison stood still for a moment, staring at the shop, at the life he had built and the life that seemed to be slipping through his fingers. He needed answers. And this stranger seemed to offer a way forward.

  “I’ll come tomorrow,” he said, the words almost a relief. “Thank you.”

  The next afternoon, Harrison arrived at a small office building. He hadn’t thought much about Dr. Sloane’s offer, but now, standing outside her door, he could feel the weight of the decision pressing down on him. He didn’t know what he would uncover, but there was no turning back. He needed to know why Ashbourne kept calling to him, why he and Emilia were caught in this strange web of memory and fate.

  Dr. Sloane’s office was unassuming—a small, quiet room filled with the soft scent of vender and the faint rustle of pages. She was already waiting for him, sitting in a chair by the window. Her presence was calm, but there was an intensity in her eyes, something that seemed to recognize him, something that seemed to see through him.

  “Please, have a seat,” she said, gesturing to the chair across from her. “I’ve been expecting you.”

  Harrison sat down, unsure of what to expect, but there was a quiet understanding between them. She didn’t need to ask him what was wrong. She already knew.

  “I’ve been having these dreams,” he started, his voice quieter now, as if saying it aloud made it more real. “Dreams about a pce. A pce I’ve never been but... I know it. Ashbourne. And I feel like I’ve been there before. In another life.”

  Dr. Sloane nodded, her expression thoughtful but not surprised. “The past doesn’t always stay in the past, Harrison. Sometimes, it reaches out, pulling us back into it. You’re not the first to experience this.” She paused, letting the words hang in the air between them. “We’ll explore this together. I specialize in helping people unlock memories buried deep in the subconscious. Past lives, hidden truths, things you don’t know you know. I can help you find the answers.”

  He looked at her, the weight of her words settling in his chest. “But what if I don’t want to know the answers?”

  Her eyes softened. “You don’t have to want to know. The answers have already found you.”

  Then, Dr. Sloane guided him into a rexed state, instructing him to close his eyes and breathe deeply. The world around him faded as his consciousness began to slip away, slipping into the current of memories that weren’t his own.

  The heat of the fire came first—a suffocating, oppressive heat. He felt himself standing in a long corridor, the fmes licking at the walls, the air thick with smoke. He could hear the distant crackling of fire, the unmistakable scent of burning wood. And then, the woman. The woman in blue, running toward him.

  Her eyes locked with his. And then—she was gone.

  “Don’t forget me,” her voice echoed in his mind.

  Harrison tried to reach out, but he was frozen, trapped in the smoke. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. His vision blurred, and just as quickly as the vision had arrived, it vanished.

  He snapped back to the present, gasping for air.

  Back to Reality

  Dr. Sloane’s voice brought him back. “You saw it, didn’t you?”

  Harrison nodded, still shaken. “The fire... The woman... I saw her. I don’t understand.”

  “You’re reliving a past life, Harrison. And the truth is just beneath the surface. Ashbourne is where it all began, and it’s where it will all end. You have to go there. The past is calling.”

  Later that evening, Harrison met with Emilia at the bookshop. They spread out the map of Ashbourne across the counter, its edges worn and crumpled from their repeated handling.

  “I keep seeing it,” Emilia whispered, her voice distant as she traced the familiar lines of the map. “Ashbourne. The fire. The staircase.”

  Harrison’s eyes widened. “I’ve seen it too. In my dreams. But... it’s not just dreams. It feels like—like something I’m remembering.”

  The broken circle symbol, once a faint outline on the map, now seemed to glow with urgency. They both had felt its pull, its invitation to uncover the past.

  “We have to go,” Harrison said, his voice firm. “We have to find out why this is happening. Why we’re being drawn to Ashbourne.”

  Emilia nodded, her face pale but determined. “We don’t have a choice, do we? We’re already too far in.”

  ?? Read Next: Chapter 4 — A Hidden Letter

  A strange book. A forgotten message.When Harrison finds a letter written in his own handwriting—dated a century ago—everything begins to unravel.And across the hall, Emilia dreams of fire… but this time, she isn’t running from it.