After dinner, Jian stood abruptly, forcing a polite smile.
"Excuse me. I need some air."
No one stopped him. They were too wrapped in their illusion of warmth, of family. He reached for the door, hand barely brushing the handle when..
"Uncle Jian?"
He froze.
Turning, he saw Eva standing a few feet behind him, her hands clasped in front of her, head tilted with childlike curiosity.
"Uncle?! " he asked cautiously, something in his voice cracking. "What… what happened to you?"
She tilted her head more, a soft hum escaping her lips. Then she smiled.
An innocent, sweet smile that made Jian's stomach twist.
"Are you going home?" she asked.
He didn't answer. Just stared. There was something off about her eyes.
Too clear. Too knowing.
"Uncle Jian, are you okay?"
Jian nodded quickly. Too quickly. "I… yes. Of course."
He turned again to leave...he needed to leave, but his thoughts raced.
Something is wrong. Definitely. Eva's just a child... but Is it that place we were? That... mael?
I'm sure he knows what's happening...
Suddenly—
"Jian?"
He stopped dead.
That voice.
He turned, slowly.
She stood there, barely illuminated in the hallway light. Her presence hit him like thunder.
"Miss Elara?" he breathed.
Her eyes narrowed. "Miss? Why are you calling me that?"
Jian stepped forward, heart pounding. "You… You're different. You're..."
"I feel strange, Jian," she said, voice soft and haunted. "Like I'm me, but not me."
Goosebumps rose on Jian's arms.
Her eyes.That look.
It was her. The same Elara. 2001.
"Elara?" he whispered. "It's really you?"
She looked up sharply. "What do you mean 'it's me'? You forgot me that fast?"
Her voice trembled. "You trusted me. I trusted you... but you betrayed me, Jian. Why?"
His breath caught in his throat. "No… I.."
But before he could answer, a voice cut through the moment.
"Honey?"
He stepped out from the house, eyes narrowing at the scene.
In a blink of an eye , the whole world shifted back to calm.
"What are you doing out here?" Lucas asked casually.
Jian hesitated. "I was just... nothing."
Lucas gave him a measured look, then gently touched Elara's back.
"Let's go. Eva's alone."
He guided her inside.
Jian remained on the porch, unmoving. The door shut behind them.
And he just stood there, eyes wide, body tense, as he tried to comprehend what had just happened.
"I need to find this mael," he muttered under his breath, stepping into the darkness beyond the house.
The night was thick, the air unnaturally still.
He kept walking, unsure where to go. He just needed a place to rest, to breathe, to think.
Suddenly, a vibration.
He stopped, pulling his phone from his pocket.
A notification.From Eva.
His pulse quickened.
The message preview alone made his chest tighten.
"I feel it… but I couldn't do anything. I act like a force is controlling me. Jian… I'm scared."
His eyes widened.
All thoughts of sleep vanished.
Without hesitation, he turned on his heel and ran back toward the house.
He didn't care how strange he looked.
Didn't care what Lucas would say.
He reached the door and knocked hard, urgent.
Moments later, the door opened.
Eva stood there.
Tears ran down her cheeks.
Silent, as if she'd been crying for a long time.
No words were exchanged.
She turned and walked back inside, and Jian followed.
They entered her room.Quiet.
A moment removed from whatever thing had nested in this house.
Eva climbed onto her bed, then looked at him with those wide, pleading eyes.
She didn't ask.
Jian sat beside her.
She crawled into his lap like a small, frightened child, and buried her face in his chest, sobbing.
He wrapped his arms around her and gently stroked her head, his other hand trembling as it rested on her back.
He said nothing.
Because there was nothing to say. Not yet.
Everything felt strange. Like a dream stitched together with pieces that didn't belong. A memory warped, a timeline folded, something not right.
She cried for a long time.
And Jian stayed there..quiet, still, eyes wide open..holding her as the weight of something vast and broken crept silently around them.
The room felt colder now. Not from the air, but from something older, deeper, like the walls themselves were exhaling sorrow.
Eva's sobs quieted slowly, until her breathing evened out against Jian's chest. She wasn't asleep. Just silent.
"Do you remember?" Jian asked softly, barely above a whisper.
She nodded, without lifting her head.
"I remember... feelings. Like echoes. I see faces, hear voices, but they're not mine. And sometimes... I think they are."
Jian swallowed hard.
"Something's wrong with this place. With us."
Eva sat up, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her oversized shirt. "Uncle Jian," she said slowly, deliberately, "I think I'm being... rewritten."
His breath caught.
"What?"
She stared at him, expression blank. "When I talk, I don't always know where the words come from. But I say them anyway. Like I'm on a script someone else wrote."
Then, after a pause:
"I tried to fight it. Earlier. With you. But I couldn't."
Jian reached for her hand. "We'll figure this out. Together."
But even as he said it, the lights flickered.
Once....Twice...Then steadied.
They both turned toward the window. Outside, the night had thickened. The stars were gone.
And in their place: a soft hum. A low vibration , mechanical, unnatural.
Eva's voice dropped to a whisper.
"He's watching again."
Jian's heart pounded. "Who?"
She turned slowly to face him. Her voice, now flat. Hollow.
"The one who built me."
Jian's throat tightened. He stared at her, barely able to breathe.
"…Who built you?" he asked, the words scraping out of him like they hurt.
Eva blinked. Once. Slowly.
And for a moment..just a flicker..her face looked older. Not in age, but in weight. Like something ancient had cracked the surface.
"I don't know," she said, voice too calm. "But he's close."
Jian leaned in, desperate. "Eva, listen to me. You're not built. You're a person.
She shook her head. "Not here. Not anymore."
A chill spidered down his spine.
He looked around her room..once familiar, warm. Now it felt sterile. Staged. Too clean. Like it had been assembled from memory but not quite right.
Jian stood. Pacing. "Okay. Okay, we're being watched. Controlled, even. But by who? And why you? Why us ?"
Eva's eyes followed him.
"Maybe because we remember. Or maybe… we're unfinished."
Jian stopped.
"Unfinished?"
She nodded, almost reluctantly.
"Like stories that never ended. People left in limbo. I think… I think he collects us."
That word. Collects.
It made Jian's stomach turn.
He crouched beside her again. "Eva. What happens if we try to leave?"
She looked away.
"I think… he rewinds us."
Jian felt like he couldn't breathe.
Suddenly—A knock...At the front door.
Both of them froze.
Another knock. Louder.
Rhythmic. Not rushed. Not random.
Jian stood.
Eva didn't move.
"You shouldn't answer it," she whispered.
He turned slowly. "Why not?"
Her voice was barely audible now.
"Because he wants you to."
Jian turned toward the door, pulse thudding in his ears. His hand hovere over the edge of the hallway wall, fingers flexing with tension .
He leaned close to Eva, barely breathing.
"…Who?" he whispered.
She didn't answer. just stared at him, lips pressed tight, fear stitched into her expression like a child trying to be brave.
The knock came again.
Three beats. Slow. Deliberate.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Jian stood. Walked.
Each step toward the door felt like it dragged through molasses. The house was too quiet. The light too still. Like time had forgotten how to move.
He reached the handle.
Paused.
His heart screamed don't، but he opened it anyway.
The door creaked.
Outside, there was no one.
Just darkness. An empty porch. The whisper of wind that didn't move the trees.
He stepped forward. And that's when he saw it.
A figure at the edge of the yard.
Not moving. Not approaching. Just waiting.
Tall. Unclear. A silhouette carved out of the dark.
Like a shadow that wasn't cast by anything.
Jian swallowed. "Hello?"
The figure tilted its head. Not in greeting.Like it was studying him.
And then—
A voice.Low. Smooth....Familiar.
"You're early."
Jian froze.
"What…?"
The figure stepped forward...just a little.
"You weren't supposed to wake up yet, Jian."
Jian backed toward the door. "Who are you?"
The figure didn't move.
"You asked who built her. You already know the answer."
Jian's mouth went dry.
"No. No, I don't."
"You do. You met me once. Before the mael."
The name made Jian reel.
Mael. That place. That folding of time and memory. The tearing in reality that swallowed them years ago.
"You… you were there."
The figure finally took one more step. Closer now. Face still hidden.
"I never left."
inside, behind Jian, he heard Eva whisper:
"Close the door, Uncle. Please. It's wearing him."
Jian turned halfway. "Wearing..?"
But when he looked back to the yard..The figure was gone.
Not vanished. Just…closer.
Standing halfway up the path now. Still. Silent.
As if it had always been there.
Eva suddenly swayed her legs giving out beneath her.
"Eva!" Jian shouted, darting forward just in time to catch her before she hit the ground.
Her small body felt fragile in his arms, too light. He carried her quickly down the hallway, heart racing, thoughts fractured. Something was wrongmore than wrong.
He pushed open her bedroom door with his shoulder and gently laid her on the bed. Her breath was shallow, eyelids fluttering.
"Eva…?" he whispered, brushing the hair from her forehead.
Her eyes snapped open. Clear. Focused.
"Eva?" he said again, confused by what he saw in her gaze.
She didn't respond right away. Just looked at him..as if searching for the right words.
Then, finally, with a calmness that chilled him:
"Jian?"
He froze.
Still on his knees at her bedside, hands trembling just above her blanket.
"I… I don't know what's happening," she continued, her voice distant, too calm. I realize everything … even the way I speak… like a child. But I can't stop it. It's like I'm stuck inside watching myself."
Jian stared at her, chest tightening.
"It's you again," he said quietly.
Eva nodded.....A long silence.
"Where is everyone?" she asked.
Jian looked toward the dark hallway. "I don't know. It's like… they're all asleep. Or paused. I don't know if they're even real anymore."
He wanted to tell her about Elara. Not the version playing house inside, but the one from 2001. The one who really spoke to him. The one who remembered."
But the words caught in his throat. He stayed quiet.
Then, almost against his will, he asked:
"Who built you, Eva?"
Her expression changed instantly.
Eyes wide. Breathing shallow.
She didn't speak...Didn't blink.
Just that silence terrified silence.
He didn't ask again.
Instead, she closed her eyes slowly, her hands pulling the blanket to her chin like a reflexive gesture from some deeper programming or memory.
Jian exhaled shakily. His body sagged with exhaustion. He leaned forward, resting his head on the edge of the mattress. One arm still draped across the bed. The other curled to his chest.
And there, in the soft silence of a house full of sleeping ghosts, Jian and Eva drifted into sleep...Together.
As Jian and Eva slipped into uneasy sleep, the house around them held its breath.
From the far end of the hallway where no hallway had been before a tall black door shimmered into existence. Smooth, seamless, unmarked. It pulsed once, faintly, as if inhaling light.
And then it opened.
A Figure stepped through. Not walking. Not floating. Simply arriving Like it had always been meant to be there.
Its body was tall and slender, cloaked in folds of flickering dark, like the shadows themselves were stitched around its form. Veins of blue-silver light threaded through it..like circuitry beneath skin. Where its face should've been was only the suggestion of a smile. Nothing more. But it stared.
The name didn't need to be spoken.
It watched Jian and Eva sleeping still, vulnerable, tangled in the weight of half-memories and broken time.
And Mael smiled.
Then, quietly, the Room door parted without sound
And Elara stepped inside. She didn't see Mael.
Her presence was soft, human, hesitant. A worn cardigan draped over her shoulders, bare feet whispering against the floor. She walked slowly toward the bed, toward Jian, her movements guided by something that wasn't memory but wasn't instinct either. A path she had to follow.
She sat beside him.
Stared at his face like it held the answer to something she could no longer name.
Her lips trembled. Eyes filled.
A single tear spilled. Then another.
"I miss you, Jian," she whispered, voice like paper being torn.
"Help me," she said. "Please…"
For a long moment, she just sat there. Her hand hovered over his, but didn't touch. She leaned forward, her hair falling like a curtain between them.
Then, gently..carefully..she kissed him.
Soft...Lingering, And then she was gone.
By the time Jian stirred, the air still shimmered faintly with her warmth, but no one remained beside him. He sat up, blinking, lips parted, fingers brushing his mouth as though trying to remember something that had happened in a dream too fragile to hold.
"…Elara?" he whispered.
But the room was silent....Empty.
He looked around, heart slow and uncertain. The space felt touched, altered . But no shadow moved. No sound echoed back.
He leaned back again, his hand still pressed to his lips.
And then, exhausted, confused, he drifted once more into sleep.
He never saw the figure at the far end of the room...Mael, still watching, Still smiling.
Already rewinding time for Elara.
Resetting her memory.
Again...And again....And again.
To be continue....