A Moment That Never Ended
Leonard Vale awoke gasping for breath. His mind was fractured, thoughts slipping like sand through his fingers. He glanced at the clock: 3:14 AM.
Hadn’t it just been midnight?
Something felt off. His room was subtly… different. The lamp, which should have been on the right, now sat on the left. Books he didn’t recall buying lined the shelf. Rather than the usual coffee scent, the air carried the aroma of oranges.
This wasn’t his past.
His past had changed.
The Impossible Rewind
Leonard stumbled toward the window, searching for familiarity. The city skyline outside appeared… distorted. Unfamiliar buildings loomed in the distance, replacing landmarks he had known all his life. Meanwhile, the streets stretched eerily silent.
His phone buzzed on the nightstand. A new message.
DO NOT LEAVE YOUR ROOM. DO NOT CHECK THE MIRROR.
His heart pounded. He checked the sender. No name. Just a blank field.
Every instinct told him to ignore it. Yet, curiosity won. He turned to the mirror.
His reflection did not move.
Time Is Not Linear
Leonard reeled back, his breath hitching. The figure in the mirror stared at him, its eyes filled with something between recognition and horror. Then, it blinked.
And suddenly, everything made sense.
This had happened before.
A flood of memories crashed into him—different versions of his life, layered over one another like cracked glass. In one, he had died at 27. Another version of him had never been born. In yet another, he had lived this exact moment before—again and again.
Regardless of the variation, it always ended the same way.
The Architects of Time
A deep, thrumming sound filled the room. The air rippled, distorting reality. His reflection spoke.
“You have fractured. Time is no longer stable around you.”
Leonard gripped the edges of the dresser, his knuckles turning white. “Who are you?”
The reflection’s mouth twisted as if struggling to form words.
“I am you. And we are not supposed to exist.”
The world flickered. Walls blurred into a shifting haze of possibilities. His memories rearranged themselves like a puzzle solving itself in real time. He saw himself waking up in different rooms, in different realities, always at 3:14 AM.
The moment was repeating. A loop that never truly reset.
The Final Warning
The reflection pressed a hand against the glass, its voice urgent.
“You have one chance. You must break the cycle.”
Leonard’s thoughts spiraled. “How?”
“You have to stop existing.”
His breath caught in his throat. “That’s not possible.”
“It is. You were never meant to be. Choose, now.”
A sudden weight bore down on him. The air thickened, his vision swam, and the walls dissolved into swirling timelines.
Leonard steadied himself, then reached for the mirror.
The moment his fingers touched the glass, time shattered.
The clock struck 3:15 AM.
And Leonard Vale was gone.
Somewhere, in another version of reality, a man named Leonard Vale never existed. The world turned without him. The hourglass, once fractured, was now whole again.
Yet, in the depths of time, something watched.
And waited.
