Anastasha's POV:
Miriam:[placing the cake down] "Happy sixteenth, sweetheart."
Caleb:[loud whisper, grinning] "Don't forget your wish! And no cheating, Anna."
Naomi:[snickering] "Yeah, and don't waste it on something boring. Like, 'I wish I pass my exams.' That's lame."
Me:[smiles faintly] "Wow. Thanks for the support, guys."
Daniel:[short, firm] "Go on. Blow the candle. Let's not keep everyone waiting."
Miriam:[gentle] "Take your time, Anna. Make it a good wish."
I stare at the candle, the tiny flame shaking like it knows something I don't. My chest feels tight.
Caleb: "Come onnn. We're all hungry."
Naomi:[teasing] "She's being dramatic. Watch, she's gonna make a speech first."
Me:[half-hearted laugh] "Shut up, Naomi."
I take a breath. The flame blurs. For a second, the whole room feels too bright. I blow it out. Darkness. Smoke curls upward.
Miriam:[clapping softly] "There. Perfect."
Naomi: "So? What did you wish for?"
Me:[shaking head] "I'm not telling you."
Caleb: "That means it was something silly."
Daniel:[quiet, watchful] "You don't look right. You're pale."
Miriam:[touching my hand] "Anna? You okay?"
The walls press in. A word swells up inside me like it's been waiting years to burst.
Me:[blurts out] "Iris."
Naomi:[frowning] "…What? Who's Iris?"
Caleb:[grinning] "Is that your wish? Some girl named Iris?"
Me:[shaking head quickly] "No, I—I don't know. It just—slipped."
Miriam:[concerned] "Anna, talk to me. What are you feeling?"
Me: "I… I thought I heard someone. Outside."
Daniel:[snapping slightly] "Outside? At this hour?"
Me: "He… he called me Iris. He knew the name."
Naomi:[trying to joke but uneasy] "Okay, creepy. That's not funny, Anna."
Caleb:[nervous laugh] "Maybe you've been watching too much anime again."
Me:[voice shaking] "I'm serious. I heard him."
Miriam:[rising slightly] "Do you want me to make tea? Something warm?"
Me: "No, I— I need to go. I have to find out who it was."
Daniel:[stern, cutting] "Absolutely not. You're not running off into the dark because of some voice in your head."
Me:[pleading] "It wasn't in my head! He was there. I know he was."
Naomi:[quieter now] "Anna, this is… weird. You're scaring me."
Me:[to her, softer] "I'm scaring myself."
Caleb:[trying to lighten the mood] "Okay, okay. If it's real, maybe it's a ghost. Or—"
Daniel:[sharp] "Enough." [to me] "You're staying here."
Me: "No. I have to go. If I don't— I'll regret it. Please, just… let me."
Miriam:[desperate] "Anna—"
Me:[louder than I mean] "If you stop me, I'll just go later. Alone."
The silence after is heavy. Naomi looks at Daniel. Miriam presses her lips tight, tears trembling in her eyes.
Kelvin:[steady voice, finally speaking up] "Then I'll come with you."
Me:[turning sharply] "No. It won't work if I'm not alone."
Daniel:[firm] "You are not walking into those woods without someone."
Me:[voice cracking] "He called me. By name. Not Anna. Not Anastasha. Iris. Don't you understand? He knows me. Somehow, he knows me."
Naomi:[hesitant] "And if it's just some creep messing with you?"
Me:[shaking head] "It's not. I felt it. I… remembered."
Miriam:[softly] "Remembered what?"
Me:[almost whispering] "A life that isn't mine."
The words hang in the air like smoke. No one knows what to say. I push my chair back. The legs scrape the floor. My body is already moving before my mind can ask permission.
Daniel:[angry now] "Anna! Sit back down."
Me:[pausing at the door, looking back at them] "I can't."
Their faces blur together: Miriam's fear, Daniel's fury, Naomi's confusion, Caleb's wide-eyed awe. None of them can follow me into what waits outside. None of them are meant to. I grip the doorknob and whisper, almost to myself:
Me: "I'll be back."
I close the door before they can argue. The night swallows me whole.
he woods are alive. Every step cracks a branch, every shadow breathes. I hug myself against the cold, but it doesn't help. Then—his voice again, soft, sharp, undeniable.
Jason: "Iris."
My heart stumbles. I spin toward the sound. He steps out of the dark — taller than I remember from the fragments in my head, his eyes storm-colored, his presence heavier than the night itself.
Me:[whispering] "…Jason?"
Jason:[quiet smile] "You remember."
Me:[shaking head] "No. I don't. I—I don't know what this is. I don't know who you are."
Jason: "Then why did you come?"
Me: "Because you called me. And because I can't stop hearing that name."
Jason:[steps closer] "Iris."
Me:[flinching] "Stop—stop saying it. That's not my name."
Jason:[tilts his head] "Then why does your heart answer every time I do?"
I freeze. My pulse hammers like it's trying to escape my chest.
Me: "Because I'm… confused. Because I'm scared. Because I don't understand what's happening to me."
Jason:[softer] "You're not confused. You're remembering."
Me:[shaking voice] "No. I'm Anastasha. I live in that house down the road. I go to school. I… I have a family."
Jason:[watching me closely] "Temporary. Borrowed. Shadows on the wall."
Me: "Don't call them that!" [voice cracks] "They're real. They love me."
Jason:[sighs, gaze heavy] "Love can be real and still not last. You, of all people, should know that."
My throat burns. Shards of memory cut at the edges of my mind: laughter by a fire, hands reaching, then loss. Too much loss.
Me:[voice breaking] "Why me? Why now?"
Jason: "Because Time never forgets its debts. You've carried lives before. You were never meant to remember them all at once. But the seam is unraveling."
Me:[swallowing hard] "I don't want this. I didn't ask for this."
Jason:[steps close, his voice lower] "None of us did."
The silence stretches. I can see the scar on his jaw, the tiredness around his eyes. He looks both like a stranger and like someone I've loved all my life.
Me: "What happens to me now?"
Jason: "You survive. That's what we do. We survive the years, the memories, the grief. Until Time decides the loan is up."
Me:[angry now] "That's not an answer!"
Jason:[steady] "It's the only one I can give."
I want to scream. Instead, I whisper.
Me: "If I'm really Iris… then who were you?"
Jason:[pauses, his eyes softening just slightly] "The boy who loved her. The boy who lost her."
The words crush me. My chest aches like I've been stabbed with something old and familiar. I don't know what to say. My throat is locked. He reaches out, brushes something invisible from my cheek — a gesture that feels too practiced, too intimate.
Jason: "You'll remember more, piece by piece. It will hurt. But you'll see."
Me:[barely audible] "And if I don't want to remember?"
Jason:[steps back, voice almost a whisper] "Then Time will remind you anyway. It always does."
The woods close in. The stars above blink awake. I stand frozen, shaking, my heart pounding with a truth I don't want but can't escape. Jason's eyes linger a moment longer, then he melts back into the shadows, leaving me trembling with a name that doesn't belong to me — and yet does.
(Anastasha's POV, after the woods)
The house is still lit when I push the door open. The smell of cake and melted wax hangs in the air. All their faces snap toward me at once — Miriam's wide-eyed, Daniel's sharp, Naomi's arms folded, Caleb bouncing nervously in his seat.
Miriam:[rushing forward] "Anna! Thank God. Where were you? You had us—"
Daniel:[cutting in, voice like a blade] "Out. In the dark. Alone. What were you thinking?"
Me:[hesitating] "I wasn't— I mean, I was just—"
Naomi:[snapping] "Just what? Wandering around at night like some horror movie character?"
Caleb:[wide-eyed, blurting] "Did you see him? The one who called you?"
I flinch. Their stares weigh on me like iron. Miriam grips my arm, searching my face.
Miriam: "Sweetheart… did someone hurt you?"
Me:[quietly] "No. Nobody hurt me."
Daniel:[stern] "Then who was out there? Tell me."
Me:[swallowing hard] "His name was… Gabriel."
Naomi:[frowning] "Gabriel? Do you even know anyone by that name?"
Me:[shaking head] "No. Not here. Not in this life."
They exchange quick, uneasy glances. Daniel's jaw clenches. Miriam's hands tighten around mine.
Miriam: "Anna… what do you mean, not in this life?"
Me:[struggling] "I don't know. I just— when he looked at me, it felt like I'd known him forever. Like I'd already lived it."
Naomi:[rolling eyes, but her voice trembles] "This is insane. You sound like you've lost it."
Me:[snapping back] "I'm not insane!"
Caleb:[timidly] "Then who is he?"
Me:[voice shaking] "…He said he was the one who lost me."
The silence afterward is suffocating. Miriam's lips part, but no sound comes out. Naomi stares at me like she doesn't recognize her sister. Daniel's voice cuts through, sharp and final.
Daniel: "Enough. You're not seeing him again. Whoever he is, whatever game this is, it ends tonight."
Me:[pleading] "You don't understand. He knew me. He called me Iris—"
Naomi:[incredulous] "There it is again! Iris! You keep saying it like it's your name."
Me:[almost whispering] "Maybe it was."
The words slip out before I can stop them. Miriam gasps softly, covering her mouth. Caleb shifts uncomfortably, glancing between us. Daniel's eyes harden into stone.
Daniel:[low, dangerous] "Don't talk like that in this house. You are Anastasha. Nothing else."
Me:[whispering] "But what if I'm not?"
The silence is crushing. My chest heaves with unshed tears. Nobody moves. Nobody breathes. Then Naomi slams her hand on the table, breaking the stillness.
Naomi: "This is ridiculous! You disappear, you come back talking like some reincarnation freak, and we're all just supposed to nod along?"
Miriam:[snapping at her] "Naomi! Enough." [softer, to me] "Anna, please… whatever this is, we'll figure it out. Just… stay with us. Stay grounded."
Daniel:[flat, final] "You are not leaving this house again tonight."
The weight of his words presses down. I want to argue, to scream, to confess everything Gabriel said. Instead, I bite down on the truth until it tastes like blood. I sink into the chair, my hands trembling on my lap. The room feels smaller than it ever has before.
Caleb:[quietly, almost to himself] "…But what if she's right?"
Everyone turns to him. He shrinks, staring at the table, but the question lingers like smoke. Nobody has an answer. Not even me.
The door clicks shut behind me. My room is dim — the lamp casts long shadows on the walls. I sit on the edge of my bed, the silence pressing down like a weight. My hands won't stop shaking.
Me:[muttering to myself] "It's just a dream. That's all. A… a hallucination."
The words sound flimsy. I dig my nails into my palms, desperate for something solid.
Me: "You're Anastasha. You're Anastasha. You live here. With Miriam. With Daniel. With Naomi. With Caleb."
The names feel like anchors. I cling to them. Then another name slips out before I can stop it.
Me:[whispering] "…Gabriel."
The sound of it chills me. I cover my mouth, as if saying it aloud might summon him from the shadows.
Me: "No. No, stop. He's not real. He can't be real."
But memory doesn't listen. It cracks open like glass.
Me (Iris's voice, faint, overlapping mine): "Jason—"
Me:[snapping at myself] "No! Not Jason. Not Iris. I'm not her. I'm not."
I pace the room, whispering faster, like if I speak quickly enough the thoughts won't catch me.
Me: "School tomorrow. Homework. Exams. Friends. My life is here. It's mine."
Me (other voice, low and familiar, echoing Gabriel's tone in her head):"Borrowed. Temporary."
Me:[spinning around, panicked] "Stop it! Stop talking like him!"
I press my hands to my ears, but it doesn't silence the voice. It's not outside. It's inside.
Me:[pleading to myself] "Why me? Why do I remember? Why now?"
Me (Iris's echo, soft, aching): "Because we loved him."
My knees buckle. I sink to the floor, pressing my forehead to my arms. Tears sting my eyes. My own voice cracks into the silence.
Me: "I don't want to remember. I don't want any of this."
The lamp flickers once, twice, like even the electricity can't stand the weight of my words. I lie back on the bed, whispering one last time to the ceiling.
Me: "…If you're real… if you're really Gabriel… then don't come back. Please."
But even as I say it, a hollow part of me aches with the truth: I want him to. I want answers. And I am terrified of what they'll be.