When I moved into the neighborhood, I noticed Mr. Grayson. He lived next door. He was a man in his mid-40s, or so I thought. He tended to his garden, sat on his porch, and waved at me when I passed by. He was quiet, but friendly. Years passed. Mr. Grayson didn’t change. I noticed it more each year. He looked the same. Same face, same hair. He didn’t age. At first, I thought it was coincidence. Maybe I was imagining things. But as time passed, I couldn’t ignore it. He didn’t age. No wrinkles. No graying hair. He looked the same as when I first moved in. I became obsessed. I started taking pictures of him, one each year. Same porch. Same smile. No change. Friends didn’t believe me. “He just has good genes,” they’d say. “Lucky guy.” But I knew something was wrong. I watched him every day. He was always there. Always in the same routine. He never seemed to leave the house for more than a few hours. He never looked tired. I noticed every detail. His clothes didn’t change. His movements were...

I never thought much about fate. Life, for me, was always quiet—work, sleep, repeat. I had dreams, sure, but I knew what was realistic, possible. Until I met him. It happened by chance—or so I thought. I was at my regular café on lunch, checking emails. It was crowded, the usual weekday rush, when I felt it—a pair of eyes on me. I glanced up. There, standing at the counter, was a man who looked exactly like me. Taller, straighter posture, but it was my face—my eyes, my hair, my expression. The resemblance was so uncanny it froze me in place. My breath caught. I couldn’t look away. He turned, seemingly oblivious, and took his coffee from the barista. I watched him, trying to shake off the discomfort building in my chest. Maybe it was a trick of the light, a coincidence. Until I saw him glance over at me—catching my stare. His expression shifted. He smiled. It was a strange, knowing smile, like he was aware of something I wasn’t. “Good to see you,” he said, his voice perfectly matching m...

I needed the job. The pay was low, but the hours worked for me. The manager hired me quickly. She handed me the keys and said, “Patrol every hour. Don’t go to the lower levels after midnight. It’s not safe.” I didn’t ask questions. The structure was huge and deserted. Every floor looked the same: quiet hallways, flickering lights, and dirty desks. My footsteps echoed. Something felt off, and the silence seemed wrong—too full. My first night went without incident. I observed the monitors and made my rounds. The halls stayed quiet. But on the second night, I heard whispers. They were faint at first, just a soft hum. I stopped and listened, but they disappeared. By the third night, the whispers grew stronger. They echoed faintly through the corridors, as though someone had vanished just out of sight. I called out, “Who’s there?” No one answered. The sound stopped. Then I saw the shadows. They moved at the edges of my vision. When I turned to look, nothing was there. I told myself I was ti...

I woke. Silence. It wasn’t peaceful. It pressed against me, suffocating. The kind of silence that didn’t leave room to breathe. I was blind. A car crash took my sight. I’d never adjusted. The memories from that moment fractured. Faces blurred, moments tangled, and the crash—still there. The sound, the blood, everything wrong, out of place. That silence… It didn’t stay silent for long. The first night, I heard it. A voice. Soft. Faint. I thought it was a hallucination, but it came again the next night. The same voice. "Are you awake?" it whispered. It felt familiar, like a memory I couldn’t catch. The tone… warm, intimate. A voice from my past, one I couldn’t place. "Who are you?" I asked. "Someone you’ve known," the voice said. "Someone you’ve forgotten." The voice returned every night. It told me stories. My childhood. Secrets. Things I hadn’t thought of in years. It felt… safe. Familiar. But it didn’t...