The silence between them was almost deafening.
Garah stared at the framed photograph of her younger self—beaming with happiness beside a boy she couldn’t remember.
The boy who stood in front of her now.
“You erased me,” he said again, softer this time, as if the words hurt to repeat.
“I-I didn’t,” Garah whispered. “I don’t even know your name.”
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He stepped closer, his silver hair falling slightly into his eyes. “Exactly. And yet… I remember everything.”
She took a step back, suddenly unsure whether this was a dream, a memory, or something more terrifying.
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“What are you?” she asked.
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“Someone who was once part of your everything,” he replied. “But you chose to forget me. Because remembering meant pain.”
Garah’s bracelet began to glow again—this time violently—until it almost burned her wrist.
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“Then why are you here now?” she asked.
He reached out, fingertips grazing the space near her shoulder where her red string curled faintly.
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“Because our strings never really broke. They were just… hidden.”
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Present Day
Pearl stared at the string tied around her pinky.
It was there. Real. Red. Tangled.
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She hadn't noticed it until now. It wasn’t part of a bracelet or ring. It just… existed.
“Zyreen,” she whispered, “do you see this?”
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Zyreen’s eyes widened.
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“Francisco… had one too.”
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They both turned slowly. Their classmate Francisco was gone.
But a single strand of red thread floated on the wind behind him… vanishing down the hallway.
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Back Inside the Memory
The hallway morphed. The walls cracked, the photos fluttered like pages from a notebook blown by wind.
Garah shielded her eyes.
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The silver-haired boy stood calmly in the center of it all.
And then the ceiling disappeared.
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Above them—strings.
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Hundreds. Thousands. Endless red strings stretched across the sky like constellations.
Each one glowing. Each one moving.
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Garah looked up, breathless.
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“They’re alive,” she said.
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“They are us,” he corrected. “Our memories. Our decisions. Our past and future.”
A new string floated down toward her.
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It wrapped gently around her wrist.
A name burned faintly at its end.
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"Francisco."
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