Chapter 13: The Forgotten Truth

Alex jolted awake, their body spread across the frigid rooftop. The journal was open beside them, pages fluttering in the wind, though no breeze could be felt.

They slowly sat up, their head pounding as the fragments of the strange visions replayed in their mind. Each memory felt like a jagged piece of glass, sharp and incomplete, cutting through the veil of their ignorance.

"What… happened to me?" Alex muttered, their voice hoarse.

The city below was eerily silent, the buzz of life that usually filled it replaced by a heavy silence. It felt like the world held its breath. Alex reached for the journal, and the glow emanating from its pages grew dim as their fingers touched it.

They started flipping through its pages, eventually finding one written in haste-the words messy and erratic.

*"You have to remember. Before it's too late. The truth is the only thing that can stop it."*

"What truth?" Alex whispered, hugging the journal tightly.

As they gazed at the page, the words began to move, shifting to reveal a crude map sketched onto the paper. In the center was a single word: *"Home."*

Alex's breath hitched. An image of a house flitted in her mind, one she hadn't thought about in years. A sense of dread settled over her, heavy and suffocating.

The doppelgänger's voice echoed faintly in the distance, no longer taunting but almost. urging.

"Go back. Find it."

Determined but terrified, Alex stood up, tucking the journal under their arm. They glanced over the rooftop's edge, their path forward obscured by the darkened streets below.

If this was a journey to confront the truth, it was one they could no longer avoid.