Visions in the Dark (Part 5 – The Truth Behind the Visions)

Maya's breath caught in her throat.

"You had the dreams too?" she whispered.

Dr. Varman nodded, his gaze unreadable. "Not just dreams. Certainties. I saw the future, just like you." He exhaled. "And I learned the hard way that it cannot be changed."

Maya clenched her fists. "Then tell me why this is happening to me. Is it because of the accident?"

Dr. Varman gestured for her to sit on a broken bench near the rusted gears of the abandoned clock tower. "The accident didn't cause this. It just… unlocked it."

Maya frowned. "Unlocked what?"

The doctor hesitated before speaking. "You and I—and others like us—we've seen the other side. For a brief moment, our souls were disconnected from time itself." He paused. "And when we came back, we brought a piece of that knowledge with us."

Maya shivered. "You mean… when I died, I became stuck in time?"

"In a way," Dr. Varman said. "Imagine time as a river. Most people only see what's ahead of them. But you and I? We've been pulled out of the water. We can see further downstream. The problem is…" He looked at her, voice grim. "No one can change the river's course."

Maya's stomach twisted. Aarav's death had proven that. "Then what's the point? Why see the future if we can't stop it?"

Dr. Varman sighed. "That's the question I asked myself for years. That's why I disappeared. I tried everything to stop what I saw. But the more I fought it, the more I realized—every action I took only led things to happen exactly as I had foreseen."

Maya's mind raced. "Then why are you still here? Why let me find you?"

For the first time, Dr. Varman's expression darkened. "Because I saw something in my final vision before I stopped dreaming."

Maya stiffened. "What did you see?"

Dr. Varman looked her in the eye.

"I saw you."

The air between them seemed to still. Maya's pulse pounded in her ears. "Me? What do you mean?"

Dr. Varman hesitated, then reached into his coat and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper. He handed it to her with careful precision.

Maya slowly unfolded it.

Her breath caught.

It was a drawing. Of her.

Standing in an unfamiliar place. Smoke in the air. A shadow behind her, something just out of reach, but terrifying in its presence.

A date was scrawled at the bottom.

One week from today.

Maya looked up at him, horror creeping into her chest. "What does this mean?"

Dr. Varman's voice was quiet but firm.

"It means your most important vision is yet to come. And this time… it's not just about fate."

Maya felt the weight of his words settle into her bones.

She wasn't just seeing the future anymore.

She was at the center of it.