What if every seven days, you became a stranger to your own life?

Elira wakes up in new lives every week—different names, unfamiliar places, yet the same haunting questions. With memories that don’t belong to her and a face she can’t forget, one man stands at the center of it all: Kael.

He claims to be her anchor—the keeper of her lost past. But as Elira uncovers fragments of truth, she begins to question everything: Kael’s intentions, her friends’ loyalty, and the very nature of her identity.

In a world where memory resets and nothing is what it seems, Elira must choose: reclaim who she was… or risk everything to become who she was meant to be.

"Tethered"

Elira stared at the message on her phone, heart pounding against her ribs like it was trying to escape.

"Hello again, Elira. Let's not forget each other this time."

She looked up to Kael, who was already beside her, eyes locked on the screen.

"Virella?" Elira asked. Her voice sounded foreign in her throat.

Kael gave a small nod, lips pressed tight. "She's always been watching. The question is: how close is she now?"

Before she could answer, a knock echoed from the hallway outside.

Another knock. But not from the same direction.

Elira stepped back. "What is that?"

Kael grabbed her wrist gently. "Not all knocks mean someone's here. Some are memory echoes."

"They play like loops. Sometimes they're warnings. Sometimes… bait."

A third knock came, this time behind the closet door.

She stepped forward before Kael could stop her and yanked it open.

It was empty. Dusty. Except for a photo pinned to the inside of the door.

A photo of her, Christine, and… Kael.

Kael was smiling in the photo. Warm, soft, completely different from the stoic man beside her now.

Christine had her arms around Elira.

And Elira—she looked nothing like herself. Hair longer. Eyes colder. Like someone playing dress-up in her skin.

She turned to Kael. "When was this taken?"

He didn't move. Just stared at the photo. "I've never seen that before."

Elira looked back down. There was handwriting on the bottom.

> "One of them lied. The other forgot. But only you disappeared."

Suddenly, the closet slammed shut on its own.

Kael yanked her away from the wall.

They rushed down the stairwell, but Elira's thoughts weren't on the building—they were stuck on the photo. And the message.

Her smile flashed in Elira's memory. That soft, sisterly look. The one she always wore.

Elira opened her mouth, but then—her phone buzzed again.

She hesitated, thumb hovering over play.

Kael glanced over. "Don't. It could trigger—"

Christine's voice crackled through:

> "Elira, if you're with Kael, don't trust what he shows you. He's hiding the worst part. The real reason you're forgetting."

Elira lowered the phone. "Is she lying?"

Later that night, they found a cheap motel outside city limits. Just to regroup.

Elira sat on the edge of the bed, the photo in her hands. She couldn't stop staring at the version of herself in it. Cold. Calculating.

Finally, he spoke. "You weren't always the victim, Elira."

"You created this loop to protect something. But the deeper we go, the more I wonder…"

> "If you forgot to escape her… or if you forgot to escape yourself."

Chapter 7 – The Faces That Lied