Cycles

 Written by Darleandro Alves, Tanner yeen

Disclaimer: Cycles is a fan project created only for the purpose of entertainment. It is a non-profit small project based on the visual novel ECHO, created by Echo project that owns all the rights of the franchise.

"You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending." - C.S. Lewis

  [Introduction]

Why go to a city in the middle of nowhere? a place where people say is haunted. I was wondering a few days ago; I'm not sure what I was looking for or why, but now I think people might be right about it being haunted. It's kind of scary how a place can fuck with you in such a way. Call me a skeptic, but when I heard of that ghost town back in 2019, something told me I had to check it out, and that was the biggest mistake in my life.

Looking back at things now, part of me still regrets them. But something was calling me there, and it still does. Even now, while I'm writing, this feeling comes back; it makes the fur on the back of my neck stand and is terrifying. Despite me being miles away, I still feel like the walls have eyes, but I know it isn't true; I know it is just my head playing tricks on me. It has been a couple of months now, and I still have nightmares.

Echo wasn't a ghost town; ghosts don't exist, right ?. There's always an explanation for things to happen; that's what I told myself to make me feel better, but when I set foot in that place, my life changed forever. Every belief was shattered. I thought I knew what I was doing, but I was wrong, so very wrong. Now, heh, I'm no longer a skeptical idiot but a fool anyway.. enough for me for now. I'll let the story you're going to read speak for itself.

Chapter 1 Small problems

The concept of change is something we've all tried to grasp in some way at least once or twice in our lives. Most of us wish we could get or build a time machine and go back in time to fix things, to change and possibly undo some wrongdoing, trying our best to modify our future and correct it. The problem is, how? Even going back and fixing things, is it fair to do so?. Defying our own path and maybe even destiny itself to fix our selfish mistakes and bend it to our own desires and wants. The real question is: Is it even worth it? One might say yes; the possibilities could be endless, stop wars, and even save loved ones.

But the thought of going back and reliving a nightmare that you once forgot and maybe even moved on from isn't pleasant. I can say that with certainty because I've tried. I've forgotten how many times I laid my head on my pillow and closed my eyes at night, trying to find a way to fix some of my many mistakes, but all that it brought me was nothing but misery and uncertainty. So change is something we all want, but for most of us, it is hard and probably scary sometimes. The idea of doing something you never tried is terrifying, so you might give up and stay where you are, accept it, and continue life. A depressing thought being so broken—at a point of no return, moving in circles stuck in the same place for the rest of our lives.

I let out a small sigh at the thought. The depressing music playing on the radio didn't help either; driving was something that always took my mind off things. It was some sort of escape for me. A way to not let anything bother me, but lately something's been bothering my mind. I can't barely sleep at all, and the constant nightmares about a certain accident keep replaying in my head every night. Now that I think about it, I'm feeling tired. I barely got any sleep last night. My friend warned me about leaving so early, and he tried his best to convince me not to. He didn't know that I was a stubborn bastard. I leaned backwards against my car seat. I look at my front-view mirror; the sun is barely visible now. "Why did I decide to leave so damn early? I've been driving forever.".