Echoes of Time

Chapter 29 - The Final Thread

Adeline woke up the next morning feeling light, as if a burden she hadn't even realized she was carrying had been lifted. The sun streamed through the window, casting warm beams over her bed and filling her room with a sense of peace. She stretched, glancing down at Oreo, who was curled up at her feet, snoring softly. She smiled.

Everything felt normal. It had been a good night—the walk with Oreo, meeting that kind boy, Keith, and just feeling... free.

She moved through the day easily, her thoughts wandering back to Keith. Something about him stuck with her. He felt like an old friend, like someone she had known for a long time, though she was certain they had just met. Still, she shrugged it off. Seacliff was a small town, and new faces were rare. Maybe she was just excited to have met someone new.

Later in the afternoon, Adeline headed to the café for her shift, finding Debbie already there, chatting up the regulars. Everything in her life had settled into a comfortable rhythm. But every once in a while, there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, a whisper that something was different, something she couldn't quite place.

It wasn't until the evening that things started to shift.

As Adeline walked home from work, her mind wandered to her parents—Dr. Gareth and Dr. Eleanor Monroe. She hadn't thought about them in a long time. They had been arrested when she was just a child for illegal experiments, something she barely understood at the time. It had never made sense to her, but she had accepted it, mainly because there had been no other explanation. But now, with the memory of her walk with Keith fresh in her mind, the nagging sense that something was off grew stronger.

She paused at the edge of the park where she had met Keith the night before. The moon was full again, casting an eerie glow over the town, and for a brief moment, Adeline felt something strange—a flicker, almost like a memory trying to surface.

She shook her head, trying to brush it off, but it persisted. The same faces in the café, the same people walking by, the same sky, the same moon... like she was living the same day over and over.

Her heart pounded, a chill running down her spine.

"Stop it, Adeline," she whispered to herself, shaking her head again. "You're just overthinking."

But the feeling didn't go away.

Suddenly, the ground beneath her feet trembled. It was subtle at first, then stronger, like a low rumble deep in the earth. Adeline froze, her breath catching in her throat. It wasn't an earthquake—no, it felt like something else entirely, like time itself was bending.

She looked up at the sky, and for a moment, she thought she saw the stars shift—moving like they were being rewound in reverse.

"No, no, no..." she muttered, her pulse quickening as panic set in.

It wasn't possible. This wasn't happening.

Then, the tremors stopped, and everything went still. Too still. The kind of stillness that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Adeline," a voice called softly from behind her.

She turned, her heart racing, to find Keith standing there in the moonlight, his face serious, his prosthetic hand glinting in the pale light.

"Keith?" she whispered, relief and confusion flooding her at the same time.

He nodded, stepping forward. "I need to tell you something."

Adeline frowned, her mind racing. There was something about Keith, something she couldn't put her finger on. He wasn't just a random boy she had met. She knew him—she felt it deep down, and now, seeing the grave expression on his face, she knew this wasn't just a casual conversation.

"What's going on?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. "Why do I feel like... like something is wrong?"

Keith's eyes softened with a sadness that sent a pang of fear through her. "Because something is wrong, Adeline."

She stepped back, shaking her head. "No. Don't say that. Everything is fine. I finally have a normal life. My parents are gone. I'm fine."

Keith closed his eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath. "Your parents aren't just gone, Adeline. And you're not fine. Not yet."

"What are you talking about?"

Keith walked closer, his expression a mix of guilt and determination. "I've been trying to protect you... for a long time. But I can't hide the truth from you anymore."

Adeline's chest tightened. "The truth?"

Keith's gaze locked with hers, and for the first time, she saw the weight of what he carried. "Your parents' experiment... it wasn't just illegal. It tore a hole in time. And everything that's been happening to you—the things you can't explain—it's because of what they did. And because of what I did."

Adeline's eyes widened in shock, her mind reeling. "What do you mean what you did?"

Keith looked down at his prosthetic hand, flexing the metal fingers. "I tried to fix it. To go back and stop it. But every time I tried... it affected you. Every time I changed something, time tried to balance itself. That's why you've been feeling like things are repeating. Like time is stuck."

Adeline's world spun as the reality of his words sank in. "But... but why? Why me?"

"Because you're a Monroe," Keith said quietly. "And because of me."

Tears welled up in Adeline's eyes. "You... you did this?"

Keith stepped closer, guilt etched in every line of his face. "I did it to save you. But I was wrong. I can't fix the past. All I can do is make sure you live the life you deserve. Even if it means..."

Adeline's breath hitched. "Even if it means what?"

Keith's voice trembled, his eyes filled with sorrow. "Even if it means I have to let you go. You deserve a future without this. Without me."

Adeline's heart ached as she stared at him, tears spilling down her cheeks. "But I don't understand. You're... you're the only one who's ever understood me."

Keith gave her a sad smile. "And that's why I have to go."

Before she could respond, a gust of wind swirled around them, and the air shimmered with a strange, unearthly glow. Adeline reached out, but Keith was already fading, his figure dissolving into the light.

"No!" she cried, her voice breaking as she reached for him.

But it was too late.

Keith was gone.

And with him, the weight of time, the burden of the past, and the endless cycles of repetition vanished.

Adeline collapsed to her knees, sobbing into the night, the full moon watching over her like a silent witness.

For the first time in her life, time moved forward.

And Adeline, though heartbroken, was finally free.

The end.