Chapter 03: The Shadow of Familiarity
Elaine Harper sat frozen at her desk, staring at the photograph in her trembling hands. The man in the blue jacket. The coffee shop. The words scrawled on the back: “You don’t belong here.”
Her mind raced. Who had sent it? How could it be connected to Charlotte’s dreams? The delivery was anonymous, and Jessica had no idea where it had come from.
Elaine exhaled slowly, setting the photo down and forcing herself to think logically. Was this a coincidence? A prank? Or was it something else—something tied to the unsettling thread that seemed to weave through Michael’s and Charlotte’s lives?
She checked her watch. She had an hour before her next patient, enough time to do some digging. Grabbing her laptop, she opened a search engine and typed in a description: man in blue jacket coffee shop. The results were predictably unhelpful—random images, generic blog posts, and irrelevant news stories.
Next, she tried narrowing it down. She typed: “You don’t belong here” dream.
A few results caught her eye: forums discussing shared dreams, blogs on paranormal phenomena, and psychological studies on collective unconsciousness. But one link stood out—a thread on an obscure forum titled “Echoes of the Unknown.”
Elaine clicked on it.
The thread was filled with posts from people describing experiences eerily similar to Michael’s and Charlotte’s. They spoke of vivid dreams that felt like memories, encounters with strangers who seemed familiar, and waking up in places they couldn’t remember going to.
One post, in particular, made her stomach churn:
“I keep dreaming about a man in a blue jacket. He’s always walking away from me, but when he turns around, he says the same thing: ‘You don’t belong here.’ I don’t know what it means, but I’ve started seeing him in real life. I think I’m losing my mind.”
The post was signed with the username LostInEchoes.
Elaine’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. She wanted to reply, to ask questions, but before she could, her office phone rang. The shrill sound made her jump.
She picked up the receiver. “Dr. Harper speaking.”
“Elaine.” The voice on the other end was familiar—her friend and colleague, Dr. Amir Patel, a clinical psychologist she often consulted.
“Amir,” she said, trying to steady her voice. “What’s going on?”
“I just got off a call with a mutual friend—Dr. Reynolds. He mentioned you’ve taken on Michael Ainsworth’s case.”
Elaine frowned. “Yes, why?”
“Reynolds didn’t tell you everything, Elaine,” Amir said, his voice low. “Michael’s case… it’s not just about dissociative episodes. There’s a pattern, one that goes beyond him.”
“What are you talking about?”
Amir hesitated. “I’ve had two patients in the last year with symptoms almost identical to Michael’s. Dreams that feel real. Memories that aren’t theirs. And both of them mentioned seeing a man in a blue jacket.”
Elaine’s heart skipped a beat.
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” she demanded.
“I didn’t think much of it at the time,” Amir admitted. “But now… hearing that Michael is seeing you, I couldn’t ignore it. There’s something strange going on, Elaine. Something none of us fully understand.”
Elaine gripped the phone tightly. “Do you still have their contact information? I need to talk to them.”
Amir sighed. “One of them moved out of state. The other… he died, Elaine. He took his own life.”
Elaine felt a cold weight settle in her chest.
“I’m sorry,” Amir said gently. “But I thought you should know. Be careful with Michael’s case. And if you start noticing anything unusual—”
“I already have,” Elaine interrupted.
There was a long pause. “Elaine, whatever you’re dealing with, don’t face it alone. Call me if you need help.”
She thanked him and hung up, her mind spinning.
By the time her next patient arrived, Elaine was barely holding herself together. She forced a smile as she greeted a young woman named Samantha, a college student struggling with social anxiety.
The session passed uneventfully, but Elaine struggled to focus. As Samantha talked about her challenges, Elaine found her mind wandering back to the photograph, the forum post, and Amir’s warning.
When the session ended, Elaine returned to her desk. The photograph still sat there, taunting her with its unanswered questions.
She picked it up again, examining it closely. There was nothing unusual about it—just an ordinary man standing on an ordinary street. But the longer she stared, the more she felt an unsettling sense of déjà vu, as if she’d seen the man somewhere before.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a faint sound—a whisper, soft and distant.
“Elaine.”
She froze, her pulse quickening.
The whisper came again, slightly louder this time. “Elaine.”
She turned her head sharply, her eyes scanning the room. It was empty, but the whisper lingered, sending chills down her spine.
Her gaze fell back on the photograph. This time, something was different. The man’s face, once neutral, now bore a faint smirk.
Elaine dropped the photo, her breath catching in her throat. Her rational mind screamed that it was impossible, that she was imagining things. But deep down, she knew something was very, very wrong.
