Chapter Thirteen: Fractured Memories

The mirror shattered, sending shards scattering across the study floor. Naomi's breath hitched, her pulse hammering as the reflection dissolved into a thousand splintered pieces.

Ezra spun toward her, eyes dark with alarm. "Did you see that?"

Naomi swallowed hard. "Yes."

The Between wasn't done with them.

Ezra turned back to the journal, his fingers trembling slightly as he flipped through more pages. "I came back three days ago. I wrote this. But I don't remember it." He let out a sharp breath. "I don't remember anything from those three days."

Naomi rubbed at her temples, trying to force her mind into clarity. The Between wasn't just bending time-it was editing it, twisting their memories, shifting the way reality itself functioned.

She turned toward the broken mirror. The reflection's final words echoed in her mind.

"You don't belong here."

The way it had spoken... it wasn't a warning. It was a fact.

Naomi shuddered.

"We need to retrace your steps," she said firmly. "If you were back in Black Hollow for three days before disappearing again, someone must have seen you. Maybe someone remembers."

Ezra exhaled, closing the journal with a snap. "Yeah. And I think I know where to start."

---

Black Hollow Sheriff's Office

The old station sat at the edge of town, its yellowed exterior lit by a single flickering streetlamp. It had been there for as long as Naomi could remember, a relic of Black Hollow's past-just like everything else in this town.

Ezra and Naomi stepped inside.

The front desk was empty. The place smelled of old wood and stale coffee, the air heavy with something unspoken.

Then-

A voice from the back room. "Give me a second!"

Footsteps approached.

A man stepped into view.

Sheriff Marlon Tate.

Naomi knew him well-he had been sheriff since before she left Black Hollow, an aging lawman with sharp eyes and a distrust of anything that didn't fit neatly into his version of reality.

But when his gaze landed on Ezra, his expression shifted.

He froze.

A beat passed.

Then another.

Ezra took a slow step forward. "Sheriff?"

Marlon's eyes widened slightly. His fingers twitched at his belt. Naomi saw it-the subtle motion, the way he went rigid, like he had just seen something he shouldn't have.

Then-

His face hardened.

"Ezra Calloway is dead," he said flatly.

The words slammed into Naomi's chest.

Ezra flinched, but didn't step back. "No. I'm not." His voice was steady, controlled. "I'm standing right here."

Sheriff Tate's lips pressed into a thin line. "You disappeared five years ago. The search lasted months. We never found a body. And now, you suddenly walk back in?" He shook his head. "No. You don't get to do that."

Ezra's hands clenched into fists. "I didn't have a choice."

Marlon's eyes narrowed. "Explain."

Ezra hesitated.

How did you explain something like this? That he had been swallowed by a supernatural force, taken by something that existed outside of time? That he had only just escaped, only to realize he had already returned before?

He couldn't.

Naomi stepped in. "Sheriff, three days ago-do you remember seeing Ezra?"

Marlon's frown deepened. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Naomi's heart sank.

This wasn't right.

If Ezra had returned three days ago, why didn't anyone remember?

Unless...

Her blood ran cold.

Unless the Between had erased it.

Ezra dragged a hand down his face, frustration leaking into his voice. "Sheriff, when did you last see me?"

Marlon hesitated. "I remember the search. I remember your parents grieving. I remember looking for you in those damn woods for months." His jaw tightened. "And then I remember calling off the search."

Naomi's pulse spiked.

"That's it?" she pressed. "You don't remember anything else? No sightings, no reports?"

Marlon's expression flickered-just for a second. Like a ghost of a memory had tried to surface, only to be snuffed out.

"No," he said firmly.

But Naomi didn't miss the slight hesitation in his eyes.

Somewhere in his mind, the truth was buried.

Ezra took a step closer. "Sheriff, are you sure?"

Marlon's jaw locked.

Then-

The lights flickered.

The air in the station shifted, the temperature dropping in an instant.

Naomi's breath caught.

It was happening again.

The Between was watching.

Marlon sucked in a sharp breath, his face paling. His gaze darted to the nearest window, his eyes narrowing like he had seen something move outside.

Ezra turned toward Naomi. "We need to go. Now."

Naomi didn't argue.

The moment they stepped outside, she felt it-

The pull.

The town was no longer still.

It was changing around them.

The Between wasn't letting them go.

It was trying to rewrite them again.

And this time-

It wasn't just erasing memories.

It was erasing them.