Anchors of Light
771 Words
Elara woke up gasping.
Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it might tear through her chest. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was—only that something was wrong.
Very wrong.
She sat up slowly and looked around her room.
Everything looked the same.
Her bed.
Her desk.
Her curtains swaying gently in the early morning breeze.
Relief washed over her.
Then she noticed the calendar on the wall.
The date was correct—but the name written in the corner wasn’t.
**“Room of E. V.”**
Her name was gone.
Not erased.
Not scratched out.
Replaced.
Elara’s hands trembled as she stood and walked closer. She touched the wall, half-expecting her fingers to pass through it.
“I’m still here,” she whispered.
But the room felt unfamiliar—like it belonged to someone else.
---
At breakfast, her aunt sat quietly at the table, stirring her coffee.
Elara sat across from her.
“Aunt May,” she said carefully.
Her aunt looked up and smiled politely. “Good morning.”
Elara swallowed. “Do you… know who I am?”
Her aunt hesitated.
There it was again—that pause. That uncertainty.
“You live here,” Aunt May said slowly. “I know that. I just… can’t remember when you arrived.”
Elara’s chest tightened. “I’ve lived with you since I was ten.”
Aunt May frowned. “Have you?”
Elara nodded, tears stinging her eyes.
“I think I need to lie down,” her aunt said, standing abruptly. “My head feels strange.”
As her aunt walked away, Elara realized something terrifying:
The world wasn’t just forgetting her.
It was **rewriting itself** to explain her absence.
---
At school, things changed again.
Elara stayed close to Kieran, like she had learned to do.
“You feel lighter today,” he said quietly as they walked.
She gave a weak smile. “That’s not a good thing.”
Inside the classroom, her desk was gone.
Not moved.
Gone.
The space where it used to be now held an extra chair—occupied by another student.
Kieran froze. “That wasn’t there yesterday.”
Elara nodded. “The world is fixing itself.”
“Fixing what?” he asked.
“Me.”
---
During lunch, Elara tested something.
She stepped away from Kieran.
Just a few steps.
Immediately, the noise of the cafeteria swallowed her. Students walked through her space again. Voices passed through her like she wasn’t there.
She stepped back beside him.
Suddenly, she felt solid again.
Kieran clenched his jaw. “This is getting worse.”
“My anchor is breaking,” Elara said softly.
His eyes widened. “Anchor?”
She shrugged weakly. “That’s what it feels like. Like you’re the only thing tying me to this world.”
Kieran lowered his voice. “Then we don’t separate.”
Her phone buzzed.
They both looked.
**Unknown:**
*You’re accelerating the correction.*
Elara typed quickly.
**Elara:** *Stop this. I’m still here.*
A reply came almost instantly.
**Unknown:**
*No. You’re a leftover.*
Kieran felt a chill run down his spine as he read it.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
Elara stared at the screen.
“I think…” she said slowly, “I was erased once before—and something went wrong.”
---
That afternoon, they went to the library.
Old records. Old yearbooks. Anything that might prove Elara’s existence.
They flipped through pages carefully.
Her name appeared in earlier years.
Then disappeared.
Like a glitch.
“She’s there in Grade 6,” Kieran said. “Then—nothing.”
Elara leaned closer.
It wasn’t just her name.
Photos showed empty spaces. Class pictures with awkward gaps where someone should’ve stood.
“I wasn’t erased cleanly,” she whispered. “I was… unfinished.”
The lights flickered.
A librarian frowned, confused, and walked away.
The world didn’t like them digging.
---
That night, Elara received another message.
This one wasn’t cold.
It wasn’t threatening.
It was tired.
**Unknown:**
*You weren’t supposed to survive the first reset.*
Her fingers shook.
**Elara:** *Who are you?*
The typing bubble lingered longer than ever.
**Unknown:**
*I’m the one who pressed delete.*
Elara felt the air leave her lungs.
**Elara:** *Why?*
The response came slowly.
Painfully.
**Unknown:**
*Because the world chose him over you.*
Elara’s eyes filled with tears.
“Kieran…” she whispered.
Across town, the stars flickered again—some dimming, some disappearing entirely.
And Elara understood something terrifying:
Her existence wasn’t a mistake.
It was a **conflict**.
---
# 🌑 End of episode 4
- Writer
