

THE MANDELA EFFECT

By Eduard Joseph

Published by Eduard Joseph

Smashwords edition

Copyright 2019 Eduard Joseph

Front cover design by Eduard Joseph

Author's official Facebook Page

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are

not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. Any resemblance to any person or

persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All Rights Reserved

The right of Eduard Joseph to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him under the South African Copyright Act of 1978 (as amended).
**CHAPTER** **ONE**

Something has changed. It's too small for us to even notice, but at the back of our minds we know something's a bit off. It's been like that for several years now, but we've gotten so used to it that we ignore our sixth sense that's trying to warn us. We go on with our daily lives and when our mind notices the changes, we convince ourselves that we're just tired and overworked from a long day.

Being a single dad sometimes takes its toll on Stephen, so most nights after tucking in seven year old Emma, he just watched mindless entertainment on the TV. He used to love reading when he was younger, but the last couple of years it felt like his brain was too tired to read the non-fiction books he so loved.

Words were how he made a living – he worked as an investigative journalist for Planet News and found it as a bit of a relief to watch South Park or Family Guy episodes at night to give his brain a well deserved break from the world of words.

Thursdays was spaghetti and meat-ball night and while he was preparing an early dinner for the two of them, Emma watched an animated movie in the living room. He could hear she was watching Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was the one movie they had in common – he used to love it as a child, but the evil queen used to scare the hell out of him.

He set the table and went into the living room where Emma sat cross-legged on the floor; staring up at the TV screen with a teddy bear on her lap.

"Hey, kiddo." He said, "Dinner's ready."

"Just five more minutes." She pleaded.

She didn't look away from the TV screen as she spoke – completely enchanted by a movie she'd already seen a hundred times. Stephen noticed that she was mouthing the dialogue from memory as the movie continued and it brought a smile to his face.

"Magic Mirror on the wall." The evil queen said on the TV, "Who is the fairest of them all?"

Stephen pondered about that sentence for a bit. He never really paid attention to the movies she watched while he was preparing dinner, but for some reason he didn't quite understand, something felt odd about that specific scene.

He remember watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs numerous times as a child, but couldn't remember her saying _Magic Mirror_. It was _Mirror Mirror_ , right? Maybe his tired mind was playing tricks on him and he misheard just now. After all, not only had it been a long day, but it had been a long week.

He picked up the remote and paused the movie much to Emma's protest.

"Come on." He said, "Before the food gets cold."

Emma got up with a grunt and followed him to the kitchen while dragging her feet. She picked at her food; not really in the mood to eat anything – sulking that she couldn't watch the rest of her movie.

"The faster you finish your food, the faster you can go back to watching your movie."

That was the statement she was waiting for and she enthusiastically started stuffing her mouth with spaghetti; her cheeks looking like a hamster harvesting food for the winter.

"Slow down." He said, "You'll choke."

"No I won't."

She stuffed the last bit of spaghetti and a meat ball in her mouth and then ran out of the kitchen. Stephen chuckled at her as he heard the evil queen speak again in the living room. He took his time to finish his plate; trying to unwind after a long day at work of deadlines and editing process.

He let Emma finish her movie and then tucked her in at about eight that evening. Her bedroom was decorated with posters of unicorns and pink teddy bears. She had a thing for anything pink and fluffy and when she grew up she wanted to become the first person to find an actual unicorn.

"Daddy, do you think they exist?"

Only her face, hands and teddy's face stuck out from underneath the covers as Stephen sat on the edge of the bed next to her.

"Of course." He indulged her fantasy, "I saw one once."

"Really? Where?"

"Chestnut Falls."

"Chestnut Falls?" She pondered.

"When I was a kid, just about your age, grandma used to take me to _my_ grandparents who lived in a town called Chestnut Falls. There was a Pancake Palace next to Route 56 just outside of town where we'd stop for pancakes. I didn't have friends growing up and spend most weekends playing out in the woods behind my grandparents' house. That's where I saw the unicorn."

"Really?" She gasped excited, "What did it look like?"

"Soft pink – almost like candy floss and the white horn glistened in the sun like a pearl."

"Wow. When can we go there?"

He thought for a moment. He hadn't been to Chestnut falls since he was a child and wondered whatever happened to his grandparents' house. It would be nice to see it again. He loved laid-back rural America towns – they always felt so homey, but going back there he knew she'd want to look for a creature that didn't exist.

"I don't think he's there anymore."

"Why not?"

"It's been years." Stephen said, "I think he might have moved away. Now get some sleep."

He kissed her on her forehead and left the bedroom with the door open a crack and watched from the hallway as she turned onto her side; clutching her teddy against her chest as she closed her eyes. She started to look more and more like her mother when she slept. It's hard to believe that it's been six years since she died. He just wished Emma had a chance to get to know her mother.
CHAPTER TWO

_Six years before the accident.  
_ Stephen had always been a bit of a workaholic when he was onto a good story and so was Patrick. It was one of the many things they had in common, but when it came to love they were very different. Patrick met Helen when he was in college and married her right away – that was about ten years go. Stephen, on the other hand, didn't have much luck in the love department as none of the women he dated stayed for longer than four months.

"No." Stephen said.

He and Patrick stood at the counter of the local coffee shop. It was a few minutes until they had to be at work and they decided to get a cappuccino. Patrick was trying his best to set up Stephen with one of Helen's friends.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to."

"She's pretty." Patrick said; hoping to intrigue him.

"I bet she is... and I bet she's crazy as well. Most beautiful girls are crazy and I really don't have time for crazy-girl-drama right now. I'm working on a big story – big as in _Watergate_ big."

"That's what you say about all the stories you're working on."

The barista handed them each a cappuccino and they left the shop. It was a cool spring morning and the trees that lined the street were all in bloom – irritating Patrick's sensitive allergies. He rubbed his nose and sniffed a bit before sneezing as they walked towards their office building farther down the road.

"Damn pollen."

He sniffed again – this time more of a snort – and took a sip from his double shot, no sugar cappuccino. It went down strong and satisfyingly good.

"That's good coffee." Patrick said, "We should make this our regular coffee spot. What were we talking about? Oh, right. Lisa."

"I don't want to go on a blind date, so can we just drop it?"

"I'm not dropping it until you agree to come out with us. You need this. You need a woman in your life. And Lisa's different from other women you've dated."

"What makes her different?"

"She's smart for one." Patrick said, "Did I mention she's pretty? And she's a Tolkien fan."

Stephen stopped as if having an epiphany. All the women he dated hated sci-fi movies and none of them cared much for the Lord of the Rings saga. Jackie pretended to like it while they were dating, but eventually said it was a childish series of movies and it turned into a big argument which ended in her storming off.

"She likes Lord of the Rings?"

"Apparently it's in her top ten movies. She tried to get Helen to watch it, but she wasn't biting."

"Okay." Stephen finally said.

Patrick smiled at his success. He just loved playing cupid though he hadn't set up anyone in a long time, but he just knew that Stephen and Lisa were perfect for each other. She was basically the female version of him and he didn't believe in opposites attract. He believed more in _birds of a feather flock together_ and knew that Stephen would like Lisa.

Though reluctant at first, Stephen finally went out with Patrick and Helen that Friday evening to _Bella's Bar and Grill_ and fell in love with Lisa the second he saw her with that radiant smile and deep, sensitive blue eyes. They chatted most of the night and within a few minutes they were chatting as if they knew each other for years – little did he know that years from now they'd still be finishing each other's sentences. They were perfect for each other – they were soulmates and they could both feel the strong attraction between them.
CHAPTER THREE

Now.

Stephen wasn't really a morning person while Emma was a bubbling butterfly in the morning. She talked nonstop about the dreams she had while Stephen drank his coffee and started to jump-start his brain. He didn't really pay attention, but nodded and said "yeah?" and "really?" every now and then to show that he was listening to her.

The story about her dream continued as he loaded her into the backseat of the car and so did the occasional "yeah?". She put on her seatbelt and continued to tell her story as he closed the door, walked around the car to the driver's side and got in.

"Yeah?" He said as if listening, "What an interesting dream."

He glanced at her in the rearview mirror as he backed out into the street and she brought a smile to his face. She loved telling her stories even though they made no sense. She kept talking about her dream when they stopped in front of her school and then she opened the door and hopped out with a cheerful spring in her step.

"Have a good day!" Stephen said.

"I will."

"I love you!" He said as she slammed the door shut.

She didn't reply because she didn't hear him. Instead she met up with a friend waiting for her who waved at Emma as she skipped over. When the two of them were safely inside the building, the teacher waved at Stephen who waved back before driving off.

The morning went by quite quickly and by lunch time, Stephen found himself sitting at his cubicle at the Planet News office; staring at his computer screen. The date on his latest article, May 11th 2017, faded out of focus as he stared pass it in a trance-like state. His article was about a girl who went missing while out with her mother at the local mall. They'd been watching an animated movie when she simply vanished in the dark cinema. No suspects have been arrested and the police had no leads at all. He loved a good investigative story, but this one had him stumped.

He thought about the girl who had been missing for just over twenty four hours and hoped that the girl would be found alive and well – perhaps she just wandered off and got lost? He couldn't imagine it happening to him. He'd probably lose his mind if anything ever happened to Emma. Imagine losing your child while simply watching a movie...

Then a scary thought popped into his head – the world is full of sicko's who prey on small kids; cruising playgrounds, parks and cinemas like they're strolling in front of a buffet. God, he hoped she wasn't abducted by a sick bastard like that.

He tried to shake the terrifying thought of a cinema pedophilia and thought about the peculiar scene in the movie Emma was watching the night before. Something still felt out of place and so he did what we all do when we can't quite place our finger on something – take to Google to look for answers, but according to Google the evil queen does in fact say _Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all_ – not _mirror mirror on the_ _wall_.

He was still convinced that it was _Mirror Mirror on the wall_. He was a bit of a movie fanatic and prided himself in one-liners and quotes from movies.

"What ya up to?" Patrick asked.

Stephen glanced up at Patrick whom peeked at him over the cubicle while resting his chin in his hand. Patrick and Stephen had been friends ever since they both started working at the Planet News about ten years earlier; fresh out of college. They were inseparable at work and spent every lunch time together, so it was out of character for Stephen not to meet Patrick at the canteen.

"I've been waiting in the canteen for over ten minutes." Patrick said.

Stephen glanced at the desktop clock and was baffled that he somehow lost ten minutes. It felt like he was sitting there for only a minute or two and was planning on meeting Patrick in the canteen. He had to be overworked – it's the only explanation he could think of. His brain was starting to play tricks on him; first the movie and now losing time.

"Sorry. I have a lot on my mind lately."

"No kidding. What were you thinking about? You seemed completely lost in thought when I walked over. I even called out twice, but you didn't respond."

"It's nothing." Stephen replied, "Actually, it's quite silly now that I think of it and I might just be overthinking it like I always do."

"What is it?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just tired and need a vacation or something... Last night Emma was watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and I heard the evil queen say _Magic Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all._ I've seen the movie a hundred times as a kid and I distinctly remember her saying _Mirror Mirror_."

"Magic Mirror?" Patrick was confused, "Maybe you heard wrong. It's definitely _mirror mirror_."

"I Googled it now. Apparently it's _Magic Mirror_. How could I remember it wrong? It's such an iconic line. It's not possible for me to have misremembered it."

"No. It's definitely _mirror mirror_. There was even a live action adaptation called _Mirror Mirror_ starring Julia Roberts."

"So why don't I find any search results that it was _mirror mirror_?"

"It has to be a mistake." Patrick said, "I'll prove it to you."

Patrick glanced around the office and spotted Amanda sitting at her cubicle; staring at her phone through her thick, slipping spectacles. She spent her lunchtimes on her own and scrolled through Facebook as she covertly laughed and shared memes nobody ever liked.

"Amanda," Patrick called out; startling her a bit, "What does the evil queen in Snow White ask her mirror?"

Amanda was a bit confused as she pointed to herself and then glanced around her to make sure he was talking to her. They never interacted before and she had a secret school-girl crush on him forever, but never had the guts to talk to him.

"What?"

"Snow White." Patrick reiterated, "What does the queen ask the mirror?"

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

She seemed a bit unsure of herself, but not the answer. Patrick turned back to Stephen with a look of confidence on his face - the conundrum was solved.

"See?" Patrick said.

"So why didn't she say that last night in the movie and why does Google–"

"Maybe you just heard wrong and Google can make mistakes. It's not possible for different people to incorrectly remember a phrase as famous as _mirror mirror._ "

"I don't know." Stephen said with a sigh, "I know it's something miniscule, but I can't help feel like something's off."

Stephen stared at the computer monitor for a moment longer and kept wondering how it was possible that three people remember the phrase incorrectly. It made no sense. Sure, it was a tiny detail to get wrong, but it was phrase that is instantly recognizable and immortalized in film. You could ask anyone to quote a line from a Disney movie and chances are that they'd mention that line from Snow White.

"Tell you what..." Patrick said, "I don't have plans this weekend so I'll drag my old VHS box out of the attic, give Snow White another watch then I'll bring it over to you to show you it's _mirror mirror_."

"I was actually thinking of taking a bit of a road trip this weekend with Emma."

"Yeah? Where to?"

"Chestnut Falls."

"Chestnut Falls?"

"It's a small town about an hour's drive from here. My grandparents used to live there."

"Never heard of it." Patrick said while pondering.

"You lived most of your life in the city. City folks hardly ever know about small towns and Chestnut Falls is a gem, but the only problem is that I promised Emma that there are unicorns."

"Unicorns?" Patrick chuckled, "She still has a thing for them?"

"Yeah, and she's gonna be crushed if she doesn't find one."
CHAPTER FOUR

_Two years before the accident.  
_ It was a warm summer's evening. Stephen and Lisa lay on a blanket on the beach and stared up at the night sky as the tranquil waves washed ashore. The beach was almost deserted except for a handful of couples leisurely strolling along the water's edge.

The beach was far enough from the city and the sky dark enough for thousands of stars to be visible; even the Milky Way arch was faintly observable and reached up from the watery horizon and illuminated the sky above them. She just loved the night sky. They never saw such magnificent skies in the city.

"Did you know," She said, "The name _Milky_ _Way_ comes from Ancient Greek Times? Ancient Greeks believed the goddess Hera was nursing a baby Hercules and when he pulled away her breast milk spilled across the sky."

"That sounds made up." He laughed.

"I swear it's true. You can look it up."

"I may just do that." He said as he kissed her neck.

"I know how you like to look things up on Google." She teased.

She snuggled up closer. She just loved his warm embrace and could get lost in his arms forever. It was her favorite place on earth and made her feel safe. The faint sound of his heartbeat was her favorite sound and his cologne was her favorite smell next to the smell of rain as it hit the dirt.

"I just love it when you talk science stuff." He said.

"I love science, history and astronomy. I always have. As a child I spent most of my afternoons in my bedroom reading up about the stars and planets and longed to one day be able to explore the universe first hand."

"I was an introvert as well and spent most of my childhood in my room – reading."

"Books or porn?"

"A bit of both."

They both laughed. He loved how he could just be frank with her without fearing any judgment. There was nothing he could tell her that would shock her and the same could be said about him. They accepted each other with faults and all and that's what made them perfect in each other's eyes – it's the imperfections that makes someone perfect.

"Do you believe there is life out there somewhere?"

"Of course I do. Maybe not in the same form as us humans, but there has to be something more out there. I don't believe that a universe as big as ours only has life on this insignificant little blue planet we call home."

"The Bible said that Adam and Eve was the first humans and doesn't say anything about life on other planets."

"I know you grew up in a religious home, but that perception is wrong. Adam and Eve were the first humans created in God's image and weren't the first humans. The Bible also mentions that their son went out and got married so where did she come from? I believe in ancient beings that visited earth and perhaps even populated the earth. The Bible refers to them as angels."

"Angels are aliens?" He chuckled.

"Could be. If you saw something you didn't know how to explain, you too would believe it to be divine, magical or angelic and the Bible does make mention of angels that came down to lay with women though it was forbidden. There's just a lot to take in when it comes to the possibilities of life out there and one can't just blindly follow religion."

He sometimes felt the same as a child. He could never understand religion and his mother wasn't much one to explain _why_ he had to believe the things written in the Bible without some solid proof.

An elderly man and his golden retriever walked by and a second later a little girl came running up to the man. Lisa thought for a moment about the perfect evening they had on the beach as she played with her wedding band. It would also be the perfect time to break the big news to him.

"So you know how you said you always wanted kids?" She finally said.

"Yeah?"

He gasped when he realized what she was getting at.

"You mean to say..."

She nodded with a big smile and could hardly contain her excitement. He sat upright and appeared to be in shock for a moment as he zoned out for a moment and then the biggest smile ever filled his face. He lay down again and kissed her on the forehead. It was the best news he ever got – considering that Doctor Andrews said his swimmers were lazy. He always wanted kids, but never thought it would be a possibility.

"This is the best news ever." He said.
CHAPTER FIVE

Now.

Emma was excited for the road trip when Stephen told her that evening about it. She was a bit disappointed that there wouldn't be any unicorns, but was still optimistic to find some kind of proof that they once lived in Chestnut Falls. Her dad even promised her that they'd stop for a pancake at Pancake Palace on their way to Chestnut Falls.

When she finally turned in for the night, Stephen decided to do something he hadn't done in a while – do some reading. He did a Google search on his tablet for _false memory_ ; hoping to put to bed the confusion he was experiencing with the phrase _mirror mirror_ from Snow White.

Confabulation is false memory as a product of misinterpreted memories about past events. The difference between confabulation and lying is that there is no intent to deceive and the person is unaware that the information is false. Though false, the memory may appear to be coherent and relatively normal to the person.

Most cases of confabulation are symptoms of brain damage or dementia and constant confabulation may lead the person to eventually accept the false information as being true.

Confabulation may also present itself due to transience which refers to forgetting some details of past occurrences over time. As time passes, our memory changes from remembering in detail to remembering in general.

Imagination inflation is another subgenre of confabulation and entails when a person is retelling a memory and exaggerates by adding facts that never occurred; despite it seeming plausible to the teller.

A more acceptable explanation for confabulation may also include memory conformity when someone's memory of an event is contaminated or influenced by someone else's. It is also one of the main reasons why witnesses are kept separate during trials as not to unintentionally influence each other's recollection of the event they have to testify about.

"Daddy..." Emma's voice made him look up from the tablet.

She stood in the doorway of his bedroom with her teddy bear in her arms; the light from the hallway casting shadows upon her face. He glanced at the clock radio on the nightstand; it was just after midnight. He'd been reading for well over two hours.

"What's wrong kiddo?" He asked.

She rubbed her left eye as she walked over to his bed – still half asleep.

"I saw a monster."

He sighed and put down the tablet before getting up and taking her by the hand. It's been a while since she had a night terror and he really hoped that she'd be over it by now. Most children were afraid of the dark, but over the last couple of months she became more at ease being alone in her room at night.

"Come on." He said, "Let's go take a look."

"He's still there – standing in the corner of my bedroom."

They walked down the lit hallway and as they entered her pinkly twilit room, Stephen saw a shadowy figure in the corner of the room from his peripheral vision. He quickly switched on the bedroom light and the figure disappeared, but not entirely. He glanced over at the window and noticed that there was a kite stuck in the tree outside her bedroom window; the street light in turn created an eerie shadow against the wall.

"It's just a shadow. See the kite?" He pointed out the window.

She nodded and yawned as she got back into bed.

"Could you close the curtains?"

He shut the curtains and as he turned to reassure her, he saw that she had already fallen asleep again. He walked over to the bedroom door and switched off the light – leaving only the pink nightlight that softly illuminated the bed, but then he saw the figure again out of the corner of his eye; standing considerably closer to the door.

Stephen's heart nearly skipped a beat as he switched on the light again to get a better look at the figure, but it was gone. He stared at the corner for a moment longer and then switched off the light again – the shadowy figure was gone. It had to be his tired mind playing tricks on him again. He didn't realize how late he stayed up reading. He definitely needed a break from his daily life and the best way to do that was to take that road trip he wanted to.

CHAPTER SIX

Patrick searched through the boxes in the attic – most of them had junk in it he wanted to forget, but didn't want to get rid of. Though their house was neat and tidy, the cluttered attic could be an episode of _Hoarders_. When he married Helen eight years earlier she decluttered his life, but allowed him to keep whatever he wanted in the attic as long as it didn't make its way down into the house.

He finally found what he was looking for – a box marked VHS movies and next to it was an old VHS player. He opened the box and searched through the titles for Snow White and one movie in particular caught his eye. He picked up the VHS copy of _Kazam_ starring Shaquille O'Neal as a genie and scrutinized the cover for a moment – he could distinctly remember the movie, but could've sworn it was named _Shazaam_ ... and didn't star Shaquille at all.

"What?" he uttered to himself.

The front cover of the VHS was exactly the same as he remembered; a laughing genie with his arms folded across his chest, but it somehow looked different and off. He used to watch _Shazaam_ all the time as a kid and clearly remember comedian Sinbad playing the titular character.

Did he perhaps have his movies mixed up? It was a possibility as it's been years since he opened his VHS box, so he kept searching through the titles for Shazaam and finally found Snow White, but not a movie called Shazaam. He took both the Kazam and Snow White VHS cassettes as well as the player down to the living room.

The smell of popcorn filled the air as he connected the old VHS player to the TV and miraculously it still worked.

"What are you up to?" Helen asked.

She came in with a bowl of popcorn, sat down on the couch and stuffed a handful in her mouth. Friday nights were designated for old movies, but not as old as for them to watch it on VHS. She had downloaded _Whatever happened to Baby Jane_ and was looking forward to watching it. She loved old black and white movies – given that they were digitalized and re-mastered for her viewing pleasure.

"I just want to check out something."

"What?" She asked.

He zoned out for a moment as he pressed play on the player; not really paying attention to Helen, pressed fast forward and watched as the movie rushed on by without any sound except for the sound the old VHS player made.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't respond as he was transfixed on the fast and blurry image before him until he saw the scene he was looking for and then pressed play.

"Here!" He exclaimed.

He crawled backwards towards the couch – all the while keeping his sights on the TV as he sat down next to Helen. To his surprise the evil queen in Snow White in fact said _'magic mirror'_ and not _'mirror mirror on the wall'_ as he remembered.

"You heard that too, right?"

"Heard what?" Helen asked baffled, "Are you feeling alright?"

"She said _magic mirror_ just now."

"And?"

"Isn't it _mirror mirror_?"

She pondered for a moment, but shrugged her shoulders unconvinced and stuffed another handful of popcorn in her mouth as Patrick crawled closer to the TV – transfixed by whatever he'd uncovered.

Stephen was right – there was something off about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It wasn't possible that they both incorrectly remembered a famous line like that. When did it change to _magic mirror_ and _how_ did it change? He pondered this for a moment and then handed Helen the Kazam VHS; hoping that she'd remember the same thing he remembered about the movie.

"Do you remember this movie?" He asked.

"Oh, yes. I used to love it. Sinbad is so funny."

"Look again. It's not Sinbad. It's Shaquille O'Neal, but as I remember it had always been _Sinbad_."

She stared down at the VHS in her hands, flipped it around and then back again; flabbergasted that Shaquille O'Neal played the genie and not Sinbad as she remembered. It had to be two different movies, right? It could happen... Asylum Productions rip off Hollywood movies all the time, but the company didn't produce movies back in the early 90s.

"Read the synopsis." He suggested, "It's the same movie – the movie Sinbad was in."

"But how?"

"Exactly. How does a movie change?"

"Are you playing a trick on me?" Helen chuckled a bit unsettled.

"I'm afraid not. At first I was skeptical like you when Stephen mentioned that a line in Snow White had changed, but then I found this VHS in the attic and I clearly remember Sinbad playing the genie. Something weird is happening."

She stared down at the VHS a bit rattled and wondered whether it was possible for her to have remembered the movie wrong, but then she too could vividly remember Sinbad playing a wacky genie in the movie, but it wasn't called Kazam...

"I think I might've stumbled onto something." Patrick said, "I'm not sure what though..."
CHAPTER SEVEN

_Six Hours before the accident.  
_ Stephen was working on, probably, the biggest story of his career. He had uncovered a big conspiracy about pharmaceuticals that went all the way up to the governor and his source was willing to be the whistleblower to blow it wide open. The story had him working late most evenings which meant that he could no longer tuck little Emma in at night.

It was a Friday afternoon and Patrick went to lunch on his own – something he hadn't done in quite some time. Stephen stared at his completed story; the cursor flickering over the _submit to editor_ button. He was a bit hesitant to submit the story as he knew it would change the political world forever and most likely either make or break his career in investigative journalism.

He took a deep breath and submitted the story just as his phone rang. It was Lisa.

"Hey babe." He said.

"Hey sexy. You're not working late again tonight, are you?"

"Believe it or not, I'm done with my story."

"Really? That's great! Does that mean the months of working late is finally over?"

"I guess it is. I'm confident my story is worthy of a Pulitzer."

"Well, before you become a famous journalist, I'd like to take you out to dinner tonight."

His eye caught an incoming email from his editor that said _'come and see me please'_.

"Babe, I got to go. I'll talk to you later?"

"Of course." She said, "I love you."

"Love you too."

As he hung up it felt like the wrong thing to do, but told himself it was just his imagination. Little did he know that it would be the last time he ever spoke to her. It would be the last time he ever heard her voice. It was the last time he'd tell her that he loved her.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Now.

Stephen got up bright and early to make breakfast for the two of them before they hit the road. Unlike other days he wasn't tired at all and woke up before the alarm even went off. Why was it that when you could sleep in over weekends your body wakes you up? Though he didn't need coffee to wake him up, he still had a cup out of habit.

Emma came in with a yawn and sat down at the kitchen table without as much as making a sound; which was unlike her in the morning.

"Morning kiddo. Did you sleep well?"

She nodded as she yawned again; making Stephen chuckle as he dished their scrambled eggs and bacon into plates on the counter just as the two slices of bread popped out of the toaster. He put a plate down in front of her and sat down across from her with his plate.

"Are you excited for our road trip?" He asked.

She nodded as she took a bite from her toast.

"Well eat up and then we'll hit the road."

He decided to scroll through Facebook and catch up on what's happening on social media while he ate his breakfast. Most of the posts on his timeline were memes about work, finances and love and every now and then he'd scroll pass a link to external articles about food, forex or celebrities.

After breakfast he took a quick shower and then they hit the road. Though the air was cool it was evident that it would be a great summer's day – perfect for going site seeing in a town he hadn't seen since his childhood. He wanted to do more stuff like going on road trips, but things weren't always that easy especially being a single parent.

He was listening to music while Emma sat in the backseat and watched a movie on her tablet. She loved Lego movies and knew the dialogue of Clutch Powers by heart and even mouthed the words as she listened to the characters talk on her headphones.

"Do you want to stop and take a break?" He asked.

When he didn't get a response, he glanced at her in the rearview mirror and saw she was having a conversation with herself while mouthing the dialogue. At least it kept her mind off the fact that they'd been driving for about an hour.

They passed a roadside sign that said _Pancake Palace – 2 miles_ and wondered if it was still a family owned business. He remembered as a child that husband and wife team, Gail and Mark, used to work both in the kitchen and work the counter – rotating every other week.

When they arrived at the Pancake Palace he was surprised to see that it still looked exactly like he remembered it. Styled to look like a 1950's diner with a pink sign and big windows; the place looked as cute and retro as it did 20 years back. The parking area was empty and lined with small weeds sprouting out of cracks, but the place still looked good nonetheless.

"We're here."

The car pulled up right to the entrance and after parking, they went inside and got a booth in the quiet diner as an old lady stared at them from behind the cash register. She straightened her pink and white polka dot apron, picked up two menus and went to greet their first customers for the day.

"Welcome to the Pancake Palace."

She handed them each a menu as Stephen glanced at her name badge. Rita.

"Thank you." He said.

"Can I take your order, or would you like a moment to go through our menu?"

"Do you mind giving us a moment and bringing me a coffee while we decide?"

Emma unfolded the menu and stared at the various pictures with delight as she struggled to decide which one of the delectable pancakes she wanted. There were pancakes with pancakes, chocolate, caramel, ice cream and all sorts of treats.

"Sure." Rita said, "So what brings you to the Pancake Palace? We don't get a lot of strangers out here – mostly locals."

"We're actually on a little road trip. I wanted to show my daughter where my grandparents lived when I was a kid. We used to come to the Pancake Palace all the time as a child."

"Really? What's your grandparents' names?"

"Fred and Sarah Smith."

Rita pondered for a moment, "Doesn't ring a bell."

"It was well over twenty years ago."

"My memory isn't what it used to be. I've been working the counter for fifty two years next Sunday."

"Forgive me for being forward," Stephen said, "But I thought the Pancake Palace belonged to a couple called Gail and Mark?"

"Nope. It's always been my husband Joe and I."

"I must've remembered wrong."

She nodded and said, "I'll go get you that coffee."

CHAPTER NINE

Rita brought his coffee, jotted down their orders and returned to her stool behind the counter. As Stephen stirred sugar into his coffee, his phone beeped – it was a message from Patrick. There were three new messages he somehow missed.

Just popped in Snow White. She says Magic Mirror. Weird. Remember that movie about the genie? Was it Sinbad or Shaquille O'Neal?

I Googled that Sinbad movie – it never existed, but I clearly remember it from my childhood. How spooky is that? Something weird is going on.

Call me.

The signal was a bit weak and then it disappeared completely – something that is expected when you go on a road trip to the middle of nowhere. He put his phone back into his pocket and took another sip from his coffee. He made a mental note to call Patrick back as soon as he had a proper signal.

He vaguely remembered the Sinbad movie, but didn't quite understand what Patrick meant by _the movie never existed._

He stared out the window at the quiet byway. Not a single car passed the diner since they sat down. They were really out in the middle of nowhere and he loved the peace and quite. One could easily forget about your worries that simply waited for you when you got back home. He'd love to live in a small town like this once he retired one day.

"Here we go." Rita said, "House special."

She placed a plate in front of each of them. The house special was three pancakes stuffed with sliced banana, caramel and cream, topped with ice cream and drizzled with caramel sauce. It looked mouth-wateringly good and smelled equally good.

"Thank you."

"So where will your road trip be taking you?"

"Chestnut Falls."

Rita thought for a moment and then said, "Never heard of it."

"It's a small town about ten minutes' drive from here."

"You mean Cascade Falls?"

"I'm pretty sure it's Chestnut Falls."

"There's only one town nearby," Rita contested, "And it ain't called Chestnut Falls. Maybe you just have the name wrong? It's about ten minutes west from here."

"That's where Chestnut Falls is."

"Look, honey." She said, "I've been here most of my life and I can guarantee you there is no such place as Chestnut Falls. You yourself said it's been decades – maybe you just have the name wrong. It happens."

Stephen nodded perplexed and then she returned to her counter. He remember the name because the town was so aptly named because of the Chestnut woods and the waterfall. He couldn't have gotten the name wrong. Maybe Rita got the name wrong seeing that she had to be at least eighty years old and possibly senile. Either way they'd drive out there and see if they could find his grandparents house. He could still remember the address as being 123 First Avenue.

CHAPTER TEN

Chestnut Falls, as Stephen remembered it, was the typical picturesque little town of about ten thousand residents who mostly knew each other. Neighbors greeted each other with a warm smile in the morning, the paper-boy and milkman delivered every morning and parents weren't afraid to let their children play outside after the sun set.

His grandparents' house was at the far end of First Avenue – on the other side of town; right at the edge where the woods started and when you stood on the porch you could easily hear the flow of water from the waterfall somewhere in the woods.

To Stephen's shock the town sign didn't read _Welcome to Chestnut Falls_ as he remembered, but rather _Welcome to Cascade Falls_. The town still looked exactly as he remembered; the town square with its green lawn and fountain, the post office next to the library, the general store, the barber, the schoolhouse, the church and a few family owned stores that lined the main street.

Everything looked exactly like he remembered, but when they got to 123 First Avenue, there was nothing. It was just a vacant lot with a lapidated _for sale_ sign that, judging from the rust, had been there for years. It made no sense.

He parked the car, got out and stared at the vacant land where his grandparents' house was supposed to be. What happened to the house? Was it demolished? When was it demolished and why?

Unbeknownst to him, the lady across the street stood on her porch and watched as he inspected the vacant lot. It wasn't every day that the town saw strangers and she found it intriguing that he'd stop at the vacant land. Perhaps he was thinking of buying it and erecting a family house?

"Are you interested in the property?" She asked.

Stephen turned around and shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand as he walked over to her.

"I'm sorry?"

"Are you interested in buying the property?" She reiterated, "My sister's the realtor. I can give you her number if you want to put in an offer?"

"No, it's not that. My grandparents used to live there when I was a kid. Do you know what happened to the house?"

"House?" She asked confused, "What house?"

"The house that was there."

"There's never been a house." She assured him.

"What? Are you sure?"

"I've lived here for fifty years and that land has always been vacant. Nobody seems to want to buy it. Sure we got a few city folks with fancy cars like yours coming to take a look, but nobody really seemed interested in it – it's almost like the land was cursed."

"This is First Avenue, right?"

"Yes."

"And that's number 123?"

"Yes."

He pondered for a moment; trying to make sense of the insensible. Sure, he hadn't been there for years, but you just don't forget things like your grandparents' house. Perhaps it was possible that he somehow mixed up the name of the town, but not the address of his grandparents' house. It wasn't possible.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"I don't know. Something just feels off. I'm pretty sure this is where my grandparents stayed."

She nodded, but was convinced the man wasn't all there. She gave him one final glance and then went back inside. Stephen turned around and walked back to the car standing in front of where his grandparents' house should be. What was going on?

A paperboy of about sixteen years of age pedaled his bike down the road and stopped when he saw Stephen staring at the empty land. He too found the vacant lot intriguing; wondering why it stood open. He could tell the stranger was unsettled about seeing the vacant lot.

"Hey, mister." The paperboy said, "You're not from around here, are you?"

"No. Not really. I don't know anymore. I think I might be confused, but I'm pretty sure my grandparents used to live here."

"The empty plot?"

"I know what you're going to say. The woman across the street already told me it's always been vacant."

"Not always." The paperboy said, "There used to be a house not too long ago. I remember there always being a house and then one day it was gone."

"What do you mean?"

"It was just gone one day and nobody seems to remember it. A few of us remember it being there. My mom remembers it too, but she stopped trying to convince people when they started calling her the town nut."

"You think I could perhaps speak to your mom?"

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Stephen followed the paperboy on his bike as he pedaled back home a few blocks away. The house was a flat-roofed neglected house with more weeds than grass in the garden. The porch light hung from exposed wiring and the house number was missing a digit. All in all the house was a sad indicator that the occupant was a single mom probably working two jobs just to put food on the table.

The boy lay down his bike in the front yard as Stephen pulled up into the driveway.

"Dad?" Emma asked, "I wanna go home."

"Soon kiddo. I just want to talk to this boy's mother. I promise it won't take long."

They got out of the car and followed the paperboy onto the porch and into the living room where his mother was watching a daytime talk-show about some kind of family feud involving borrowed kitchen appliances that were never returned. She glanced over her shoulder upon hearing the front door shut.

"Mom." The paperboy said, "There's a man here who wants to talk to you."

She turned down the volume on the TV, got up and walked up to Stephen and Emma who stood waiting in the anteroom. She was quite a striking woman despite the fact that she seemed tired and lost. For the first time since his wife died, Stephen found himself attracted to another woman, but it wasn't a sexual attraction. It was more a spiritual attraction as he too knew what it felt to be lost. He could sense they both suffered a similar loss in the past.

"Hi. I'm Stephen and this is my daughter, Emma."

"Maggie." She replied, "And that's my son, Dave."

"I know this must sound really weird seeing that we don't know each other, but could you tell me what you know about the vacant land on First Avenue?"

"Why?" She asked unconvinced, "So that you can make fun of the town nut like everyone else?"

"No. It's nothing like that. I'm just looking for some answers. You see, I believe my grandparents used to live there twenty years ago, but according to the lady across the street that land has been vacant for decades. I can't comprehend how it's possible. And this town – I'm pretty sure it was called something else once upon a time."

"Chestnut Falls..." She said deep in thought.

"Yeah. So it's not my imagination? They changed the name of the town, right?"

She shook her head and unfolded her arms, "Not exactly. Can I make you some coffee?"

"Sure. That'll be great, thank you."

"Dave, why don't you and Emma go play in your room for a bit?"

The magic word ' _play'_ excited Emma and she completely forgot that she wanted to go home a moment earlier. She rushed over to Dave with a smile on her face and then Stephen followed Maggie to the kitchen. She put on the kettle, took two cups from the cupboard and got the coffee from the pantry.

Stephen's phone beeped – it was another message from Patrick asking him to urgently return a call. He put his phone back in his pocket and sat down at the kitchen table. He couldn't call Patrick just yet. He was too intrigued by what the woman might know.

"It took a very long time for me to accept this reality." She said, "The reality is that I'm the town nut for ranting about sudden changes nobody else seemed to pick up on."

With a cup of coffee in each hand, she sat down at the kitchen table and handed him a cup.

"I grew up in Chestnut Falls," She continued, "But I woke up one day and it was no longer called Chestnut Falls. There were also small changes to the town – changes nobody really seemed to notice except Dave and I."

"Changes? What changes?"

"Small things like water going down the drain in an anti-clockwise direction."

It was clear that he wasn't quite following.

"I used to be a high school science teacher." She said.

"So was my wife." He said half amazed by the coincidence.

"The Coriolis Effect determines how water goes down a drain; here in the northern hemisphere water should drain clockwise. In the southern hemisphere it drains anti-clockwise and at the equator it drains straight down, but something changed and the water now creates a vortex in an anti-clockwise direction which is, well, off."

"That's what I've been saying the last two days. Something feels off and I'm not sure what."

"It's been like that for a couple of years now." Maggie said, "I tried to warn the others, but nobody believed me. Other small changes I noticed was the general store name changing from _Penny Saver_ to _Penny Savers_ over night. The library's no longer was where it used to be – it swopped places with the police station with no explanation at all. And then there's the vacant plot at number 123 First Avenue, but a couple moved in there around 2010 and then they were just gone – house and all. Nobody seemed to notice it or remember it."

"If it makes you feel any better, you're not crazy. My grandparents' house _did_ exist."

"What do you think happened to it?"

A question he'd been asking himself all morning and a question that was seemingly without a satisfying answer. Though he felt like he was losing his mind, he knew he wasn't crazy for crazy people don't know they're living in a fabricated reality. And he finally met someone else who noticed that something felt off.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Patrick and Helen liked to sleep in over the weekends, but when she awoke that Saturday she found Patrick's side of the bed empty. She glanced at the clock radio next to the half empty glass of water on his nightstand; it was 11:25 – she normally doesn't sleep in _that_ late.

"Patrick?"

She got up, put on her pink slippers and as she walked over to the bedroom door, the constant barking of a dog caught her attention and she went over to the window to see what was happening. The dog across the street stood at the edge of the fenceless garden and seemingly barked at nothing and then ran around to the back of the house.

She didn't think much of it further and went downstairs to look for Patrick. She found him in the living room; sitting on the floor with VHS cassettes stacked all around him. He was fast-forwarding through a VHS copy of _The Silence of the Lambs_ and it appeared like he had been up all night.

"Honey, did you stay up all night?"

"Morning sleepy head." He said over his shoulder.

Judging from his fast-paced greeting, bloodshot eyes and the four empty coffee cups he was on a caffeine high.

"What's going on here?"

"I'm just re-watching some old movies that I used to love just to see if they're still the way I remember them. I mean, if Snow White changed, who's to say other movies didn't change as well. The more movies I watched the more I wanted to watch. It's like a drug – trying to find out what movies changed from what I remember."

"Patrick, you're scaring me."

He jumped up, grabbed her by the hand and led her back to his warm, little spot on the carpet between the stacks of VHS cassettes. He seemed thrilled, intrigued and spellbound by whatever was going on. She was a bit uneasy as she'd never seen him so obsessed about something.

"And you know what?" He continued, "They changed. They _all_ changed."

"What do you mean?"

"There are small changes in the movies – small enough that if you didn't pay close attention you'd simply miss it, but I found them."

"What changes?"

"Take _Silence of the lambs_ as an example. You know that famous line, _Hello Clarice_? Well, turns out Hannibal _never_ even said that in the movie. Isn't that just weird?"

"That's not possible."

"Trust me." He assured her, "I've seen the movie a hundred times and I too was convinced that he said it, but I watched the movie twice last night and even skipped through the movie to every scene Hannibal is in – he doesn't say it _once_. But it's not just _Silence of the Lambs_ ... there are dozens of movies that are different from how we remember them."

He leaned over to a stack of VHS cassettes to his left, grabbed a couple and handed them to her. She flipped through the titles as he popped another VHS cassette in the player.

"Lord of the Rings." He continued, "When Gandalf fell down the chasm in _The Fellowship of the Ring_ , he told Frodo _'run you fools'..._ now he says _'fly you fools'_. It makes no sense for him to tell them to _'fly'_ when in fact they were _running_ from that fire monster, but that's what he says now. Star Wars – C-3PO suddenly has a silver leg. A SILVER leg – what? He used to be gold all over. When did he get a silver leg and why didn't we notice it before? The Wicked Witch from _The Wizard of Oz_ said _'fly my pretties, fly'_ , but now she says ' _fly, fly, fly'_. Dirty Harry never said _'do you feel lucky, punk'_ and yet we all remember that line."

He picked up a cup of cold coffee with a shaky hand, took a sip and licked his dry lips as he put the cup down again on the coffee ring stain a few inches away.

"The Matrix..." Patrick rambled on, "When Morpheus and Neo meet, Morpheus never said _'What if I told you_ ', so why do we remember him saying that? That monologue is so famous that it's the start of thousands of internet memes, and yet the line was never said once in the film. The list just goes on and on. Every movie I've watched so far is different in some way or another."

He searched for confirmation in her eyes, but could tell she didn't quite grasp what he discovered. In fact, she seemed a bit worried and it frustrated him more. Why couldn't she see it?

"You think I've lost it, don't you?" He asked

"I believe you, it's just..."

"You don't believe me. I can tell from the look on your face."

"I think you're putting too much thought into it. You're seeing a conspiracy where there is none. So you've misremembered some lines from your favorite movies? It happens when you haven't seen them in a while."

"I knew you wouldn't believe me, but this is real. I stumbled upon something big – I just don't know what it is yet. I just have to dig a little deeper and put the pieces together."

She was worried about him. Sure the _mirror mirror_ thing from the previous night was strange, but misremembering a few lines from movies wasn't a conspiracy. Memories deteriorate with time and we could easily forget miniscule details like lines from movies. Hell, some days she couldn't even remember what she had for lunch.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Maggie took Stephen and Emma to Cascade Falls Public Library; saying that there was something more bizarre that she couldn't explain – it was something she wanted to show them. The first time she stumbled upon the old article was when she was looking for answers about the disappearance of the house at number 123 First Avenue.

The library was your typical small town library and was almost empty except for a few elderly people browsing in the _large print_ book section – hoping to find a sweeping romance to kill some time before their 5PM supper at the old age home.

They sat at one of two Microform viewers at the back of the library as Maggie scrolled through the newspaper articles and the smell of old books tugged at Stephen's nose. He hated how some parts of a library always smelled like old books the readers of the world had forgotten. It reminded him of his own ultimate decay.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Stephen asked.

He glanced at the newspaper articles as they went flying by on the screen of the Microform that had turned an off-yellow discoloration over the years.

"I can't tell you. You have to see it for yourself or you won't believe me. Have you ever been to New York?"

"Yes."

"Ever visited the Statue of Liberty?"

"Yes. I actually proposed to my wife in the torch of the Statue of Liberty."

"Are you sure about that?"

She stopped scrolling when she got to an old article from July 30th, 1916 about the Black Tom Explosion. The headline called it an act of terrorism and had a photo of mass destruction at the New York Harbor. Stephen leaned in closer to get a better look. It was the first time he'd heard of a terrorist attack of that scale prior to 9/11.

"Ever heard of the Black Tom Explosion?" She asked.

"Nope." He shook his head.

"Right before the US entered the First World War, the Germans committed the first act of terrorism on US soil and it's considered to be one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions to have ever occurred. I used to be a history geek in high school, but I don't remember this. We were never taught this in school and yet if you look it up now it was a major incident. The tremor could be felt for miles and over twenty million dollars' worth of damage was sustained. If this was the first act of terrorism, why didn't President Bush mention this with the 9/11 attacks which he labelled as the first terrorist attack on US soil?"

Stephen shrugged his shoulders. He was baffled as he had never heard of the explosion and yet, judging from the article, it should form part of history the everyman should know. The damage seemed substantial enough to be a pretty big part of American history, so why didn't he remember ever hearing about it?

"It gets even more bizarre..." She said.

She took out her phone and did a Google Search for _Statue of Liberty torch_ and showed him an article that indicated that the torch part of the statue had been closed off since 1916.

"The torch has been closed to the public for over a hundred years. The structural damage sustained in the 1916 bombing had made the torch unsafe for the public."

"That's not possible." He said baffled, "I clearly remember proposing to my wife in the torch back in 2007. This has got to be some kind of practical joke or something."

"It's no joke, but that's not all. The Statue of Liberty is on Ellis Island, right?"

He nodded attentively.

"Wrong... or well, it used to be on Ellis Island. Sure, people will say that it's easy to confuse the two islands because they're so close to each other, but if you look at old paintings prior to 1916, you'll see that the paintings show only _one_ island. Somehow, without people even noticing it, the Statue of Liberty _jumped_ from Ellis Island to Bedloe Island – and nobody seemed to remember it happening."

"I definitely remember it being on Ellis Island." He assured her.

"And there's no doubt in my mind that that's what you remember, but the evidence all show that the statue was never on Ellis Island, but rather on Bedloe Island – later renamed Liberty Island."

"No..." He protested, "Ellis Island was renamed Liberty Island."

Maggie glanced at a man in the distance moving amongst the shadows and then disappearing behind a bookshelf. Though the man was gone from sight, she could still feel his eyes piercing her soul as if she was exposing secrets nobody was supposed to know. It sent a shiver down her spine, but she tried to ignore it.

"There is something really strange going on and most people don't even know it's happening."

"You seem to know." He said, "And I'm starting to notice things. There has to be others who've noticed these changes?"

She scrolled through the Microform again; this time quicker and with more urgency than before until she got to a photo of the Statue of Liberty on the day of the 1916 bombing. She pointed to a darkened figure standing amongst the debris. One could easily overlook it, but when you looked closely you could see it was a shadow in the shape of a person.

"You see that?" She asked, "I don't know who they are, but ever since I started looking into the disappearance of your grandparents' house, I've been seeing them everywhere."

"What is that?"

"Shadows without bodies to cast them. They started following me shortly after your grandparents' house vanished. I'd see them from the corner of my eye – always standing in the distance; watching me in silence; sometimes they whispered stuff I couldn't quite make out."

Emma hugged her father and buried her face in his chest. She was clearly rattled by what Maggie was telling them.

"What do you think they want?"

Stephen stared at the shadowy figure in the photo and though it had no visible facial features, it felt as it the shadow was staring right at him – across time and into the present. A sense of foreboding malice descended upon him and a chill ran down his spine as he stared at the intimidating shadow.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Patrick sat on the floor in the living room and stared at the TV as another old movie played; the stacks of VHS cassettes around him increasing in numbers. He brought every VHS he owned down from the attic ad started watching them again – fast forwarding to some of the most iconic scenes in movie history. Every famous quote was somehow different from what he remembered.

It was like a drug – he couldn't stop watching old movies; trying to make sense of why they weren't as he remembered.

His phone rang – it was Stephen so he quickly answered the call he'd been waiting for all day.

"What took you so long?" Patrick sounded anxious.

"Sorry." Stephen said, "It's been a peculiar day so far."

"You won't believe what I discovered. I went through my old VHS cassettes and none of the movies are the way I remember them. At first I didn't want to believe you when you said _Snow White_ had changed, but then I started watching all of them and they're all different. I think we have a story here. _Conspiracy_ _in Hollywood._ "

"Yeah... I don't think Hollywood's to blame."

"What do you mean?"

"My grandparents' house is gone."

"Gone?" Patrick asked, "What do you mean?"

"It vanished. It's as if it never existed. None of the town's folks seem to remember the house – even the zoning plans at the library shows that it has been a vacant lot for decades."

"Buildings don't just disappear... honey, will you bring me a beer please?"

Patrick leaned back and glanced at movement in the kitchen, but it was clear that Helen didn't hear him. She'd been keeping her distance the whole day saying that she couldn't deal with whatever he had uncovered as it unnerved her.

"Huh?"

"Sorry," Patrick said, "I was speaking to Helen. She's been avoiding me all day – saying that my conspiracy theory was too much for her to handle. She thinks I'm losing my mind."

"Are you?"

"Whatever is happening is real and she can't see it."

"She always was the grounded one of the two of you."

"What honey?" Helen said.

She stood at the foot of the stairs behind Patrick; leaning over the balustrade to look at him. Patrick glanced over his shoulder and then, confused, quickly glanced back at the kitchen to his right. He would've noticed if she walked from the kitchen to the stairs, wouldn't he? Someone else was in the house.

"Nothing." He said to Helen.

He got to his feet with caution; all the while keeping his sights on the kitchen as he approached it.

"I think there's someone in the house." He whispered into the phone.

"What?"

"An intruder."

He lingered at the kitchen doorway for a moment; gathering courage to enter. He didn't quite know what he'd do if he came face to face with an intruder, but took a step forward anyway and found himself standing in an empty kitchen.

"Patrick? What's going on?"

"Nothing. There's nobody, but I could've sworn that I saw someone move from the corner of my eye."

"Did you see someone or did you see a shadow?"

"What?" Patrick wasn't following.

"Did you see a shadow?"

"Yes. Why?"

"It's connected somehow – I just don't know how."

"Connected to what?"

"My grandparents' house." Stephen said, "And the Statue of Liberty I guess..."

"Statue of Liberty? You lost me."

"I ran into... who... and..."

The call started breaking up.

"What?" Patrick said, "You're breaking up."

"...not on Ellis Island... shadows..."

The call ended abruptly and then his phone lost signal. He glanced down at the phone screen which flickered twice and the phone died.

When he looked up from his phone, the kitchen was pitch dark – not even the kitchen counter that was a few inches away was visible. The windows were gone and so was the door. He could see absolutely nothing except darkness that consumed everything around him.

"Hello? Helen?"

No answer. It sounded like his voice echoed in the dark, but as the reverberation moved through the darkness, he heard it was actually two distinct voices whispering as one. The words were incoherent, but he could tell that it were voices other than his own.

The kitchen was cold – almost freezing and he could feel his fingertips go numb.

"Helen?"

"Patrick?" she spoke behind him.

He spun around and saw Helen standing in front of him in the kitchen that was lit by daylight coming in from the window. He glanced around him in confusion and then glanced down at his phone – it was still dead. What just happened? Where did he go?

"Are you alright?" Helen asked worried.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Stephen, Emma and Maggie sat at a booth in the _Daisy Diner_ ; each one with a burger and fries and a milkshake in front of them. Emma naturally had the pink milkshake while Stephen had a double thick chocolate milkshake. He tried his best to suck the thick milkshake through the straw and smiled at Emma whom devoured the burger as if she didn't just had pancakes a few hours earlier.

They were the only patrons in the diner that felt just as forgotten as his grandparents' house. Maggie picked at her fries and eventually stuck one in her mouth; deep in thought and a bit relieved that someone other than her son noticed the small changes that made her felt like she was slowly spiraling down into insanity over the years.

"So you grew up in Chestn – I mean _Cascade Falls_?" Stephen asked.

"My parents moved here when I was nine and as you might remember, it was called Chestnut Falls back then."

"I used to visit my grandparents almost every weekend. How come I don't remember seeing you?"

"I've been a loner most of my life and spent most of my childhood and teen years in my room listening to music or reading books."

"I love reading." He exclaimed, "Who's your favorite author?"

"Stephen Queen – the horror writer."

"He wrote books like _The Glowing, The Blue Mile_ and _The Grass Field_? I remember him. He used to be very popular and most of his books were adapted into movies. Whatever happened to him?"

"Nobody knows. His disappearance is still under investigation."

"A horror and mystery writer who himself disappears mysteriously..."

'Yeah." Maggie said, "I used to love a good mystery novel. I think that might be why I could notice small changes in every day life so easily while others didn't. Kids back in high school used to think I was weird."

"Kids can be cruel."

"They were right." She chuckled foolishly, "Look at me now – I'm the town nut. I never married, because I was different and my chances of finding a husband now is basically zero because who would want to marry the town crazy?"

"Don't do that. Don't break yourself down like that. You're not crazy. How can two different people hallucinate a house being there? Surely that's not insanity?"

"I guess you're right."

"You folks still alright?" The waitress asked, "You need anything else?"

"We're fine, thank you." Stephen said.

The fifty-something waitress smiled with a nod and her long, crimped hair swayed as she turned around and walked away. She walked over to the only other customer with a coffee pot in her hand and then poured him another cup of coffee. Stephen watched as they talked inaudibly over the music and then she returned to her high chair behind the counter again.

The waitress was clearly someone who had great plans for the future when she was young, but life is what happens when you're making other plans. She probably got knocked up in high school and took a waitressing job to care for the baby while the deadbeat dad partied with friends and now, thirty years later, she's stuck in her sad reality.

"Are you listening?" Maggie asked.

"What?"

"When are you heading home?"

"Today still – maybe after four this afternoon. Why do you ask?"

"You're the first person to have a decent conversation with me in this town in like forever. It's nice to have someone to talk to, you know?"

He nodded, but of course he didn't know – how could he know what it felt like to be ostracized by a community and feel like you're going crazy when you're the only one who's sane?

"Have you ever thought about leaving town?" He asked.

"All the time, but this town is my home and I can't just leave my daughter."

"You have a daughter?"

"She would've been nine next month."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He said foolishly.

"She died three years ago. Cancer."

"I'm so sorry."

"She's buried in Cascade Cemetery. I tried to leave town to get away from the hurt from losing her, but I can't leave her behind to be forgotten like that. Dave has been my rock and sometimes feel like he's the parent."

"I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to lose a child."

"I won't wish it upon my worst enemy."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Stephen and Maggie exchanged numbers after lunch. They shared a connection and they both felt it. It might've been the fact that both were the only ones in town who remembered his grandparents' house – it could've also been something else; a romantic attraction both wanted to pursue, but due to personal losses decided to keep their distances.

The drive back home was in silence as Stephen listened to easy listening music while Emma took a nap on the back seat. It had been quite a day – a peculiar and busy day for both of them. He couldn't help but think about Maggie and how she seemed lost when he looked in her own eyes. He should've done more than just take her number. He should've kissed her, but even just the thought of kissing a woman other than Lisa felt like cheating. Though it had been years, he was still madly in love with his wife and longed for her kiss and scent each night.

About a mile outside of Cascade Falls, they drove past a road sign and as it moved away in the rearview mirror, Stephen noticed that the sign said _Chestnut Falls_. He slowed down to a stop and backed up towards the sign. As the car backed up along the deserted byway, he stared at the sign in the rearview mirror – Chestnut Falls. He didn't imagine it.

When they got to the sign, he rolled down his window, stuck his head out and stared back at the sign that now suddenly read _Cascade Falls_.

"What?" Stephen was confused.

He killed the engine, got out and stared at the rusty sign that said _Welcome to Cascade Falls._ He walked up to the sign and wiped a layer of dirt off it to get a better look at the faded lettering. It clearly said _Cascade Falls_.

"I'm losing my mind..."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Stephen had a hard time falling asleep that night as his mind was plagued with hundreds of questions about what he thought was his childhood memories. He tried to find answers, but all he found were more questions as the darkness consumed the bedroom around him. It felt as if he was losing the last bit of his sanity in the dark and nobody could help him.

The next morning he had the weirdest sense of déjà vu – almost as if he'd forgotten something he was supposed to have remembered. He couldn't quite put his finger on it as he went about his morning routine, but something just felt off. Sure, the sun was shining outside, the paperboy delivered the paper and Emma babbled on while eating cereal like every morning. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but something still felt off.

Despite sitting in traffic on his way to work every morning, it was the first time he noticed that the traffic lights worked against each other; congesting traffic even more. While standing at a red light, he'd notice that the next traffic light a few blocks down the road was green. The red light turned green and traffic slowly moved on, but before they even reached the next traffic light it turned red – he was literally driving from red light to red light. Weren't traffic lights supposed to alleviate traffic?

He was surprised not to find Patrick at work waiting for him with a cappuccino like every Monday. It was part of their routine to buy each other coffee every other morning. Patrick was probably running late which happened more often recently.

By twelve Patrick still hadn't showed up for work.

Stephen peeked over his cubicle wall and glanced down at Jennifer who was working on her latest piece entitled _How to impress co-workers_. She had a weekly self-help column in the paper and thought of herself as being on the same level as Oprah or Doctor Phil. Her column proved to be popular, but whether it was any help was still up for debate.

"Have you seen Patrick today?"

"You didn't hear?" She asked.

"Hear what?"

"He called in this morning and quit."

"What?" Stephen gasped, "Why?"

"Who can tell? Bruce in HR said he was rambling on about nothing really mattering anymore. It didn't really make sense. Aren't the two of you best friends? How can you not know that he quit?"

"He didn't mention anything to me."

She shrugged her shoulders and returned to her work while he lingered in thought on the cubicle wall. It wasn't like Patrick to just quit his job like that. Something had to be up with him. Why didn't Patrick mention anything to him? They spoke before the road trip and Patrick sounded fine – sure he was a bit rattled about misremembering movie quotes when they spoke again over the weekend, but surely he didn't quit over that?

Stephen took his phone from his pocket and checked his messages – no new messages from Patrick. The lack of messages had him worried so he called Patrick, but got the voicemail instead so he left a message.

"Hey, Patrick. Are you okay? I heard you quit your job? Give me a call when you get this."

Jennifer was working on her piece like nothing happened – like someone whom she worked with for years didn't suddenly and inexplicably quit. He looked around the rest of the office as everyone went on with their day like usual. In fact, he couldn't recall anyone even discussing the fact that Patrick had quit. He even spotted a couple of women standing around the water cooler casually chatting and laughing before walking back to their work stations. Was he the only one who found it odd that Patrick resigned?

A feeling of foreboding descended upon him and a chill ran down his spine for no apparent reason. Something at the back of his mind told him to check in on Patrick so he took out his phone and called the only person he could count on.

"Hey mom. Can you pick up Emma from school today? No, nothing's wrong, I just have something I need to do first."

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Stephen parked in the street outside Patrick's house, walked up to the front door and glanced at Patrick's car that stood in the driveway. Helen's car wasn't there – she was probably at work and didn't even know that Patrick had quit his job. She'd be in for a surprise and probably a fight about it when she got home that evening.

He knocked on the door thrice, but there was no answer, so he stepped back and when he glanced at the windows he saw Patrick pacing back and forth in front of the attic window as if lost deep in thought.

"Patrick!" He called out, "Patrick!"

Patrick didn't respond, so he went to the front door again and turned the knob. The door was unlocked and Stephen entered the house that somehow felt cold and murky; the air choked him as he entered. It was the first time he had felt a sense of dread like that when he entered Patrick's house.

The TV in the lounge to his left was on static and piles of VHS cassettes stood all over; some stacks had fallen over like dominoes as if someone got up in a hurry. Various articles were printed out and pasted up against the wall between the living room and kitchen – some articles were connected with yarn and thumbtacks. Stephen read some of the headlines, but couldn't make sense of most of it.

He noticed that the word Cern was mentioned in quite a few of the headlines or bylines, but didn't really see any connection between any of the articles except for the yarn that connected them. The wall seemed like the work of a madman and made him even more worried about Patrick's state of mind.

"Patrick!"

He called out as he stepped back into the hallway and as he walked past the basement door someone slammed against it from the other side. The door latch rattled as the door swayed with each slam.

"Stephen!" Helen called out, "Let me out!"

He quickly undid the latch and Helen stumbled out of the darkness of the attic. She seemed dehydrated and flustered as if she had been down there a while. She looked relieved and embraced Stephen with trembling arms.

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"He's gone mad." Helen exclaimed, "He's lost his mind all because of Snow White."

"What do you mean?"

"He believes the whole world is one big conspiracy. He's obsessed with finding proof."

"Did he hurt you?"

"No." Helen affirmed, "I came down here to get a bottle of wine and when I came back he stood in the door and mumbled something about _nothing really mattering anymore_ before locking me in."

"What?"

"I don't know. He's not making any sense and he's babbling on about the past not being the past. You've got to talk to him. I'm afraid he might hurt himself."

He stepped out in front of her as if shielding her with his body from any dangers that lurked beyond the closed attic door as he glanced up the gloomy attic stairs. The house was quiet except for the occasional floorboard that creaked beneath Patrick's feet as he paced back and forth overhead.

Stephen cautiously stepped onto the bottom stair as he gestured for her to stay put; all the while keeping his sights on the attic door as he climbed the stairs. As he got closer to the door, he could hear Patrick mumbling quickly and incoherently – sounding a bit deranged.

"Patrick?"

He reached for the doorknob, turned it and slowly pushed open the door. The attic was dark except for some daylight that came in through the witch-window to the east. His eyes searched for Patrick in the dark and though he heard footsteps and mumbling, he didn't immediately see Patrick until he was right on top of him.

"Patrick!" He gasped.

"Stephen. What are you doing here?"

Patrick spoke hurried and sounded a bit eccentric; even for him.

"You weren't at work today. I got worried."

"Work?" Patrick chuckled, "Right... Yes. I quit – resigned – left. What's the purpose anyway? It all seems so pointless now – everything we hold dear has no value anymore. Why be part of a rat race that ultimately won't matter in the end?"

"What's going on? What are you talking about? Why are you in the attic?"

"I'm waiting for them."

"Who?"

"Them." Patrick reiterate, "Them – they... you know – those that watch us from the shadows. You've seen them too, you just don't know it. They lurk in the shadows; in the corners of our eyes. They look like shadows without a body to cast them and I can never look directly at them, but I'm sure I'll see them if I wait for them in the dark."

"Patrick, you locked Helen up in the basement. Why did you do that?"

"I don't know what they'll do when they finally get here. Will they try and hurt her because of what I know?"

"What is it that you think you know?"

"I know the truth" Patrick said, "Or fragments of the truth."

"The truth about what?"

"You have no idea what you uncovered with Snow White. At first I thought I simply misremembered some movies, but all of them? Not possible. All those movies definitely changed somehow. Then song lyrics somehow changed from what I remembered and then you mentioned your grandparents' house. Someone is _changing_ our past somehow and every time I uncover a new layer to this truth, I see one of them watching me from the corner of my eye."

"Patrick, you're scaring me."

"You should be scared. I know I am. I dug a bit deeper and uncovered even bigger changes in how we remember the past. How many people were in the car on the day JFK was assassinated? Four, right? That's what I thought as well – that's what everyone I asked remembers, but if you do an internet search you'll see that there were _six_ people in the vehicle. SIX... How come everyone remembers four people in the vehicle?"

"Maybe it's because of the angle of the photos?"

"It's not the angle! There are suddenly two additional people in the car. Where did they come from? Why didn't anyone ever see them before in any of the photos until now?"

"Well—"

"World maps now show South America in a different location than from what we were taught in school. The human heart is no longer to the left of the chest, but in the middle... And don't get me started on the Statue of Liberty that somehow jumped from one island to the other without anyone noticing it. First it was on Ellis Island and then all of a sudden it's on Liberty Island – when did that happen? Why don't I remember it on Liberty Island? These changes in what we thought we knew get bigger and bigger. And why is it only stuff from like ten years ago or older? Stuff I remember from a few months ago are still the way I remember them happening."

"I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about."

That was a lie. Stephen knew exactly what Patrick was talking about – he could feel it too. It was as if every memory from a few years back was a corrupt file that somehow distorted the image of what it's really supposed to be.

"The Mayan Calendar ended on December 21st, 2012." Patrick continued, "Many people interpreted it as being the end of the world or some kind of cosmic shift and just went on with their lives when nothing happened, but what if it did? Why are all memories of stuff that happened before 2012 distorted and wrong? What if whatever the Mayans predicted _actually_ happened on December 21st, 2012 and we just didn't know it happened?"

CHAPTER NINTEEN

Not only was the attic dark, but the darkness seemed to also consume Patrick's sense of rationality of what is plausible and what is not... or could he be on to something? Stephen also suspected that something was off – especially when he got a vacant lot where his grandparents' house used to be. Both Maggie and Patrick seemed to have noticed that the Statue of Liberty held secrets. Surely three people couldn't be suffering from the same delusion? There had to be more to it. He too was surprised to learn that his memories of proposing in the liberty torch never really happened.

"So what do you think happened on December 21st, 2012?" Stephen asked.

Patrick slowly started pacing back and forth in front of the window; creating the illusion of an eclipse every time he walked past the window. He was deep in thought and scratched the back of his neck as he thought of how to construe his theory.

"I'm not sure, but I think... I think the world ended."

"It did not end." Stephen assured him, "We're both still alive and well."

"Stephen Hawking is undoubtedly one of the greatest minds that ever lived. Even if you didn't follow his work, you knew who he was. On June 28th, 2009 he hosted a _time traveler's party_ at the University of Cambridge, but didn't send out any invitations. He later informed the general public of his experiment by announcing that nobody arrived at his party."

"Thus proving that time travel wasn't possible."

"Exactly." Patrick exclaimed.

"I remember reading about it on social media or something."

"Despite living hundreds of years apart you've heard of Leonardo Da Vinci, so it's plausible to say that future generations – even thousands of years from now – would know who Stephen Hawking was and should time travel be possible in the distant future they would've attended his party, right?"

Stephen was a bit confused, but nodded anyway.

"But time travel isn't possible."

"So was the notion of airplanes two hundred years ago." Patrick said, "Your mobile phone is part of your daily life, but would be something straight out of a sci-fi movie for people living in the 1950s. Just think how far we've come in the last few decades when it comes to technology. Imagine what could be possible in a few hundred years from now... a few thousand years from now. Time travel could be possible in a few centuries and be part of their daily lives, but sound like science fiction to us in the here and now."

"So why did nobody from the future show up at his party?"

"Maybe there's no future for anyone _to_ come from?"

"You're not making any sense." Stephen said.

"A guy called Preston Nichols said in an interview that he was one of 23 scientists that worked for Cern on the Large Hadron Collider and that the collider was not being used for what we the public thought it was being used for. He claimed that Cern was to blame for the disappearance of the USS Eldridge in October 1943."

"You mean the Philadelphia Experiment? That conspiracy theory about the navy trying to turn their fleet invisible?"

"Yes." Patrick said, "But that was just a cover up – a slight of hand trick by Cern to distract us from what truly happened. Preston Nichols said that the Large Hadron Collider is actually being used by the government to try and open portals to another dimension and these experiments started in 1943 already – resulting in the USS Eldridge disappearing."

"You've lost me." Stephen said, "What does this have to do with Stephen Hawking or the stuff we're misremembering?"

"It was during this interview that Preston Nichols stated that Cern had perfected time travel or so they thought. They could go back in time and witness events unfold though they couldn't interact with the past. The thing that sent chills down my spine about his interview was that he said that whenever they tried to travel into the future, they failed. They simply couldn't travel beyond December 2012 – as if a brick wall stood in their way. It was like there was no future beyond 2012... and what made this statement so peculiar was the fact that the interview was done in 2014 – four years after they tried to travel to 2012."

"So he was wrong. Clearly if he was interviewed in 2014 then there was a future beyond 2012."

"But it's not _our_ future." Patrick said, "He said that when the Large Hadron Collider discovered the so-called _God Particle_ in 2012 it was as if something changed. The world changed and the general public didn't even know something changed – we didn't even know that we didn't know until now."

"So what happened?"

"Not even Cern is certain what happened, but the scientists who agreed to come clean all met untimely deaths."

"Except Preston Nichols?"

"He published his notes and photographs, but it was labelled fiction." Patrick said, "That's the only thing that kept him alive. Those who've read his book, The Montauk Project, think it's fiction. I read it this weekend and it's definitely not fiction. It can't be. It's the only thing that gives sense to what is happening – to what we both have experienced about our false memories."

Patrick walked over to the window, leaned up against the sill and stared out at the peaceful neighborhood outside that seemed so normal. None of the people who went about their daily lives had a clue that the world they lived in was no longer their own and he wished he still had that ignorant bliss.

He glanced back over his shoulder at Stephen who still stood in the attic doorway.

"Their search for the God Particle somehow opened a portal that engulfed our galaxy and now we're stuck in an alternate universe where everything is exactly the same, except for some small differences here and there. The Mayans were correct – something happened in 2012 and that's why nobody from the future was able to attend Stephen Hawking's time travel party because there _was_ no future beyond 2012 in _that_ timeline... and the past from _this_ timeline differs from what we remember from our past."

Patrick opened the window, closed his eyes and tilted his head back a bit as the cool breeze touched upon his face.

"I don't know what the shadows are..." Patrick said, "Or _why_ they watch us, but they appear on photographs of past events; lingering in the crowd at the JFK assassination, in a lifeboat of the Titanic and even in photographs of 9/11. They also appear whenever I dig up something new about what they're trying to hide and now that I know I'm tired of waiting to see what they want."

There was a sudden calm in his voice that unsettled Stephen. It was like Patrick had accepted the inevitable and was simply giving up fighting. How did he get so lost so quickly?

"Patrick?"

"They're trying to hide secrets of a world that is not ours – hoping that we'd never pick up on the subtle differences between this world and ours; keeping us in the dark for their own personal gain, but I won't be a sheep being ushered to the slaughterhouse."

Stephen felt his heart sink to his feet when he realized what Patrick was getting at. He gasped and reached for Patrick just as he pushed himself up and out through the window. A second later there was a loud thud followed by the distant scream of a woman.

Stephen stood in silent disbelief; trying to grasp what just happened.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Helen sat at Patrick's bedside in the twilit hospital room of the intensive care unit; resting her head on the edge of the matrass as she held his hand. He was wearing a neck and back brace with his left arm and both legs in casts. The cardiac monitor beeped at a slow, but steady pace and was the only sound in the otherwise silent private room.

Stephen stood in the doorway; trying to wrap his mind around what happened. It made no sense for Patrick to simply try and kill himself like that. He'd known Patrick for years and Patrick never showed any signs of mental instability that he could recall. It had to be whatever was happening – whatever only they and Maggie somehow noticed. It wrapped its claws around Patrick's mind and drove him over the edge and Stephen felt somewhat responsible for not being there when his best friend needed him the most.

He knew he'd have to do some investigating of his own into what was going on and why so little people seemed to realize that their past no longer reconciled with their memories and he knew where to start now – it had a name now. _The Montauk Project_. He remember seeing the book in the attic right before Patrick jumped out the window. Something in that book had spooked him enough that he'd try and take his own life. Perhaps there was some truth to everything in the book?

If it wasn't for the bushes underneath the kitchen window Patrick would most likely be dead. The surreal words the doctor spoke still resonated in his mind – there was a fifty fifty chance Patrick may never walk again.

He owed it to Patrick – to himself – to get to the bottom of whatever was happening and how the Montauk Project fit in. He took out his phone and did a quick Google search as he walked back to the waiting area. The metal chair was cold and hard as if designed to deter family members from waiting for patients longer than ten minutes.

The search results included a lot of links to articles containing the words _Cern_ and _Preston Nichols_ , but the search result that caught is attention was a link to a video by the hacktivist group, Anonymous. He clicked on the link entitled _Cern caused the Mandela Effect_ and a video of a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask filled his phone screen; speaking with a scrambled voice.

" _The world has changed and nobody even noticed it, but for those of us who are pedantic, have OCPD or just pay attention to detail, the signs are there and easily identifiable. A shared false memory is when multiple people have the same memory about something that seemingly isn't true. It's commonly known as the Mandela Effect and the idea of false memory came to public attention in 2013 when Nelson Mandela died. Thousands of people took to social media to share their memories of Mandela dying in prison decades earlier when in fact he died a free man. Since then more and more people started to notice the Mandela Effect ripple through time to change their memories. People who remembered the popular cereal Fruit Loops were shocked to see that it was now suddenly called Froot Loops and always have been. Another example is the Queen song We are the champions that no longer ended on that epic prologue '...of the world', but simply fade out after the lyrics 'we are the champions'._ "

"You can go home if you want."

Helen's voice made him pause the video and look up. Her eyes were teary, but she wasn't crying anymore. She seemed tired, but he knew there was no way he'd be able to talk her into going home and getting some rest while he stayed.

"I'll text you if he wakes up." She added.

"I just don't get why he'd try to kill himself."

"I found his Largactil bottle in the trash this morning. It seems he'd thrown out most of his tablets at some point the weekend."

"Largactil?"

"His schizophrenia medication."

"Patrick's not schizophrenic. I'd know if he was."

"He'd been diagnosed as a child and had been on the tablets for years." Helen said, "Don't you remember the suicide attempt of 2009?"

Stephen shook his head in shock. For the life of him he couldn't remember Patrick ever attempting to take his own life. Could it be true? Could the false memory be affecting his memories of his best friend's mental health history?

"He's on suicide watch as well for the next two days." She said and then stood in silence.

Stephen nodded as she fidgeted with her fingers before heading back into Patrick's room. The hospital was quiet except for the occasional porter that walked down the hallway. Stephen stared at the doorway for a moment longer as he tried to make sense of what Helen just told him. He never noticed any signs of mental health issues in Patrick. Was Patrick even Patrick? Or was he someone else from another dimension – another ripple caused by the Mandela Effect?

He returned to his video.

" _The European Organization for Nuclear Research, commonly known as Cern, was established in 1940 and officially opened their doors in 1954 – their main function is to provide particle accelerators and other equipment needed for physics research – or rather that's the official version given to the public. Cern built the Large Hadron Collider between 1998 and 2008 under the cloak of it being for physics research when in fact it was built as a portal to another dimension. In 2016 an amateur video was released on the internet that depicted several people dressed in black cloaks sacrificing a woman in front of a Shiva statue. Cern dismissed the video as a hoax of course, but digital analysis have concluded_ that _the video was not altered in any way and was indeed filmed on the premises of the Large Hadron Collider."_

A grainy image came into focus and showed amateur footage of eight to nine people in black cloaks standing in a circle of torches while two others escorted a bound woman to a large statue in the center of the circle. Though she was speaking French, it was clear from the desperation in her voice that she was there against her will. The cloaked group all started chanting something in French as the woman started crying and seemingly pleading for her life. Someone took out a knife and stabbed her as she screamed and pushed her way out of the circle. She screamed as she ran away and then the video ended.

Something about the video made him feel scared like a little boy. There was no doubt in his mind that what he witnessed was real and judging from the woman's blood-curdling screams she was fearing for her life. There was no way that the video was a hoax.

" _The Large Hadron collider embarked on a new project in 2012 – to find the so-called God Particle by colliding two opposite particles and creating a mini black hole. Activists warned Cern scientists of the dangers of what they were attempting and that they could either accidentally open a portal to another dimension or cause a vacuum that destroyed our planet... or both. Cern made a public statement about the project in 2016, but retracted it quickly thereafter. All surviving evidence of the statement was redacted and only exists in partial pieces – or it did until 2018 when Michael Skylon included the original draft of the statement in his suicide note claiming that Cern was responsible for creating the so-called Mandela Effect when their experiment to find the God Particle in 2012 went wrong. The Large Hadron Collider didn't open a portal to the deity Shiva as they hoped, but rather ripped a hole in the fabric of space; causing our world to slip through to another, almost identical, reality. The world as we know it ended in 2012 and the general public don't even know it. The clues are there if you know where to look. We are Anonymous."_

When the video came to an end, Stephen found himself staring at the blank screen in silence. Surely this had to be a joke? Something like this wasn't possible? Earth couldn't just slip into another dimension or reality like in a science fiction novel, could it?

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Shiva is a Hindu deity also known as the destroyer when it comes to time and creation; destroying space and time on a two billion year cycle to make way for new time and existence. It is one of the most important gods in the Hindu religion and plays a vital role in all we know and all that exists.

Stephen sat in his study and stared at the blog on his laptop as steam rose up from his coffee cup which stood underneath the lamp. The blog had an illustration of Shiva and, though similar, it didn't look exactly like the statue he saw in the Anonymous video about the ritual sacrifice that supposedly happened at the premises of the Large Hadron Collider.

He opened a second browser window, did an internet search for the Cern sacrifice video and when he found it, he searched through the footage until he saw the statue clearly and paused it. Both browser windows were open side to side and it was clearly not a statue of Shiva, but something that resembles it. The somewhat similar, yet different statues tickling his intrigue as to what it may be.

Another internet search with keywords _Cern, sacrifice_ and _god_ rendered a few search results referring to Shiva, but it was a link to a random blog entitled _The Ancients and the Watchers_ that caught his eye – remembering that Patrick referred to being watched by the shadows... something he too felt from time to time. He clicked on the link and the blog loaded.

There are things older than time – older than the universe and our minds simply can't begin to comprehend the complexity of things we don't know. There are parts in our universe that precedes time and may hide secrets we couldn't never fathom. We believe the universe is infinite, but can only see a small part of the universe known as 'the observable universe'. What lies beyond this? What if the universe didn't go on forever like we theorize, but simply ends abruptly at this point?

Our dimension may end where the observable universe ends; giving way to another dimension with different rules in physics.

In 1943, the US government embarked on a project to render a vessel, the USS Eldridge, invisible to enemies, but the vessel disappeared never to be heard from again. It's simply known as 'The Philadelphia Experiment' – a classified experiment that seemingly went wrong. Only, the experiment wasn't a total failure and the vessel reappeared a few months later with half of the crew missing and the other half aged nearly forty years.

The remaining crew members all accounted the same events – their ship entered a dark place not of this world.

Cern was established soon thereafter and employed reverse-engineers to try and replicate what happened to the USS Eldridge and build a portal to this unknown place the vessel disappeared to.

Stephen leaned back in his chair and rubbed the back of his neck. What did Shiva and Cern have to do with what he experienced? If there was a connection he wasn't finding any information on the internet and he doubted, given the peculiarity of his grandparents' non-existent house, that he'd find any feasible information at a library.

No, if he wanted answers he'd have to dig a bit deeper – deeper than any other person has ever dug for answers. Dare he think it? He'd have to search the dark web for answers and he knew just the person to help him with his search.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Justin spent most of his free time down in the basement of his parents' house which he converted to man-cave – complete with a six-TV-monitor gaming station, an old _Dance Off_ arcade game and a hacker's dream PC set up underneath the blacked-out window.

He was in his late twenties, had no girlfriend, no friends and a non-existent social life; spending most weekends playing online games with equally socially awkward guys from across the globe. Back in high school he was voted _most likely to become an internet hacker_ and though that never actually happened, he was quite a genius when it came to anything online and computers.

Justin was Stephen's anonymous source when it came to investigative journalism as he was reliable, fast and efficient – also he conveniently lived a few blocks away from the Planet News offices. Stephen tried to befriend him after their third collaboration, but Justin lacked the social skills to keep small talk going, so they stayed in touch; communicating only when a story needed Justin's expertise.

"Sweetie," His mother called down from the top of the stairs, "You have a visitor."

A moment later, Stephen came down the stairs. Justin glanced over his shoulder from his game and once in sight, he gave Stephen a nod as if they see each other on a daily basis.

"Did you bring it?" Justin asked.

Stephen nodded and handed two hot-pockets to him as he sat down next to Justin on the couch in front of the gaming station. He was playing a first-person shooter game that seemed too violent for Stephen, but Justin clearly played professionally and spoke without looking away from his action-packed game.

"What story are you working on?"

"So you didn't read my email?" Stephen asked.

"I read the subject line. I don't do emails – the government embeds spyware in the binary code of emails and I don't need Uncle Sam looking into my life."

"Anyway," Stephen said baffled, "I need to know more about something called _false memory._ "

Justin was busy shooting a dozen soldiers at a checkpoint in his first-person shooter game and didn't answer him immediately, so Stephen leaned in closer to see whether he was paying attention.

"I heard you." Justin said.

"Do you know what it is?"

"I've heard of the term, yes. It's when a group of people share a collective memory that doesn't exist. It's also known as _The Mandela Effect –_ you know; thousands of people thinking the Monopoly guy wore a monocle when in actual fact he never wore one. What more is there to know?"

"I want to know how Cern is involved... and Shiva..."

Justin paused his game, removed his headpiece and lowered his remote. The words Stephen uttered somehow struck a nerve – an unnerving one. The color drained from his face and it was evident that he knew something worth sharing, but was a bit hesitant at first – not sure whether Stephen was a spy or genuinely working on a story. The last person that did research about Cern on the dark web ended up dead in a ditch near the highway.

"What do you know about Cern?"

"Not much." Stephen said, "Just what I could find on the internet, why? What do you know about them?"

"They're bad news parading around pretending to be a scientific advancement laboratory."

"Can you help me find out more about what they did? I need to know how they are connected to the Philadelphia Project, The Mandela Effect and Shiva. I need to know what I'm dealing with."

Justin pondered for a moment and said, "I think I know of a few sites that may have something."

And as if having an epiphany, Justin jumped up, scurried over to his PC and sat down with Stephen right behind him. He opened his dark web browser, Tor, and opened the TorLinks search engine, typed in a couple of keywords and hit search. The search engine took a minute to load the search results.

"You'll be amazed at what you can find on the dark web, but the thing is slow as hell." Justin said.

He scrolled through the search results and lingered his mouse tracker over the link to a website called _conCern.onion_ and then clicked on the link. An array of colors filled the screen and looked almost like a nebula as the contents of the site loaded.

The home screen of conCern featured an article about the death of Michael Skylon of Cern; claiming that it wasn't suicide, but part of a bigger conspiracy. He clicked on it and a few seconds later the article came up.

Despite reports that Michael Skylon committed suicide in 2014, his death was Cern's attempt at silencing the truth, but what they didn't know is that Skylon knew his way around the dark web and left the truth for those who knew where to look. Readers beware...

"Readers beware?" Stephen reiterated.

Once you click on the link below, there is no going back. Once you know the truth you can't go back to living a lie – they won't allow that.

Stephen and Justin both stared at each other with baffled eyes. Both wanted to know what the next link hid, but were a bit skittish to proceed. Finally, Justin took a deep breath and clicked on the link. A few seconds later a video loaded. It was just a man wearing a suit; sitting in front of a white wall.

" _My name is Michael Skylon – Chief engineer at Cern_. _If you're watching this then it means I'm no longer alive. It also means that you noticed small differences in the real world from what you remembered. They call it the Mandela Effect, but there is a more powerful force behind it than simply false memory. Against my advisement, the Large Hadron Collider was switched on in 2012 to find the so-called God Particle, but what we found was something older – something evil."_

"Shiva..." Stephen mumble to himself.

" _The Mayans called it Ho-Hum – The Destroyer of life and they knew he'd arrive to wreck havoc in the future and that's why they created the Long Count Calendar with a countdown to December 21_ st _, 2012 – the day Ho-Hum would arrive. At first we didn't understand the calendar, but looking back now it all made sense and they tried to warn us, but we didn't listen."_

"Warn us about what?" Stephen asked Justin.

" _In order for us to find the God Particle, we had to create a portal to where the gods live, but we weren't prepared for finding a dimension that ignores all laws of physics. We found the God Particle alright, but at a cost. There was a loud bang and a brilliant flash of light and then it was over – or so we thought. As time went by it was clear that we were no longer living in our own universe, but rather an identical universe – well, almost identical."_

"Is this what you're hoping to find?" Justin asked.

Stephen nodded and they stared at each other in silence for a moment and turned their attention back to the computer screen when Michael Skylon spoke again.

" _We live in the third dimension and we were convinced the answers to the God Particle were hidden in the eleventh dimension. I know it's a lot to try and understand, so I will explain it as simple as I possibly can. The first dimension is length – think of a straight line drawn on a piece of paper. The second dimension adds width – think of three lines drawn on a page to create a triangle. The third dimension adds depth – think of a cube. It has width, length and now mass. We and everything we know exists in the third dimension. Everything around us can be measured in length, width and depth – from mountains to paperclips. The fourth dimension adds time – spacetime to exact and it is used by astrologists to pinpoint the precise locations of objects in space."_

"Are you following this?" Justin asked.

Stephen nodded, but the video lost him at the description of the third dimension. He wanted, no, needed to know more, but as the video continued, he couldn't help feeling like they weren't alone – as if they were being watched by unseen eyes in the shadows from across the room. It unnerved him, but he kept his composure and tried to concentrate on the video.

" _The fifth dimension is all of the above dimensions plus vicissitudes – an unseen dimension on a subatomic level that, if possible to tap into, would show changes or variations occurring the course of time. Simply put, we'd be able to view an alternate universe where things are similar to ours, but with small variations. When the Large Hadron Collider discovered this dimension, we had concrete proof that the multiverse exists – multiple universes coming into existence by means of multiple big bangs; existing in bubbles next to each other, but never able to interact with each other."_

Stephen noticed something move in the shadows from the corner of his eye, but when he turned his head to get a better look, there was nothing. He couldn't help but get the foreboding sense that they had stumbled upon something that could in the end cost them everything.

" _We should've stopped there, but we wanted to push forward in the name of science and discover as many dimensions as we could... and so we found the sixth dimension where time is relative just like Albert Einstein theorized. Time was tangible in this dimension and could be dilated or contract – we were able to view, but not interact with past events first hand. This wasn't enough. We had to find the God Particle and pushed on until we reached the eleventh dimension – a dimension where our minds could no longer fathom the science of that dimension; a dimension where ancient beings lived. This is where we found Ho-Hum – the destroyer of life and he tried to pull our world into his dimension like one would grab another person's arm through a mailbox. When we realized what was happening, we shut off the Large Hadron Collider, but it was too late. Ho-Hum had successfully pulled our world out of our third dimension, but we terminated the project just before he could pull us through to the sixth dimension; leaving us stuck in the fifth dimension."_

Stephen felt lightheaded from what he heard – he couldn't wrap his mind around what Michael Skylon claimed as it sounded too outrageous to be true, but as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once so famously said, _when you have eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth._

**CHAPTER** **TWENTY THREE**

"Are you telling me we're living in another dimension?" Stephen asked horrified.

Justin was equally flabbergasted at the revelation and shrugged his shoulders in defeat. There was nothing more to Skylon's video that left them with more questions than answers. Was it even possible to travel from one dimension to another and if so, why couldn't Cern simply move us back? Was this the cosmic shift the Mayans predicted with their long-count calendar? Was this the event that took place on December 12th, 2012?

It would explain why there were subtle changes that nobody ever really noticed – why would they? We had no reason to suspect that our reality has changed.

"I don't know what to make of it." Justin said, "The video is on the dark web, so it has to be legit, but what does it mean for us? If our world no longer exists in our dimension, does that mean our world actually ended? And if we somehow got dragged into the fifth dimension... let's say it happened – we somehow ended up in a duplicate universe much similar to ours, what happened to the earth of this dimension? The law of physics dictates that two objects can't occupy the same space at the same time. I can't wrap my mind around it."

Justin got up and walked away from his computer while scratching his head. What did he get himself dragged into this time?

"Where are you going?"

"I need a drink. Wait here."

Justin went upstairs and left Stephen standing in front of the computer. He wondered whether this was what drove Patrick over the edge. How much of this did he uncover before he tried to commit suicide? Was it indeed possible that an ancient being dragged our world into another, higher dimension where the laws of physics are bent or warped? Could he ever find proof that we were no longer in our own dimension?

He thought about the observation Justin made – if they were traversed into a new dimension, what happened to the earth and its people of this dimension? Did we fuse together with them or did we knock them out of their own dimension like the swaying metal balls of a Newton's Cradle?

Justin came down the stairs again with a beer can in each hand, handed one to Stephen and sat down on the unkempt couch. Stephen sat down next to him as he took a giant gulp from his beer. They sat in silence for a moment and then Stephen opened his beer and took a sip.

"This is some freaky shit." Justin finally said.

"What do you think happened to the earth of this dimension?"

"Who can tell?"

"I've been thinking." Stephen said.

"That video's given us both a lot to think about."

"I've been thinking about something in particular – the Newton Cradle."

"Newton's Cradle?"

"Yes." Stephen said, "We commonly know it as an office toy on an executive's desk consisting of five identically sized metal balls suspended in a metal frame so that they are just touching each other at rest."

"I know what a Newton's Cradle is."

"So hear me out – when one of the end balls of a Newton's Cradle is pulled back and let go, it strikes the second ball and comes to a dead stop, but the velocity travels through the seemingly motionless balls and causes the last ball to swing and the whole process repeats itself."

"What are you getting at?"

"Do you think it's possible that when our world was pulled into this dimension we somehow knocked the earth of this dimension into the next – almost like the balls on the Newton Cradle?"

Justin stared at him with blank eyes for a moment, shrugged his shoulders and took another sip of beer.

"I don't know, dude. It's possible, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"Michael Skylon said in his video that the fifth dimension would consist of minor changes – opening a possibility of multiple earths with small changes in historic events; a mirror earth. I've noticed small changes between this timeline and what I remember from our timeline and... I think it might be possible that my wife never died in this timeline."

**CHAPTER** **TWENTY FOUR**

"Even if it were true," Justin refuted, "There's no way to be certain. No two object can be in the same place at the same time. When we traversed to this dimension, we took the place of this earth. Who knows where it is now? We'd never even be able to interact with it."

"But what if we could?"

"It'll be like interacting with your own reflection in a mirror – it can't be done."

"What about quantum entanglement?" Stephen asked, "I once did an article about a suspected serial killer on campus and one of the witnesses I interviewed was Doctor Martin Cooper. After the interview he told me a bit about his field of expertise and explained, in laymen's terms, what quantum entanglement is."

Justin glanced at him from the corner of his eye and took another sip from his beer.

"Quantum entanglement occurs when two particles become inextricably linked and whatever happens to one immediately affects the other – regardless of how far they are. What if that was possible on a larger scale?"

"What? Like in planets?"

"Sure. Why not? Suppose our planets were mirror images of each other, but never interacted until the incident at the Large Hadron Collider that caused the two planets to become entangled for just a fraction of a millisecond before our planet knocked the other planet out of this dimension."

"What are you getting at?"

"What if we're linked to the other planet despite being in different dimensions? Whatever happens on this planet would also indirectly affect that planet? That would mean that there is a connection between the two worlds. If we could somehow travel between the two planets, I could be reunited with my wife. We can prove that Michael Skylon was telling the truth. We could prove the existence of a multiverse. We've uncovered the biggest scoop in the history of mankind – we're not alone in the universe."

There was a sudden surge of energy in the fluorescent lights and then all electrical equipment, including the lights, died – leaving them standing in total darkness.

"What just happened?" Justin asked.

Though it was dark, Stephen could see the silhouette of Justin's body in front of him and it took another couple of seconds for his eyes to adjust to the darkness that now consumed the basement. Justin moved a bit to the left and a second silhouette came into sight a few feet away.

"Who's there?" Stephen gasped.

When Justin noticed the third person standing a few feet away from him, he slowly inched closer to Stephen while keeping his gaze upon the unknown figure in the dark. A dozen voices washed over each other in the distance and drew closer with every inaudible word until finally it sounded like the voices resonated from inside their heads. The words sounded like gibberish, but had a sense of urgency to them.

"What do you want?" Justin called out.

The voices got louder and more distorted until they had to cover their ears with their hands in hopes of drowning out the deafening sound of words they didn't understand. The shadow figure in front of them raised one of its arms and pointed in their direction; all the while speaking in a language that sounded like it wasn't from our world, but somehow the words started making sense to Stephen. The figure was giving them a warning.

"Justin?" His mother called out.

She stood at the top of the stairs and switched on the lights before coming halfway down the stairs until she could see them. They stood in the middle of the basement – both as white as a sheet and breathing heavily as if they took part in a marathon. Stephen looked all around him with a jerk, but the shadowy figure was gone.

"Are you boys alright down here? I heard you call out."

"We're fine." Justin finally said.

His mother nodded, went back upstairs and closed the basement door. He turned to Stephen and wiped perspiration from his forehead with the back of his hand.

"What the hell was that?"

"I think it was a warning." Stephen said.

**CHAPTER** **TWENTY FIVE**

Justin hadn't really done anything in his life to be proud of. He had a dead-end job, still lived with his parents, had no savings and not much of a social life. Though most of his sad existence was spent down in the basement playing online games with other gamers he'd probably never meet, he felt his life had more meaning to it than becoming involved with whatever was happening. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to risk his life to uncover any more of what Stephen was caught up in.

"I can't help you anymore." Justin said.

He did something he hadn't done in over two years – lit a cigarette and its exhilarating taste eased the tension that tangled up his nerves.

"I love my life." He continued, "I can't get involved in something that might put my life in danger."

"You're already involved. You got involved when you watched the video. Don't tell me you're not intrigued."

"I was until a bodiless shadow threatened me in my own home."

"We don't know what it even said." Stephen said.

"You said it yourself... It sounded like a warning. You don't need to understand what it said to feel the ominous weight of the words it spoke. I'm sorry, but I'm out."

Justin took another drag from his cigarette and looked the other way; leaving Stephen hanging.

"I get it." Stephen finally said, "You're afraid and I get it."

"I'm not afraid. I'm wise enough not to get mixed up with things that I shouldn't get mixed up in and besides, what difference would it make? If we're stuck in this dimension we're stuck here and no amount of meddling will change that."

"Maybe that's true." Stephen sighed, "But if there's a chance I get to be reunited with my wife I gotta take it. I can't walk away from something this big – call it my investigative journalistic instinct. The only reason you're afraid is because you know you're part of something bigger than yourself. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life playing video games in a basement, or do you want to be the guy who found proof of another universe?"

Justin pondered over his options for a moment and then let out a defeated sigh.

"Fine." Justin said, "And how exactly do you propose we do this?"

"This wasn't the first time I encountered one of these shadow figures and I don't think they're a shadow at all – well not in the sense we'd understand anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Skylon's video mentioned up to ten different dimensions and gave examples of what would exist in each one. We as humans are 3D beings as we live in the third dimension, right? So it's possible that each dimension is home to beings capable of existing in that dimension."

"What are you getting at?"

"He said that this Ho-Hum creature is from the eleventh dimension or higher – somewhere where the ancient ones exist. What if these shadow figures are beings from, say the eighth or ninth dimension and them being in shadow form is because they are traversing between this dimension and theirs?

"I feel a headache coming on."

"Just bear with me on this." Stephen insisted, "If they can travel between dimensions then so could we – in theory."

"In theory?"

"In theory we could go to wherever the earth from this dimension went... and I can find my wife. We'd also be proving the multiverse theory in a sense."

"And how do you think we'd move between dimensions?"

"I'm still working on that."

**CHAPTER** **TWENTY SIX**

Stephen's car pulled up into the driveway of his mother's house and as he switched off the engine, he noticed that the dashboard clock said it was just after eight PM. It had been an exhausting day; mentally and physically – he had more revelations in one day than most people have in their entire lifetime, but what to do with the information?

He was convinced that we lived in a multiverse, but had no way of proving it. He also knew his wife from the mirror world was alive, but couldn't reach her.

He got out of the car, walked up to the front door and went inside to find his mother, Agatha, and Emma watching cartoons on TV. It was an old rerun of the Flintstones and Emma chuckled loudly every time the supposed studio audience laughed. He stood and pondered for a moment whether it was always called The Flintstones and could've sworn that it was called The Flinstones when he was a child.

"Hi mom."

She glanced over her shoulder as Emma jumped up and ran over to give him a hug.

"You're back!" Emma exclaimed.

"Everything alright?" His mother asked.

"I think so. I'm not sure."

"If you want to talk about it, I could make some coffee?"

He thought about it for a while and then nodded. Perhaps he could do with someone else's perspective, but his mother was very old fashioned and religious and probably wouldn't buy into the whole idea of them living in a mirror universe. It was also because of this more traditional way of thinking that made his mother the perfect person to ask for advice.

The two of them went into the kitchen while Emma stayed glued to the TV screen. Stephen sat down at the kitchen table while she put some water in the kettle. The kitchen table had been there since he was a child and though the design was a bit dated, it still looked pretty new – a testimonial to his mother's ability to look after her belongings.

"I hardly see you anymore." She said, "You're always working."

"I'm trying to make a name for myself in the journalism world. It's a cutthroat business."

"Are the long hours worth it?"

He glanced back at Emma sitting on the floor in front of the TV and wondered the same thing. It used to be worth it – or so it seemed, but his life could've been very different if he didn't let his work consume him. His wife might've still been alive if he was driving that night instead of working late.

"Mom." He asked, "Do you sometimes wish you could have your life over?"

"No. I'm happy with the way my life turned out. If I had to relive my life I may never have had you."

"What about dad? If you had the chance to see him again, would you take it?"

"What's going on?" She enquired as she sat down.

"I've just been thinking... about Lisa and that night."

"You shouldn't blame yourself. There was nothing you could do. We may not always know why things happen the way they do, but everything's part of God's plan."

"That just sounds like something people say to make sense of bad things happening to good people."

"Not always." She said, "Did I ever tell you about my neighbor when I was in high school? We lived in a small farming community and one morning our neighbor, Mister Jones, found a wild horse on his property. When my mother said it was good luck, Mister Jones said _'good luck, bad luck... who can say?'_ Over the next week he tried to tame the horse, but it eventually ran off. My mother told him that it's bad luck for a horse to run off and Mister Jones said _'good luck, bad luck... who can say?'_ The horse came back a week later and this time his son, James, tried to tame the horse, but fell off and broke both his legs. Again, my mother told him that it's got to be bad luck to which he responded, _'good luck, bad luck... who can say? Only time will tell.'_ The next week Uncle Sam came round to draft all abled bodied men between the ages of twenty and fifty. James was spared being drafted because of his broken legs. Mister Jones told my mother that it was definitely good luck because of the horse and my mother said _'God works in mysterious ways'_."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Would I love to see your father again?" She continued, "Of course, but that's not God's plan for me. Sometimes things happen for a reason to put us on the correct path – our destiny. Most times it won't be apparent at first, but when all past events line up you'll easily see that you're exactly where you're meant to be because of the events leading up to that moment."

Maybe she had a point. He could never understand what kind of merciless God would take away his wife in such a gruesome accident, but if she didn't die he wouldn't have spent more time at the office. He wouldn't have spent more time with Patrick. He wouldn't have stumbled upon the Mandela Effect and he wouldn't have discovered the Cern experiment that caused our world to shift into another dimension. Perhaps everything that happened in his past led him to discovering the biggest secret in history.

"Does it answer your question?" She asked.

He thought about it a bit more and yes, it did. He knew that Lisa was still alive on the other earth – somehow he could always feel her despite her being gone and could never quite explain it, but now it made sense. Everything that's happened in the last couple of days has led him to exactly where he had to be. The only problem was finding a way to be reunited with Lisa.

**CHAPTER** **TWENTY SEVEN**

They got home after nine that evening and Stephen carried Emma who was fast asleep upstairs and tucked her in with her stuffed unicorn. As she hugged it and rolled over onto her side, he found himself thinking about Maggie and the first real conversation he had in ages – all thanks to a silly road trip they took in order for Emma to see a unicorn.

He went downstairs and sat down to watch some mindless TV when he noticed an unread text message on his phone from Maggie; asking what progress he made. He wanted to hear her voice again, but didn't want to sound too desperate. On the other hand he wanted to tell her everything he'd discovered since he left Chestnut Falls – or rather Cascade Falls.

He glanced over at the framed photo of Lisa that stood on the table next to the sofa and somehow it felt as if he was cheating on her by simply thinking about Maggie, so he locked his phone and put it down on the sofa next to him. Though it had been years since Lisa passed away, he still loved her. Love isn't something mankind invented, but it was something true and tangible and able to last well beyond death.

Love was a powerful connection between two people and was even more unbreakable when it was between two souls that were meant for each other. It had to have some kind of meaning that he was still madly in love with his wife after all these years. Love is the one thing we perceive as humans that is strong enough to transcend space, time and even dimensions. If quantum entanglement existed, it meant that he was one soul on two different planets and so was Lisa.

The sensation he felt was too strong to ignore; he knew she was alive out there somewhere.

He picked up the remote and flipped through the channels – looking for something to watch, but found only reruns. He stopped when he got to the Christian Channel when he heard the commentator announcing, _'coming up next – God is everywhere.'_

He wasn't much of a religious person like his mother, but decided since there was nothing else on TV he'd watch the program anyway. The program opened to a smiling woman sitting on a couch with her hands clasped together on her lap.

"Hi there and welcome." She said, "I'm Jessica and I have a wonderful message for all of you. God is everywhere. He's in the air that we breathe, the conversations we have and the friendly handshake you give a coworker. Sure he lives inside all of us..."

Stephen rolled his eyes and picked up the remote again. He believed in God, but the _'God lives inside all of us'_ was a fountain diluted by overuse by religion. Just as he was about to change the channel, the woman said something that caught his attention so he lowered the remote and leaned forward attentively.

"The Bible says God is everywhere." She said, "But how can one person be in more than one place at a time? Psalm 139 by David, verses 8, 9 and 12 tells us that God's presence can't be eluded by space, time or darkness. It may be hard for us to fathom that God can be everywhere at once, but it's true. Though mankind was made in His image, God doesn't have a physical body like us. He is present everywhere in spiritual form; able to be in all parts of the universe at once. God is, was and always will be."

He turned down the volume and pondered about the Skylon video and the different dimensions. According to Skylon they discovered the eleventh dimension where the ancient deities live. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but knew that he'd find the answers to being reunited with Lisa somewhere in the dimensions as explained by Skylon.

He picked up his phone, opened his browser and Googled 'tenth dimensional beings'; drumming his fingers on his knee as he waited for the results to load. When the search results finally loaded he scrolled down and opened a link to a website entitled _Dimensions for idiots_.

The website explained the different dimensions just like Skylon did in his video. It also explained that the tenth dimension as being a place where everything is possible at once. The difference between the tenth and eleventh dimension where the ancient deities exists was that the eleventh dimension was a place our mortal minds could never comprehend.

Beings that exist in these two dimensions would be categorized into two groups; transcending beings in the tenth and gods in the eleventh – both being able to transcend time and space; the capability to be in all places at once. The transcending beings can be thought of as angels as this would be the most logical explanation our minds can fathom.

Transcending beings don't have a physical body or form like we do, but exist on a metaphysical level. When and if they interact with us, our minds attributes recognizable traits in order for our brains to comprehend what we are interacting with. The most common forms we visualize are usually humanoid forms like alien creatures or the so-called shadow people – shadows without bodies to cast them.

Stephen leaned back in the sofa and tilted his head back as he thought about what he read. Could the shadow figures he'd seen from the corner of his eye be tenth dimensional beings? Why did he see them? Were they trying to tell him something? He remembered the feeling of dread he felt in the dark basement at Justin's – it was a choking fear that he'd not soon forget. If only he knew what they wanted to tell him.

And then he had a thought – if they were able to be in more than one place, chances are that they'd be present on this earth as well as on the mirror earth. They'd be his best chance at getting to the mirror world and being reunited with Lisa, but how do you interact with a spirited being?

He picked up his phone again and Googled _'interact with spirit'_ and the top result sent a chill down his spine. The result was entitled ' _interact with spirits, ghosts and shadow people with a mirror.'_

**CHAPTER** **TWENTY EIGHT**

Emma was fast asleep in her bedroom while Stephen sat in the living room; staring down at the title of the website on his phone – _'How to interact with spirits, ghosts and shadow people with a mirror'._ He wasn't a firm believer in the paranormal, but something about the title made him hesitate. His mother always said never to get mixed up with ghosts and spirits as you never know what you may unleash, but what if this was the key to finding Lisa again? His mother also said that sometimes things happen for a reason – events that lead you to where you have to be.

He took a deep breath and clicked on the link.

Mankind has forever been obsessed with looks and when we became aware of our own image there has been a fascination and fear about reflective objects – especially mirrors. Folklore and legends have numerous tales of mirrors being used as portals between our world and other dimensions. Some people have even reported supernatural occurrences near their mirrors – the most common manifestation is the appearance of people or beings other than those in the room reflecting in the mirror.

Shadow people have long been thought to be beings visiting from another dimension or universe. Though one can never look directly at a shadow person (briefly appearing in one's peripheral vision), it is possible to look directly at them if one stares in a mirror.

"Daddy?"

Emma stood a few feet away; rubbing her eye with one hand while hugging her stuffed unicorn with the other. She yawned and stepped closer.

"What are you doing up?" He asked.

"There's a man in my room."

' _Not this again'_ , he thought. She probably had another night terror... but what if she did see someone in her bedroom? A shadow person lurking in the dark? He could approach it with a mirror like the website suggested. Logic suggests that if he could see it he could interact with it – ask it where it's from and what it wants.

"Let's go take a look."

He got up, took her by the hand and the two of them walked back to her bedroom. Her bedroom was dimly lit like always and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Usually when they got back to her bedroom, she'd be more at ease with him there and hop back into bed, but not this time. This time she clung to his leg and was clearly scared of something.

"Don't worry." He said, "There's nothing here."

"He's in my closet. It's just a shadow."

There was a slight tremble in her voice as she spoke and hugged his leg even tighter. He lay a comforting hand on her head, they stepped closer to the closet and then with one swift movement he opened the closet. The only things inside were clothes and toys – no monsters hiding to scare her when she was alone.

"He was there a minute ago." She insisted.

And he believed her. He could hear the truth and fear in her voice, so, with her still clinging to his leg, he picked up a small hand mirror that lay on her plastic tea table, turned his back to the closet and took a deep breath. He felt a bit silly doing it, but eventually lifted the mirror until he could see the closet over his shoulder.

"What are you doing, daddy?"

He didn't respond and moved the mirror ever so slightly until the interior of the closet came into view as well as a faceless shadowy figure that stood just to the right of the open closet door. His heart sank to his feet upon seeing the ominous figure and then he heard multiple voices all whispering incoherently at once.

"Everything's gonna be alright." He assured Emma.

He had to know. He owed it to himself.

"Daddy?"

He let go of her and reached out behind him as he took a step backwards towards the closet. Emma clung to him and moved with him as she kept her eyes shut tightly. Stephen, on the other hand, kept his sights on the shadow figure's reflection in the mirror as they inched closer. It was almost in reach and his heart was beating furiously with tension and a bit of excitement as his fingertips touched the shadow figure.

In that instant his brain was flooded with hundreds of thoughts that were not his own; visions of things to come and things that may have been – as if the shadow figure was communicating with him not with words, but through images. He saw fire engulfing entire cities – mothers screaming in agony as they watched their children's flesh scorch and melt away.

A sense of calm befell him along with the inferno images that flooded his brain. He thought of Lisa and saw her in a field of dandelions and it was at that moment that the incoherent voices became coherent. Though he didn't understand the words they spoke, he understood their meaning. _To escape the inferno, you have to take a leap of faith._

He could still see Lisa as if she was standing in front of him and then a brilliant flash of light engulfed the bedroom. He squinted his eyes at the flash of light while Emma buried her face in his leg. When the light dissipated and his eyes adjusted again to their surroundings, he noticed that they were no longer in Emma's bedroom, but instead were standing in a field of dandelions.

**CHAPTER** **TWENTY NINE**

"Daddy, where are we? What happened?"

Stephen glanced at their surroundings in awe; not really paying attention to what Emma was asking. He was trying to process the fact that one moment they were in her bedroom and the next they were in a sunlight bathed green and yellow field. He knew what happened, but tried to wrap his mind around it.

In that instant when he touched the shadow person, not only did he see the future of earth, but every question he had about the Mandela Effect, shadow people and the mirror world were answered. The shadow person's thoughts traversed into his brain as if being his own thoughts and memories. Cern was to blame. Just like Skylon admitted, they pushed the envelope too far, created a portal to the eleventh dimension and a deity tried to pull our world into the eleventh dimension to devour our souls. Cern was able to close the portal when they realized what was happening, but it was too late – we were no longer in our own dimension and just like Newton's law of Physics theorized, our earth and the earth of the fourth dimension could not occupy the same space at the same time.

Our earth bumped the mirror earth out of their universe into a parallel universe. The revelation took a moment to sink in, but there was no denying it as he stared up at the binary white sun that occupied the sky overhead.

Not only did the shadow person's poignant epiphany reveal this, but also why there was an increase of shadow people sightings in the last couple of years. They've been trying to warn us about an impending doom, but we just didn't know how to understand them. They are from the tenth dimension and, just like the eleventh dimension beings, they are capable of being everywhere at once and travel to any point in the universe or any dimension merely by thinking about it.

That had to be the answer; the thought of Lisa popped into his head as the shadow person's revelation flooded his head and it was with that one single thought that they were transported to where she was. Love was strong enough to defy distance. Lisa was alive on this planet and it was their love that drew him through time and space to her.

He spotted a woman and a girl sitting on a blanket to their left and, though they were about a hundred yards away he immediately recognized her as being Lisa. His heart skipped a beat with joy at the thought of seeing her again. He took Emma by the hand and walked hurriedly in Lisa's direction. When they got closer, the girl on the blanket looked over her shoulder at them – it was Emma.

Lisa turned around and it was as if time slowed down in order for Stephen to savor every moment of seeing her face. He could see from the expression on her face that she was equally shocked and elated to see him. Emma stood next to Stephen and stared at herself sitting on the blanket in awe.

"Lisa." He sighed with relief.

"Stephen?"

She jumped up and embraced him as tightly as humanly possible; smelling the aftershave in his neck as she had missed that smell. When he realized that she was real he wrapped his arms around her and a tear ran down his face. He found her. He knew he'd find her again someday someway.

Emma stepped closer to the Emma sitting on the blanket who got up. The two stepped closer to each other and pressed their hands up against each other – it was as if they were looking in a mirror.

"You look like me." Emma said.

"You look like me." The other Emma said.

"How is this possible?" Lisa asked; still in disbelief.

"It's a long story."

"I thought I lost you forever."

He knew she had to be alive on the mirror earth, but also knew (and hoped) that the Stephen from the mirror earth died in her place. Seeing her tear filled smile he knew that she'd longed to see him just as much as he missed her the last few years. A love like theirs wasn't easy to come by and not easy to replace.

He had so many things he wanted to tell her – everything that she missed the last couple of years and everything that happened over the last week, but all that mattered in that moment was her. He never wanted to let her go. He wanted to keep her in his arms, breathe her in and hold her there forever.

**CHAPTER** **THIRTY**

They made love that night. It was as magical as the first night they lay together. She was still in disbelief, but none of her nightmares of Stephen dying mattered anymore. They were together again. He tried his best to explain how and why he was alive – even the fact that she died in his world, but in the end none of the small things mattered.

The two Emma's played in Emma's room until they both fell asleep; each one excited to have a so-called twin sister that shared the same memories – except for a few minor details.

"A mirror world..." Lisa said; staring up at the ceiling.

She lay snug against Stephen's naked chest with her head resting on his shoulder as she stared up at the ceiling. Both of them tried to catch their breath after the intense love making and in between pants of air, he explained to her everything that brought him back to her.

"And Cern is behind all of this?" She added, "I don't think I've ever heard of them."

"Maybe they don't exist in your world."

She pondered for a moment. She always thought she was crazy for remembering seeing only one sun in the sky, but didn't think much of it until Stephen told her everything that happened to him in the last couple of days. The Mandela Effect was unfamiliar to her, but after everything Stephen told her, she too started remembering small changes over the last couple of years.

"And these dimensional shadow beings led you to me?"

"Yes." He said, "And I know it's hard to believe, but it was as if I was one with the creature I touched. I could see its memories and hear its thoughts. They've been trying in vain for years to warn us of what was coming, but though they can be present at more than one place at once, they didn't know how to interact with humans from the third dimension."

Stephen thought about what he told Lisa earlier – his planet was doomed. It would end in a couple of years on 12 December 2021 when Cern opens the portal once more and will be unable to close it before Ho-Hum pulls the planet into his dimension of fire and pain. The shadow person showed him a vision of the future right before he was transported to Lisa's dimension. The earth he found himself on was safe fro Ho-Hum for he didn't know of its existence and Cern didn't exist in this reality to discover Ho-Hum.

He couldn't help but think about his loved ones back on his own planet and the undeserving fate that awaited them. He couldn't just leave them there to die.

"You're not staying, are you?"

He could hear the sadness in her voice – it was equally deep as his own feelings. She knew him too well and even after not seeing him for years, she still could read him like an open book.

"I have to go back."

He couldn't leave his mother to burn in an unstoppable future. He had to go back to his own dimension and bring her to this one. He had to bring Patrick and Helen as well. Perhaps even Maggie's daughter might still be alive in this dimension and he could reunite them. He had to try. The shadow person showed him the future of earth for a reason. He had to save as many people as he could – starting with the people he loved.

"I will come back." Stephen said, "I have to try and save them. They don't know what's coming and they deserve better than a fiery death."

"I can't lose you again."

"You won't." He assured her, "I'm coming back."

She stared into his brown eyes and nodded as a tear ran down her cheek. She didn't want him to go, but she knew she couldn't make him stay. He'd always been that way – if he set his mind to something, he was determined to succeed.

He kissed her on the forehead and she snuggled up even closer as if she was holding on forever. She missed his warm embrace and it made her fall asleep almost instantly. He brushed strands of hair behind her ear and couldn't believe how lucky he was to be with her again, but he could never live with himself knowing that the people he loved died without trying to save them.

**CHAPTER** **THIRTY ONE**

When Lisa woke up the next morning, she found herself alone in the bed and her heart sank at the thought of it all just being a dream. She had the dream so many times before; finding Stephen never died only to wake up to her lonely truth. The dream felt so real – she could still smell his aftershave on the sheets.

She sighed a bit saddened as she got out of bed and as she walked by the dresser, she saw a post-it stuck to the mirror. She approached it and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the words, _"I'll come back – I promise"_ in Stephen's handwriting.

THE END...?
