The Echo Left Behind

The Vasquez home sat on a quiet street, unremarkable in every way. A two-story house with white shutters, a neatly trimmed lawn, and an old oak tree in the front yard. A Norman Rockwell painting brought to life—until you looked too closely. As Jessica, Leanna, and Olivia stepped onto the porch, something felt... off.

Jessica knocked once before trying the doorknob. It turned easily. Maria had given them permission to investigate, but the fact that the door was unlocked sent a prickle down her spine.

"No signs of forced entry," Leanna noted. "Either someone’s been here since Maria left, or she just doesn’t lock up."

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Let’s hope it’s the latter."

Inside, the house felt curated. Like someone wanted it to look untouched. A lived-in home usually had little signs of imperfection—an unwashed coffee cup, a magazine left open on the couch. But here, everything was in place.

Jessica ran her fingers over the fireplace mantle, noticing the absence of dust. "This house is being maintained," she murmured.

Leanna moved toward the living room. "Alright, let’s retrace the event. Maria said Daniel was sitting right here—"

"—and then he was gone," Olivia finished, setting up her scanner. "Let’s see if there’s any residual energy." Olivia’s scanner wasn’t exactly government-issued. It picked up more than EM spikes—it found disturbances most tech didn’t know how to measure.

Jessica sat on the couch, mimicking where Daniel had been. She tried to imagine what he might have felt—was he afraid? Confused? Did he know what was happening? She reached down, pressing her hand against the fabric of the cushion. The air around her suddenly felt heavier, charged.

Leanna’s eyes flickered to Jessica. "You feel that?"

Jessica nodded. "Something’s here."

Olivia’s scanner let out a sharp beep. "Whoa. Okay, this is strange. There’s some kind of electromagnetic anomaly centered right around where Daniel was sitting."

Leanna crouched down, inspecting the area. "It’s faint, but there’s definitely a pattern here. Like... a residual imprint."

Jessica stood up, taking a slow breath. "Let’s check the rest of the house. If something happened here, it might have left more than just a ripple."

They moved room to room, each searching for something—anything—that would explain what had happened to Daniel Vasquez. And then they found it.

In the bedroom, hidden in the back of a drawer, Olivia pulled out a small, leather-bound journal.

Jessica took it, flipping it open. The first page was blank, but as she turned further, she found entries scrawled in frantic handwriting.

I don’t belong here.
This isn’t my life.
The walls move when I’m not looking. The air hums wrong. The stars are out of place.
Some nights I dream of streets I’ve never walked... but I know the names.
People call me Daniel — but that name feels like a coat someone else hung on my shoulders.
The cracks are getting wider.
I think they’re going to find me soon.

Jessica swallowed hard. "He knew something was happening to him."

Leanna took the journal, skimming the pages. "This doesn’t read like delusion. It reads like a confession."

Olivia scanned another page. "Here’s a list of dates and locations. I’ll cross-check these. Maybe they match known anomalies."

Jessica glanced back at the living room, at the empty couch where Daniel had been. "We need to find out where he went… and if there’s any way back from it."

The house remained silent, but Jessica couldn’t shake the feeling that it was watching them.