Aarav blinked twice. The world around him—the quiet hostel corridor of yesterday, the exact smell of chalk dust, the faint buzz of tube-lights—was all real. Too real. But the man standing at the end of the corridor did not belong to any yesterday Aarav remembered.
He was around thirty, maybe older, with a grey coat that moved like it had its own weight of secrets. He wasn't a teacher. Rishi would've recognized him instantly if he were. Yet the man looked back at him with an expression that hovered between curiosity and familiarity.
"You shouldn't be here," the stranger said calmly.
Rishi felt his heart thump. "Excuse me? This is my memory. My yesterday. Why are you here?"
The man stepped closer, but his footsteps made no sound. "Because you didn't just return to yesterday," he said. "You accessed a fixed point."
Rishi had no idea what that meant, but the man spoke as if he expected him to understand. "I… just went to sleep," Rishi said. "I had a nightmare. And then suddenly I woke up here. In yesterday."
The man sighed, almost disappointed. "You activated the watch accidentally. You are not trained for this."
Rishi's hand instinctively touched the old pocket watch inside his pocket. The cold metal tingled, as if responding to the man's words.
"Who are you?" Rishi demanded. The fear inside him was shifting into irritation.
"I'm someone who has seen what this watch can do," he replied. "And someone who knows what it can destroy."
He walked past Aarav, pausing next to him. "Most people who travel back repeat the same day. Again and again. You, however… jumped straight into a memory thread."
Rishi frowned. "Memory thread? Look, I don't know what you're talking about. All I wanted was to fix one mistake."
The stranger's eyes softened for a moment, as if he knew that feeling very well. "Everyone with the watch wants to fix their mistakes. That's where trouble begins."
A sudden tremor ran through the corridor lights. The walls quivered, like a ripple under water.
The stranger immediately looked alert. "The thread is destabilizing. You stayed too long."
"Destabilizing?" Rishi looked around—everything looked normal to him. "What happens if it destabilizes?"
"You don't want to find out." His voice dropped low. "You'll be trapped in yesterday forever."
Rishi's throat tightened. The corridor behind him suddenly stretched longer than it should. Shadows deepened at the edges.
The stranger grabbed his wrist. "Listen carefully. Once the thread collapses, you'll either be pushed into another random memory—or erased from this one entirely."
"Erased?"
"Yes. Memory threads don't like intruders."
The floor beneath Aarav shivered again. A small crack spread across the corridor tiles like lightning.
The stranger spoke quickly, urgently. "You need to go back to your real time. Tonight. Do NOT activate the watch again until I find you."
Rishi pulled his hand back. "Why should I trust you? I don't even know your name."
The man hesitated, then said, "My name won't help you. But this will—"
He pointed to the watch in Rishi's pocket. "Tonight, when the clock hits 11:59, don't let it tick. Hold the crown in place. That will anchor you."
Before Rishi could respond, the corridor lights flickered violently. The man stepped backward into the shadows.
"I'll find you," he said, his voice echoing. "And when I do, you'll understand why the watch chose you."
Then the memory shattered like glass.
Colors bent. Sound warped. The corridor folded inward.
"Aarav…"
A voice called him—his real roommate's voice.
"Aarav! Wake up!"
He jerked awake, his body covered in sweat, his hand clutching the watch so tightly his fingers hurt.
But the watch…
The watch was already ticking on its own.
And it had moved back
—one more day.