{Prologue}

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Déjà Vu - a feeling of having already experienced the present situation.

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I'm not sure if it was because of the location I was at, or the items scattered across the walls, but that's what I felt as I walked down the narrow hallway. I can't exactly recall where I was in this moment, something about the memory was too foggy, like I didn't have all the pieces to the puzzle. All I can remember is that this building, or house rather, held a greater significance in my life. What? ... I couldn't tell you.

As I walked, the sound of wooden boards creaked underneath my shoes. I recall the smell of fresh flowers and the rich scent of vanilla wafting through the air. It was cozy, like a childhood home. Yet, I was almost certain it was not the place that I grew up. Instead it felt more recent, like I had just moved in straight out of college. The only problem was that I didn't recognize my surroundings. Not really.

My hands grazed the walls as I admired the several different portraits lining them. Each picture had a different colored frame, highlighting the various subjects uniquely. They made up the colors of the rainbow, although there were more than 7. Again, the memory was unfinished in my mind, therefore I couldn't be sure exactly how many pictures hung in that hallway. But something inside me chose to believe that there was more that 7.

The portraits themselves were much too blurry to make out, however each individual one held a face with very distinct features from the next. No one painting was like the other, just as no one human is like the other. From what I could gather, they were beautiful and after inspecting each one to the best of my abilities, I realized something that seemed to strike me as strange.

Not a single one was of a man. The only reason why I found this particularly inquisitive, was because I had assumed this house I resided in belonged to a family. What with it feeling nostalgic and reminiscent of a childhood home, I expected to see a family portrait or at least a picture depicting a father or son. Sure there are families that are made up of only women, but that was rare to find.

In addition, the females illustrated in each frame appeared to all be young adults. There were no children and no middle aged or elderly women. But what truly surprised me was the final portrait, held in a large, black frame that seemed to stand out among the rest. At first I was confused. I could have easily mistook the painting in front of me for a mirror, because, staring right back at me was my own face. My vision may have been distorted, but I could clearly recognize my own features smeared across the canvas.

Yet, just as I was beginning to formulate what this all meant, the corners of my vision grew black. The house, the portraits, the image of what seemed to be my reflection started to fade faster and faster. My heartbeat began to grow in tempo and rang loudly in my ears. The coziness of the atmosphere oddly turned hectic and almost frightening, until finally, everything was black.

Then, something strange happened. A small white streak entered my line of vision. My eyes were now open and I soon realized it was a ray of sunlight shining through my bedroom window. My ears finally seemed to adjust and I found that the ringing I was hearing wasn't my heartbeat, but, in fact, my alarm clock.

It was all just a dream.

I laid in bed looking up at the plain white ceiling, trying to adjust back to reality before realizing why the alarm was ringing in the first place.

The birthday party.

As if things weren't already bad, I realized I haven't gotten the chance to buy a gift yet. I hurriedly jumped out of bed and threw clothes on before rushing out the door. I only had about thirty minutes to get to the party.

After arriving at a gift shop, I looked around for a small, yet meaningful gift. Spotting a beautiful bracelet that held a small caterpillar, I grabbed it and quickly bought it. I glanced at the clock in the store and realized that I only had 15 minutes left. The streets were turning dark and they were nearly empty as I began to cross the street.

Maybe I wasn't completely awake yet or maybe I simply didn't notice my surroundings, because before I could react, a bright yellow flash flooded my vision. A rush of adrenaline surged within me and I instinctively braced for impact.

Blackness consumed my vision for the second time today and I felt a great sense of fear and confusion. Almost like I was lost in space, floating mindlessly with no sense of direction or destination. Was this what death feels like? It very well could be, and I was beginning to think I was being summoned to the afterlife, until I heard a faint voice.

"Are you okay?"

My ears felt drowned as if they had water deep inside them. The muffled voice continued to speak but those were all the words I could make out. I hesitantly opened my eyes, hazily looking at my surroundings. The streets appeared to be darker than I remembered, a single street lamp being the only source of light. However, my focus was momentarily brought to something floating in the distance.

🦋 A single light blue butterfly.

Its beautiful, bright appearance stuck out like a sore thumb against the dull, black sky behind it. Something about this butterfly made it seem significant. Maybe it was the fact that there were rarely ever butterflies here this time of year, or maybe because it was the first thing I opened my eyes to after I seemingly died. Nevertheless, I knew there was a reason that butterfly appeared to me in that moment. There was no way it was random.

Eventually my eyes were drawn from the majestic creature when I saw movement in front of my face. A young girl about my age was leaning over me, trying to gather my attention. Once she saw that I was awake she let out what seemed to be a sigh of relief.

"Thank god you're alright. For a moment there I thought you were never gonna wake up." I looked up to search her chestnut brown eyes, finally processing her words.

Have I really been passed out for that long? I mean, my body did feel like it had been gone for a while, but, at the same time, to my brain, it seemed like mere seconds. Similar to when you fall asleep and, although you know you've been out for several hours, it feels like just a few minutes. It was disorienting and I felt myself start to lose sense of time all together.

Everything was changing, I just wasn't sure if it was for better or for worse.

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