The Timeless Echo: Celena's Enigmatic Loop

Celena’s life has always been considered a typical perfect life: a perfect home, a smart handsome loving husband, and a healthy marriage. There is nothing that she could wish for! Nothing that she wanted anymore! She was satisfied with her beautiful fairytale life. Her husband would come home from work in the evening and spend time with her. When he is not there, she paints, reads books, and cooks delicious new recipes for both of them. Their home was a beauty in the middle of the hills, with a view of the river flowing by, and also had a swimming pool and a gym! Everything was perfect, but there was something. Something in her heart, in her mind that never let her completely be happy.

Something that always stopped her from living her life to the fullest, something that her husband would always detect in her smile. She wanted to be happy, but she never really could, not completely.

One day as she ventured into the town for her routine grocery stuff, she decided to go to a bookstore. Books always lifted her spirit, she loved them, especially the fantasy ones. They were like an escape for her, from reality, from her constant sadness. She often felt guilty for this feeling, the feeling that she needed something to escape from her perfect beautiful life, but really couldn't help it. Reading was the only thing that made her forget this world, people, herself.

The bookstore named, “Mathew’s Books” was a cozy warm place, filled with the smell of paper, ink, pen, books, all the things that made Celena feel good, at home.

She stepped in, walked through the various shelves, and took a look at a few self-help books but didn't pick them up. She had tried a few before, a book on how to relieve anxiety, 10 Ways to Calm Mind, Peace in 5, etc but eventually, she understood that these were not her cup of tea. So she switched to the fantasy section, her favorite one being, Beauty; the retelling of the story of Beauty and The Beast. What she loved most in that story was how the beast consistently hung in there, to gain the affection of Beauty, how he didn't give up on her first no, but at the same time respected her boundaries, and how she eventually fell in love with him, seeing his love for her. But one thing that she never seemed to understand in the fact that love was the ultimate goal of all stories. If you have achieved love, then you will be truly happy. But here, here she was living with a man who could not be more supportive, more caring, more loving, but still, she was never happy!

She moved forward into the store to search for the latest books, until she found the one that caught her eye; Life of Celena - A Memoir. She was surprised to find this kind of book in the fantasy section, but grabbed it anyway, intrigued by the title.

As she opened the book, she was surprised to find her photo as an author, but as she turned to the next page…

The next day Celena woke up in her bed, but little confused and disoriented. Last she knew she was in that bookstore, holding a memoir in her hand, which said it was written by her. Her heart races as she gets off the bed, puts on her pullover sweater, and walks toward her table, to search for the book. She must have bought it, must have brought it here. But she doesn't find it there, then she walks out of the room, barefoot, searching through the whole house. Her husband, Daniel making coffee in the kitchen, “looking for something?” he asks, without looking toward her.

“Umm….nothing..just a book I think I bought yesterday. It had my….” she looked at him, a little puzzled as she said, “Didn't you wear the same clothes yesterday?” Daniel turns towards her, with two coffee mugs in his hands as he reaches over to her, hands her one, and kisses her on her forehead, “what are you talking about? This is the new one, remember?” trying not to look like a crazy person in front of him, “of course” she smiles.

She gets ready, starts the car, and drives into the town once her husband leaves for work. “It could not be a dream”, she thinks rubbing her forehead. She decides to take a hot cappuccino from the nearby Starbucks, maybe a way to delay her visit to the bookstore. Maybe she suspected that something was off. But putting the thoughts of her mind aside, she decided to walk to the bookstore, take-a-away coffee in her hand, as she opened the door. The small bell over the door rang with her entry and she was struck by the familiar comforting smell of paper and ink, and something eased in her chest. That might be a dream, a book, a memoir with her name and photo on it! That was not possible! She takes a step forward, and roams inside the bookstore, visiting all the bookshelves, seeing all the new books that arrived there, the new editions Erwin was putting on the shelves. Until she reached her favorite fantasy corner. Her steps fumbled a bit but she shrugged off the thoughts and went straight for the row where she found her memoir. And her eyes opened wide with horror to see the memoir, lying there - Life of Celena - A Memoir, in the same place, smiling at her like a joke. “This is not possible,” she thinks as she reaches for the memoir, and keeps her cup of coffee there, in its place. Holding the book in one hand, she marches to Erwin. He must know about this book. Someone must have stolen her identity, someone must be playing a trick on her. She shoots to Erwin, “Hey…Erwin…” she says reaching for him, opening the book in one hand. Her photo on the first page was still there, but something was different about it that she couldn't put her finger on it. Erwin turned and looked towards her ss she flipped to the next page…

Celena wakes up in her bed, a new day has begun, birds chipping outside her window, and Daniel is in the kitchen making coffee but her mind goes straight to the memoir. “This can't be true,” she thinks, as she gets up and marches through her room, searching for the book. She storms through the corridor towards the hall, where Daniel is indeed making coffee in the open kitchen. “Looking for something?” he asks, without looking toward her.

“Umm….nothing..just a book I think I bought yesterday. It had my….” she looked at him, a little puzzled as she said, “Didn't you wear the same…” as she realized, that the same thing happened yesterday. “You were saying something, love?” he asked kissing her forehead as usual but she nodded, unable to understand whatever was happening around her. She checks her phone for the date, 20 January 2024, 10 am, it shows and she shocks widens, the same date that was the day before yesterday. What was happening, someone must have changed the time and date on her phone, she looked at Daniel, who was sitting on the sofa wearing the same clothes as yesterday, and before that, drinking coffee calmly. “Should I ask him?” she thinks but immediately stops. Only he has her password, no one else in the whole town. Is he trying to mess with her..? Can she trust him? Doubt starts to take root in her mind.

She goes to the same bookstore, once Daniel leaves for the office. Enter the store, walk straight to the fantasy shelf, and pick up her memoir. This time, she wasn't that surprised to find it there. She walks straight to Erwin, “Can you tell me where this book came from?” She asks him without opening the book, she knows better than to open it this time. Erwin grabs the book from her hand and reads the title, then the blurb on the back part of the jacket, looking confused. “Um….I don't remember putting this one…” he goes on as he opens the book…

A new day, same old thought, “You got to be kidding me! Someone is messing with me! How am I supposed to find who did it, if I can't even open it!” But there is something different this time, a baby, barely 6 months old sleeping beside her, and her body…does look different. Like she has gone through a cycle of pregnancy and delivery. But this cant be true! Frustration grabs hold of her, but she gently puts her hand on baby’s head, “this feels so real!” she thinks, but she knows this is not, this can not be real! She doesnt remember being preganant or having a baby! She gets up, waits for her husband to leave for work. As he leaves, she opens her laptop and searches for the title of her memoir on the internet. She couldnt find anything, she searched for pages and pages until she saw her name at one place, under the heading of, The Mind Palace Menntal Health and Wellness Hospital. But as she clicked on it, there was nothing. Forbidden error 403, it showed. But she ignored it, she must have misread something.

She goes to the store, grabs the memoir, reaches Erwin but tells him not to open it. He carefully reads the backprint, but as he was thinking, someone pushed him and the book fell from his hand….

New day,,but same old routine! This was becoming tiring for Celena. She was getting exhausted of whatever this was, she havent showered in days, havent eaten anything since the first blip. The baby had grown bigger, was a 10 year old beautiful girl who was playing around her. Celena didnt know what to do! This all felt like a trap! She looked at herself in the mirror, she looked like she had turned 45 years old! So many years of her life went missing!

She tried multiple times to go to the store, to find about the book, to search Daniel’s phone if he was planning anything against her, to make her mad! She searchd the whole house multiple times if she could find any medical records or something that could make sense of this!

Until one day, exhausted, tired, malnourished she fell on the floor unconscious and Daniel took her to the nearest hospital. She could read the words there…

T….h..e..M…i…n…..d…

But she couldn't read it as she was being taken into the hospital, the nursing staff all around her.

Sudden waves of shock trembled through her brain like an earthquake, her whole body seized! People shouting around her, “one more round” someone said! Erwin, that was Erwin’s voice!

“Can she handle it?” someone else says...Daniel maybe!

24 hours later she regained consciousness, saw people all around her in white lab coats. Patients were being given pills! She looked at herself in a side mirror, she looked 20 again! At her side, a girl in white patient gown was staring out through the window without even blinking. A man was staring at her non stop. “This place…what is this place”, she thought as a man approached her. She knew that smile, those kind eyes, Daniel, he was Daniel. Hope fluttered in her heart, may be he is here toh get her out but all shattered when he said, “hello Ms celena, how are you feeling?”

And suddenly world goes numb. “You have been admitted in this institution from past 1 year, for Depressive Stupor” he goes on, “but you look good today”. But I am unable to hear anything, understand anything! He…he was my husband. This can't be right and panic grips me, as another man comes and injects me with something, “Dr Erwin, she was fine a minute ago…” Daniel continues but as the injectable works its effect, there I am back again, at my home, beside Daniel, in my perfect life where time is frozen for me, for us!