Tom's fanfiction draft

2009

There's this strange recurrent daydream or vision that I simply can't shake but at the same time, it's unclear exactly what I see.  It usually happens about the time I'm near the house where next to where I grew up.  As if I had lived there before, I keep getting this feeling, a strange déjà vu, like a scene from a memory draws me closer.

Working with me is my therapist who often listens to these visions and deja vu.  He's recommended hypnotherapy to see if we can determine the root cause of all this, so here we are today where I am about to embark on my regression.  “Close your eyes and try to relax, take a deep breath and let it out slowly.  Concentrate on your breathing and imagine a brilliant white light above you, focussing on this light as it flows through your body.  Allow yourself to drift off as you fall deeper and deeper into a more relaxed state of mind..”

1929

Like walking into a dream, I step into the light and almost immediately I recognise the neighbourhood I grew up in.  Everything is much older here and there's many unfamiliar sights to take in.  Walking up to a newsstand, I look at a paper to get my bearings and almost choke seeing the date.  What I thought was a dream could be a memory, a segment of my past brought forward.  Could it really? Rushing back to the house, I peer through the window to see a woman and a man talking & laughing together before disappearing upstairs so I move on before I'm likely to be reported, but, at least now I have the first piece of the puzzle.  They look vaguely familiar somehow but I need to find out more.

Later in the day, a man arrives at the house.  I'd been doing a little research and reconnaissance about the area and headed back to see what else happens. This time it's a different man, he appears to be the man of the house and while cordial, almost friendly, I could see there was a clear tension between the two.  Was he even aware of the affair? If so, had it ever been mentioned? The scenario before me versus what went on previously has left little to the imagination.  

2009

Coming back to the present with more questions than answers, I to go back to the house to see what I find.  As I walk up the path there's a sudden chill from out of nowhere and I pull my jacket a little closer.  The house has been empty for some time, but was easy to get into.  Moving up the stairs I find the master bedroom, the atmosphere is still eerie but curiosity now had the better of me and I wanted answers badly.  Looking in the mirror brings the biggest shock of them all.  Instead of seeing my own reflection, I see husband staring back at me, then the sudden door closing and a man’s voice shakes me from my vision.  "I wondered when you might show up again." He said.

It's the old man who's lived over the road.  He invited me back to his house and there told me a story about a couple who lived in the old house ages back when he was very young, namely a young woman married to a high profile a lawyer who was an alcoholic and a gambler.  So it was rumoured anyway, they looked the picturesque couple to everyone they met.  However, behind the scenes there was almost constant turmoil and she was indeed having an affair with his brother who was a local cop.  One day there was report of an apparent murder-suicide as the woman met with her husband in an out-of-the-way alley.  The only witness was a local cop, who happened to be the man she'd been having an affair with (I knew from the description matching the first man I had seen at the house).  Since there was a note, while widely talked about in the community, it was generally accepted at face value although it was never totally clear who shot who first or why.  With some pieces falling into place and fresh leads to take up, I had to go back, so I did.

1929

This time I walk into a new scene.  It's dark and while there is a lot happening around me, what catches my eye is a couple disappearing off to one side.  Following them, I stand in the shadows watching as they chat quietly and embrace.  Now I start to understand what is happening but before they are are finished, there's a shot from out of the shadows on the other side.  The woman screams and the man (me) falls to the ground. There's more shots fired and she falls next to him and a man walks out with gloved hands and places the gun in my hands with a note in my pocket.  Horrified at the events unfolding in front of me, I realise I've just witnessed my own murder and now the image in the mirror makes sense.  How could I have not seen this? The man I trusted the most, my own brother killed me and my wife after evidently realising that she was never going to leave me for him and now I'm reliving this as a new incarnation.

1929 & 2009

I'm shocked at the revelation, but maybe I can learn to live with the memories that reside within me.  At least now I understand what has happened / is still happening.  As I walk away I start to hear music, the tune is old but also very familiar and I hear a voice speaking to me.  "Open your eyes Nicholas".  I open my eyes back in the suite.  "What?!" Across the room, I see my therapist with a glass of whiskey in one hand and a gun in the other..