Ever since that vivid dream, the one where a sweet, familiar boy named Ace was by your side, something in your world has felt slightly off. He wasn’t a fantasy figure. He didn’t have powers. He was just real. Real enough to make you laugh, to hold your hand on a roller coaster, to walk beside you at school like he’d always been there.

The strange part?

You knew him. Not just in the dream, but in your bones. His presence felt like coming home.

When you wake up, everything is normal. Your room, your school, your bus driver, all exactly the same as they were in the dream. But Ace is missing. No one remembers him. There’s no student with that name. And yet the feeling lingers. His seat on the bus feels too empty. A laugh in the hallway sounds just like his. You swear you saw him out of the corner of your eye once, but he was gone in a blink.

That’s when things start shifting. Notes in your locker signed with an A. A blurry photo in your camera roll you don’t remember taking, and it’s him. Same black hair, same vibe, just faceless. Familiar.

And then, one day, during a real-life field trip to Busch Gardens, the same one from your dream, you see him.

Just for a second. Standing by the entrance. Looking right at you.

Smiling.