Echoes of Another Shore

She found the photograph tucked inside a secondhand novel.

Two people stood on a beach, hand in hand, their laughter frozen in time. The woman in the picture looked eerily like her—the same freckled nose, the same dimpled smile.

Heart pounding, she flipped the photo over.

“Find me again.”

No name. No date. A chill snaked down her spine.

That night, she dreamt of the ocean, of a man with storm-gray eyes whispering a name that felt like her own, yet wasn’t. She woke to a pillow damp with tears she didn’t understand.