The Building That Wasn’t

This story only ever has one ending.

When Everly Tertium encounters a strange man in the park claiming to be her grandfather, she is invited to visit a mysterious apartment building. There, she finds herself in a constant state of déjà vu, impossibly certain that she’s already lived through these moments, already been introduced to these people, and already visited all of these rooms and floors. So why does she have no idea what’s happening to her?

The longer she stays in the building, the more Everly becomes convinced there is more going on than meets the eye. Something is off, time seems to pass differently, and the people living there seem trapped. Slowly, Everly begins to wonder if she is trapped too. But would she even want to leave, if she could?

For readers who enjoy Vicious by V. E. Schwab, This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, and The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart.

Abigail Miles decided to dedicate her life to stories from a young age, leading first to majoring in creative writing in college and now to spending far too much of her time attached to her computer, composing stories and books. Abigail currently lives in Boston, where all her time (or very nearly all her time) is spent in some combination of writing books, reading books, baking, eating said baked goods, making tea to go along with said baked goods, drinking said tea while eating said baked goods and writing and/or reading said books. Sometimes she does actual work, too.

In 2021, she was part of a Tin House Workshop and has had short fiction published through various platforms, including Cold Mountain Review, Strange Fictions, Bending Genres, The Quiet Ones, Marathon Lit Review, and Bookends Review. The Building That Wasn’t is her first novel.