The Stranger We Let Stay

A disquieting clang shatters Elara Vance's world. It's the buoy bell, a sound once comforting, now echoing the unease twisting in her gut. A stranger, Dennis Croft, stands in her kitchen, humming a chillingly familiar tune, a vacant smile on his face as he offers her burnt toast. Elara's last memory is of a raging storm weeks ago. Now, Dennis claims to be her partner, weaving a shared history she can't recall, backed by friends who remember dinner parties she never attended, inside jokes she doesn't understand, and a coastal trip shrouded in a creeping dread.
Elara, a marine biologist, clings to the logic of the sea, but Dennis's presence unravels her ordered world.  He's a writer with no past, his stories laced with intimate details that feel alien, implanted.  Her friends corroborate his narrative, their reassurances only deepening her isolation.  A faded photograph surfaces—a beach bonfire, Dennis by her side, that same unsettling smile. But it’s the shadowy figure lurking in the background that chills her to the bone, a presence inexplicably tied to the gaping hole in her memory.
Driven by instinct, Elara begins an investigation, uncovering strange occurrences plaguing her coastal town of Port Blossom: disappearances, whispers on the wind, objects moving inexplicably in her home.  Local historian Dr. Silas Blackwood speaks of an ancient legend, the “Tide Stealer,” a creature that feeds on memories, leaving behind a human husk.  The legend’s details—violent storms, a shift in the town’s atmosphere—mirror Elara’s fragmented recollections.
Dennis's facade crumbles, revealing obsessive control. He manipulates her friends, isolates her, gaslights her into questioning her sanity. He anticipates her every move, controls her finances, even replaces her research with his own bizarre writings on the Tide Stealer.  The town itself seems to conspire against her, echoing Dennis’s version of reality.
A hidden room in her house reveals journals detailing a life she doesn't recognize — a past meticulously crafted by Dennis.  Within, she finds drawings of the shadowed figure, increasingly detailed, as though Dennis is conjuring it into existence. The drawings reveal a terrifying truth: the figure resembles Elara.
A suppressed childhood trauma—a near-drowning during a similar storm—surfaces, filled with unsettling gaps. Blackwood reveals the Tide Stealer doesn’t just steal memories, it replaces them, exploiting vulnerabilities. The storm, he explains, isn't just weather, it’s a gateway.
As another violent storm descends, Dennis’s true nature is revealed: not the Tide Stealer itself, but a vessel, emptied to become its host. The shadowy figure emerges from the ocean, a distorted reflection of Elara, her lost memories coalescing into a malevolent entity intent on absorbing her completely.
Elara’s battle is not physical, but psychological, a fight for her memories, her identity.  Armed with a newfound understanding of her past and the Tide Stealer’s nature, she uses her connection to the ocean to disrupt its power.  Her friends, finally awakened to the truth, join the fight, their combined will a shield against the entity.
Elara reclaims her memories, but the experience leaves her forever changed. The Tide Stealer is driven back, but not destroyed, lurking in the depths.  The buoy bell, once a source of dread, now tolls with resilience. Elara returns to the sea, a silent guardian against the darkness that continues to whisper on the wind, a constant reminder of the stranger they let stay.