Shattered reality

Whispers in the dark

The days had grown longer for Emma, each one a blur of fear and confusion. Since the night she'd seen the figure in the woods, sleep had become an enemy, offering no rest, only the haunting echoes of Lily's voice and the unbearable weight of guilt. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw that figure—Lily's face, but not Lily's eyes—staring at her from the edge of the forest.

Her parents were growing more concerned with each passing day, their worry evident in the way they spoke to her in hushed tones, as if afraid that raising their voices might shatter what little was left of her fragile peace. They didn't understand. How could they? They hadn't seen what she'd seen. They hadn't heard Lily's voice calling to her from the darkness.

It started again on the seventh day after the body was found at the quarry. Emma was sitting alone in her room, her homework spread out in front of her, untouched. The pencil in her hand trembled as she stared at the blank sheet of paper, her mind too fogged with fear to focus on the mundane task of solving equations. The room was quiet, the only sound the faint ticking of the clock on her desk, counting down the seconds to another sleepless night.

She was just about to put the pencil down when she felt it—an icy breeze that swept through the room, raising the hairs on the back of her neck. It shouldn't have been possible; her window was closed, the air outside stifling and still. But this wind carried with it a sense of something else, something... familiar.

"Emma..."

The voice was a whisper, soft and distant, but unmistakable. Emma's heart skipped a beat, her breath catching in her throat. She spun around, eyes wide, searching the room for the source of the voice.

"Lily?" she called out, her voice barely more than a trembling breath.

But there was no answer. The room was as it had been—silent, empty. Yet, Emma could feel it, a presence lingering just out of sight, like a shadow at the edge of her vision. She stood up, her legs unsteady, and moved toward the window, her hands shaking as she pulled the curtains aside.

Outside, the night was dark and still. The trees loomed like silent sentinels, their branches swaying gently in the breeze. For a moment, Emma thought she saw something—a flicker of movement among the trees. She leaned closer, squinting into the darkness, but there was nothing there. Just shadows.

She let the curtain fall back into place, her heart sinking. Maybe it was all in her head. Maybe the stress, the fear, the endless worry had finally gotten to her. But just as she was about to turn away, her phone buzzed on the desk, the sudden noise making her jump.

She grabbed it, half-expecting to see another text from her parents or one of the other kids from school who had been checking in on her. But when she looked at the screen, her blood ran cold.

It was a message from Lily.

Emma's hand shook so violently that she nearly dropped the phone. It wasn't possible. Lily's phone had been turned off since the day she disappeared. But there it was, her name on the screen, followed by a single word that sent a chill down Emma's spine:

*Help.*

Emma stared at the message, her heart pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears. She didn't know what to do—she wanted to respond, to ask where Lily was, what had happened, but her fingers wouldn't move. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind: Was this some kind of sick joke? Had someone found Lily's phone and was trying to mess with her? But deep down, she knew the truth. It was Lily. It had to be.

Before she could decide what to do, another message appeared:

*I'm so cold, Emma. I'm so scared. Please help me.*

Tears welled up in Emma's eyes. The words felt like a knife in her heart, twisting with every syllable. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. All she could do was stare at the screen, her vision blurring as the tears spilled over.

"Lily..." she whispered, her voice cracking.

She tried to type a response, but her hands were trembling too much. The phone slipped from her grasp, falling to the floor with a soft thud. She scrambled to pick it up, but before she could, the room grew colder, the air thickening with a sense of dread that pressed down on her like a weight.

"Emma..."

The voice was louder now, clearer. She spun around, her eyes wide, and there she was—Lily, standing in the corner of the room, her face pale, her eyes hollow and filled with a sorrow so deep it seemed to consume her.

Emma gasped, stumbling backward, her back hitting the wall. "Lily?" she choked out, barely able to speak through her sobs.

Lily didn't move, didn't speak. She just stood there, her figure faint, almost translucent, as if she were made of smoke. But her eyes—those eyes that had once been so full of life—were empty, lifeless, like the eyes of the dead.

"Emma... I'm lost," Lily whispered, her voice breaking as she took a step forward. "I can't find my way back. Please... don't leave me."

Emma's heart shattered at the sound of her friend's voice, so full of pain and fear. She reached out, her fingers trembling, but as soon as she moved, Lily seemed to flicker, like a candle flame in the wind.

"I'm trying, Lily," Emma sobbed. "I'm trying to help you, but I don't know how!"

Lily's face twisted in anguish, her form growing fainter, as if she were being pulled away by some unseen force. "Don't leave me, Emma... Please... I'm so scared..."

Emma could feel the tears streaming down her face, could feel the desperation clawing at her chest, but she was powerless to do anything. Lily was slipping away, fading into the darkness, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"No, don't go!" Emma cried out, but it was too late. In the blink of an eye, Lily was gone, the room once again empty, the air still and cold.

Emma collapsed to the floor, clutching her phone to her chest as sobs wracked her body. The pain was unbearable, the weight of it crushing her, suffocating her. She felt like she was drowning, lost in a sea of grief and fear, with no way out.

For a long time, she just lay there, curled up on the floor, her body trembling as she cried. But eventually, the sobs subsided, leaving her empty, hollowed out, like something vital had been ripped from her.

She forced herself to sit up, wiping at her tear-streaked face with trembling hands. Her phone was still in her hand, the screen dark. She didn't want to look at it, didn't want to see those messages again, but she knew she had to. With a deep breath, she unlocked the phone, her hands shaking as she pulled up the messages.

But they were gone.

There was no sign of the messages from Lily, no trace that they had ever existed. It was as if they had vanished into thin air, leaving Emma alone in the darkness, with nothing but the memory of her friend's voice echoing in her mind.

"I'm so scared..."

The words haunted her, replaying over and over in her head as she stared at the empty screen. She knew what she had seen, knew what she had heard. Lily was out there, somewhere, lost and afraid, and she was begging for help.

But how could Emma help her when she couldn't even help herself?

The night dragged on, each minute stretching into an eternity. Emma stayed awake, her eyes red and swollen from crying, her mind racing with thoughts she couldn't escape. She kept hearing Lily's voice, kept seeing her face—so full of pain, so full of sorrow. It tore at her, that image, cutting deep into her soul.

When the first light of dawn finally crept through the curtains, Emma felt no relief, no sense of comfort. The day brought with it no answers, only more questions, more uncertainty. She was lost, just like Lily, and she didn't know how to find her way back.

And somewhere, deep in the woods that had once been her playground, the shadows shifted and whispered, the darkness growing thicker, as if it, too, was mourning the loss of a light that had been snuffed out too soon.