Echoes of you

The Edges of Reality

The sky outside was a perfect blue, unmarred by clouds, and the city below bustled with the kind of energy that thrummed with life. But to Sophie Miller, it all felt distant, as though she was watching from behind a thick pane of glass, disconnected from the world she was supposed to belong to.

She sat at her easel, paintbrush in hand, staring at the half-finished canvas in front of her. It was a landscape, an endless horizon filled with swirling colors—blues, golds, and deep, dark purples—like the edge of a dream she couldn't quite catch. Her fingers itched to add something more, something that would make sense of it all, but the answer refused to come.

Instead, all she felt was that same quiet emptiness gnawing at the edges of her mind.

Her phone buzzed on the table behind her, jarring her from the silence. Sophie sighed, wiping her hands on the old cloth draped over her lap, and glanced at the screen.

"Dinner tonight?"

It was Aiden, one of her closest friends, and the only person in her life who managed to pull her out of her head when the world felt too heavy. She considered the text for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip. Normally, she would have said yes without a second thought. Aiden had a way of brightening even her darkest days, his infectious energy pulling her back into the light when everything felt too far away.

But today, she hesitated.

She had been avoiding him more often lately. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him, but every time they met up, there was a question lurking in his eyes—something unspoken. He had asked once if she was okay, if she was lonely, and Sophie had brushed it off with a smile, telling him she was fine. But the truth was, she wasn't. She felt like a ghost in her own life, drifting through it without really touching anything.

Her thumb hovered over the screen as she debated her response, but then, in the stillness of her apartment, she felt it again.

A whisper.

It was faint, barely more than a murmur at the edge of her consciousness, but it was there. Can you hear me?

Sophie froze, her breath catching in her throat. Her gaze flicked around the room, her heart pounding as if waiting for something to leap out of the shadows. But there was nothing—only the soft hum of the city outside and the rhythmic ticking of the clock.

Her fingers curled around the phone, grip tightening. This wasn't the first time. The whispers had been haunting her for weeks now, creeping in when she least expected them. She had tried to ignore them, convincing herself it was just her imagination, but they were growing stronger. And with them came something else, something she couldn't explain—emotions that weren't hers.

Sadness. Longing. A heavy, aching sorrow.

"Who are you?" She whispered aloud, her voice barely more than a breath. She half-expected silence to answer her, the way it always did.

But this time, there was something else.

"I need you."

The words slammed into her mind, not just as sounds but as a sensation—an overwhelming wave of despair that left her reeling. Sophie gasped, her hand flying to her chest as if to steady her racing heart. It felt as though she had been hit by someone else's emotions—something too vast and too deep to belong to her alone.

And then, just as suddenly, it was gone.

The room was quiet again, still and ordinary, as though nothing had happened. Sophie stood frozen, every muscle tense, her pulse thudding in her ears. Her phone buzzed again, and this time she jumped, the sound startling her back to the present.

Her hands trembled as she looked down at Aiden's message again. She quickly typed out a reply.

"Sorry, I can't tonight. Something came up."

She set the phone aside and turned back to the easel, her heart still racing. The painting in front of her hadn't changed, but it felt different now—like there was something hidden beneath the surface, something she couldn't quite see.

Her brush hovered over the canvas for a moment before she set it down and stood, pacing across the room. The feeling was still there, lingering in the corners of her mind. She didn't know how to explain it, but she felt like she wasn't alone. There was someone—something—on the other side of a thin, invisible wall, trying to reach her.

She sank down onto the couch, hugging her knees to her chest, and stared out the window at the city below. The whispers had become more frequent lately, but that voice—I need you—it was the first time she had felt it so clearly. And it wasn't just a voice. It was a presence, a connection to someone else, like a thread that had been tied between them without her realizing it.

But who was he?

Her mind whirled with questions she didn't know how to answer, but one thing was clear: this wasn't going away. And it wasn't just her imagination.

For the first time in weeks, Sophie didn't feel like she was drifting. She felt awake. Alive.

And someone, somewhere, was waiting for her to find them.

XOXO

Kazaz111