The Red String (Disturbing)

The Red String

It was dark. Nothing was visible, but there were these voices. It seemed distant, but I could hear the whispers. The voices were distorted. I couldn't understand what they were saying. The whispers then started getting louder and louder. As I hear them, there's this pressure that felt like piercing into my ears. I couldn't stand it. The pressure turned into a sharp pain. It felt like I was about to lose my mind. I couldn't see myself, but I felt my head violently shaking. Then, suddenly... My eyes opened.

I panted heavily. There was cold sweat running down my forehead. While still trying to catch my breath, I soon realized that I was lying on the ground and I was looking up at the sky. My breathing slowly returned to normal, but I let my eyes wander. The sky... it was clear. There were no clouds or birds, just nothing. I pull myself off the ground to try and see my surroundings. There wasn't much to see. There was this mist all around me. Then, on the ground, I realized I was sitting on a pile of red petals.

"What is this place?"

A strong wind blew some of the petals on the ground. I closed my eyes for a second. Then, I see one petal falling on my lap. Its color was mesmerizing. It got me curious. My hand moved close to the leaf. My fingertips were about to touch its surface, but something else caught my attention. There was a red string around my wrist. I held my arm up high. I noticed that this string was incredibly long. I tried to pull it, but it seemed like there was something on the other end.

"Should I follow it? It does seem to be leading somewhere. I wonder what's on the other side?" I thought to myself.

I pull myself up and started walking to follow the red string. While walking with my bare feet, I started noticing the ground. It looked similar to the sky, there was no color, not even the dark withered trees around this place. Everything was in shades of gray. The wind blew for the second time. My eyes squinted; rubbing my arms to keep myself warm. Nothing seemed real, but the sensation I felt was enough to doubt that everything was just a dream.

"What is going on?" I wondered. I hoped that the end of the string will give some answers.

As I continued to follow the red string, more black withered trees started to appear. Behind those black trees, there was a river. The odd thing about this river was that it didn't have a sound. I thought to myself, "Is this river really silent or have I gone deaf?" I breathed in and whispered to test my hearing, "Hello?" I heard my voice clearly. So, then, I thought, it was possible that I was just dreaming. While looking at the river from a distance, I suddenly realized something.

"W-Who am I?"

My eyes widened as I recited my own words from my thoughts. I tried to dig deep into my thoughts but there was nothing to remember. I was empty. I shook my head in disbelief, "I can't be in this place." I started to blame this monochromatic dream world; refusing to be part of something surreal.

"Sarah..." I heard a whispering voice right next to my ear.

I turned around and there was a girl standing right next to me. I stepped back a little and stared at her. She had black hair; above shoulder length. Her eyes were big and they were dark in color. I was a bit surprised by her presence, but I couldn't take my eyes off her. My eyes slowly looked down at her dress, then down to her feet. Her skin was almost white; there was no color, it almost looked the same color as her white dress. I got curious, so I looked down to see my feet. It was almost white, just like hers. And then, my dress... I looked back at her. We were wearing the same dress. I didn't know what to say. I was confused. But before I could react to anything, I saw her mouth moving. She whispered the name again, "Sarah." and pointed at the silent river. At the river, there was another girl in a white dress. She was lying down in the water facing up at the sky; motionless. My eyes widened in shock. The end of the red string was tied to her wrist. I approached her without a second thought. After I got to see her face, I gasped; covering my mouth with my hands after I took a glimpse of my reflection in the water. I stepped back and quickly looked back at the girl behind me. The three of us looked exactly the same. The only difference was that the girl in the river had a fair skin color.