When Shadows Rise | I

Ch. 9 | Remember

🥷

The next time Talia opened her eyes, she was surrounded in a bottomless void. There seemed to be no way in or out, so Talia could not recall how she got here in the first place.

She tried calling out for her father, but the only reply she received was her crying echos. Her breathing begun to grow heavy and she could feel her intestines tying knots, as if she was anticipating for something to happen. The most dreadful part was not knowing when she would be suspended into a terrifying and ominous nightmare. Every step she took made her heart beat faster, the sweat clinging to her nape and palms like water to leaves.

Unexpectedly, lights turned on one by one, startling the young woman. They were all lighting up in the same direction, as if they were trying to guide Talia somewhere. But a voice in the back of her head kindly warned her against following the trail of light. 'What you may find at the end may not be to your liking.'

And Talia knew that she should give that little voice the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time, what good would she gain from lingering in a room of nothingness that only radiated gloom?

So with false bravery, she journeyed with the lights despite the cautions. There was only one way to find out what awaited her at the end. And who knows? Maybe it was her father or April.

Only except when the last light flickered on, Talia was puzzled to see the star of the show was a hospital stretcher. Even more, that puzzlement converted into horror when she realized there was a person resting on top.

And that person was none other than herself.

Talia stared at her doppelgänger as if it were some mutant creature that slithered out of her. Every detail was down to the tea— her olive skin gleamed like copper under the light; her hair— when Talia twirled a curly lock from her clone around her finger— felt real. A little too real. This replica also wore the exact same Star of David necklace around her neck, only instead of being dressed in a tank top and pink pajama pants, she was fitted into a loose hospital gown.

Where did this look-alike come from? None of this is making any sense! Talia didn't know what was going on, but the more she thought about it, the more she was seconds away from full-out panicking.

She did not have time to ponder over the matter because in an instant, her clone awoke from her slumber and seized her wrist. Talia gasped just as her doppelgänger's eyes shot open. Even the eye color was identical— two cloudy orbs of grey and light blue, ready to storm the night.

Her doppelgänger breathed, "You have to remember."

Remember what? What do I have to remember?

Bright flashes come and go, making Talia feel a vibe that she would describe as 'unfriendly.' Amidst the darkness, she could hear the faint sound of a conversation between a huddle of people, shivering when the noise reached a certain level of turbulence.

The shadows in front of her rippled violently, molding into what Talia could make out as human-like silhouettes. An eerie singing voice followed, which sounded like voices coming from the bottom of a well. A few figures shimmered to life, and while she did not recognize the majority of them, there was one that made her breath hitch.

". . .Imma?" Talia felt all the stops being pulled out. She thought she was hallucinating, but everything about her mother seemed too existent for her to notice if what she was seeing was an illusion or not. Her mother's hair was as curly as a princess's and her eyes held all the love and care in the world— just how they were when she would tuck Talia in every night when she was a little girl and say, "As long as I am here, no monster is going to get you."