Chapter 2 - We ran.I didn't ask questions.
I didn't turn around.
Silly dragged me through the bushes while branches whipped across my face.
Behind us, something moved through the forest.
Fast.
Far too fast.
I could hear footsteps.
Bare feet slapping wet earth.
Then came the voice.
My voice.
“Hurry!”
I nearly stopped.
“That's me.”
“No, it isn't!”
The footsteps became louder.
The voice screamed again.
“Silly!”
My sister's grip tightened.
“Don't answer it.”
I glanced behind us.
Between the trees, I saw a figure.
It stood perfectly still.
It looked like me.
Same shirt.
Same height.
Same face.
But its head was tilted at an impossible angle.
I stumbled.
Silly yanked me forward.
“Keep your eyes ahead!”
We finally reached the road.
The moonlight struck us.
The figure disappeared.
I bent over, gasping.
Silly didn't stop.
She kept walking until we were several hundred meters away from the tree.
Then she turned.
“Did you look back?”
“Yes.”
Her face hardened.
“You shouldn't have.”
“What the hell was that?”
She said nothing.
“Silly.”
Still nothing.
“You took me into the forest, lit incense, put a mirror against a tree, held a creepy doll against your stomach, and then a fake version of me chased us.”
She rubbed her face.
“I knew this would happen.”
That sentence made my blood run cold.
“You knew?”
She looked at me.
“I knew something would happen.”
“That's not what you said.”
She turned away.
I grabbed her shoulder.
“What are you hiding?”
She stared at me for several seconds.
Then she reached into her bag.
She pulled out the mirror.
The same mirror she had placed against the tree.
I frowned.
“How did you get that?”
“I took it back.”
“You had time to do that?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
She looked at the mirror.
“There was something in the reflection.”
“What?”
She didn't answer.
I looked into it.
At first, I saw myself.
Then Silly.
Then the road.
Then the forest.
But something was wrong.
There was a third figure standing behind us.
A little girl.
Barefoot.
Her hair covered her face.
I turned around.
Nobody.
I looked back into the mirror.
She was still there.
Silly snatched the mirror from my hand.
“She followed us.”
“Who is she?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
Silly took a slow breath.
“Her name is Mai.”
I had never heard that name.
“Who is Mai?”
Silly looked toward the forest.
“She was my friend.”
“When?”
“When I was twelve.”
My stomach tightened.
“You never told me about her.”
“Because she died.”
“How?”
Silly's eyes shifted.
“She disappeared near that tree.”
I stared at her.
“Disappeared?”
“They found her shoes.”
“That's it?”
“And her doll.”
The same kind of cloth doll Silly had carried tonight.
I felt cold.
“Why did you bring me there?”
“Because the tree doesn't take strangers.”
“What does it take?”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Family.”
We stood in silence.
A minute later, my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Static.
Then breathing.
A child's voice whispered:
“Don't let Silly finish the ritual.”
I hung up.
Silly saw my face.
“Who was it?”
“I don't know.”
She took my phone.
The call log showed something impossible.
The number that had called me belonged to my own phone.
My own number.
Then another message appeared.
A photograph.
I opened it.
It was a picture of us standing beside the tree.
Taken from behind.
Timestamp:
12:00 AM.
But our picture had been taken only a few minutes ago.
Silly stared at the screen.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
She zoomed in.
Behind us stood the little girl.
Mai.
And one other person.
An old woman.
Silly whispered:
“She shouldn't be there.”
“Who is she?”
Silly's voice trembled.
“My grandmother.”
I stared at her.
Our grandmother had been dead for nine years.
Then another notification appeared.
A voice recording.
Duration:
00:01.
I pressed play.
There was only one sentence.
May you like
My own voice whispered:
“Come back.”
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