SERIES WARNING:

* Mature language

* Scenes alluding to/containing violence

* Angst

Darkness surrounded me. It was oddly peaceful, like I was dreaming.

It went on for a while until I noticed a low humming sound. The sound increased in volume, eventually becoming something else entirely.

“How could you do this, James? What… What--?”

“What do you mean by that? I'm not the only one at fault. If you didn’t get in the way, then none of this would have…!”

At first, I had no idea what was going on. 

“If I didn’t stop you, you could have…!” 

I soon realized that a man and a woman were arguing right next to me.

My ears then picked up on rapid breathing from the woman.

“What if she’s dead, James? What if she’s dead? Fuck, what are we gonna do? What are we going to tell everyone?”

At that point, light seemed to enter my vision, reducing the darkness and leaving a white blur.

“Look, Alice!”

“Emma? Emma, darling, can you hear me? Are you alright?” the woman gently called out as I heard footsteps rush towards me. Soon, I felt gentle hands on my shoulders.

My vision gained clarity at that point. The first thing I noticed was a white ceiling as the person helped me to a sitting position.

I slowly turned to look around, and I realized I was facing someone I did not know.

“Emma, can you see mommy clearly?” the person spoke, confirming that it was the woman I had been hearing. She had moved her hands to my cheeks as she looked at me with concern. Her hair was short and blonde, and her eyes were blue. Her face was decorated with a few wrinkles, giving me the idea that she was probably in her forties.

“Who…” I wanted to ask who she was, but I had difficulty saying a word. Out of nowhere, I was struck by a sharp, excruciating pain that consumed me completely.

“You’re alright, darling. You’re alright,” the woman moved to support my back as she patted my head with a gentle smile on her face.

But something about it felt off.

‘Who the hell is this person?’ 

I moved to search for visual cues as I unconsciously shifted my gaze away from her and toward the other items in the room. My eyes then landed on the other person she was undoubtedly arguing with. It was a man who looked to be around the same age as her, but he had black hair. They also didn't look to be related. 

I paid him no mind as he didn’t matter at the time. I was already preoccupied with the pain which had me gasping in disbelief. 

‘What the hell happened to me?’

“Let me help you up, baby,” the woman sounded beside me. She moved to support me, slowly helping me get into a standing position.

I clenched my teeth as the pain grew unbearable. And while the woman was helping me get up, I noticed a couple of other things.

I was in some sort of bedroom. The room was a mess. There were a backpack, a few books, and a large number of clothes strewn all over the place. There were even beddings on the floor.

And to make things more off, the moment I was standing, my bare feet grazed on some form of sharp object.

Looking down, I noticed some kind of fragile material had been shattered on the floor. There were even traces of a red liquid on some shards. 

Right close to where I was.

‘Wait…’

“Come, Emma. Let’s go,” the woman told me. I decided not to pay it much attention, letting her lead me out of the bedroom.

‘Where am I?’

The corridor was unfamiliar.

Before I could even think of questioning everything around me, we entered a bathroom. The woman gently led me to a bathtub, which had a detachable shower head.

“Oh, no. Don’t sit. Stand,” the woman said when she noticed I was about to sit. Then she went for the shower controls.

“Ah!” the pain I was feeling seemed to increase tenfold the moment the warm water hit my form.

“We’ve been through this before, Emma. I need you to hold on. Be a strong girl for mommy,” the woman told me as she strengthened her grip on my arm.

I bit my lower lip to hold back a pained groan. I also had my eyes closed.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’ll be over soon.”

Some time later, as the pain began to dim, I fluttered my eyes open. I realized I was staring down at the bathtub, and I froze suddenly.

The water descending my still-clothed form was red.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll help you change out your clothes once we’re done here,” the woman’s voice sounded far away when she said that. I still had my eyes fixed on the bathtub’s floor because the red was not fading. 

I at first thought it was a bathing product the woman was using, but the consistency and the color was barely fading.

Something did not feel right. 

“Emma?” the woman called out when I began moving out of the bathtub. I wasn't concerned about the cold or the pain I was experiencing at the time. Something told me that there was something very wrong going on.

I was heading for the door, but then I paused when I came across the large mirror in the bathroom.

How could I have missed it?

‘My reflection…’

I was looking at a pale girl with short black hair matted to her head. There was also a swelling bruise on one of her cheeks. Parts of her body had bluish-gray marks. But aside from that.

‘That’s not me.’

The person in the mirror wasn’t me. What the hell was going on?

“Who is that?” I asked no one in particular. In fact, I flinched at the voice that came out of me. Also, the actions in the reflection mirrored mine.

I didn’t want to believe it. I just could not believe it.

Hence I aggressively began to touch my face.

“Stop it,” I said, noticing the reflection was still copying me. “I said stop. Stop it! Stop copying me!”

I felt like I was losing it because the reflection kept mirroring my every move.

“Emma?” The blonde woman who had been bathing me approached me.

And so I screamed.

“Emma!”

I stopped mid-scream, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by what was happening. Everything then turned dark as I went to the floor.