Beep... Beep... Beep...
The sound pulsed through the sterile air —
steady, mechanical, and cold.
It was the first sound she heard as she woke, groggy and disoriented.
The room was faintly lit, shadows stretching long across pale walls. The sharp scent of antiseptic clung to the air — sterile, unfamiliar. Slowly, the girl stirred. Her eyelids fluttered, heavy, as if weighed down by sleep too deep to wake from.
Her breath caught. Everything felt wrong. The sheets beneath her were crisp and cool; a faint tug at her arm revealed a needle, a thin tube glinting faintly in the dim light.
Beep... Beep...
The sound grew louder now — not from the machine, but from her own awareness.
Muffled voices reached her through the haze, distant and blurred. Then—
"Clara?"
A girl's voice. Soft, scared, yet full of relief — like a trembling breath after a long cry.
It was closer now. Clearer.
And familiar. Too familiar.
The girl spoke again—softer this time, almost trembling. "It's me. It's Lily. Please wake up."
The voice drifted through the room again — soft, uncertain.
Her breath hitched. That name. She knew it.
But it couldn't be.
Her fingers curled against the bedsheet. No. That's not possible.
The sound came again, clearer now. "Clara, it's me."
Her chest tightened. For a moment, everything inside her seemed to freeze — time, air, thought.
The room didn't change. The light didn't flicker. But the world suddenly felt unreal.
Clara forced her eyelids open even though it hurt like hell, but it didn't budge as if glued tightly shut.
Clara tried again, dragging her eyelids upward. The light seared through the darkness, blinding and sharp. She winced, the faintest sound escaping her throat.
No!!
That was Clara's first thought when the girl's face came into view.
No because this wasn't real, she(the girl) wasn't supposed to be here, standing, living.
She died, it wasn't possible to come back to life so how — how was she here.
Lily's smile faltered the instant her eyes met Clara's. The joy on her face crumbled, replaced by something sharp and anxious.
"Clara, are you okay?" she asked, her voice trembling, arms reaching out as if to steady her.
Clara shook her head violently, Her chest rose and fell in uneven gasps.
"You're not real! No!" she cried, the words ripping out of her, raw and frantic. "You're not supposed to be here! I—I shouldn't—"
Her gaze didn't leave Lily's face. The worry etched into her sister's features, the warmth in her eyes—it made the horror in Clara's chest throb even harder. Her mind screamed against the impossibility, the memory of what should have been, of what had already been lost.
"You shouldn't be here," Clara whispered, voice shaking. Her eyes darted over Lily's features, searching for something wrong, something false. "You left… you died."
Her voice cracked on the last word.
Lily's hands tightened around her arms, gentle but firm, as if afraid Clara might slip away. "Clara, it's me," she said softly, pleading. "I'm here. It's okay—"
"No," Clara interrupted, shaking her head hard enough to make the world blur. "You're not real. You can't be. I saw— I remember—"
"Miss, please calm down," another voice said firmly.
Clara heard it, but it barely registered. Her mind was fixed on one impossible fact — her sister was alive when she was supposed to be dead.
"What happened?" the doctor asked, clipboard in hand, though his eyes stayed on Clara.
"She just woke up," Lily said, voice trembling, "and started screaming and crying... saying I was dead. That I wasn't real." Her voice broke, sorrow flickering across her face.
"It could be the shock," the doctor replied, tone steady and professional — the voice of someone used to hysteria. "After an accident, it's not uncommon."
"Christina," he called to a nurse who'd been standing nearby since Clara first woke up.
The nurse didn't respond with words. She only stepped closer and gently injected something into Clara's arm.
"What did you do to her?" Lily asked, fear tightening her voice.
Anesthetic," the doctor said calmly. "The screaming wasn't helping — her body is still weak, especially after surgery. She needs rest."
"Don't worry, Clara," Lily whispered, tears brimming. "Everything's going to be okay. You're just going to sleep for a bit... then we'll talk."
Clara barely nodded, eyes still locked on her sister — the ghost who wasn't supposed to exist.
And that was the last thing Clara heard before everything went black.