Rachel.....
Rachel...
Wake up !...
RACHEL
WAKE UP!
Rachel's eyes fluttered open, her head heavy, as if she'd been pulled out of a deep, unnatural sleep. The room was dim, quiet too quiet. For a second, she couldn't understand why her heart was racing.
"Rachel!"
This time the voice was clear. It was of Julie.
Rachel blinked, trying to focus and then she saw her.
Julie stood a few feet away, near the bed, her face pale, her eyes wide with fear. She looked like she had been calling out for a while. Her eyes was proving that she saw which she shouldn't had to .
"Julie…? What's wrong?" Rachel asked, her voice slow and confused.
Julie didn't answer immediately. She just stared at Rachel, breathing unevenly, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"You… you weren't waking up,"
Julie finally said, her voice trembling and breaking . "I kept calling you."
Rachel frowned, trying to process it. "I was just asleep"
"No," Julie cut in quickly, shaking her head. "You weren't."
Rachel's chest tightened slightly.
She asked-
"What do you mean?"
Julie swallowed hard, glancing nervously toward the window before looking back at her.
"When I came in…" she said slowly, "you weren't in bed."
Rachel went still.
"You were standing there," Julie continued, her voice dropping, "right in front of the window."
A chill ran down Rachel's spine.
"That's not possible,"
Rachel said quickly, but her voice lacked confidence.
"I saw you," Julie insisted.
"Just… standing. Not moving. Not saying anything."
Rachel's mind raced. "Then how did I get back here?"
Julie hesitated.
"That's the thing," she whispered. "You didn't."
Rachel felt her breath catch.
"I called your name," Julie went on, her eyes still locked on Rachel, "and you didn't respond. You were just staring outside. Then suddenly…" she paused, "…you were here. In the bed. Like nothing happened."
The room fell silent.
Rachel slowly turned her head toward the window.
The curtains moved slightly, even though there was no breeze.
Her pulse quickened.
Because she didn't remember getting out of bed.
She didn't remember standing there.
But something about the way Julie said it…
Felt true.
Rachel stood frozen, Julie's words kept echoing in her mind.
You were standing there… in front of the window.
Rachel! You were right there .
I saw you there . You were there.
"That doesn't make any sense…" Rachel muttered, pressing her fingers to her temples as if she could force an answer out of her own thoughts. She began pacing the room, her breathing uneven, trying to remember—anything. Getting out of bed, walking, standing there… but her mind was blank.
"Think, Rachel… just think," she whispered to herself. What had exactly had happened with me . I saw a bad dream of a scary man and then I found Julie after waking up .
The harder she tried, the worse it got. A strange uneasiness crept in, like something was missing, something important. Her chest tightened, and a flicker of fear passed through her eyes.
Behind her, Julie suddenly burst out laughing.
Rachel stopped.
"What?" she snapped, turning around.
Julie was holding her stomach, laughing. "Relax! I was joking. You should've seen your face!"
Rachel stared at her, anger quickly replacing fear. "That's not funny, Julie. You actually scared me."
"Okay, okay, sorry!" Julie said, still chuckling.
Just then-
Thud.
The curtain by the window suddenly fell down.
Both of them flinched… and then, almost instinctively, started laughing.
"See? Now that's scary," Julie joked.
Rachel exhaled, shaking her head, trying to calm herself. "This room is just messing with us."
Julie's laughter faded a little. "No, but seriously… you were saying something in your sleep. That's why I kept calling your name."
Rachel frowned. "Saying what?"
Julie opened her mouth to respond
And stopped.
Something about her expression changed.
The air in the room shifted. The light felt… different.
Rachel's smile slowly faded.
"Julie?" she said cautiously.
Julie didn't answer.
Rachel took a step back.
Because suddenly
nothing felt right.
The room.
The walls.
Even Julie.
A strange realization hit her, not all at once, but in fragments like pieces of a puzzle snapping into place in the worst possible way.
This isn't right.
Her breathing quickened. She looked down at her hands ,something felt off, unfamiliar. Her surroundings no longer felt like home.
"Wait…" Rachel whispered.
Or… was she Rachel?
A wave of panic rushed through her.
She stumbled back, then suddenly turned and ran out of the room.
The hallway outside was unfamiliar , longer, darker, nothing like her house. The walls seemed slightly distorted, the silence heavier than before.
"This isn't my home…" she said, her voice trembling.
She ran further, her heart pounding were going to burst until she reached a mirror at the end of the corridor.
She stopped.
Slowly… she looked up.
And froze.
The reflection staring back at her-
Wasn't Rachel.
It was Julie.
Rachel's breath caught in her throat.
"No… no, this isn't possible…" She screamed loudly.
Her mind raced, trying to make sense of it, but the truth settled in like a weight she couldn't escape.
She wasn't where she was supposed to be.
She wasn't even… herself.
And wherever she was
It wasn't her world.
She was trapped.
In another reality.