A ghost you can't escape

My head felt like it was about to burst, not to mention the slight discomfort my ribs had. What really made me feel uncomfortable was the odd feeling of being dragged across the ground. Is this what almost drowning feels like? I found myself drifting in and out of consciousness, somehow whenever I opened my eyes the sky seemed different. One moment I'm lying on a patch of grass, and the next I’m underneath some trees. I thought nothing of it at first, at least until I heard a scruff voice.

“Ha…ha..God this girl is heavy…”

So I’m not crazy, I was being dragged through the forest. I wanted to fight to escape, but my body felt too weak. I ended up losing consciousness again, when I came too I was in a wheel barrel. I heard the scruff voice again, he sounded concerned.

“I smelled alcohol on her, so I don’t think she’s one of the ‘others.’”

“*Sniff* Poor thing, she looks so innocent and kind. What could’ve caused her to do something so stupid.”

“...Maybe her man left her.”

…Wait, do they think I was trying to off myself? What the hell are they thinking, and for your information I have no man. I tried to make a face of frustration, but I was too drained for that. At least I’m conscious enough to hear them talk. There were three distinct voices, meaning there were three people. On top of that, they mentioned “others”. This could mean they know something about the missing girls. Before I could finish my thoughts, my head became cloudy. I started to lose consciousness again, but before I did I heard footsteps moving towards the wheel barrel. My vision was blurry, but I know what I saw. It was a hand, a small green hand. I was right, it was those goddamned goblins!

****

I slowly opened my eyes, as I sat up I noticed I was dreaming. How did I know you ask, because I was laying on a bed that doesn’t exist in my world. Note to mention the room I was in had amenities and a view that shouldn’t exist. I looked down to see I was wearing a red set of pajamas, I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and pondered if he was playing tricks on me. I heard people enjoying themselves outside, so I got up and walked over to the window. There was a gorgeous beach, people were sunbathing, and swimming in a beautiful ocean. Why must I be tormented like this, I really could go for a vacation right now.

“Of course you would.”

I froze when I heard that, I was the only person in the room before. Suddenly I heard the sound of a TV turning on, I turned to see a recap of today’s events. Including me covering myself in cheap whiskey and falling off a cliff. Come on, I’ve had enough of this crap. Can you at least-

“-Turn the damn thing off. No, I want you to remember how badly you messed this up for us.”

Come on don-Huh? Us, what do you mean by us? That’s when I noticed them, the person the voice belonged to was sitting on the foot of the bed. They were covered in a blanket, and their frame seemed oddly familiar. That voice too, I’ve heard it before. I decided to walk up and unmask my-

“*Sigh* You really are an idiot, there’s no need to unmask me, but of course you fail to recognize who I am.”

“How the hell do you keep reading my mind?”

“Because we’re one and the same.”

The intruder removed the blanket from their head, and at that moment I was shocked. It was me, I was sitting there wrapped in nothing but a blanket. My doppelganger was shaking, probably because they were cold.

“Cold? Heh, I can’t believe how dense I am. I’m not cold, I’m in pain.”

“Pain? Pain from what?”

“Curious? Here, take a look.”

My doppelganger opened the blanket, and what I saw terrified me. Her body was translucent and cracked in multiple places. Seeing my expression she sighed, then she stood up and looked me in the eye.

“When I realized I was gonna fade away, I was praying it wouldn’t be painful, yet here we are. What did I do to deserve this, why did you have to replace me?”

“Replace? What’re talking about, I’m-”

“You’re my will, crystalized into a physical form, and living a completely different life than planned. This is what we want, no, this is what I want.”

I froze for a moment, I still had my previous memories so I assumed I was fine. However, this version of myself was really me. She’s the version that was erased, or rather what should’ve been erased.

“Heh, should’ve been erased.”

“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean-”

“It’s fine, you’re the manifestation of my greed so it makes sense you’d be like this. That said, can you do me a favor?”

“A favor?”

My dream self reached out her hand.

“Please hold me, I’m so cold.”

She made a pained expression, I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. I went over to give myself a hug, which soon turned into a big mistake. I immediately found myself in a suppression lock over my bed.

“Gack, what the hell, I was trying to-”

“Idiot, why stop at just warmth. Give me back what’s mine.”

Suddenly, a sharp pain flowed up my right arm. I turned my head to see my arm was slowly turning into glass. I began to scream, but the reverberations caused my body to start cracking. As I screamed in panic and pain, my original self began laughing.

“Hehehehe, you’re an idiot, you really flubbed it this time. Now then give it back.”

Soon I started noticing my memory was missing some things, I slowly started forgetting my mother’s face. Then that faceless woman turned to me, its face twisted into a dark vortex.

“No! Please stop, why are you doing this?”

“Why? It’s not fair, I lived in hell for so long and then you get to enjoy the fruits of my labor. It’s not fair, you don’t deserve to live my life. Give it back!”

My right arm broke off, and I ran to the corner of the room in order to save myself. There I was, cowering in the corner, trying to escape myself. She walked over to me with a sadistic smile on her face, her right arm no longer made of glass. Just when I thought it was normal, her arm began to twist in an abnormal fashion and into a cone shape. She pointed her arm lance at me, and bared her teeth as if announcing victory.

“If you submit, I’ll allow you a backseat in my mind. What do you say?”

“*Huff huff*....F*** you, that’s what I-”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence, the left side of my vision became dark. That’s when I noticed her right arm was gone, and on her face was a scowl.

“You’ve chosen the hard way.”

I screamed as she moved towards me, and from the pain of the glass spear penetrating my head. I was terrified, I wanted to go home immediately. I wanted to forget about all this and live a doll-like life, because in the end I didn’t want to die. Soon she stood over me, her face was dark. I decided to just resign myself to my fate, but unlike what I imagined she didn’t hurt me.

“Good you finally understand.”

Huh? Just like that, I was back in bed like nothing happened. Laying next to me was my original now in a white set of pajamas. Her next words haunted me.

“I was right, I’m still in there. Listen, I’m going to get some well deserved sleep. Please heed your own advice and just go home.”

With that, my original self clapped her hands. The day turned to night, and then into a black void. Soon the room began to turn dark, until eventually I was all alone. I floated around in the dark void, until eventually gravity returned. I began falling at high speeds, to where I had no idea. Soon the dark void turned into the sky, I was plummeting to the ground. Suddenly I found myself seconds away from impact, praying that I won’t die if I died in my dream.