CHAPTER III - Under The Sheet

It is dark. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv0T4vmlH6q

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You remember lifting the sheet. Beyond it, another pair of hands rose with yours. Or just after yours. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm78KiCaX4Y

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You were no longer sure. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrhoNqwXlOv

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As the cloth passed between your faces, you reached to stop it. Your fingertips struck glass. The sheet kept moving on the far side.

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You remember the first strip of tape peeling off the damp wall. Another strip replacing it.

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Then darkness.

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Not the dark of a room at night. Thicker than that. As if someone has put a hand over your eyes.

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You reach for the light switch. You reach around the doorframe, the way you always do.

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There is no doorframe.

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You turn slowly in the dark with your arms out.

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You cannot find the door.

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You cannot find the bath.

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You take a step, and another, and you feel that you are not getting anywhere at all. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5PU5jlATd

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Somewhere, far away and muffled, there is a voice. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4cvMBdD1pR

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Your voice. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBrtu6sC8h

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You stand very still and listen. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YGqDdMz0E

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"...it moved when I didn't," your voice says. "I recorded it. I stood still, and it didn't." 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc40LYzjXuu

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A pause. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVBpchrRyS

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"No. I'm not drinking. I'm not taking anything." Your voice cracks. "I can't stop looking at it. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFRVWAhMom

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Even with the sheet over it, I can feel it looking at me." 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8R2Kv0FbkI

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Another pause. Then, very quietly: "Can I stay with you tonight?" 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcakEz0VHO

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Your sister. Your voice is talking to your sister. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiUEffTDND

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There is someone in your flat, and you are certain it is pretending to be you.

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──── ⸸ ❦ ⸸ ────

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You do not know how long you stand in the dark. Long enough to settle on the only explanation you can bear. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAs49uwxIA

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It got out. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw58ghHK1Du

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The thing in the mirror. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQozeVXAD6

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The one that stared at your back. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08zWHYHwwr

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The one that moved on its own.

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It got out of the glass, and now it is out there in your flat, with your face and your voice, telling your sister that you are the one who is wrong.

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You have to stop it.

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You stretch your hands out in front of you and walk until they touch something.

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Glass.

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Beyond it, a thin fold of cloth presses against your fingertips.

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You can see it when you lean close: a seam, a loose thread, a narrow line of light at the edge.

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You try to catch the thread. Your nail slides over a surface without texture.

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You push.

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Nothing gives. You spread both hands against the glass.

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On the far side, tape begins to peel from the damp wall. The sheet sags under its own weight.

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You press harder, though you cannot tell whether you are helping.

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A corner of the dark falls away.

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Light pours in.

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Through the gap, you can see your bathroom. Bright, ordinary, exactly as you left it.

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And standing in the doorway, holding a bag, is a person with your face.

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It is staring at you.

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Its mouth is open. Its eyes are wide. It has dropped the bag.

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It is staring at your hands, visible now through the uncovered glass, and it looks more frightened than anyone you have ever seen.

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You try to shout at it. Get out. Get out of my home.

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No sound comes.

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You lunge for the gap.

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Your hands hit something cold and flat and hard.

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In the doorway, the person with your face backs away. It snatches up its bag.

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A moment later, you hear the front door slam.

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You stand there with your palms against the cold, flat thing, breathing hard.

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The light is still on. It has left it on.

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You walk towards the bathroom door.

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You walk, and walk.

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The doorway gets no closer.

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