"..."
The cries began as Akane approached the seemingly calm yet unsettling river. Above her, crows flew across the sky, their wings flapped against the suffocating silence of the forest.
Akane's breath was shallow, her heart pounding against her chest, but she held her gaze steady. Resisting the tug of fear that crawled up her spine. River of the departed, people called this place cursed-haunted by lost souls who had died in the water. But Akane didn't believe in curses. Ghosts didn't scare her. Not yet.
After all, if anyone was strong enough to face the truth, it was her. And if the river held even a whisper of what had happened to her sister, she'd listen until dawn.
She had come a long way, walking alone through the dense forest. Every step had felt like a journey deeper into the unknown, but she had to know.
The last time she saw Aruka, her sister had begged to come here alone to wash clothes. Akane had tried to stop her, but seeing that desperate, pleading look on her face, she give in. She shouldn't have. This place had always carried a strange reputation, but no one had thought it dangerous. Until now.
Something had happened. Akane couldn't shake the feeling it was because her sister insisted on going alone. No one came here by themselves. But her sister hadn't listened. And now... she was gone.
Akane tightened her grip on the flashlight, her eyes scanning the flowing river, searching for any trace of her sister.
Then, a glimmer of something in the water caught her attention.
She shifted her body, leaning closer, and carefully set the flashlight into her bag. A soaked item floated by half submerged. Akane's breath caught in her throat as she pulled it out. "Aruka's hairpin..." she murmured, disbelief creeping into her voice.
Her hands trembled, and her soft expression turned into a frown. How could she not be worried? Aruka was all she had left after their parents died in the earthquake. To lose her too... it felt impossible.
Akane shoved the hairpin into her pocket, pushing down the rising panic. She couldn't afford to break apart. Not now. She had to save her sister.
As she walked along the riverside, the air seemed to thicken, each step echoing too loudly in the silence. She felt something brush against her, an eerie, invisible presence, and the whispering began, faint at first, then louder, filling her ears with incoherent murmurs. Only she could hear it.
The light from her flashlight flickered, casting strange shadows across the trees. Something in her gut twisted.
She spotted a broken branch near the water's edge. Her heart quickened. As she stepped closer, her eyes locked onto a piece of torn fabric, caught on a broken branch. Akane's heart raced as she rushed to the tree, her hand trembling as she reached for it. The fabric was wet, faded with time, but unmistakable.
Her sister's scarf.
Akane pressed the fabric to her chest, taking in shallow breaths, her mind spinning. This was no accident. The air seemed to grow heavier, thicker, as though the forest itself was holding its breath. Her feet felt like they were sinking into the ground, the silence wrapping around her like a suffocating blanket. The cries had stopped, but there was something else-a presence watching her from the shadows.
She took the small mirror from her pocket with trembling fingers. She pointed it at the river, where the water was motionless and unmoving, reflecting just the sky. However, she believed she caught a glimpse of a movement that was just below the surface. Something out of place, a shadow.
Akane's breath quickened. The reflection warped and shifted as she leaned closer. In the mirror, a face appeared-pale, hollow-eyed, drifting in and out of vision in the mirror and the water. Her breath caught in her throat.
"Aruka...?" she whispered, her voice trembling as her hands tightened on the mirror. No... that can't be Aruka. Its must be a ghost who tried to trick her.
The figure in the reflection opened its mouth. Though no words reached her ears, its shape was unmistakable. It was calling her name.
Akane staggered back, the mirror pressing painfully against her chest. A cold chill crawled up her spine as the ground beneath her feet seemed to tremble, as if something from the river was trying to pull her in.
She looked down at her reflectionâpale and ghostly, right next to her sister's face, as if trapped in some twisted mirror. Akane's fingers tightened around the mirror's edge, its weight steadying her, even as a darkness seemed to pull her in.
The whispers grew louder, a haunting voices rising from the water, urging her to cross the thresholdâa place where life and death blur, where spirits linger, each with their own painful memory.
Suddenly, countless clammy hands emerged from the river, grabbing her ankles and pulling her toward the edge. Akane gasped and stumbled backwards as she felt them tighten, their touch like icy needles against her skin. She hissed, swinging the flashlight frantically before aiming it at the mirror, angling the beam to catch the ghostly hands.
The reflection distorted, revealing the hands as pale, a hollow-eyed faces clutching at her, their mouths moving soundlessly in the water. Their grip was relentless, dragging her inch by inch toward the water. Akane fought, kicking and struggling, her breath ragged, every instinct urging her to break free.
But the hands only tightened. Her flashlight flickered, casting long shadows across her face as she struggled. She dug her nails into the ground, feeling herself slipping as the river seemed to swell, like a dark mouth opening to pull her in.
"Aruka!" she screamed, her voice cracking. But the name seemed to echo back to her, warped and distant.
With a final, desperate lunge, she tried to break free, but it was futile. The last thing she saw in the mirror was her own terrified face, distorted and fading, before the hands yanked her down into the water, the cold rushing over her, pulling her across the threshold.