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snowflakeanimelover · 13 days ago

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Author’s Note: so uh…this is an original story, from me of course :D it’s based off of a prompt I found on Pinterest. Feel free to take a read and give me some feedback! There’s really no intention of continuing it, unless people really want it lol. It’s a short story, most like a one-shot. I won’t say much, but it’s full of mystery and some creepy vibes. Enjoy!

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL OR RE-POST ANYWHERE ELSE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. Thanks.

Prompt: You wake up one morning and check your phone. You have one text saying “It’s not real. None of it. Trust no one. Escape.” You dismiss it and leave your room to find your family lined up facing you, each with a slight frown. “You didn’t see anything strange this morning, did you?” Asks your mom.

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All But A Dream

She remembers it vividly. People in her home, smiling and being friendly. Her family. Her parents telling her dinner is ready, and her siblings eager to explain their day as everyone sat around the table. It was normal. It was fun and familiar. But…why couldn’t she see their faces?

Sophia’s body begins its wake, all of her senses slowly coming back to her as she peels her heavy eyelids open. Her bedroom was bright, covered in the morning glow of the sun through the open window. A dream. That’s all it was. Sophia usually can’t remember her dreams when she wakes up. Sometimes she does, and this one in particular she certainly does. It was weird, however. Everyone in her dream were so familiar and so comfortable, yet she couldn’t see their faces. Just blank canvases, ready to be painted.

With brows furrowed in confusion, Sophia sits up in her bed. Her gaze roams around her room, nothing in particular to look at as she thinks about her dream. It didn’t make sense, yet it did at the same time.

She’s read about this before, if she recalls. The internet explaining certain dreams people can have. Such as the fact every stranger you see in your dream is actually someone you have met before. Or, that feeling of falling in your dream, only for your body to jolt back awake, just so it can make sure your brain is working correctly to keep you alive. She’s never read anything about blank faces in dreams, though. Maybe she’ll look it up later.

Sophia jumps back to reality when she hears a loud knock on her door, almost sounding like an impatient bang. “Hey! Wake up, Soph!” The voice says on the other side, and she realizes it’s her sister, Jessica. “If you need the bathroom, use it already. I need to take a shower.”

“Okay! I’ll be there in a minute!” she calls back, letting out an irritated groan from the obscene knock on her door.

Sophia pushes the blankets off of her body, bringing her legs over to hang off the side of her bed. The first thing she does when waking up is to check her phone, making sure none of her friends have messaged her. Unplugging her phone from the charger, she picks up the device that laid on her bedside table, watching as the screen lights up in acknowledgement. She scrolls on the lock screen, curious to see what notifications she had received throughout the night. One, in particular, caught her attention. An unknown number in bold letters on her screen, that has been sent barely a minute ago.

The roll of her eyes was expected. Sophia receives spam messages or calls almost daily. Something she has asked her mom multiple times to stop the annoying interruption of her day. And as much as they have tried, it seems that everyone with a device gets them. With a sigh, she logs into her phone and heads straight to her message app, ready to delete the unknown number and report it. However, just as she’s about to do that very task, the words written under the number are certainly…not normal.

UNKNOWN NUMBER

“IT’S NOT REAL. NONE OF IT. TRUST NO ONE. ESCAPE.”

A chill runs down her spine as she reads the creepy message. Was this some kind of joke? A prank her friends decided to pull on her? They’ve never done something like this to freak her out, and it’s not even close to Halloween.

“Sophia, come on!” A whine comes from the other side of her door, practically startling her.

She lets out a breath to calm her racing heart, turning her gaze to her closed door. “I got it! I’m coming!” She calls, shutting her phone off and setting it back on her bedside table, before leaving her bedroom to the main floor of the house.

The smell of bacon wafts in the air instantly, bringing a smile to Sophia’s face. It was a good morning, she could tell, just by the fact that her mom is making them breakfast. However, just as she steps into the living room to see what everyone was up to, she pauses.

There, in the middle of the room, stood her family. All of them in a perfect line, facing her. Sophia’s smile falls at the unnerving sight, confusion quickly replacing it. Her parents, her little brother, and her sister all held a small frown, standing completely straight and calm. Like robots.

“You didn’t see anything strange this morning, did you?” Her mom then asks, a hint of sternnes in her tone.

Sophia hesitates. What did she mean by that? Not once has she ever heard or seen her family act this way. Was she in another dream? “U-Um…” a mere sound leaves her lips. Her mind spiraling on what to say. And for some reason, she felt that mentioning the text message was not a good idea. “No…? Is there…something wrong?” If theres one thing Sophia is good at, it’s lying. She never thought that being in a drama club in her school would come in handy.

Her whole family seems to relax, letting out breaths of air as if they were relieved. “Oh, good. We were just worried, honey,” her mom says, pressing her hand to her chest as if to calm her racing heart. “Jess said you were in there for a while, and we didn’t know what to think.”

A lie, she could tell. Sophia hasn’t read many books, but this whole situation just didn’t feel right. The unnerving question her mom asked earlier didn’t really make sense to what she’s saying now. It’s as if…they knew Sophia had received that creepy message earlier.

Shaking those thoughts out of her head, to come back to reality, Sophia turns and heads back to her bedroom. She closes the door behind her, grabbing her phone faster then she can think. That creepy message from the unknown number was a spam, she originally thought. But now…now she isn’t so sure.

Sophia’s thumbs trembled as she returned to her messages app, looking for that unknown number to respond to it. To ask questions, understand what was going on. However, as soon as she clicks into the app…the unknown number is gone. She doesn’t see it anywhere, no matter how many times she scrolls to the very bottom of the list, and checks through the options on the side.

This has to be a prank.

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The bell rang for the tenth time that day. It was an exaggeration, but it sure felt like it. Sophia feels that, even when she graduates high school, she’ll hear the school bell for the rest of her life. Sometimes, she wonders if the other students in her school felt that way, but its not something she’d bother to ask.

Sophia steps into the busy cafeteria, smelling the different aroma’s of the foods the cafeteria is providing, or the the lunches the kids bring themselves. Her gaze roams over the large room, eventually finding the certain people she was looking for.

“Hey,” Sam nods at Sophia in a casual greeting, grabbing some napkins from a nearby food stand to add to his tray of food. “‘Bout time you made it.”

The tease was light, gentle, and familiar. He often thinks he’s funny, and Sophia tends to not burst his bubble. However, she does roll her eyes in response. “My class is on the other side of the school,” she complains, which is a fact her friends already know about.

“Well, you’re lucky I grabbed an extra cupcake for yah,” Cassy grins, who was standing beside Sam the entire time with her own tray of food.

Sophia’s expression brightens at that, and she takes the cupcake from her trey far quicker then she intended. “I didn’t know they were doing cupcakes today!” She beams. “You’re the best, Cassy.”

Cassy takes the praise to heart, as always, and flips her hair over her shoulder dramatically. “Always, girl.”

Sam, on the other hand, shakes his head. “You didn’t watch the morning announcements?”

“She never does, Sam. She’s always on her phone,” Cassy retorts.

Sophia is quick to pout, following her friends to an empty table nearby. “I do, too! Sometimes…”

Sophia and her friends soon fall into a comfortable conversation between eachother, full of jokes, laughter, and familiarity. The buzz of students around them seems to zone out, as if they were in their own little world. Sophia loved this part of her life. Talking to her friends, enjoying time as if they had no worries, unless homework deadlines are brought up.

In the midst of their conversation, Sophia feels her phone vibrate, indicating a notification. Curious, she grabs her phone from the table top and looks it over, seemingly zoning out her friends for a moment.

Another uncomfortable chill runs down her spine at what she sees, her gaze quickly glancing to her friends to see if they noticed, before turning back to her phone. The unknown number was back.

UNKNOWN NUMBER

“THE TREE ON THE LEFT.”

The tree on the left? What in the world could that even mean? Sophia couldn’t help but to bring her blue irises up to roam over the room. She looks around, confused and unnerved by everything that’s been going on today. Her gaze eventually lands on the large windows in the cafiteria, the school back yard on the other side.

A few students were sprawled out on the grass, either on the ground or on tables to eat their lunches. Sophia’s brows furrow in even more confusion, not really getting what the message was telling her. Then, she sees it. In the distance, there was one lone tree on the left of the property. No one was really that far from the school. In fact, she’s never seen anyone go back that way…

“Hey, are you listening, Soph?”

Sophia whips her head to face her friends so fast, she felt dizzy. She felt like she was caught doing something she shouldn’t have, instinctively turning her phone to where they couldn’t see the screen. “Huh?”

Cassy raises a brow, curious and rather annoyed her friend hasn’t been listening to her yap. “Were you even listening?”

“Oh…uh, sorry,” Sophia gives her friends an apologetic smile, knowing she couldn’t really lie that she was listening. They’ve already caught her, so why try?

“Geez. Got a boyfriend or something? That who you’re texting?” Sam then asks, stuffing a cold fry into his mouth.

Sophia grimaces at the thought, never particularly interested in being in a relationship, unlike Cassy. “What? No.”

“Then whats so interesting on your phone?” Cassy asks, leaning over slowly to peak at her screen.

“Nothing,” Sophia responds rather too quickly as she keeps her friends from seeing the screen. “Sorry, it’s just…my mom texted me, is all.”

“Oh.”

“Oh, makes sense.”

They both shrug, seemingly going back to their conversation. Sophia lets out a sigh she didn’t realize she was holding, her gaze falling on her phone screen once more. Lunch was almost over, so, she decided to make this quick.

SOPHIA

“WHO ARE YOU? YOU’RE FREAKING ME OUT.”

UNKNOWN NUMBER

“GO TO THE TREE.”

The unknown number responded so fast, Sophia could barely process her own message. She blinks, furrowing her brows at the screen. This was starting to get frustrating, to say the least. An unknown number is really starting to creep her out. Just as she looks back out the windows, to the lone tree in the distance, the bell for lunch to be over echoes in the room.

Sophia bites her lip in worry, the nerves prickling her skin the longer she thinks about this. Half of her brain is giving her alarm bells, telling her to ignore the message and go back to her normal life. The oither half is telling her to do as the unknown number says. To seek truth and meaning behind them. And what do most people do in horror movies? Make the wrong decision.

“I’ll see you guys later.” Sophia tells her friends, grabbing her backpack and slinging it over her shoulders, rushing to get out of her seat. The crowd of students was starting to get suffocating as they all clean up and head to class.

“What? Oh, uh…sure,” Cassy gives her friend a curious yet worrying expression, watching as Sophia disappears into the sea of students.

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Once again, no matter how many times she checks her messages, the unknown number is gone. It disappeared from her inventory, and she just doesn’t understand why. How is it even doing that, when she’s not the one deleting it?

The walk to the tree only took a couple minutes, and she couldn’t help but to constantly look over her shoulder. She felt like she was doing something terrible. As of she’d get arrested for it if she got caught. Obviously, she’s overthinking the possibilities, but she is skipping class. No, she’ll just be late. She’s just going to check this tree out, then head back.

The thoughts running through her mind slowly dissipate the closer she got to the tree. Well, for some reason, it looks as if the tree was getting farther and farther away. Sophia freezes in her tracks, tilting her head to the side a little as she stares at the tree. Is it just her, or is the distance between her and the tree not changing at all?

UNKNOWN NUMBER

“KEEP GOING.”

The vibration from her phone startles her, a gasp escaping her lips. She lets out a relieved sigh when she realizes its just her phone, and checks the message. A frown falls on her face as she reads the demand, ultimately getting irritated with this unknown number.

This situation was only confusing her more and more, as time passes. Maybe the unmoving distance between her and the tree is just her mind playing tricks on her. Maybe the tree is genuinely farther then she thought? If she kept going, she might end up missing the rest of the school day, and her parents would be pissed at her for skipping classes.

Honestly, she should have ignored the messages from the start. What if she gets in trouble? Or, maybe this person who’s messaging her is trying to kidnap her? Panic rises in her system with that last question, and she looks over her surroundings in worry. Shit, is this what this is? Is she going to get kidnapped?

The longer she stands there, though, the more she realizes she’s simply just going crazy. And instead of doing the right thing, which is turning around and heading back to her school, she angrily taps her thumbs against the digital keyboard on her phone.

SOPHIA

“I CAN’T, THE TREE ISN’T GETTING ANY CLOSER.”

SOPHIA

“I DON’T GET IT. WHATS HAPPENING?”

With no response, even after waiting a little while longer, she lets out a groan and begins to stomp forward. “I swear. If this is just a big waste of my time…” her words trail off, a warning to whoever could somehow hear her.

It only took a few steps before she involuntarily hits something. Sophia yelps in pain as her face slams into something hard, and she falls back. She’s quick to bring her hand up and rub her sore nose, tears welling up in her eyes as discomfort erupts in her face. “What the hell was that?!” She barks out in irritation.

However, when she looks up, the tree is no longer so far away. In fact, its right in front of her. Now she was way more confused then earlier, and the more she looks at the tree, the more she notices something else. The tree is flat. The tree, the sky…it was hard to tell, but she can see it. The way it ends at the ground, an outline of…a wall?

Sophia scrambles to get on her feet, her hand hesitantly touching the ‘tree’. But her hand gets pressed up against something solid, flat…not a tree. It looked like a painted wall, as if the sky and tree, and whatever else thats in the distance, is fake. It was slightly warm to the touch. A texture of noise on the wall. It looked a lot like a computer or a TV. A screen?

UNKNOWN NUMBER

“OPEN THE DOOR. BE QUICK.”

“A door? What door–” her words cut short when her eyes land on a dark line on the wall. She follows it, watching it form into a rectangle. Her blue orbs follow the line to the top, and then back down to the bottom. There, she sees a handle.

It takes her a moment to really process what the hell was going on, but she involuntarily reaches out, grabbing the handle and pushing it down. A click sounds, and the wall moves. A door opening towards her as she pulls on it.

Light floods into the darkness behind the door, and she’s froze in shock. What’s behind the door is a hallway, with concrete floors and heavy metal walls. Tubes, pipes, and other electrical things align the walls. She couldn’t see where it lead off to, since it eventually ends at a corner, from what she can tell.

Sophia couldn’t believe it. This wall, from what she has always believed to be trees, mountains, and land all these years…it’s all fake? And, somehow, this unknown number knows about it. Are they in this place with her? Or somewhere else? What is this place? Was anything real? Is…she real?

Once again, Sophia can’t find the words for whats going on. She can’t even think on what to do. Go back. Ask her parents about this. Ask anyone about this. Or…

Go inside, and never look back.

And that’s exactly what she does, the door shutting behind her as she enters the dark hallway.

TO BE CONTINUED…?

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