Supernatural thriller | Rising fashion influencer Rhea is gearing up for her runway debut, but her perfect world is upended when she finds herself haunted by a ghostly doppelganger.
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Twenty-four-year-old Rhea Patel has it all-the career in fash...
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Familiar whimpering and soft sobs echoed from a faraway corner of the space, interrupting the nearby sounds of Nolan's ongoing life review. I ignored the scenes and the images within, purposely allowing those memories that included me to be background noise. I needed to find the source of the whimpering.
Even through the haunting, black fog, I needed to find my way back to Rhea.
I turned my back to Nolan, refusing to lay my eyes on the increasingly grotesque physical condition of the once handsome man I used to love. As the seconds passed, his appearance continued to take on the results of his many forms of death. Even as the stank of decay permeated the vicinity and sticky drips of dark, thick blood poured from the wounds on his forearms, I refused to look. What my memory captured was plenty and brutal enough to hammer into my mind.
My walking quickly transitioned to a jog, and then a sprint as I desperately put distance between us. I had expected him to be at my back or on my heels, but relief came over me when I realized he didn't follow.
The whimpering increased, letting me know I was moving in the right direction and getting closer to the source. My imagination made out the other Rhea on the white tiles, a trail of smeared blood behind her as she pulls herself to the main exit.
However, when a mysterious light ahead spotlighted an entirely different scene, it stopped me in my tracks.
There I was. The other Rhea, sitting alone on the living room floor of my mother's apartment. The comfy teal couch at Rhea's back looked inviting, but she refused to use it. Her hair looked like a bird's nest and her bare face was red and puffy from hours of crying.
"I know this," I whispered to myself. This was a year before starting my UpTube channel. I was a teen, suffering from an intense feeling of loneliness after Mom and Dad's separation. On her lap teetered a dogeared Carl Jung book filled with his psychological theories. I remembered doing a detailed report on him in high school. And then I realized, "Why am I seeing myself from high school?"
A chill came over me, and when I turned to confront the source, the light went out. It came back on like a flip of a switch, but this time before me in the spotlight was the other Rhea older than the previous by a couple of years. She contorted her body into several poses for the camera on the tripod. She did her hair and makeup like the popular female celebrities that were trending.
"I know this!" The familiarity of the scene brought on a sense of excitement. This was the time I was preparing to upload the video of fashion model poses that went viral and started off my career. I remembered the positive responses I received, the online friendships I made, and all the love. This one video took me from my sad, lonely existence and launched me to the well-known and much-loved fashion influencer of today.
I couldn't help but smile.
Again, the light went out, encompassing me in blackness. When the lights came back on, my eyes quickly adjusted to the other Rhea again. This time she was curled up in bed with the human sized white teddy bear with pink eyes Nolan had given me as a gift. What was the special occasion that prompted such a present? "You don't need a special occasion to enjoy gifts. You deserve all the things that bring a smile to your face," was Nolan's response when I had asked. But this occurred at the beginning of our relationship when he had to go away for business.
