Into the Dead(ON HOLD)

Chapter 3.

"You can close your eyes to reality,
But not to memories."
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Samara was sitting still on the bed of the hotel that she had randomly asked her cab driver to take her to.
She hardly managed to eat something. She felt nauseous just at the sight of food, and even when her stomach would be empty. Everything was just so sickening.

Her eyes slowly wandered across the big hotel room. The walls were painted a golden yellow colour with glittery flowers at the corner, giving it the perfect touch. The choice of oak coloured furniture gave the room a classy look. It wasn't so bad for a three-day stay. Her eyes landed on the big French window opposite to the bed. She slowly walked up to it. The view was mesmerizing. The city bloomed outside, the towers called out to her, it was colourful and sparkling. She felt at peace, and her mind decided to walk down the memory lane.

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"Happy Birthday Samara!!" Grace hugged her, smiling widely.

"Same to you, dear!!" Samara hugged her back; her face shining brighter than the sun.

"All is well, and will be forever." They held hands and prayed at heart, a tradition they could never forget.

It was a beautiful day in August. The cold wind outside the house chilled their spines but warmed their hearts.

The day passed on in a flash. At around evening, their grandparents came home. Grace brought in the beautiful cake, with the figure of 5 lighted on the top of the icing. They sliced the cake, as the birthday song played in the background. It was a wonderful day.

"God bless you both!" Grandma wished as she kissed each of them on the forehead.

Those were some happy times.

It was all good.

Everything was fine.

Everyone was happy.

It was all joyous.

When suddenly everything started to darken, Grace's screeching voice started to spin around her memory.

"Help me!! Samara!! Please!! Help... Please help me!"

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Samara sat upright on her, coughing loudly. Her throat felt as dry as sawdust. She reached for the glass of water by the bedside and gulped it all in a go.

"It's just a dream. All a dream," she mumbled, rubbing away the sweats that had appeared on her forehead.

Grace's shrieks kept on ringing in Samara's mind. She had been having nightmares about dark gloomy forests for the past two days. Though the police said that Grace might be dead, she just was not ready to believe the fact that her sister was no more. She found the matter more sophisticated than it appeared.

She took a deep breath and dropped down from the bed. She was going to search for Grace. She wouldn't give up so soon.
She still believed that Grace was going to be alright. She just had to find her real quick.

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At around 10:30 am, Samara found herself in a cab, on her way to Grace's workplace. She knew what she had to do, and it started from there.

Grace worked at a high school as a physics teacher. She always loved that subject more than anything. In fact, she had had a big shelf of physics books; quantum physics, volumes of gravitational laws all explained in details, rocket science, each and everything you needed. Samara hated that subject but started to love it only for Grace.

Samara mind wandered around to Grace, as her eyes stared blankly at the passing paths.

And before she knew, she had reached her destination. The school.

As she walked in the school, she could feel everyone's eyes following her movement. They seemed to be scared. As she moved towards the classroom, people started to back away, she even heard a few screams.

She couldn't decipher as to what was happening. Why was everyone being so weird? She decided to ignore them and moved on. At the end of the hallway, she saw the Principal approaching her way.

The principal was in her late 50s. She wore a black skirt and a white blouse with a black coat.

She quickly moved towards her and they both headed towards the office, not letting the eager eyes bother them.

"Have a seat, Miss Helenson" the principal urged, once they entered her office.

Samara took the seat and quickly gulped down the water that was placed on the table. She took a deep breath and asked, "Why was everyone screaming at me? Why were they scared?"

"Umm...It's because... they...they kind of thought that you were 'yurei'" she mumbled uncomfortably as if the word yurei was polluting her tongue.

"Yur...yurei???"

"Yes. Yurei. Umm.... Kind of like a ghost!!" she exclaimed.

Samara looked at her perplexed. She was baffled.

"Why...Why would they think that? I am seriously confused."

"Because you and your sister look alike. So, they misunderstood you as Grace." she stated calmly.

"But why would my sister be a ghost?" Samara questioned sharply.

The principal didn't answer for a moment and then opened her mouth and mumbled,

"Because she disappeared into Aokigahara forest."

Samara heard the answer and remained still. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself down, but that surely didn't work well, for the very next second she yelled at the Principal "What's with you guys??? She's not dead!!!!!"

The principal stared at her in dismay. She reached over and patted Samara's hand that was placed on the table. She observed that Samara was confused and dejected and frustrated. She stayed quiet for a while, giving Samara time to calm down.

"I know it's a hard thing to understand. I know that anyone would feel uncomfortable about the death of their sister....." The principal started slowly.

"But you can't conclude that she's dead!! I know she's alive!! You people didn't try to investigate!! You just finalized that my sister's dead just because she went into the forest!!" her voice gradually rose, and tears streamed down her distressed face.

"But, it's not a normal forest! It's a suicide forest! Once someone enters it, they never come back."

Samara just stared at her, not knowing what else to think. For days she just kept on pushing away the horrible thought. But, how can everyone be lying? She knew it was hard, but she had to face it. Better before it was too late.

"What exactly happened to her?" she mumbled brushing away her tears.

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