River Moss and her Shadow

 She didn't know where she was. Was she up, was she down? It was so hard to know. All she knew was that she was not supposed to be here.

"River Moss, " a voice said from somewhere in the dark place. "What are you doing in here? I thought I told you that this place wasn't for mortals."

River Moss, she thought. That's my name. How does that person know my name?

"Who are you?" River called into the darkness.

The voice laughed unbelievingly. "You don't remember? For real?" The laugh turned darker, more sinister. "Ah, this is perfect. I'm your shadow twin, River."

"Shadow twin?" River repeated hesitantly. "What's that?"

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're going to get what you give, finally." The voice was ragged with rage. "You might not remember me, River Moss, but I remember you."

Suddenly, right in front of River, appeared a girl's face. She was outlined in black, and looked like something out of an anime horror artist's sketchbook. It was familiar, and River recognized the face she'd seen in the mirror so many times before. It was her, but more jagged, more raw and terrifying.

"What have I got myself into?" River whispered to herself.

Her shadow twin laughed maliciously. "Trouble, that's what," she sneered, then grasped River's wrist. Her hand was colder than ice, and in an instant River lost feeling in her arm. River watched in shock as black ink crept up from her shadow twin's grip. The farther it travelled, the more numb she became. 

"Stop that! What are you doing?" River shouted. She wriggled in her shadow twin's grasp, frantically trying to break free. "What did I ever do to you? I don't even remember, leave me alone!!"

A fire lit in the other girl's eyes. "What did you do to me? What did you do to me, she asks?" The shadow twin drew her free hand to slap River. River braced herself for a hit that never came.

"Revir!" boomed another voice, a deeper one. Revir, which seemed to be the shadow twin, froze in place, her hand still upraised. The deep voice belonged to an ash gray man who stepped into view. Everything was the same endless black, so River had no idea where the man had come from.

"Revir, what have I told you about messing with the poor mortals who--" he halted, seeing who exactly Revir had messed with this time. He pressed his lips together in an indecipherable expression. He humph-ed. "So you've found her at last." He shook his head wearily. He turned away, but raised a hand for them to follow. "Come, my dears. The Elder will want to see who you've found, Revir."

Revir growled, but followed reluctantly. She didn't let go of River. The black ink on her arm ceased to spread. Still, River's arm was cold and numb. She couldn't do anything against her shadow twin who was pulling her toward the gray man.

River couldn't remember how she had gotten to this dark place, with her angry shadow twin and a mysterious ash gray man, but she had a feeling that it would be a long time before she got back to where she was supposed to be.

She shivered.

She knew she didn't belong here--yet she couldn't remember where she belonged in the first place.

Thank you for reading! This is the start of a short story, please tell me what you think.

Stay sweet!

---SweetScribe🍬🖋