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The salty breeze brushed her skin as waves whispered in her ears—like echoes from another world.
She lay motionless on golden sand, her torn clothes clinging to her damp skin, streaked with blood and seawater.
But it wasn't the pain that stirred her awake.
It was a deeper sense—an eerie awareness that something wasn't right.
Blue eyes, the same color as the nearby sea, stared up at the sky.
But they weren't her eyes.
She tried to move, and sharp stings shot through her legs, like thorns embedded beneath the skin. Blood marked her calves, and the salt burned cruelly with every twitch. Her body trembled—not from cold, but from the horrifying realization:
> "These aren't my clothes… and this isn't my body."
The limbs were longer than she remembered. Paler. Thinner. Even her fingers looked like they belonged to someone else. She touched her face, hesitantly, and crawled toward the edge of the shore.
The reflection in the shallow water stared back—a girl with long silver hair, soaked and tangled, framing a delicate face with piercing blue ey
> Who… am I?
---
Memories flickered—faint, blurred, as if seen through fog.
She was somewhere else. A cliff, high above a familiar sea. Wind dancing through her hair. Someone beside her. A voice—warm, perhaps even trusted. She smiled…
And then—a shove.
Her body fell.
Down.
Into the dark.
The water swallowed her scream, and then—nothing.
Until now.
She was alive. Somewhere else. In someone else's body.
> Who pushed me? Why?
Was I a witness? A threat? Just someone in the way?
---
"Hello…?"
Her voice came out hoarse, broken—carried away by the wind and waves.
She pushed herself up, slowly. Sand stuck to her bloodied skin, and her legs wobbled beneath her. All around, the shore stretched on, empty. A shadowed forest loomed in the distance, dense and foreboding.
She wasn't alone. She felt it.
> "Is this... a dream?"
But the pain was real.
The cold was real.
The fear—absolutely real.
She stepped toward the water, instinctively wanting to clean the wounds. But the moment her feet touched the waves, a strange sensation gripped her—like something beneath the surface reached out, calling to her.
> "Eri…"
The name echoed, broken, incomplete.
But she knew it meant something. Her name? Or… the girl she now inhabited?
Somewhere, deep within the sea's rhythm, it felt like voices were calling.
> Whispers… beyond the shore.
---
She had to understand. She had to remember.
Where was she?
Who had she become?
And who had she been, before being pushed from that cliff?
The questions pounded her skull like waves against stone.
But one truth remained:
> "Nothing is as it seems… and I am no longer who I used to be."
She turned toward the forest, blood trailing behind her. Each step uncertain, but necessary. Inside her, a flicker stirred—not hope, but something deeper.
> If I died in my world... then who am I now.
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📘 Author's Note — by Emily Melina:
Did you enjoy the first chapter of Whispers Beyond the Shore? 🌊
If you're curious about who she really is… and what secrets lie in this stra
nge world—keep reading!
💬 Leave a comment and let me know your theories!
🧩 Who do you think pushed her?
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