"A Dead Girl Texted Me, But I Didn't Stop Replying" | ClancyPasta PRESENTS

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[00:00:54] Now at Palmolive.com. ClancyPasta presents, A Dead Girl Texted Me, But I Didn't Stop Replying, by B. Schwarz. And you're listening to ClancyPasta.

[00:01:10] I had never had any friends. Not at school. And not even now that I was an adult and living on my own. That was why I was surprised when I received a message from an unknown number on my phone a few days ago. Hi, Annie.

[00:01:39] Hi. Do we know each other? I know you. But you don't know me. I stared at the screen in confusion before typing, What do you mean? Well, it's complicated. I'll tell you everything, and if you don't want to talk to me afterward, I'll understand.

[00:02:09] By the way, my name is Amanda. I smiled and told her, Okay. Her reply came immediately. I'm dead. I know that sounds crazy, but I'd like to be friends with someone. I never had any friends. I frowned.

[00:02:38] I was used to people making fun of me. I put my phone down and silently cursed myself for being so stupid, thinking that someone would actually want to talk to me. My phone vibrated. Another message. I understand that you probably don't believe me. Look at the TV.

[00:03:05] I turned toward the television, and it started turning itself on and off. Another message. Now look at the table. I turned a little further and looked at the desk. Papers flew everywhere. My phone vibrated, making me jump.

[00:03:33] With trembling hands, I opened the next message. I know you're scared. I won't hurt you. And I can't hurt you anyway. I'll understand if you don't want to talk to me. I've just been alone for a very long time, and I thought maybe you wanted some company, too. I know I should have been terrified.

[00:04:01] I should have told her to stop contacting me, but I did the exact opposite. From that day on, Amanda and I texted every day. She was 23 when she died. Only one year younger than me. She wanted me to search her name on the internet. An article came up. Young woman murdered. Killer. Unknown.

[00:04:33] She had been a small, petite brunette with cheerful brown eyes and freckles around her nose. She used to live in the same apartment complex as me. With every passing day, I felt closer and closer to her. Like we had so much in common. She had died 20 years ago, and even though we had never had the chance to meet in person,

[00:05:00] I was glad that we could at least stay in contact like this. Yesterday, my grandmother texted me that she needed me to come stay with her for the weekend and help her in the garden. I had always loved my grandmother, even though most of our family said she was crazy. She had spent her whole life involved in spiritual things.

[00:05:28] She read tarot cards, mixed different herbs, was extremely superstitious, and often said strange things. It had never bothered me, even though I had never been interested in any of that. I told Amanda that I was going to my grandmother's, and she told me to enjoy myself, and that she would look forward to hearing all about it.

[00:05:57] I told her it was a shame she couldn't come with me so she could meet my grandmother. She replied that, unfortunately, she was bound to this place and couldn't leave it, but that she would wait for me there. When I arrived at my grandmother's, she was pale and looked terribly exhausted.

[00:06:24] She reassured me that everything was fine and that she had just been sleeping badly, because there had been a full moon. Her answer didn't surprise me at all. We were sitting together in the kitchen, eating cookies, when she suddenly asked me if I could go to her bedroom and bring her the medicine from her nightstand. I opened the bedroom door and stepped inside.

[00:06:52] The room was empty. There was no bed, no wardrobe, not even a nightstand. There were only candles everywhere and strange symbols on the floor. And directly in front of me stood a large mirror. I wanted to turn around and ask my grandmother what this was, but I couldn't move.

[00:07:22] She entered the room and positioned herself where I could see her. In one hand, she held a bundle of flowers that was smoldering, and in the other, some kind of bottle. She began mumbling something and splashing the liquid from the bottle all over me. I didn't understand what she was doing and begged her to stop.

[00:07:50] It was like she was in a trance. Then she pointed at the mirror. I looked into it and saw a figure standing beside me. A horrible figure. Its eyes were bulging. They looked as if they were halfway out of their sockets. Its skin looked as if it had been peeled off and

[00:08:16] it had a smile stretching from ear to ear. I'd never seen anything worse in my life. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. Fear completely paralyzed me. Then my grandmother shouted something. And the mirror cracked after that.

[00:08:45] All I remember is darkness. When I woke up, I was lying on the couch in my grandmother's living room. I felt a stinging pain in my arm and face. I touched my face and felt a bandage there. I looked at my arm and it was bandaged as well. My grandmother was sitting across from me in an armchair.

[00:09:16] Those are cuts from the glass. I treated them. Your arm got hurt worse than your face. She said, then fell silent for a moment. After a few minutes, she took a deep breath and began to explain. She said she had been reading the cards and they had shown that I was in danger.

[00:09:43] She had tried to investigate further through things I supposedly wouldn't understand, trying to figure out what was happening. She had hoped she was wrong, but she had to be certain and prepare herself in case she wasn't. When she saw me arriving, she knew her fears had been confirmed. She could feel what was beside me.

[00:10:12] What my grandmother told me afterward is something I will never get out of my head. Amanda had never been Amanda. Whatever had been pretending to be her was something evil. And according to my grandmother, if I had stayed in contact with it for just a few more days, it would have taken me.

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