THE FOURTH VOICE

THE FOURTH VOICE

The first time Shiesta heard the voice, she was alone.

It was 2:13 a.m.

Rain tapped against her bedroom window while she sat on the floor, looking through an old box of photographs.

She found one she didn't remember taking.

Four girls stood outside an abandoned house.

Shiesta.

Nishma.

Isha.

And Anna.

Shiesta stared at the photograph.

She knew all three girls.

Nishma was her best friend.

Isha had been her classmate for years.

Anna was...

Shiesta stopped.

She couldn't remember Anna.

Not properly.

She knew the name.

She knew the face.

But she couldn't remember ever meeting her.

Then the voice whispered from behind her.

"Why did you forget me?"

Shiesta dropped the photograph.

She turned around.

Nobody was there.

Her bedroom door was open.

She always slept with it locked.

"Who's there?"

Silence.

Then the voice whispered again.

"You promised."

---

The next morning, Shiesta called Nishma.

"Do you remember Anna?"

There was a long silence.

"Why are you asking?"

"Just answer me."

Nishma lowered her voice.

"Where did you hear that name?"

Shiesta looked at the photograph.

"Do you know her?"

Another silence.

Then Nishma said:

"We shouldn't talk about her."

The call ended.

Shiesta immediately called Isha.

Isha answered after several rings.

"Hello?"

"Do you remember Anna?"

Isha didn't answer.

"Isha?"

"Shiesta..."

Her voice sounded frightened.

"Please don't say that name again."

The call ended.

Shiesta sat completely still.

Three people.

Three strange reactions.

And one name nobody wanted to remember.

---

That afternoon, the three girls met at an old café.

Nishma arrived first.

Isha arrived ten minutes later.

Neither looked comfortable.

Shiesta placed the photograph on the table.

"Tell me the truth."

Nishma looked at it.

Her face changed.

Isha covered her mouth.

Shiesta leaned forward.

"Who is she?"

Nishma whispered:

"Anna was our friend."

Shiesta stared at her.

"Then why don't I remember her?"

Isha looked down.

"Because we made you forget."

Shiesta's heart stopped.

"What?"

Nishma closed her eyes.

"It happened three years ago."

"What happened?"

Neither answered.

Shiesta stood up.

"Tell me."

Isha began crying.

"Anna died."

The café seemed to become silent.

Shiesta sat down.

"How?"

Nishma whispered:

"It was an accident."

"What accident?"

Nishma looked directly at her.

"She fell from the old school building."

Shiesta stared at them.

"Was I there?"

Neither answered.

That was enough.

---

That night, Shiesta dreamed about the school.

She was standing in an empty corridor.

The lights flickered.

At the end stood Anna.

She wore the same clothes as the photograph.

"Shiesta."

Shiesta tried to move.

She couldn't.

Anna smiled sadly.

"You promised you'd remember me."

"I don't understand."

"You will."

Anna pointed toward a classroom.

The door slowly opened.

Inside were four desks.

Three were occupied.

Shiesta.

Nishma.

Isha.

The fourth desk was empty.

Anna stood beside it.

Then she whispered:

"You left me alone."

Shiesta woke up screaming.

Her alarm clock showed:

2:13 A.M.

Her bedroom door was open.

On the floor was a wet footprint.

Then another.

They led toward her bed.

Shiesta didn't move.

A whisper came from the darkness.

"One..."

Pause.

"Two..."

Another pause.

"Three..."

Then:

"Where is four?"

---

The next morning, Shiesta went to the old school.

It had been abandoned for years.

The gate was locked, but she climbed over it.

She walked through the empty corridors.

Everything looked familiar.

Too familiar.

She reached the classroom from her dream.

Four desks.

Three had names carved into them.

SHIESTA

NISHMA

ISHA

The fourth desk had no name.

Shiesta touched it.

A memory suddenly returned.

Four girls laughing.

Anna sitting at the fourth desk.

Someone crying.

A teacher shouting.

Then darkness.

Shiesta pulled her hand away.

Another memory came.

Anna standing on the school roof.

"Don't leave me!"

Shiesta gasped.

She remembered.

She had been there.

Nishma had been there.

Isha had been there.

Anna had been there.

But something was missing.

What happened afterward?

Shiesta heard footsteps behind her.

She turned.

Nishma stood in the doorway.

"You shouldn't have come here."

Shiesta's voice shook.

"What happened that night?"

Nishma looked at the fourth desk.

"We were angry with Anna."

"Why?"

"She found out something."

"What?"

Nishma looked toward the window.

"The truth about us."

Shiesta frowned.

"What truth?"

Nishma started crying.

"We weren't four friends."

Shiesta stared at her.

"What?"

"We were three."

Isha appeared behind Nishma.

She whispered:

"Anna wasn't the fourth."

Shiesta stepped backward.

"Then who was?"

Isha pointed toward Shiesta.

"You were."

---

Shiesta couldn't breathe.

"No."

Nishma shook her head.

"You don't remember."

"Remember what?"

"You created Anna."

Silence.

Shiesta laughed nervously.

"That's impossible."

Isha shook her head.

"After your parents died, you stopped talking to everyone. You became isolated. You started speaking to someone nobody else could see."

Shiesta stared at them.

"Anna."

Nishma nodded.

"You called her your sister."

Shiesta's eyes filled with tears.

"She wasn't real?"

Isha whispered:

"Not at first."

Shiesta looked at the fourth desk.

"Then what happened?"

Nishma answered:

"You became convinced she was real."

---

The memories returned.

Slowly.

Painfully.

Shiesta remembered sitting alone in the classroom.

She remembered talking to Anna.

Laughing with her.

Crying with her.

Anna had become the person Shiesta trusted most.

But Nishma and Isha were worried.

They tried to convince Shiesta that Anna didn't exist.

Shiesta became angry.

Then one evening, Anna told Shiesta something.

"Your friends want to take me away."

Shiesta believed her.

She stopped trusting Nishma and Isha.

The night on the roof...

Anna had told her:

"Jump."

Shiesta remembered standing near the edge.

Nishma grabbed her.

Isha pulled her backward.

And Anna disappeared.

But before she vanished, she whispered:

"I'll never leave you."

Shiesta collapsed.

The truth was suddenly clear.

Anna had never been another person.

She had been a part of Shiesta's mind created from grief and loneliness.

A voice that protected her.

A voice that blamed others.

A voice that refused to disappear.

Nishma hugged her.

"We tried to help you."

Shiesta cried.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"We did."

Nishma's voice broke.

"Again and again."

Isha added:

"But every time you remembered, you became worse."

Shiesta looked at them.

"So you made me forget?"

Nishma nodded.

"We thought forgetting would let you live."

---

The classroom suddenly became cold.

Shiesta looked toward the fourth desk.

Anna was sitting there.

Smiling.

Nishma couldn't see her.

Isha couldn't either.

But Shiesta could.

Anna slowly stood.

"You believe them?"

Shiesta stared.

Anna walked closer.

"They abandoned you."

Shiesta shook her head.

"They saved me."

Anna's smile disappeared.

"They lied."

"They were scared."

"They wanted me gone."

Shiesta cried.

"You were never real."

Anna's expression changed.

For the first time, she looked hurt.

"I was real to you."

Shiesta whispered:

"I know."

Anna stepped closer.

"I stayed when everyone else left."

"I know."

"I listened when nobody else did."

"I know."

"Then why are you killing me?"

Shiesta looked at her.

"Because I want to live."

Anna's eyes filled with tears.

Then she smiled.

"Then remember me."

The room went dark.

---

Shiesta woke up in a hospital.

Nishma was sleeping beside her.

Isha sat near the window.

A doctor entered.

"How are you feeling?"

Shiesta looked around.

"Where is Anna?"

The doctor paused.

Nishma woke up.

Shiesta looked at her.

"I remember."

Nishma started crying.

Shiesta held her hand.

"I'm okay."

For the first time in years, she felt quiet inside.

No whispering.

No footsteps.

No imaginary friend.

Just silence.

Real silence.

---

Three months passed.

Shiesta returned to school.

She started writing again.

She wrote about Anna.

Not as a monster.

Not as a ghost.

But as a part of herself that had once helped her survive pain she couldn't understand.

One evening, she finished her final page.

She closed the notebook.

Then she heard a voice.

"Goodbye."

Shiesta froze.

She slowly looked toward the mirror.

Nobody stood behind her.

But written across the mirror in fog were four words:

I REMEMBER YOU TOO.

Shiesta smiled through her tears.

"Goodbye, Anna."

The words disappeared.

For the first time, the room felt completely normal.

She turned off the light.

And went to sleep.

---

The next morning, Nishma called her.

"Shiesta?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you finish your story?"

"Yes."

"What's it called?"

Shiesta looked at the notebook.

She smiled.

THE FOURTH VOICE.

Nishma laughed.

"Sounds creepy."

Shiesta laughed too.

Then she opened the notebook.

Her smile disappeared.

There was one extra page.

She hadn't written it.

At the top were five words:

You forgot something again.

Below it was a drawing.

Four girls standing outside the school.

Shiesta.

Nishma.

Isha.

And Anna.

But there was someone else behind them.

A fifth girl.

Shiesta stared at the drawing.

She didn't recognize her.

Then her phone vibrated.

A message appeared from an unknown number.

Don't worry, Shiesta.

Another message arrived.

You'll remember me tomorrow.

Shiesta stared at the screen.

The room became cold.

Behind her...

someone whispered:

"Five."

She slowly turned around.

Nobody was there.

Then the whisper came again.

"Now there are five."

THE END