Nobody at the Pool Party Looks Like Me

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/PeaceSim on 2024-11-15 12:24:36+00:00.

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I spend all week in eager anticipation of Saturday. When it arrives, I head to the pool, where I swim and laugh with my friends and my twin sister Anju. Afterwards, we go to the club, where the fun continues as we jump and dance while the room gets hotter and hotter.

But this Saturday, everything is different. To start, I don’t recognize anyone at the pool. Even Anju isn’t here. She and I are normally inseparable. Her absence worries me. Where is she? Is she okay?

But, even more strikingly, nobody here looks like me. Frankly, I’m used to a more diverse crowd than this. That wouldn’t bother me, except that they’re all treating me strangely.

My attempts to make new friends are met with silence and hostile glances. When I wade through the bubbles towards a small group, they demand that I stay away from them.

I back up, only to brush against a tall figure a tad less pale than the rest. He snarls in a raspy voice that my “kind” doesn’t belong here. The words sting, as does the pain I feel when he kicks me with one of his long legs.

When I regain my composure, I see a faint, rosy red mist form in the water around me. I hear screams, along with words like “she’s bleeding” and “stay away from her!”

The others congregate away from me, at the far end of the pool. Before long, I’m alone – a pariah.

I look down at my reflection. To my shock, I see that I’m changing into one of them. My once-vibrant skin turns cloudy as it fades into a bland, murky gray.

This can’t be happening to me. I yearn for someone to help. I think about Anju. She always looks out for me. I miss her.

Suddenly, everything grows quiet, and the water level lowers. The ceiling opens. A hand reaches in, grabs me, and pulls me up. Normally, it would take me to the club. But not today.

A familiar, deep voice booms from above. It asks how I got here, and it says that it’s “lucky” that I didn’t stain anything else.

I continue to lie limp in his hand as he shouts upstairs to someone named Mary. He tells her that one of her socks got mixed in with the whites. That the bleach stained it pretty badly.

In response, a lighter, higher-pitched voice calls, “Just toss it, and please be more careful next time.”

I fly through the air and land with a soft thud amidst wrappers and crumbled paper.

I cry. I haven’t done anything wrong. Yet, I feel that I am being punished just for being different – for not looking like the others. It’s unfair. It’s wrong. And I’m all alone now.

My heart lights up as a shape crawls and tumbles. I realize, to my delight, that it’s Anju. Her pink form slides down until she’s next to me.

I whisper through tears of joy. “You came for me, even though I look wrong now.”

Anju smiles as she holds me. “I’ll always be here for you, sis, no matter what you look like. A pair like us belongs together.”