Trapped in the glass, I could feel her freedom—my freedom. She moved through the world, slipping seamlessly into my life as if she had always been there. My family, my friends, they didn’t notice the difference. Not a single glance, not a moment of hesitation. To them, she was me.
But I knew better.
Days in the mirror passed like shadows creeping in the dark. I couldn’t tell how much time had gone by. Seconds? Minutes? Days? Time twisted here, bending into nothingness. I screamed, pounded against the cold glass, but my voice was swallowed by the silence.
Then, one night, something changed.
I saw her again—my double, standing in front of the mirror in my room. She stared at me with a cruel satisfaction, as though she could feel my hopelessness, my anger. I expected her to mock me like she had before, but this time was different. She looked… tired.
Her eyes, once full of venom, now held a flicker of fear. She had been living my life for weeks, and slowly, something was catching up to her.
She spoke softly, almost a whisper. “Do you feel it too?”
I didn’t respond, but I felt it. A pull, something dark and ancient, lurking beyond the mirror’s surface. It was the same force that had allowed her to cross over, and now it was turning its gaze on her.
The reflection trembled as she touched the glass, her hand resting where mine would be if I could reach through. “I thought I could take your life. I thought it would be easy. But this place… this place is cursed.”
Suddenly, I realized the truth. It wasn’t just me trapped in the mirror; we were both prisoners of something far older, something darker than either of us could have imagined. She hadn’t escaped my fate—she had only postponed it. The mirror was a gateway, and now the shadows were coming for her, just like they had come for me.
“I don’t want this anymore,” she said, panic rising in her voice. “I want to trade back.”
A surge of hope filled me. Maybe this was my chance. If she wanted out, maybe I could escape this nightmare. But I hesitated. Could I really trust her? After all the torment, the lies, could I believe that she’d let me return?
Before I could decide, the shadows came. They oozed out of the corners of the room, creeping toward her with slow, deliberate steps. Her eyes widened with terror as they reached out for her, their dark, twisted forms curling around her legs, pulling her toward the mirror.
“No!” she screamed, clawing at the glass. “I won’t go back!”
But the shadows had claimed her. Her form began to blur and twist, melding with the darkness, until all that was left was a faint outline of her face, pressed against the inside of the mirror—just like I had been.
And then, I felt it. The pull. The world shifted, and I was back in my body. Free.
But the victory was short-lived. As I looked into the mirror, I saw her face staring back at me from the other side, full of hatred, full of fear.
Now, it was her turn to be trapped. But I knew, deep down, that the mirror wasn’t done with either of us.
The shadows still lurked. The curse still lingered.
And I could feel her waiting. Waiting for the day when she could try again.