The smile on the mirror-Ethan was wrong.
Too wide. Too still. Like it had been carved into a mask.
"Did… did you see that?" Aria's voice was barely above a whisper, her eyes locked on the mirror that no longer matched reality.
"I saw it," Ethan said, stepping in front of her protectively. The flashlight flickered in his grip.
Ryan didn't respond. He was frozen in front of one of the mirrors—his breathing shallow.
"Ryan?" Aria moved toward him.
But then his reflection moved without him. It stared directly at Ethan. Grinned. Then lifted a knife—one Ryan didn't have.
And slit its own throat.
Blood splattered across the inside of the mirror, not a drop touching the real world. Ryan stumbled back, gasping, hand to his neck as if he had felt it.
"I felt that," he whispered, horrified. "I felt it cut me—"
Ethan pulled him back. "Don't look at them. Don't look at any of them!"
But the mirrors had already begun to change.
Each one now showed a different version of them—twisted, corrupted. Ethan saw himself dragging Aria into a pit of black water. Aria saw herself laughing as Ryan burned alive. Ryan saw Ethan stabbing him over and over, his face expressionless.
They turned away—but the mirrors didn't stop. They pulsed like heartbeats. The hum deepened into words now. Whispered phrases in a tongue none of them understood, yet somehow knew.
"One must stay..."
"One must feed..."
"One must remember..."
Ethan's voice trembled. "They want us to turn on each other."
The whispers laughed.
Ryan pointed at one mirror, his face pale. "That one. It's showing the hallway we came from!"
It was true.
One mirror now reflected the wooden staircase—the normal one, not the endless descent they'd experienced. A way out.
Without hesitation, they ran toward it.
As they approached, the glass shimmered like water. Ryan plunged his hand through—and it passed cleanly.
"It's real! It's real!"
But just as they were about to climb through, Aria looked back.
And saw herself still standing there. In the center of the room. Watching. Smiling.
"Wait—" she gasped, grabbing Ethan's arm. "Something's wrong. I'm still in there."
Ethan looked back, then froze.
The Aria behind the mirrors blinked at him.
And mouthed the words: "Don't let her leave."
He spun to Aria. The real one. Or was it?
She looked at him with wide, frightened eyes. "Ethan…?"
He hesitated.
Just for a second.
But it was enough.
The real Aria stepped through.
And the other Aria screamed—a sound so full of agony it cracked every mirror in the chamber.
Too late.
They were already on the other side.
The staircase was back. The door was open.
They were free.
But Aria… stood still.
Trembling.
"I don't think that was me who came out," she whispered.
Ryan looked at her.
Ethan stared.
And behind them, in the shattered mirror chamber, the real Aria pounded on the other side of the glass, blood smeared across her palms.
Mouth open in a silent scream.
To be continued...