I stepped through the mirror.
And the world blinked.
---
No falling. No sensation.
Just... arrival.
Into a room.
Windowless.
Endless.
White walls — cracked like eggshells.
A faint buzzing — like wires buried beneath the floor.
The air smelled of old antiseptic... and fear.
I wasn't alone.
---
Chairs lined the walls, all facing inward.
Each held a figure.
Some looked asleep.
Others—frozen mid-movement.
One had a mirror for a face.
Another wore my clothes.
None of them moved.
None breathed.
---
In the center of the room:
A projector.
Flickering.
I approached.
It clicked on.
---
Footage.
Me.
Sitting in Eli's dorm.
Laughing. Talking. Then—
Silence.
Rewind.
Nathan.
Crying. Screaming.
Rewind.
A body in the woods.
Rewind.
A child in Petra.
A hand holding a knife.
Blood on stone.
Pause.
A voice—my voice—speaking over it all.
> "I told no one. I stayed silent. I thought it was over."
---
Click.
The reel ended.
And a door appeared behind me.
Metal. Heavy. Locked.
But in my pocket:
The key.
It was colder now.
Heavier.
Like it didn't want to be used.
---
I hesitated.
Then turned it.
The door creaked open—
—
And led to my dorm.
As if nothing had happened.
Eli was there.
On my bed.
Writing in that same burned journal.
He didn't look up.
> "The mirror is closed now," he said.
> "It let you see what it wanted.
That doesn't mean you're ready."
---
> "What was that place?" I asked.
He tore a page from the journal and handed it to me.
> "Read when it hurts too much."
I unfolded it.
There was only one sentence:
> "The hill isn't fair.
The fare is hell."
---
I looked up.
He was gone again.
---
And the coin?
It had split in half.
One side had my face.
The other...
Nothing at all.
---
I placed both halves on my desk.
Then I noticed something carved underneath:
> "He was always with you."
---
Suddenly—
My window shattered.
No wind. No reason. Just glass exploding inward.
I ran to it.
Below — nothing.
No campus.
No Fairhill.
Just a red hill.
Pulsing like flesh.
Breathing.
Watching.
---
Then, my laptop turned on by itself.
No password. No boot-up screen.
Just one file.
Named:
> "Do Not Play This"
And I...
Clicked it.
---
🕳️ To be continued…
© Qussai. All rights reserved.