The café looked different in daylight.
Not safer—just… more exposed.
Every creak of the floorboards, every shadow cast by the blinds, made me glance twice. After the night we'd had, the morning felt less like salvation and more like a countdown.
Seraphine didn't waste time. She packed her satchel with vials, salt, and papers etched with sigils I couldn't pretend to understand. Her movements were sharp, automatic, like she'd rehearsed this escape a hundred times already.
Nyx leapt from chair to counter, tail flicking. "Finally. I was beginning to think we'd die of boredom instead of shadows."
I shoved my own essentials into a backpack—phone, wallet, and way too much instant coffee. Because priorities.
"Okay," I said, forcing a breath, "so, question: are we just… walking out the front door like nothing's wrong? Or should I prepare for evil doppelgängers to ambush us in the parking lot?"
Seraphine didn't answer. Which was an answer in itself.
---
The Camera Turns On
It shouldn't have.
I didn't touch it. Seraphine didn't either.
But the broken camera, the one we swore we'd never touch again, lit up on the counter. The lens whirred, the red light blinked.
Streaming.
To where, I had no idea.
On the screen, I saw us. Packing, muttering, panicking. Everything from the same skewed basement angle.
And then—comments began to scroll.
---
[Live Chat]
[VoidWatcher101]: wait it's live again?? thought stream ended last night
[CandleWax]: yo what's w/ the girl? she looks like she hasn't slept in years
[BasementCryptid]: cat cam 🐈🐈🐈
[MirrorNoise]: hold up… who's standing in the doorway??
I whipped around.
The doorway was empty.
But on the camera screen—there was someone.
Tall. A silhouette. Hat brim low, trench coat brushing the frame.
The stranger.
Watching.
---
Seraphine froze, her whole body going rigid. She hadn't looked at the camera, but she knew.
"He's here."
"No, no, no," I said quickly. "He's on the screen. That's not here-here, that's just… surveillance creepiness."
But even as I said it, the air grew colder. My breath fogged. Nyx hissed at nothing.
"Don't look at him," Seraphine snapped. "Just move."
We grabbed our things and rushed up the stairs, the café door groaning as it opened to the morning light.
The city outside felt… wrong. The street too quiet, the buildings leaning inward like eavesdroppers.
The camera, still in my bag, stayed live.
---
[Live Chat]
[DarkLens]: bro they finally leaving the dungeon basement lol
[GlassCrack]: nah nah look at the reflection in the window—tell me u don't see her
[CaffeineGremlin]: is that TWO witches?? wtf
[EchoVHS]: shadow one's closer now. camera's lagging. careful careful careful
---
We didn't speak as we walked. Just the sound of shoes on cracked pavement, Seraphine's coat dragging, Nyx padding silently beside us.
But I couldn't stop sneaking glances at the shop windows we passed. And each time, in the reflection—
She was there.
Shadow-Seraphine.
Walking a half-step behind us.
Not visible in the real world.
Only in glass.
---
"Seraphine," I whispered, my throat dry, "she's following."
"I know."
"What do we do?"
"Keep walking."
"Great strategy," I muttered. "Five stars."
Nyx's tail lashed like a whip. "She doesn't walk. She waits. She learns. And then she takes."
Not exactly reassuring.
---
[Live Chat]
[PixelAsh]: OHHHHH window reflection again!!!
[ShadowWatcher22]: it's not lag—it's TWO timelines overlapping. i swear look at the step delay
[BasementCryptid]: cat's ears r flat. bad sign
[CandleWax]: who tf is trench coat man?? he was in doorway but now gone??
[VoidWatcher101]: WHERE DID HE GO??
The camera glitched.
For one frame, it showed the stranger's hand pressed against the lens.
Then back to normal.
---
At the edge of the block, Seraphine stopped.
"We can't stay in the city," she said, her voice steady despite the tremor in her hands. "Too many mirrors. Too many eyes. We go beyond."
"Beyond where?" I asked.
She finally looked at me—and I saw how scared she really was.
"Into the woods."
Nyx flicked her tail. "Ah, yes. Because nothing bad has ever happened in those."
---
[Live Chat]
[MirrorNoise]: DO NOT GO INTO TREES. DO NOT.
[CaffeineGremlin]: classic horror mistake lmao 💀
[GlassCrack]: wait wait wait the shadow one's SMILING—
[StreamEnds]: [CONNECTION LOST]
The feed cut.
And for the first time, silence felt worse than static.