Chapter Ten: A Face Without a Shadow
The room was cold—too cold to belong to this world.
A faint light slipped through a half-closed window, dust floating in the air like restless ghosts.
Everything in the apartment was silent…
except Noor's heart, beating like war drums drawing near.
She stood at the door, hands trembling, eyes fixed on the mirror that had suddenly returned to its place on the wall—the mirror where the disaster began.
The glass was too clear, unnaturally bright, as if it didn't reflect the world, but swallowed it.
Then she saw her.
Sitting on the bed, with Noor's exact features:
long brown hair, dark eyes, pale lips—
but the difference was in the smile.
A slight, confident tilt, like it knew every secret Noor feared.
The reflection lifted its head and spoke in her voice:
"You finally came back."
Noor froze.
— "Who… who are you?"
Her other self laughed softly.
— "I am you, darling. Don't you recognize yourself?"
— "You're not me."
— "Oh, but I am everything you hid for years. I am the anger you buried, the tears you never cried, the screams you suffocated under your pillow every night."
Noor stepped back, eyes widening in fear.
— "Stop…"
— "Why? Isn't this what you wanted? You wished for faces to disappear, for everything to stop, to finally be silent. I just gave you that."
— "You stole my life!"
— "No, I saved it. Your life was falling apart, and everyone forgot you. I just… waited for the moment you would allow me out."
Noor fell silent, whispering:
— "Who released you?"
The reflection's face shifted suddenly, anger sharpening her eyes.
— "He did."
— "Niyar?"
The other one laughed bitterly.
— "That coward… he promised me a life, then trapped me in the mirror for years. But he didn't know you would be the key."
She moved closer to the surface of the mirror, a sharp glassy hiss filling the room as if the walls themselves breathed.
— "You know, Noor? We are more alike than you think. The only difference is that I don't fear the dark like you."
— "The dark isn't your courage… it's your curse."
— "A curse? No, darling—yours. I am your reflection. If you die, I die too. But if you disappear… I live forever."
A hand slipped out from behind the glass—yes, it actually emerged.
Fingers identical to Noor's but colder, like they were carved from ice.
They touched Noor's cheek, and the chill stabbed into her bones.
She screamed and stumbled backward—
but she didn't hit the wall…
she hit something cold and slimy.
She spun around—
the walls were cracking, black liquid seeping out like molten shadow.
The mirror's breathing grew louder, and a voice whispered inside Noor's head:
"Choose… which one deserves to remain?"
Noor screamed:
— "I am the original!"
The other laughed.
— "Original of what? Pain? Loneliness? Silence?"
— "I am the original of everything real! "
In sudden rage, Noor grabbed a shard of broken glass from the floor and lunged toward the mirror—
but the reflection stopped her before she reached it.
The frame trembled, the glass quaked—
and then—
light exploded in every direction.
When Noor opened her eyes, she was standing somewhere else.
The same room—
but reversed.
The bed on the opposite side, the window reflecting an inverted sky—
and the mirror was no longer in front of her—
but behind her.
She was inside the reflection.
She looked back at the mirror—
her real self stood in the other world, staring at her.
That version was more real than she was now.
It breathed… moved… cried.
While Noor felt nothing.
She banged on the glass, screaming:
— "Let me out! Please!"
But her reflection watched her for a long moment, then smiled with deadly calm:
— "Your turn is over, me."
Then she turned away and disappeared into the real room.
Noor was alone—
in a world drowned in silence.
Everything was frozen.
The air didn't move.
Time didn't pass.
She walked heavily toward the window—
and through the glass, she saw Niyar standing there, watching her from the other world.
She screamed:
— "Why? Why did you do this to me?!"
He slowly raised his hand, touching a finger to his lips—
Silence.
His voice reached her like an echo through deep water:
— "Because the truth can only ever be one."
Then he vanished—
and darkness devoured everything.