11:47 p.m.

Lena stood frozen in the hallway.

Her dead mother stood before her.

Behind the woman were dozens of reflections.

Dozens of Lenas.

Every one of them smiling.

Lena couldn’t breathe.

“Mom?”

The woman tilted her head.

“You still call me that.”

“You’re not real.”

Her mother’s smile disappeared.

“Neither are you.”

The words struck harder than any scream.

Lena stepped backward.

“What does that mean?”

Her mother pointed toward the mirror.

“Look.”

Lena didn’t want to.

But she did.

The mirror showed something completely different.

It showed her childhood bedroom.

Lena was six years old.

Nora was twelve.

Their mother stood beside them.

And in the corner—

the black mirror.

Lena watched the memory unfold.

Her mother was crying.

Nora was screaming.

Little Lena stood silently.

Then something happened.

The mirror began glowing.

A dark figure appeared behind the glass.

It had no face.

Only two pale eyes.

Their mother grabbed Nora.

“Take Lena and run!”

But Nora didn’t move.

She looked toward little Lena.

“I’m not leaving her.”

The mirror cracked.

A hand came through.

Little Lena screamed.

The hand touched her forehead.

Everything went black.

Lena stepped away from the mirror.

“I don’t remember this.”

Her mother whispered,

“Because I made you forget.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted you to survive.”

Lena shook her head.

“Survive what?”

Her mother’s eyes filled with tears.

“The mirror doesn’t create ghosts.”

She pointed toward the glass.

“It creates replacements.”

Lena stared.

“When it takes someone, it creates another version of them.”

Her mother’s voice trembled.

“Your sister was taken first.”

Lena’s heart broke.

“Nora…”

“She fought.”

“What happened?”

“She refused to become what it wanted.”

Her mother looked toward the mirror.

“So it chose you.”

Lena’s breathing stopped.

“You mean…”

“You were taken that night.”

“No.”

“You came back.”

Lena shook her head.

“No.”

Her mother stepped closer.

“The Lena standing here isn’t the original Lena.”

Silence.

Then the mirror whispered:

“She’s mine.”

---

Lena ran.

She didn’t know where.

She only knew she needed to get away.

She grabbed the apartment door.

It wouldn’t open.

She pulled harder.

Nothing.

Behind her, footsteps began.

Slow.

Heavy.

Her mother’s voice echoed through the apartment.

“Lena.”

She didn’t turn.

“Lena, you can’t escape.”

She tried the door again.

Locked.

Then she remembered the mirror.

The mirror was the door.

She turned around.

It stood at the end of the hallway.

But now it was enormous.

Much larger than before.

The glass was completely black.

Something moved inside it.

A hand.

Then another.

Then a face.

Nora.

Lena ran toward it.

“Nora!”

Her sister pressed her palms against the glass.

“Lena!”

“I’ll get you out!”

“No!”

“I’m not leaving you again!”

“You don’t understand!”

Nora looked behind herself.

“She is coming.”

“Who?”

Nora whispered,

“Your real self.”

Lena froze.

“What?”

The mirror suddenly cracked.

A girl stepped through.

She looked exactly like Lena.

But younger.

Sixteen years old.

The age Lena had been when Nora disappeared.

She stared at Lena with tears in her eyes.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

Lena couldn’t speak.

The girl touched her own chest.

“This is my life.”

She pointed toward Lena.

“You stole it.”

Lena shook her head.

“No.”

“You don’t remember because she erased you.”

“Who?”

The girl looked toward their mother.

“She did.”

Their mother stood in the hallway.

Crying.

“I had no choice.”

The younger Lena screamed,

“You always had a choice!”

The lights exploded.

Glass shattered everywhere.

Lena covered her face.

When she looked up—

her mother was gone.

Nora was gone.

The younger Lena was gone.

Only the mirror remained.

And inside it—

Lena saw herself.

But this time, the reflection was crying.

She stepped closer.

The reflection whispered:

“Remember.”

---

Memories came rushing back.

A little girl hiding beneath a table.

Nora holding her hand.

Their mother crying.

The mirror whispering.

A dark hand reaching through the glass.

Nora screaming:

“Take me instead!”

Then silence.

Lena remembered.

Nora had sacrificed herself.

Their mother had tried to save Lena.

But the mirror had already taken part of her.

It had copied her.

The original Lena had remained trapped.

The copy had grown up.

The copy had forgotten.

And Nora had been trapped with the original.

For ten years.

Lena fell to her knees.

“I’ve been the copy.”

The mirror whispered:

“Yes.”

She looked at the clock.

11:58 p.m.

Two minutes.

Her mother’s voice came from behind her.

“You can still save her.”

Lena turned.

Her mother stood there again.

“How?”

“Break the mirror.”

“You said it couldn’t break.”

“It can’t be broken by force.”

“Then how?”

Her mother looked at Lena.

“By truth.”

“What truth?”

“You must admit who you are.”

Lena stared at the mirror.

She understood.

The mirror survived because everyone had lied.

Her mother had lied.

Lena had forgotten.

Nora had remained silent.

The mirror fed on secrets.

Lena stepped toward the glass.

“I am not the original Lena.”

The mirror cracked.

Her mother closed her eyes.

Lena continued.

“I stole her life.”

Another crack.

“I forgot Nora.”

Another.

“I forgot what happened.”

The glass began shaking.

“I was afraid.”

Crack.

“I was angry.”

Crack.

“But I remember now.”

The mirror screamed.

Not like a person.

Like thousands of voices screaming together.

Lena stepped closer.

“And I will not leave Nora again.”

The entire mirror shattered.

---

Silence.

Lena opened her eyes.

She was lying on the floor.

Pieces of glass surrounded her.

The apartment was dark.

The clock showed:

12:00 a.m.

Then she heard a voice.

“Lena?”

She turned.

Nora stood in front of her.

Not inside the mirror.

Outside it.

Real.

Older than the girl Lena remembered.

But unmistakably Nora.

Lena began crying.

“Nora.”

They ran toward each other.

They hugged.

For the first time in ten years, Lena held her sister.

“I thought I lost you.”

Nora cried against her shoulder.

“You came back.”

“I promised.”

Nora pulled away.

“You remember everything?”

“Yes.”

She looked toward the broken mirror.

“Is it over?”

Nora’s expression changed.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?”

Nora pointed toward the glass.

Among the broken pieces, one fragment remained perfectly intact.

Lena looked down.

Her reflection appeared inside it.

But it wasn’t smiling.

It was screaming.

Nora whispered:

“Lena…”

The reflection raised one finger.

It pointed toward the apartment door.

Then a voice came from the hallway.

A voice that sounded exactly like Lena.

“Nora?”

Both sisters froze.

Nora whispered,

“That’s impossible.”

The voice came again.

“Nora, open the door.”

Lena slowly stood.

Her face turned pale.

Because she recognized the voice.

It was hers.

The doorknob began turning.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Nora grabbed Lena’s hand.

“Don’t open it.”

The door slowly moved inward.

And standing on the other side—

was another Lena.

She smiled.

“Did you really think breaking the mirror would end this?”

The hallway lights went out.

And in the darkness, the thing wearing Lena’s face whispered:

“There is always another reflection.”

To Be Continued…