The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Reflections of Her 
by Kathleen McCluskey 

   Samantha always hated mirrors. As a child, she’d cover them with sheets, refusing to meet her own gaze for fear of what lurked beneath the glass. But adulthood had tempered her fears, or so she thought, until she stepped into The Hall Of Reflections.

The exhibit was supposed to be an avant-garde art installation. A room lined with floor-to-ceiling mirrors, each reflecting endless versions of oneself. The moment she entered, Samatha felt uneasy. The air was too still, the lights too harsh and her reflection was…wrong. She took a cautious step forward. The reflections moved with her, but something felt off. In the central mirror her face was the same calm, neutral and reassuring. But in the ones flanking it, her duplicates watched her. They were unblinking and staring with a cold intensity.

A whisper, barely audible brushed by her ear. “You are not alone.”

Samantha’s breath hitched. She turned swiftly, but the room was empty. Only her reflections staring back at her. The mirrors, however, held their own truth. The reflections had now stopped mimicking her movements.

One by one, her duplicates in the glass took a step forward. But Samantha remained still.

Her pulse pounded as she watched herself, no, the other selves, inch closer in their respective frames. Their faces twisted into subtle smirks. Then, one reached out, pressing her hand against the glass from the other side.

Samantha’s instincts screamed at her to run. But something pulled her in. She lifted her hand, uncontrollable longing filled her as her fingers reached out to the ones on the other side. The moment her fingertips met the mirror, the glass rippled. With a violent jerk, Samantha was yanked inside.

She began to fall. The sensation wasn’t like stepping through water or crashing through glass. It was like being swallowed. The air was thick and oppressive, pressing against her lungs as she tumbled through the suffocating darkness.

She landed hard on something cold and unyielding. The first thing she noticed was the silence. No echoes, no hum of distant lights, even her ragged breathing offered no sound. Just an endless void of dim reflections stretching into eternity.

The world inside the mirror was not a simple reversal of reality. It was wrong. The sky, or what passed for it, was a vast swirling abyss of muted grays and blacks, as if the universe was drained of color. The ground beneath her was smooth, glasslike, but cracked in places, revealing endless darkness below.

Then she saw them.

Figures. Hundreds, no thousands, of them, trapped beneath the glass. Their faces were frozen in expressions of horror. Some pounded against the surface, mouths open in silent screams, their eyes pleading. Others stood in the distance, watching her with the same eerie smirks her reflections had worn. A cold dread crawled up Samatha’s spine as a realization dawned.

She was not alone.

A slow scraping sound echoed behind her. She turned, her breath coming in quick gasps. In the dim, fractured light, she saw them. The others. Her reflections. No longer confined to their frames, they stood freely, circling her like wolves.

She stumbled backward, her foot skimmed off the cracks. The glass beneath her groaned. The Samantha standing closest tilted her head, eye glinting with something unreadable. Then she spoke, her voice a perfect replica of Samantha’s own.

“You took my place” The words sent a jolt of terror through her chest. Her doppleganger smiled broadly. “Now, I take yours.”

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Fiction © Copyright Kathleen McCluskey
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Kathleen McCluskey:

The Long Fall: Book 1: The Inception of Horror

Lucifer always cunning and intelligent challenges father to a battle of wits. Being the angel of light he casts a judgemental eye upon mankind. He begins a war with his fellow archangels and God. Michael, along with his siblings defend their home and mankind from their deranged brother. Broad swords and hand to hand combat drench heaven in blood. The four apocalyptic steeds are released, each having their own destructive power. Betrayal and lust are at biblical levels. Understand the very creation of evil and the consequenses that transpire in the first of THE LONG FALL series.

Available on Amazon!