The Reflection That Showed Tomorrow

In a rundown motel outside Lisbon, there’s a cracked bathroom mirror that reflects not the present, but the next day. Guests who check in often see themselves doing strange things: crying, screaming, or staring at something off-frame.

A musician smashed the mirror after seeing himself bleeding. The next morning, he slipped shaving and cut the exact same spot.

A tourist saw herself smiling and holding a child — though she’d never been pregnant. Nine months later, she gave birth to a girl with a crescent-shaped scar identical to the crack in the mirror.

The motel burned down last year. But locals say if you walk past the ruins at dawn, you can still see reflections flickering in the air — faces staring out from a tomorrow that doesn’t exist yet.