The Mirror Doesn't Lie📖

It started with the mirror.

Maya had just moved into her new apartment—a tiny, creaky studio in a rundown building downtown. The place came fully furnished, including an old mirror nailed to the bathroom wall. The landlord told her it was “impossible to remove” and laughed nervously, saying, “It’s been there longer than the plumbing.”

She didn’t think much of it—until it started showing things it shouldn’t.

On her third night, she was brushing her teeth when she noticed something odd. In the mirror, her reflection was… delayed. A half-second too late. Almost like it was hesitating. Testing her.

She blinked hard. Maybe she was just tired.

Then, the reflection smiled—but she hadn’t.

From that night on, the mirror changed.

Every time Maya looked into it, she saw things behind her that weren’t really there:

a man standing in the hallway

a pale child crouching in the shower

someone—something—crawling on the ceiling

But when she turned around… nothing.

She stopped using the bathroom at night. She even tried covering the mirror with a towel. But every morning, the towel would be back on the floor.

One night, unable to sleep, she recorded a video with her phone, placing it to face the mirror while she slept.

The next morning, the video was gone.

Only one file remained in her gallery.

A still image.

Of her sleeping.

But in the reflection… she wasn’t alone.

She took the mirror off the wall in a panic, smashing it into pieces.

But even then, it didn’t stop.

Now, every surface—glass, windows, even her phone screen—shows her that same version of herself. The other her. Watching. Waiting.

She doesn’t remember who she really is anymore.

Or which version is real.

Maybe she’s the reflection.

Maybe she never left the mirror.

And you?

Next time you look in the mirror…

Look closely.

Do you still see yourself?