Chapter 20: The Abyss Stares Back

The Reflection That Lied

Leo's pulse thundered in his ears. The world around him remained eerily still, frozen in the quiet suffocation of a town that no longer felt real.

But the glass in front of him told a different story.

Mike. Reflected. Jessica. Reflected. Chen. Reflected.

Leo. Absent.

The empty space where his reflection should have been mocked him, a hollow echo of something fundamentally wrong.

Jessica took a sharp breath. "Leo—"

He raised a hand, slowly.

His fingers existed. He could feel them. See them. But the glass didn't acknowledge them.

Cold dread coiled in his gut.

"This isn't real," Mike muttered. "This isn't real."

Leo's mouth felt dry. "Then what the hell is it?"

Chen stepped forward, placing a careful hand on his shoulder, grounding him. "We test it."

She reached into her pocket, pulled out a small folding knife. Unfolded the blade.

And pressed it against the glass.

For a heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then—

The glass bled.

Not a crack. Not a shatter.

It bled. Thick, sluggish black-red liquid seeped from the point of contact, crawling downward like veins.

Mike stumbled back. "No. Nope. That's—nope."

Leo forced himself to breathe. "That shouldn't—"

Then the reflections moved.

Not a flicker. Not a delay.

They moved on their own.

Mike's reflection turned toward Leo—not at the real Mike, but at him. Its head tilted, slow and unnatural, like a puppet realizing it had strings.

Jessica's reflection smiled.

And then, in perfect unison, all of them raised their hands—except Leo's missing one.

And knocked.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The sound didn't come from the glass.

It came from inside their heads.

The Girl in the Static

Leo jerked away, spinning to look behind them—nothing. No one. The street remained empty, frozen in false stillness.

His breathing was sharp, controlled, but beneath it all, something crawled in his chest, whispering.

Jessica's hands were trembling. "Leo…?"

"I'm here," he said automatically, though for the first time, he wasn't sure.

Mike gritted his teeth. "We have to go. Right now."

Leo nodded. But as they turned—

Static hissed through the air.

Low. Faint. Barely noticeable.

But present.

Like an old TV struggling to hold onto a signal.

Leo froze, head tilting.

The others stopped too, sensing it.

The motel sign across the street flickered, the neon letters blinking too erratically.

Red. Red. Red.

A pattern.

A message.

Jessica's equations flared behind her eyes. "Wait—"

Then—

A shadow shifted in the static.

Just for a second.

A girl's silhouette.

Leo saw her.

Not a reflection. Not a trick of the glass.

Standing at the edge of the flickering red glow.

Watching.

And then—gone.

Reality Begins to Crack

"Leo." Jessica's voice was too quiet. "You saw that, right?"

He nodded.

Mike exhaled sharply. "Okay. Nope. We are leaving."

The silence around them thickened. The cold pressed heavier.

Chen's grip tightened on her weapon. "We move fast. Do not look at your reflections."

Leo glanced back at the glass one last time.

His reflection still wasn't there.

And for the first time, he wondered if it had ever been.

The Motel Isn't Safe

They made it back to their room.

But the moment Leo stepped inside, he knew something was wrong.

Everything was where they had left it. The bags. The chairs. The door locked.

But the air—

It was different.

Like the room had aged.

Like time had skipped forward without them.

Jessica pressed a hand to her head. "I feel… lightheaded."

Mike sat down, rubbing his eyes. "This isn't right. This isn't right."

Leo moved toward the mirror.

It was normal. No distortions. No wrong angles.

But when he leaned in—

His breath fogged the glass.

And something wrote itself into the mist.

Not by his hand.

By something inside the mirror.

"She is here."

A chill scraped down his spine.

His voice came out steady. "Jessica."

She turned. Then saw it.

Her breath caught.

The words were changing.

"She is here. But she is not the first."

Leo's blood ran cold.

Chen swore under her breath. "We're being watched."

Mike stood abruptly. "Yeah, well, whoever's watching? Screw them. I'm done."

But as he turned—the bathroom door creaked open.

Jessica froze. "Was that open before?"

Mike shook his head, slowly.

Silence pressed in.

Leo stepped forward.

The air inside the bathroom was wrong.

The mirror above the sink was covered in handprints.

All of them were facing inward.

Like someone had been trying to get out.

Then—the shower curtain moved.

A ripple.

Like something had just let go.

Leo's heart pounded.

Jessica grabbed his arm. "Don't."

But he was already reaching.

Fingers trembling, he pulled back the curtain—

Nothing.

The tub was dry.

The air was still.

But the mirror had changed.

The handprints were gone.

And instead—

One phrase, written in jagged, violent strokes.

"You brought her with you."

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