Chapter 3_Deeper Into The Maze

The rain had quieted to a faint whisper outside, but within the House of Mirrors, every sound — every creak, every drip of water — seemed amplified. The building's walls groaned under their own weight, and the mirrors, once merely warped glass, now loomed like portals to something unspeakable.

Aoi's footsteps echoed down the narrow hall as she moved cautiously forward. Her reflection followed beside her, multiplied dozens of times in the filthy mirrors. Each version of herself drifted slightly behind the real movement, like they lagged just a second too long.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Behind her, Yuto's phone light bobbed in the gloom. His breath came in uneven bursts, misting the air.

"Aoi…" he whispered, barely loud enough to break the suffocating quiet. "Tell me you saw that. Tell me your reflection—"

"I saw it," she cut in, her voice flat. She kept moving. Her eyes never left the mirrors.

The smile she'd seen — that grotesque, impossible grin — still burned behind her eyes.

They turned a corner, the walls pressing in tighter. The mirrors along this stretch were cleaner, less cracked, reflecting their faces with unsettling clarity. But in the distance, faint distortions twisted the reflections. Shadows bent in ways the walls didn’t allow.

Yuto shuffled beside her, trying to keep his bravado intact. "This… is probably just an old trick. Lights, glass angles… You know those illusion tunnels at amusement parks? This place's just old and—"

A whisper cut through his sentence.

Both froze.

It wasn’t Yuto's voice. It wasn’t Aoi's.

It came from deeper in the hall. Faint. Familiar.

"Aoi…"

Her heart seized. Her brother’s voice — unmistakable, distorted by layers of glass and space.

Without thinking, Aoi surged forward, ignoring Yuto’s startled protest.

"Haru?" she called, the word trembling on her tongue.

"Aoi… help me…"

It came again, fractured like it was bouncing off a hundred mirrored surfaces. The hallway twisted unnaturally as she ran, the reflections on either side lagging further behind, some staring directly at her even when she wasn’t facing them.

The sound of her footsteps faltered as the floor beneath her warped, wood bending in impossible curves. Her reflection's face snapped back into focus — but it wasn’t following her anymore.

It was smiling again.

No… they were all smiling now.

Dozens of faces, identical to hers, pressed against the glass from the inside. Their mouths curled too wide, exposing rows of jagged, needle-like teeth. Their eyes — dark, hollow — gleamed with hunger.

She stumbled backward into Yuto, who had finally caught up, his face pale and drenched in sweat.

"This isn’t a trick…" he whispered, eyes darting between the grinning reflections. "This is—"

A loud crack interrupted him.

The mirror nearest them splintered. The glass fractured like spiderwebs, yet the smiling face inside remained intact — pressing closer, palms flattening against the inner surface of the mirror.

Aoi's pulse roared in her ears.

From deep within the maze, her brother's voice echoed one last time — quieter, weaker, like it was being drowned beneath glass.

"Don’t… trust… the reflections…"

The floor beneath them groaned.

The reflections began to move — crawling, sliding, peeling themselves away from the mirrored surfaces like shadows coming to life.

Yuto grabbed her wrist. His bravado was gone now — replaced with raw, animal panic. "We need to leave. Now."

But Aoi's gaze stayed fixed on one reflection — slightly taller, older, familiar. Haru’s face stared back at her, his eyes filled with desperation… but something was wrong.

His reflection was smiling too.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***