After this
Ahaan didn't sleep that night.
Even though the boy with black eyes was gone, his voice still echoed in Ahaan's head like a whisper inside an empty cave.
He sat on his bed, holding the photo of his dad with the first Ahaan. He stared at it for a long time.
Was it true?
Did his father really give another child to that haunted orphanage… just to protect him?
And why did Ahaan now feel like he was being watched?
The mirror in his room started to fog, even though the air was cold.
Ahaan got up and walked toward it.
The fog cleared on its own… and that's when he saw it.
Not his reflection.
Something else.
A woman.
She stood behind him inside the mirror.
But when he turned around—no one was there.
He looked back.
She was still inside the mirror.
Her long black hair covered her face.
She wore a white dress, soaked in something dark.
Blood?
Mud?
He didn't know.
She raised one hand slowly… and pointed at Ahaan.
Her mouth opened wide, but no sound came out.
Only a deep, painful silence.
Suddenly, the journal opened on its own again.
Ahaan rushed to it.
New words appeared on a glowing page:
CASE TWENTY-TWO: The Death Mirror
"She only appears to those who are marked.
She shows not the past.
Not the present.
But the moment your soul leaves your body.
And once you see it…
It starts to come true."
Ahaan's hands went cold.
He looked back at the mirror.
The woman was still there.
But now… the reflection had changed.
It showed him, lying on the floor of a room he didn't recognize.
His eyes were open.
Still.
Lifeless.
And standing over him… was himself.
Another version of Ahaan, smiling.
"What is this…?" Ahaan whispered.
The woman inside the mirror started moving her mouth, very slowly.
Then, a whisper filled the room like wind:
"You die… by your own hands."
He backed away in fear.
"NO! I won't die! I'm not dying! I'll close the mirror!"
But the mirror wouldn't break.
He threw a book at it.
The glass didn't even crack.
Instead, the woman pressed her hand against the glass.
Something small appeared behind her fingers.
A note.
It floated to the bottom of the mirror like a leaf in water.
More words:
"The truth must be faced, or the mirror becomes the door."
The book flipped again.
Another line appeared:
"To break the curse, face what kills you."
Ahaan didn't understand.
Was it warning him about his future?
Or trying to push him into it?
He took a deep breath.
"I need to find that room from the mirror," he said.
"If that's where I die, I need to know why."
He packed his bag: the journal, flashlight, and the shard of mirror from the White Tree.
He left the house quietly.
It was still dark. No stars. No moon.
Just heavy clouds, like the sky was holding something back.
He followed the direction of the whispers in his head.
Step by step, deeper into the woods behind his house.
Until he saw it—
A small abandoned house, hidden by overgrown vines.
Windows shattered. Door half open.
He froze.
This was the room from the mirror.
He stepped inside.
Dust flew with every breath.
The wallpaper peeled off like old skin.
And in the middle of the room…
A mirror.
Tall.
Broken in the center.
Just like the one in his nightmare.
He walked closer.
The woman was already waiting.
Behind the glass.
But this time, she wasn't pointing.
She was crying.
Black tears.
They dripped onto the floor inside the mirror.
Ahaan stared. "Who are you?"
Suddenly, her face twisted.
Not angry.
Terrified.
She mouthed something fast.
He couldn't hear her.
He held up the shard of the White Tree mirror.
Her message appeared in reverse writing on it:
"RUN. HE'S BEHIND YOU."
Ahaan turned around fast.
Nothing.
Empty.
Then—
Creak.
The floorboard behind him moved.
He turned slowly.
There, in the corner of the room, stood another Ahaan.
Same face.
Same clothes.
But different eyes.
Cold. Empty.
Not human.
"Who are you?" Ahaan asked, voice shaking.
The other Ahaan smiled.
"I'm the version of you that gave in."
Suddenly, Ahaan remembered the mirror's warning:
"You die… by your own hands."
This wasn't about suicide.
This was about being replaced.
The reflection wanted out.
It wanted to live in the real world.
By pushing the real Ahaan into the mirror.
The floor started to shake.
The glass began to ripple like water.
The reflection-Ahaan stepped closer.
Ahaan backed up.
"I won't let you take my life," he said.
The journal in his bag glowed.
The final line appeared:
"To keep the self, break the mirror before the reflection steps out."
He reached into his bag and pulled out the White Tree mirror shard.
The reflection charged at him.
Ahaan screamed and stabbed the large mirror with the shard.
CRACK!
The mirror exploded in black smoke.
The reflection let out a horrible scream.
It wasn't human.
It was the scream of all the forgotten memories, the twisted souls, the broken versions.
Everything turned black.
When Ahaan woke up, he was lying on the floor.
Alone.
The mirror was gone.
So was the house.
Just a circle of ash where it once stood.
In his bag, the journal was closed.
On the front cover, scratched in faint silver writing:
"You saw your death.
But chose your life."
Now...