As Ethan's body was yanked through the mirror with a sudden rush of light and force, everything around him blurred. He felt the weight of a thousand thoughts lift, and the pull of his mind snapping back into placeas if he had been asleep in someone else's skin and finally awoken.He was back. In his own body. He took a deep breath as he opened his eyes to find himself lying in his original room, hands trembling as he pushed himself up from the floor.
Georgina, too, staggered backward, blinking rapidly, disoriented. She was herself again. The mirror shimmered faintly before going dark, as though it had sealed away what had just happened, locking the nightmare behind glass.She barely had time to breathe when the door was struck by a series of loud, desperate knocks.
Bang. Bang. Bang.The sound wasn't just insistent—it was almost furious.Georgina rushed to the door, her heart slamming against her chest. As she swung it open, she saw a woman, A woman who looked like she had been running.A woman who looked... like her mother."M-Mom?" Georgina's voice cracked, her entire body going cold. "But you're—""Dead?" the woman finished. "I know. That's what they told you."Georgina stepped back, stunned. "This... this isn't possible."The woman stepped into the light. Older but undeniably the same person who had hugged Georgina goodnight every evening—until she was ten. The same person whose funeral she had sobbed through. The same person she had mourned for fifteen years."I had to wait until your father died," the woman whispered. "This is the only time I could come without being followed.""But I saw your—your coffin," Georgina stammered. "I—there was a funeral. A body.""There was a body," the woman said. "Just not mine."Georgina felt the floor shift beneath her.
"My dear," the woman continued, voice trembling, "everything they told you was a lie. Your father and his new wife,she was his secretary. They wanted me out. They arranged everything. I wasn't dead. They drugged me, hid me, declared me legally dead... while they took everything."Georgina could barely speak. "Why... why didn't you come back sooner?""I couldn't," the woman whispered. "They locked me away. In a facility under a fake name. I escaped five days ago."The truth felt too big, too dark, to grasp all at once.But before she could ask another question—before she could even breathe properly—another knock came at the door.Tap tap tap."Georgina?" came a voice. "I'm home!"It was her stepsister, Madison. Early. She wasn't supposed to be back for hours.Georgina's eyes widened. "You have to hide," she whispered to the woman—her real mother.Without waiting for a reply, she pulled her toward the closet and shoved the door open. "Please," she urged. "Just for a minute."
Just as Georgina shut the closet door, Madison walked into the apartment, tossing her purse on the sofa. She froze when she saw Georgina—sweating, pale, and clearly shaken.
"Hey... are you okay?" Madison asked, "You look like you've seen a ghost." Georgina spoke with a trembling voice "you talk like you care when you don't"But Madison was already glancing around the room "Why does it smell like perfume in here?" she asked, stepping closer to the hallway. "Like something... old."Georgina's heart skipped a beat."Oh, I lit a candle," she lied. "You know me."But Madison wasn't convinced. She paused and tilted her ear like she was expecting a sound"What's that sound?" she asked.Georgina's blood froze.No, no, no... don't breathe. Don't move.She stepped forward, trying to redirect. "Hey, can you help me with something in the kitchen?"But Madison didn't budge."you are the servant not meDid someone come over?" she asked, slowly scanning the space. "You look... off."Georgina swallowed. "No one came over. I just needed some space."But Madison was already walking again. Her steps soft, calculated,echoed in the narrow hallway.Closer and closer to the coat closet.The door that hid everything.
"Madison, wait," Georgina snapped, but it was too late. Madison had stopped in front of the closet door.She reached out Her hand brushed the handle "Georgina," she said slowly. "What are you hiding?"Georgina's heart pounded so hard it hurt. She stepped forward, trying to block the view, but Madison stepped back and yanked open the door It swung wide.There was nothing.The closet was empty.The coats hung motionless Georgina stared, dumbfounded Madison blinked. "I could've sworn..."Georgina opened her mouth to speak, but then a sound.From the bedroom.A soft creak, like someone stepping too hard on an old floorMadison turned toward it immediately. "What was that?Georgina panicked. "The cat. "You don't have a cat."Madison stormed toward the bedroom.Georgina tried to block her again, heart racing, but Madison was already halfway across the room She pushed the door open And stopped Georgina was too afraid to look.Madison's voice dropped. "What the hell is this? Georgina stepped inside.The bedroom window was wide open.Curtains fluttered in the breeze And on the bed a single photograph.It was old, black-and-white.Of Georgina's mother holding a baby. Her.On the back, scribbled hastily in smudged ink: "I never left you. Madison turned slowly. "Georgina... what's going on?"But Georgina didn't answer.Because something else caught her eye.A reflection in the mirror.Not hers.Not Madison's.A woman. Standing in the corner.Watching.Georgina turned—But the corner was empty.The room was cold.Madison stepped toward the mirror, now visibly rattled. "Was that...?"The reflection was gone.Georgina grabbed the photograph, trembling.She didn't know what scared her more:That her mother had returned—Or that something else had come with her.Just then, from the hallway, came a voice.Not her mother's.Not Madison's But low, male.Whispering through the thin walls."She knows."Georgina's skin turned to ice.Madison looked at her. "Who the hell knows what?"Before Georgina could reply, the lightbulb overhead popped—plunging the room into darkness.