Haunted Mirror Story

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn’t my own. My blood ran cold at the tall, thin shadow that stood behind me. I spun around to see what it was as a jolt of adrenaline shot through my body, giving me shivers down my spine. There was nothing there. I turned around to face the mirror again and saw the same shadow, its reflection now standing in front of me. I tried to back away as my instincts screamed at me to run, hitting into the wall. And that’s when the lights began to dim and flicker, as if the electricity itself was running from this shadow. It began to step forward, and reached its long, thin arms out of the mirror to grab at the frame and begin to step out, its faceless gaze trained on me the whole time. A scream caught in my throat as I sprinted out of the bathroom, slamming the door as I went.

My legs carried me downstairs as I sweat profusely, breathing heavily at what I’d just seen. I grabbed the nearest object I could find, a glass candlestick, and prepared to throw it at whatever followed me. A creeping darkness began to appear on the wall next to the steps, as if the light of the world were being sucked away. And then I saw it. Humanoid in nature, it was far too tall to be human and its limbs were incredibly thin, though no physical pieces could be made out beneath a black, smoky haze that created this monster. Looking at its face was like looking into the deepest, darkest abyss, darker than anyone would dream was possible. I tore my gaze away as that soulless gaze threatened to pull my very soul in and extinguish its fire.

It didn’t walk downstairs; with no discernible feet, it hovered only inches off the ground, the darkness growing around it as it drifted down the stairs, slowly, calmly. I screamed in horror as I threw the candlestick at it, creating an explosion of glass that covered the stairs as it stuck the wall. The noise was like an explosion to my ears after the deathly silence of this thing’s movements. The noise struck me from my frozen stare and I ran out the door, into the quiet, nighttime street where all other houses were dark. I turned to look at my own house just as the darkness began to spread. Shadows licked out from the doorway at a steady pace, slowly covering the house in darkness. The blackest part was surrounding the doorway, a deep pitch black that devoured every visible detail of the house. Somehow, though, as the shadow approached, I could make out its smoky form beneath the blackness, dogged in its pursuit.

I stepped backwards as tears began to stream down my face and my heart threatened to explode under the pressure of the night. What was this thing, and how could I get away from it? I had left my car keys inside, in too much of a rush to escape, and all my neighbors were asleep. As I sobbed, I began to scream for help and run down the street, attempting to put as much distance between me and my pursuer as possible. Despite my best efforts, no one seemed to wake up-I was alone. And in that instant I felt more alone than I had ever in my life before, as if the entire world had ceased to exist and left me here to die once exhaustion overtook me. The sun would not come up for hours, but I wasn’t even sure that the sun would stop it, so infinite was its blackness. I couldn’t even picture the sun in my mind, so tainted was my mind at the endless darkness I had seen. How could any light as bright and promising as the sun exist when such darkness dominated the night? I only stopped once my legs threatened to drop out from under me, once my lungs screamed for air and threatened to faint, and once my heart pounded blood through my body so that I could hear it, and feel it, in my ears.

Hands on my knees and back bent as my body attempted to suck in air, I turned to check the distance between me and the shadow. I stood in the middle of the street, streetlights offering me only the briefest escape from the all-consuming night. But behind me, where the shadow had been there was nothing. The hair on my skin stood as a shiver went through my body. The creeping darkness had swallowed cars, streetlights and even houses to either side of the street, but in the middle there was no shadowy figure-and it had stopped moving. Was this it? Had I escaped? I waited long moments, catching my breath as I prepared for the slightest sign of movement, every sense on high alert. I turned around and around, making sure to glance at every dark house, every shadowy bush, every car that obscured my view. It could come from anywhere, at any time. My dread only grew as the moments wore on-the darkness down the street was still there, and I was sure it wasn’t done with me yet. Instead of calming, my heart beat at an ever-faster rate as I anxiously threw my gaze around the neighborhood, waiting, waiting for my death to approach.

Just as I began to gain hope that maybe I was okay, it was stolen from me like a desperate gasp for breath if the air were empty. On the houses all around me, darkness began to slowly, silently creep its way forward from hidden areas. I was filled with dread and horror as I realized there was nowhere to go-the darkness was everywhere. I could only stand in fear, at the mercy of the night, as the street lights slowly shut off and the houses around me slowly grew darker, ever darker. I went down to my knees and began to rapidly pray as tears rolled down my face, soaking the dark asphalt beneath me. And then I saw the shadow again.

Silently drifting from behind one of the houses, the darkness grew from it as if paving a way for its presence in this world. Its shapeless face remained facing towards me as I began to see other shadows slowly drifting from behind other houses. “No,” I whispered. “No, please God.” I had nowhere to run and nothing I could do. I was helpless as I watched them grow closer, creating a ring around me that slowly closes me in. Beyond them, the world was different shades of black, most of it concealed in the infinite shadows.

My world slowly grew smaller and smaller as the ring of shadows closed in, bringing me closer and closer to their pure darkness. Despair filled my thoughts as I wept for my life, still desperately praying to a god I wasn’t even sure existed.

And then they were upon me, and everything went black.