Reflections of Fear: A Casual Haunt

It was just another lazy Sunday afternoon in the small town of Willow Creek. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and there wasn't a single hint in the air that anything out of the ordinary could happen. That is until Jake decided to explore the old Henderson house at the edge of town.

The Henderson house had been abandoned for years, and rumors swirled about the strange happenings that went on inside. They said old man Henderson had been a practitioner of the dark arts and that his spirit still roamed the halls. Jake, being the adventurous and somewhat reckless teen he was, thought it would be fun to check it out with his friends, Mia and Tyler.

They entered the creaky old house, the door groaning as if warning them to stay away. Inside, the air was musty, and the only light came from the cracks in the boarded-up windows. "This is cool," Jake said, trying to sound braver than he felt. Mia rolled her eyes, "It's just an old house, guys. Let's not get all worked up over some silly ghost stories."

They explored the ground floor, finding nothing but old furniture covered in dust sheets and the occasional rat scurrying away. It was when they decided to venture upstairs that things started to get weird. The temperature dropped, and their breaths turned visible. "Do you guys feel that?" Tyler whispered, his voice shaky.

As they reached the top of the stairs, they heard a faint sound, like someone was whispering. They couldn't make out the words, but it seemed to be coming from the last room down the hall. The master bedroom. They approached slowly, the whispers growing louder, more insistent. Jake reached for the doorknob, his hand trembling.

The moment the door swung open, the whispering stopped. The room was empty, save for a large mirror on the far wall. They stepped inside, and the door slammed shut behind them. They jumped, turning to see that no one was there. "Okay, not funny. Who did that?" Mia said, her casual demeanor slipping.

They tried the door, but it wouldn't budge. Turning back to the room, they noticed something odd about the mirror. Their reflections weren't quite right. It was subtle at first, but then unmistakable. Their reflections were moving independently, with malicious grins spreading across their faces.

Panic set in as they watched their other selves step out of the mirror. The air grew thick with a sense of dread. The reflections spoke in unison, their voices a distorted echo of Jake, Mia, and Tyler's. "You shouldn't have come here," they said, "Now you'll never leave."

The real Jake, Mia, and Tyler backed away, but their reflections advanced. Just as they thought they were done for, Tyler remembered the salt in his backpack - a remnant from their last beach trip. He'd read somewhere that salt could ward off evil spirits. It was a long shot, but they were desperate.

He threw the salt at the reflections, and the effect was immediate. The mirror's surface rippled like water, and the reflections screamed, their faces contorting in rage before dissolving away. The room's temperature returned to normal, and the door unlocked.

They didn't wait around to see if the reflections would come back. They bolted from the house, not stopping until they were well clear of the property. Panting and shaken, they looked at each other. "Let's agree to never speak of this again," Mia said, and the others nodded.

From that day on, they steered clear of the Henderson house. But sometimes, when they walked past it, they could swear they heard whispering, and they'd quicken their pace, not daring to look back.