Someone Always Knows

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn’t my own. Again. A sigh left my lips as I looked once again. At first, when we came in this dreadful place – house would be too much of a sweet term – I quickly realized there was something wrong with the mirror in my room. Not that it mattered to me… after all, I didn’t really mind not having to see my face all the time.

I hated it.

But it didn’t matter with that mirror, right? The only reflection I had was one of someone else: a dark silhouette that you couldn’t quite see the eyes or any features at all. At first, that is. It mimicked my every movement, but I knew too well to not believe it was actually me. There was something off about it all. The mirror was broken, but not my mind. Not then, at least.

But everything changed that fateful night…

It started with emails from an unknown address. I was chilling on my bed, reading a book when a buzz from my phone startled me. For no particular reason I felt shivers running down my spine. A frown settled on my face when I looked at the screen. “New email” it said. As I went to my emails I saw another mail coming in. I opened the first one…

“Do you want to play a game?” I read. “I have one. If you play, you can’t turn your back on it.”

My frown deepened and I opened the second one.

“Don’t open it!” it said.

– Bullshit! I growled.

I turned off my phone again and went back to my book. It was a frightening story, fitting this time of year: October, the month of the Dead. And the emails were probably some stupid joke. I snorted. People these days, they don’t know better than being annoying! Slowly I was back in this treacherous world inside of my book.

Bzz.. Bzz…

Annoyed already, I looked at my phone. Yet again, there was another email. I ignored it, but not one moment later, it was buzzing again! I cursed and opened it to check my emails. There were two more and the first was saying:

“Oh, you must come out to play, everyone loves a good game! You WILL love it!”

The other one said:

“Don’t listen to it! I beg you!”

What kind of weirdo does that kind of thing? I wondered with an annoyed face. There was one way to figure this out, wasn’t there? I got up from my bed and without giving it a second thought… I went outside. The first thing to come to my eyes was my neighbor across the street doing the same. He had his phone in hand, just like me, and when he looked around our gaze met. I narrowed my eyes and yelled as I walked toward him:

– What’s wrong with you! You think it’s funny, maybe!

He joined me in the middle of the road and groaned:

– What are you even talking about? I came…

He and I were cut off by the sound of our phone buzzing in unison. I looked down to see that I received yet another email. I growled and my head jerked up when I heard him do the same. A bad feeling creep out my inside as I said:

– You’ve got one too, right?

– A what?

– An email.

He nodded and showed me his screen, shivers went yet again down my back as I read the exact same thing that I got this time around:

“Welcome to the game! There’s only one rule: you either win or you die!”

– What kind of lunatic would do something like this? he grumbled.

– I don’t know…

My lungs seemed to lose all air when I got another email, that one saying:

“You were never able to listen! Be careful now… don’t lose.”

– Did you get those too? I asked him as I turned my screen for him to look at it.

– No, but those are just as weird.

I nodded and sighed. I’d better go back, I thought.

– I’ll see you around, I guess.

– Yeah, he answered and we both went our separate ways.

I wasn’t going to see him again, though, but I didn’t know at the time. As soon as I was back in my bedroom, my phone buzzed again but this time it was a text message. From an unknown ID. My body tense as I read the words written on the screen.

“So much fun is awaiting us! Let’s play now!”

Before I could stop myself, I found my fingers already typing an answer.

“What if I don’t want to?” I replied.

“There’s one rule: play and win… or lose and die. Your choice.”

My hands started shaking, my breath was heavier. It didn’t make any sense. Who would want to do any of this? And why? I wasn’t one to be problematic… I jumped when my phone buzzed. Another text…

“Will you play? Yes or no.”

What choice did I have? None.

“Yes.”

From this moment onward I got a few texts every hour requesting me to do little challenges. Some were as easy as staying on one foot for two minutes. But it became harder with every hour that went by. Not impossible, but definitely harder. Three days passed before things changed again. I knew something was up while watching the news…

– A young man was found dead in his bedroom earlier today. It is yet too soon to know if it is suicide or murder, said the journalist.

A gasp escaped my mouth when a picture of the victim was shown. That was my neighbor! I swallowed with some difficulty and almost choked myself with my own saliva when they added a few names to the list of dead. Could it mean…

I jumped to my feet when the ringtone of my cell phone rang. My heart was pounding hard in my chest and everything inside of me froze at the sight of who was calling me at this time of the day.

Unknown ID.

Slowly, as if I was stuck in some quicksand, I bring my phone to my ear and answered:

– Who’s this?

– Who I am doesn’t matter, sweetie, said a voice I never heard before.

You’d remember a voice like that. Disembodied, it would scrub your skin in the most horrible way. Almost like someone was, little by little, removing your skin, pulling on it… You could feel it detached itself from your muscles and your bones. I shivered and there was only cold left in my body.

– What I want from you, now, that’s what matters, it added. I believe you’ve come to… a certain conclusion.

– Like what?

– The game is real. Oh, so satisfyingly real… You’re the last one, sweetie. And as of now, the real fun can begin…

– I… I don’t understand, I muttered.

– Sure you do. Now, come, come.

The air around me became instantly cold as winter, my breath left a white mist as I was trying to breathe. I looked around, but there was no one here. No one that could have turned off the heating. That’s how I saw my door slowly opening with a creaking sound that reverberated in my bones. An icy wind pushed me toward it and I wanted, more than anything, to hide under my sheets just like when I was a child and something terrified me. The only thing I could hear was my heart, pounding fast and loud in my ears. If it got worse, I was afraid it would jump off my chest…

Against my will, my legs started moving toward that fearful place. It must be… It must be the mirror. That stupid mirror! Why didn’t I throw it in the trash when I had the chance? It was too late now and I would never get the chance again. My last hope was to survive whatever came next…

But I wasn’t expecting what I saw next.

As soon as I was in front of the mirror I knew it wasn’t going well for my hope. It was no longer a dark silhouette facing me. A woman was there with dusty and messy dark hair, her pale skin white like a ghost and her eyes… two black holes without iris. No white, only shadows. You couldn’t tell where the eyes began and where the skin started. There was no relief.

– Now, sweetie… Don’t break eye contact, yes? Two minutes. Look at me, watch my soul disappear in the shadows…

It was her, I realized. She was the one to talk in my ear. The moment I gazed at her eyes, I felt all that made me a living thing being slowly sucked. The little warmth I still had, the blood in my vein, the sound of my beating heart... it was all fading away. The desire to fall asleep was strong, so, so strong… The muscle in my neck wasn’t able to hold my head up. My eyelids were slowly closing...

– Well done, sweetie. Rest now. You won’t have much of it… in the near future.

As the call ended and the woman in the mirror disappeared, my body collapsed gracelessly to the ground. I woke up the next morning, still on the floor. My muscles all ached as I tried to bring myself to get up. Once I did, I had all my morning routine to go through to be ready and go to work.

I went very close to cardiac arrest when at the moment I stepped outside an old lady came to me, limping and with wary eyes. She grabbed me by my arm and as much as I tried to free myself… there was no use. Strong was a euphemism to describe the strength of her hold. She looked me dead in the eyes and murmured:

– Listen child… She wants you to know… She tried to help you. To protect you from it. But you wouldn’t listen. She is very sorry…

– What the…

She stopped the words I was going to say by patting my shoulder in such a compassionate manner that I was left with no word. She disappeared as quickly as she appeared, leaving me completely astonished. Now that the surprise was gone, however, I could recall that I knew the old lady. She lived in the neighborhood. Some were even saying that she was a medium, she could speak to the dead…

The day went by normally… until that dreadful phone call.

As I was executing the task the woman asked of me, I couldn’t help but remember each word she whispered to me. “I’ll watch you, so don’t go and try to fool me. I’ll know if you don’t go through with it…” Today was easy enough. Lie to a few customers about our products. White lies, insignificant ones. Easy enough, right?

Or so one would think.

Try to do that when you see a dark silhouette in every reflective surface. She was there. Everywhere, spying on me. I tried to avoid all places where she could appear, but somehow… she always found a way to be just there. And it was getting harder and harder to find some sleep with her always watching, lurking in the shadows. I couldn’t even see my reflection anymore… it was her and only her.

I slept less and ate less. I was becoming more and more of a dead body walking. The challenges became harder and harder too. All I could think of was succeeding the task she gave me, whatever it could be. She told me to steal, and I did. She asked me to start the fire alarm, and I obliged. Push the child out of their seat… Break couples apart while they walk. I did all and more. So, much, more.

Until the last one…

– I want you to kill… she smoothly murmured in my ear.

I could almost feel her breath… that was how much she was close to being real.

– Anybody. And the way you want. Surprise me.

I swallowed. I blinked my eyes. I couldn’t. No… Right? It wasn’t okay. It wasn’t… I couldn’t… I looked around my room, searching for something. My feet took me to the kitchen, and then to the drawer. Next thing I know, I was stepping outside with a knife in my hand, her shadow slowly following behind. My eyes caught the sight of someone. Theirs met mine. I saw the fear in them and my hand started shaking. No… No… I… I couldn’t.

It was wrong.

So very wrong!

I dropped the knife and ran back inside, my entire body shaking, head to toes. I couldn’t breathe anymore. I tried, but the air just wouldn’t go inside my lungs. The thing was watching me, a mischief smile on her lips.

– You failed, she stated, smiling brighter. You know the rule…

– No, no, no! I yelled.

Her smile became warmer and she touched my cheek while murmuring:

– Shh… Shh… It’s okay. You’ll see…

– Please, I can’t… I begged, tears running down my cheeks.

– Now, now… don’t be so dramatic, she mumbled.

Right after, her hand grabbed my wrist and she pulled me up from the ground I found in vain trying to escape her. And she pulled and pulled again, until I crumbled to the floor again, but in my bedroom this time. Just in front of the mirror. She was still smiling when she told me:

– It’s time to go for a trip!

– No!

But it was too late and she dragged me a few meters left to the mirror. It broke in millions of pieces as my body was going through it. I felt every sharp piece pierced my skin all over, letting my blood escape. And then came the tearing feeling, not quite coming from my conscious body… more like inside my heart… no, deeper. So much deeper. I understood what it was the moment I saw my body dropped to the floor, covered in blood.

My soul…

It was my soul.

And now I was… I was… No, it couldn’t be. I couldn’t…

But as much as I wanted it to be a big fat lie… the truth remained: I was dead and on the other side of the mirror. I could still see my bedroom through here, but I couldn’t do anything… Next to me, the woman let out a wild laugh resembling a choking monkey. Never heard one, but I’d figure it would sound like that. As she stopped, she smiled at me and said:

– Finally, sweetie! We all break at this point… so don’t feel too bad, okay? Now, your soul is dark enough for you to take my place and for me to be free, at last.

She started fading away and soon enough everything went black. I was left screaming to let me out as the cops were retrieving my body from my bedroom floor, not knowing what really went down in this house… and what will keep happening. Because this was the rule, the curse of the broken mirror. Playing games, tricking souls in the afterlife, darkening them to try and be free.

I could have known better…

I should have…

Now I knew to whom the second unknown email address belonged… I understood at the very moment one of the cops took a birthday card in his hands. It was from my grandma, last year. A few days before she died…

If only I’d have listened to her.