Late at night, after taking a shower, Jack walked into the cramped bathroom, drying his wet hair with a towel. The lights in the old apartment were always flickering, accompanied by the occasional gurgling sound coming from the pipes.
He looked up at the large mirror above the sink. The Jack in the mirror looked pale, his eyes heavy with the exhaustion of a sleepless night. He sighed and raised his right hand, ready to turn off the faucet.
At that very moment, Jack froze.
He had clearly raised his right hand, but the “Jack” in the mirror had both hands clamped tightly against the edge of the sink, completely motionless.
The bathroom was deathly silent, with only the faucet still dripping “drip, drip.” Jack’s heart gave a sudden jolt, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back. He stared intently at the mirror, trying to convince himself it was just a hallucination caused by exhaustion.
“I must be too tired…” he muttered to himself, slowly lowering his right hand.
But the “Jack” in the mirror still hadn’t let go. Not only that, but the corners of that reflection’s mouth began to curl upward—extremely slowly, bit by bit—revealing a sinister grin that Jack would never have made.
Jack recoiled in terror, taking a step back and slamming his back hard against the bathroom doorframe. He wanted to scream, but his throat felt as if something were blocking it, and no sound came out.
The “Jack” in the mirror remained standing in place, his hands braced against the sink, his eyes fixed intently on the real Jack, his gaze filled with greed and mockery. Then, the reflection slowly raised a finger, held it to his lips, and made a “shh” gesture.
Jack could no longer bear the terror. He spun around abruptly, flung open the bathroom door, and stumbled into the living room. He gasped for breath, his hands trembling as he fumbled for the light switch on the wall.
With a “click,” the living room lights came on.
Jack slumped onto the sofa, feeling his heart still pounding wildly. He instinctively looked up at the decorative mirror hanging on the wall directly across from him.
The mirror reflected the living room sofa, the coffee table, and Jack sitting on the sofa.
But the Jack in the mirror wasn’t sitting on the sofa.
That reflection was standing at the edge of the mirror, half his body already protruding from the frame. He was holding a rope and smiling as he walked toward the real Jack…
