5
444 Words
Chapter 5: Reflections of Death
William's boot sank into the basement's standing water, but the ripples didn't reflect his face.
The thing in the water—the other William—was raising a shotgun, its barrel aimed squarely at Jackie's back.
The Basement: 4:17 AM
"Don't move." William seized Jackie's shoulder hard enough to make her gasp.
The puddle erupted into boiling foam. Each bursting bubble showed the same horrific vision: William pulling the trigger, Jackie's chest exploding in a spray of blood.
Behind them, the iron door sealed shut without a sound.
The Doll Graveyard: 4:29 AM
The stench of beeswax and rotting meat clung to the pile of dolls. At its peak sat a golden-haired figure, its porcelain face cracked, the lace skirt revealing skeletal legs. When the flashlight beam hit its glass eyes, they rotated to fix on William's scar.
"Emma's life-sized doll," Jackie whispered, her breath frosting in the air. "But why blonde? The photos showed dark hair."
The doll's head spun 180 degrees. On the back of its skull, a seven-pointed star had been drawn in blood, each tip impaled with an object: a hairpin, a baby tooth, a pencil stub... The seventh point stood empty.
William's scar burned like fire. As he staggered against the wall, his fingers found it coated in something sticky. Yellowed school papers covered every inch, each sheet bearing the same phrase:
DADDY SAYS I'M BAD
The handwriting deteriorated from neat cursive to frenzied scratches, the final message carved directly into the plaster with fingernails.
The Reflection Attacks: 4:51 AM
The doppelgänger stepped fully from the water. Its boots left charred footprints as it advanced, the shotgun never wavering from Jackie's forehead. The real William squeezed his trigger—
Nothing happened.
"Run!" He swung the stock like a club.
Steel clashed against steel. The reflection's barrel bent at an impossible angle, yet it fired anyway—not bullets, but a tangle of black hair that lashed around Jackie's ankles like a living noose.
The dolls' button eyes began weeping blood.
The Reckoning: 5:03 AM
Jackie's vermilion powder exploded in crimson sparks. The burning hair shrieked like a little girl. She lunged for the blonde doll, pulling the molar they'd found in the dining room from her pocket.
"The seventh offering!"
As the tooth clicked into place, every doll detonated simultaneously. A blizzard of stuffing filled the air, each tuft studded with bone fragments. The reflection froze, its face sloughing away to reveal Emma's decomposing visage beneath.
"Game over," it giggled in a child's voice. "Now I'm the seeker."
Every pipe in the basement burst. From the hair-choked water, dozens of skeletal hands emerged.
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