CHAPTER 3: The Double
338 Words
I spent the rest of the day reading the journal, my mind reeling. The woman who wrote it this "Lena" described everything exactly as I knew it. The layout of the rooms, the creak in the stairs, even the way the sunlight hit the window at 4 PM. But she spoke of a "Double"a woman who looked exactly like her, who appeared in the reflection.
She wrote that the Double was getting stronger, stepping closer to the glass every day.
That night, I couldn’t stay inside. I went for a walk, hoping to clear my head. But as I passed the local diner, I saw her.
The woman from the journal.
She was sitting at the window, sipping coffee. She looked up, and our eyes met. She looked exactly like me. Same face, same hair, same terrified expression. I stumbled backward, bumping into a stranger. When I looked back up, she was gone.
I ran home, breathless. The feeling of being watched was unbearable now. I went straight to the mirror in the hallway. I stared at my reflection, searching for any difference.
"Who are you?" I whispered to the glass.
My reflection moved. But I didn’t move.
My reflection smiled a slow, cold, knowing smile that I never would make. I stepped back, heart pounding. The woman in the mirror leaned forward, her hands pressing against the glass from the inside.
"Finally," she said. Her voice didn’t come from the room; it echoed from everywhere at once. "You are finally ready to listen."
"What do you want?" I screamed.
"I want what is mine," she answered. "You have been living in my world long enough. It is time to swap places."
I covered the mirror with a cloth and ran to my room, barricading the door. But I could hear her laughing. A sound that was my laugh, but twisted and dark.
- Writer
