CHAPTER ELEVEN: Freedom
366 Words
Maxwell grabbed a rusted metal bar, Tessa stepped back, Naomi stood firm beside Emilia.
“Do it,” Emilia said.
Maxwell swung.
The first strike cracked the mirror.
And everything changed.
A sound tore through the room, not a scream, not a voice, but something in between.
The second strike shattered it further.
Cold rushed out like a storm.
Figures, shapes, forms without faces pushed forward, making the room hard to breathe.
Tessa cried out. “They’re coming!”
“Stay together!” Naomi shouted.
The third strike,
The mirror shattered completely and for a moment, chaos.
The spirits surged, circling, rising, filling every corner of the room, some screamed., some reached, some simply lingered, as if unsure what freedom meant.
Emilia stood her ground.
Her heart raced but she didn’t move.
“Go,” she whispered.
The word felt small.
But it carried everything.
“Go you’re free.”
The room shifted.
The movement slowed.
And then,
Something changed, the shadows softened.
One by one, the spirits began to fade, not violently, not angrily, but quietly… like something finally letting go.
The air warmed,
The weight lifted,
And at the center of it all,
Her reflection stood one last time,
Smiling.
Peacefully.
“Thank you,” it said.
Emilia felt her eyes burn.
Then, It was gone.
The room fell silent,
No whispers.
No presence.
Just stillness.
Real stillness.
Tessa let out a shaky breath. “Is it over?”
Naomi looked around slowly. “I think it is.”
Maxwell dropped the metal bar, his shoulders relaxing for the first time. “We actually did it…”
Emilia said nothing, she just stood there.
Feeling something she hadn’t felt since this all began.
Peace.
Days later, St. Alderidge changed.
Not in ways people could explain but in ways they could feel,
The air was lighter.
And the mirrors,
The mirrors were just mirrors again.
No delays,
No whispers.,
Just reflections.
Emilia stood alone in her dorm.
For the first time in days,
She looked, directly into the mirror.
Her reflection stared back.
Perfectly,
Naturally,
Emilia smiled slightly.
And this time, it smiled with her.
No delay., no difference,
Just her.
And finally,
Nothing else.
- Writer
