The Truth Watching Back
560 Words
The mirror cracked louder.
KRRRKK—
A thin line split across its surface, right through Tunde’s reflection… and through the creature standing behind him.
“Stop… STOP!” Tunde shouted, gripping the phone tighter as if that alone could hold reality together.
The battery icon blinked red.
0%.
But the phone… didn’t turn off.
Instead, the screen dimmed to a faint glow—like it was running on something that wasn’t power.
Something else.
The creature tilted its head again.
That horrible smile stretched wider.
“You’re starting to understand…”
Tunde’s breath caught.
“You can talk now?”
“Not talk… remember.”
A sharp pain exploded in Tunde’s head.
He staggered, nearly dropping the phone.
Images flashed—
Not memories… not dreams…
Another room.
Same layout.
Same mirror.
Same darkness.
But the person standing there—
Wasn’t afraid.
It was him.
But older.
Colder.
And smiling the same way the creature was.
Tunde screamed, clutching his head. “MAKE IT STOP!”
The phone vibrated violently.
A new message appeared, glitching in and out:
“This is the part you always forget.”
“Forget WHAT?!” he cried.
The mirror cracked again.
This time, a piece fell off.
Shattered on the floor.
And something impossible happened—
The reflection inside that broken piece… didn’t match reality anymore.
In the shard, Tunde was standing still.
Calm.
Holding the phone down.
While the creature stood freely beside him.
Not trapped.
Not frozen.
“No…” Tunde whispered. “That’s not real…”
“It is,” the creature said softly.
And for the first time—
Its “face” began to form clearly.
Not blank anymore.
Not smooth.
But shifting into something terrifyingly familiar.
Tunde’s own face.
He stumbled back.
“You’re not me…”
“I am what you left behind.”
The room seemed to pulse.
Reality itself felt unstable, like a weak signal flickering in and out.
“Every time you try to escape… you create me again.”
Tunde shook his head violently. “No! I’ve never seen you before!”
The creature smiled wider.
“That’s the problem.”
The phone screen suddenly changed.
Not messages anymore.
A video.
Playing by itself.
Tunde watched in horror.
It was him.
In this same room.
Holding the same phone.
But this version of him looked… tired.
Broken.
Desperate.
On the video, Future Tunde spoke directly into the camera:
“If you’re seeing this… then it didn’t work again.”
Present Tunde froze.
“The thing behind you isn’t chasing you…”
A pause.
Static.
Then:
“It’s what happens when you fail.”
The video glitched.
Future Tunde leaned closer, eyes filled with fear.
“Listen carefully. The message… the warning… the loop—”
The screen distorted.
“—I’ve been sending them to myself.”
Tunde dropped to his knees.
“No… no, no…”
The creature stepped forward.
This time—
Nothing stopped it.
Not the mirror.
Not the phone.
Because now…
Tunde wasn’t looking at both anymore.
The mirror shattered completely.
The creature—his other self—stood right in front of him.
Smiling.
Calm.
Certain.
“You finally remembered…”
The phone went black.
In the darkness…
A new message appeared.
Not on the phone.
Not on a screen.
Inside his mind.
“Restart?”
To Be Continued…
- Writer
