The mirror was cold beneath Elara's palms. No matter how hard she pounded on the glass, the world outside didn't shiver. The reflection—her reflection—had stepped out. And she, the one with a racing heart and trembling hands, remained trapped behind a flawless surface of silver.
Outside the mirror, the other Elara—calm, composed—opened the apartment door.
"Calen," she said, her voice steady, warm. The voice of a friend. A voice that didn't tremble.Inside the mirror, the real Elara screamed soundlessly, Don't trust her.
Calen stepped inside, rain dripping from his coat. His brow furrowed. "You look… different.""I didn't sleep," Mirror Elara replied smoothly. "Long night."He gave a small, sympathetic nod. "After what happened, I'm surprised you're even standing."
Real Elara slammed her fist against the glass. Say something. Do something. Please.But outside, the reflection gently closed the door.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Inside the Mirror
Time was strange behind the glass.
There was no sound. No temperature. No breath. Only her reflection staring back at her from the other side—living her life—as though the world belonged to her now.
Elara tried to steady her breathing, though she wasn't sure if she could still breathe here. Her chest rose and fell, but no warmth fogged the mirror. No heartbeat thudded in her ears.
Beyond the glass, everything moved—Calen speaking, footsteps shifting, the kettle sputtering on the stove—while her world remained silent.
A voice broke through the quiet. But it wasn't Calen's, nor the reflection's.It was inside the mirror-space—soft, familiar, echoing from nowhere and everywhere.
"You're awake."
Elara turned. The mirror-world behind her stretched endlessly—dark reflections of her apartment, distorted and warped like shadows in water.
A figure stepped out from the darkness.
It was her mother.
Not the aged, clinical version she'd seen at the institute—but the version from her childhood memories. Gentle, tired eyes. A faint smile.
"Mom?" Elara whispered.
Her mother didn't answer immediately. Instead, she pressed her hand to the mirror surface. From the other side of the glass. Inside the prison with her.
"I tried to stop it," she said softly. "But once the mirror learns, it doesn't forget."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Outside — The Impostor
"Are you sure you're okay?" Calen asked.Mirror-Elara poured tea into two cups. "I'm fine. Just… overwhelmed."
Calen hesitated. "The lab, the file—Project Doppel. Was any of it true?"She looked at him—eyes calm, steady. "Some of it. But I'm not dangerous."
Inside the mirror, real Elara banged against the surface. Liar. Calen, look at me. Please.
But Calen couldn't hear her. Couldn't see her.
The impostor smiled faintly, pushing a cup towards him. "Drink. You look exhausted."He took it without question.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Inside — The Truth
Elara stared at her mother. "Is she… me? Or is she something else?"Her mother looked away. "You were never meant to meet her. The mirror-self was born the day you looked into that experiment chamber. It copied you—not just your face, but your memories, fears, thoughts. But only one mind can hold reality."
"So… she isn't the copy?"Her mother's voice cracked. "You both are. You're fragments. I don't know which one is real anymore."
Elara's chest tightened. "Then why am I the one trapped?""Because you hesitated," her mother whispered. "She did not."
The mirror rippled faintly. Outside, Calen sat at the table, unaware he was sharing tea with something that wasn't fully human.
Calen raised the teacup to his lips.
Real Elara felt it before it happened.
A tension in the glass. A vibration under her fingertips.The mirror surface cracked.
Just a hairline—like a thin lightning bolt across ice.
Her mother stepped back. "It's beginning.""What is?"
"The Fracture Point. When two consciousnesses exist in one life—reality must choose."
Outside, Calen froze mid-sip.
He saw it. Just for a second.
In the mirror, Elara—panicked, pounding, eyes wide.
He blinked.
Gone.
"Calen?" Mirror-Elara asked softly. "Something wrong?"He slowly set the cup down. "I… I thought I saw something."
She smiled. Too quickly. "Fatigue. You need rest."
Inside, real Elara locked eyes with him.
For a fraction of a second, Calen hesitated.
And doubts began to root.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Last Words Before the Break
"Mom," Elara whispered in the mirror world. "Can I escape?"Her mother's eyes filled with quiet sorrow.
"Mirrors don't open. They break."
Outside, Calen stood. "Elara, I'm going to—"The lights flickered.
The mirror shattered.
But not outward.
Inward.
Like a doorway opening.