Chapter Four: Between Dream and Wakefulness
Three days had passed since Noor had last seen her reflection in the mirror, yet she hadn't slept a single night without nightmares.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the other version staring at her from a dark place, its gray eyes glowing in the darkness, and the mysterious man's voice whispering her name softly:
"Noor… it's time."
She jolted awake that night, sweat dripping down her forehead, while the moon cast its silver light across her pale face.
She looked toward the small mirror facing her bed—and saw her face… smiling.
But she wasn't smiling.
She screamed and grabbed the mirror to throw it on the floor, but stopped…
Her reflection didn't move with her.
It was simply watching, as if something else lived behind the glass, waiting for the right moment to emerge.
She sat on the floor, her breaths quickening, every sound in the apartment pulsing with her heartbeat.
Then she heard a gentle knock on the door.
Three slow knocks.
Hesitant, she stood and walked toward the door with trembling steps.
She opened it…
No one was there.
But on the floor, directly in front of the door, lay a small black envelope.
She opened it with shaking fingers, and inside was a neatly folded paper, written in elegant, strange handwriting:
> "Stop looking at the mirror… before it looks at you first."
The paper slipped from her hand, and she hurried back inside.
She wanted to call someone—anyone—but her mind was foggy.
She unlocked her phone and found a new message from an unknown number:
> "Noor… do you remember the room? You were there before me."
Her blood ran cold.
Who was texting her?
And before me?
That night, she tried to sleep on the couch in the living room, but just before drifting off, she felt a cold wave spreading through her body.
Something passed near her—unseen, but undeniably present.
Then she heard a whisper, so close to her ear:
"I'm here…"
She jumped up screaming, but the living room was completely empty.
The lights flickered, and the curtains swayed slowly even though the windows were closed.
Between each flicker of light, she glimpsed in the glass… the reflection of a man.
The same man.
Niyar.
His face wasn't fully clear, but his voice sliced through the silence:
— "Noor… don't believe what your eyes show you. The mirror doesn't always reflect the truth."
She approached, breathless, as if she had been running for hours.
— "Who are you? What do you want from me?"
The reflection vanished suddenly, leaving behind a single whisper echoing inside her mind:
"Beware of yourself…"
In that moment, Noor realized that what was happening wasn't just nightmares or hallucinations—
It was the beginning of the collapse of the thin line between reality and reflection.