Chapter: What Remains of Me
At first, I thought it was just a reflection.
Something ordinary.
An image that moves when I move, and disappears when I step away.
But I was wrong.
That night, when I stood in front of the mirror for the first time, I felt something that didn't belong to the world I knew. It wasn't clear fear, and it wasn't a sound I could hear. It was just a feeling.
The feeling that someone was watching me from the other side.
I kept staring for a long time.
A second.
A minute.
Maybe hours.
Until I saw it.
It wasn't a reflection.
It was a person who looked like me.
So much like me it was terrifying.
The same face.
The same eyes.
The same features.
But something inside him was different.
Calmer.
More confident.
More knowing.
That day, he said to me:
"Finally."
And from that moment, my life began to change.
At first, I thought it was an illusion.
A trick created by exhaustion.
But days passed.
And the voice didn't disappear.
It only came closer.
Clearer.
More present.
He knew things no one should know.
He knew my thoughts before I spoke them.
And my fears before I admitted them to myself.
With time, I started feeling that I was no longer alone inside my head.
There was someone else.
Someone watching everything.
Waiting.
The closer I got to the mirror, the stronger he became.
And even when I moved away, he remained.
As if he was no longer tied to the mirror.
But to me.
Then the memories began.
Memories I didn't know if they were real or not.
A white room.
Cold lights.
People wearing coats.
And me standing in front of a huge mirror.
I remember voices.
I remember warnings.
I remember they told me not to touch it.
But I did.
I extended my hand.
And touched the surface.
From that moment, nothing was the same.
That was the origin of everything.
The beginning of the split.
The beginning of his existence.
And the beginning of my loss.
With time, the difference between us became unclear.
Sometimes I felt I was the one speaking.
Other times, I felt it was him.
My thoughts became tangled.
My memories overlapped.
Even my reflection no longer always moved the same way.
There was a slight delay.
Then the delay disappeared.
Then I no longer knew who was following whom.
And one night, he appeared fully.
He stood in front of me like any human would.
He looked at me with a calm smile and said:
"I am not your enemy."
But I didn't believe him.
How could I believe someone who came out of a mirror?
How could I believe a version of myself?
How could I believe something I wasn't even sure was real?
And yet…
I returned to him every day.
As if a part of me was searching for him.
Or needing him.
Then came the call.
A mysterious voice.
Someone I didn't know.
He said he was watching me.
He said what was happening to me had happened before.
And he said I was not the first.
For the first time, I felt this was bigger than a hallucination.
Bigger than a simple mirror.
There were others.
People who knew the truth.
Or part of it.
And after a few days, they appeared.
Behind the door.
Slow knocks.
A voice calling my name.
Offering help.
Offering salvation.
Asking me to open the door.
They said they could separate me from him.
They said they could make me who I used to be again.
But when I looked at the mirror…
I saw him.
As calm as always.
Looking at me without fear.
Without trying to force anything.
And then I understood something important.
He didn't want control over me.
And he didn't want to kill me.
He was just a part of me.
A part I had lost a long time ago.
A part I refused to acknowledge.
I stood between the door and the mirror.
Between the past and the unknown.
Between survival and change.
And I had to choose.
I heard their voices outside.
I heard their warnings.
And I heard his voice inside.
Then I realized the truth.
I was no longer the person I used to be.
That person ended the moment I touched the mirror.
Everything after that was just an attempt to escape this truth.
I stepped closer to the mirror.
I extended my hand.
And I didn't stop.
The surface rippled under my fingers.
Like water.
Like a dream.
Like something that should not exist.
Behind me, the voices kept screaming.
But I didn't turn back.
I entered.
There was no pain.
No darkness.
No end.
Only silence.
A vast silence without limits.
And there…
In a place that was not like any place…
I finally understood.
It was never a battle between me and him.
Not between the original and the copy.
Not between human and reflection.
It was a struggle between what I was…
and what I could become.
And when the struggle ended…
There was no winner.
And no loser.
Only one thing remained.
Something that carried my memories.
My thoughts.
My fear.
My dreams.
Something that was no longer fully me.
And no longer fully him.
Something new.
Something born from both of us.
And in the last moment…
Before silence swallowed everything completely…
I heard a distant voice.
A new person standing in front of another mirror.
Someone who noticed their reflection didn't quite move with them.
I smiled.
And closed my eyes.
And whispered:
"You're late…"
Then everything disappeared.
But the mirror…
never disappeared.
The End