The tear hit the floor with a sound far too loud for something so small.Drip.It echoed. Again. And again. Until the sound multiplied, becoming a rainstorm inside my skull.
I gasped, clutching my face. My skin felt cold and wrong...like it wasn't mine anymore. When I pulled my hand away, my palm was streaked with black. Not blood. Not ink. Something thicker. Like liquid shadow.
My vision trembled. The corridor twisted sideways. The walls rippled as if they were breathing in sync with my panic. Somewhere deep in the dark, I heard a voice humming.A lullaby.Off-key. Out of place.And familiar.
I turned toward it....and froze.
The floor ahead shimmered like glass, reflecting a version of me that wasn't moving.The other me stood perfectly still. Same clothes. Same tear-stained face.But her eyes were completely black voids that absorbed what little light was left.
"Why are you crying?" the reflection asked.The voice came from behind me.
I spun around.Nothing.
When I looked back, my reflection was smiling.Then the walls began to whisper.
They didn't sound like words at first...just static and breath....but slowly, the murmurs formed syllables.My name.Over and over.
I covered my ears. "Stop it!"
My reflection lifted the knife.
I didn't remember having it in my hands. But now I did.The blade shimmered, black tears dripping from its edge. Every drop carved a tiny symbol into the ground spirals, eyes, jagged letters that glowed faintly red before fading.
"You're not seeing hallucinations," said the voice."You're remembering."
My knees hit the ground. "Remembering what?" I whispered, though part of me didn't want to know.
The knife answered.
Its surface shifted, revealing flashes too quick to fully see but enough to feel.Blood on tiles. A girl's scream.My own hands shaking.And a face.....my face.....dead and grinning in the dark.
I dropped the knife.It clattered, bounced once, and stopped perfectly upright.
Then came the footsteps.
Slow. Deliberate. Wet.Each one closer than the last.
The lights flickered.
My shadow stretched across the wall....but it didn't match my movements anymore.It turned its head first.It looked at me before I could even react.
And when it smiled… it bared my teeth.
"You already died here," it whispered."You just keep forgetting."
The world fractured.The walls peeled.
And the last thing I saw was the reflection of my black eyes staring backbefore everything went silent.