Short Thriller Stories

3. Her Reflection

"But you can't keep quiet and let them get away with it. You know what, if you can't do it, then I will." 

Riley soon begins to feel dizzy. She doesn't know what's happening or why. She sees a glass window in front of her and gets close to it. On the other side, she sees herself in the bathroom. That's when it hits her...she's trapped inside the mirror. She then desperately starts screaming for help. Alyssa looks at her, smiles and says 

"I said I would help you, didn't I?" She then goes back to Riley's room and sleeps for the rest of the night.

The next morning, Alyssa walks downstairs and greets her mom. "Hey mom. Good morning. I'm off to school."

"Wow. You look different."

"And you're happy too."

"Yeah. I listened to your advice from last night. I have to agree. I feel so much better after last night. Anyways, I gotta go. See you later."

Once she got to school, the day went on as it normally would. Students were pacing the halls and collecting books from their lockers. But at the end of the day, as Alyssa opened her locker, she found a ragged doll with a rope around its neck and in big, bold letters was the word "DIE." written on a paper pinned to the doll's head. As Camie and Kimberly approached her, Camie said 

"It's a shame you're getting death threats all the time. I feel really bad for you." 

The sarcasm was noticeable. Alyssa then angrily slams her locker and says "You're gonna regret this." Kimberly, urging her on, said "Oh. She just backtalked you, Camie. She's finally standing up for herself. What're you gonna do about it?" Camie gave Alyssa a nasty look and left with Kimberly.

When everyone left, Alyssa was ready to carry out her revenge. And as Alyssa promised, Camie would regret it.

Alyssa knew that Camie walked through the woods, a shortcut she used often to get home. She followed Camie, who was unaware that she was being followed. Alyssa called out to her "Hey Camie," and as she turned around, Alyssa stabbed her in the stomach. She fell down, face first into the dirt. "Who's the freak now, Camie?" she said. She then put her hoodie on and walked back in the opposite direction with a smile on her face.

The next morning, everyone gathered around in the hallway. Alyssa joins them. "What's going on?"

"Didn't you hear?" said one of the classmates, almost bursting into tears. "Camie's dead. The police found her body last night along Archer Avenue."

"You mean... the isolated Archer Avenue? I never go there. Too isolated. I wonder what happened to her."

The next day, after school was over, Kimberly was at her usual spot, a balcony in the school's theater, mourning the loss of her best friend, when Alyssa sat next to her.

"It's sad what happened to Camie, isn't it? I know she was your best friend. It's hard to lose someone you love."

"Since when do you care about Camie? She's always been so mean to you."

"Yeah, she has, but she's still a person. People make mistakes. And people learn from them. If it makes you feel better, I know who killed Camie." Kimberly stands up in shock.

"You--You know who killed her?"

"Yeah. The same person who's gonna kill you." 

Alyssa then takes a bottle of acid she carried with her and splashes it in her face. Kimberly felt her face burning. Pieces of flesh begin falling off. She lets out a blood curdling scream "My eyes! What did you do?" She was blind and as she was walking back, she fell over the balcony and died. "Go jump off a bridge, Freak." Alyssa then puts on her hoodie and again, calmly walks down the stairs and goes back home.

Once she got home, she grabbed a snack and went up to her room. She goes to the bathroom and looks in the mirror where she sees Riley, who's still trying to get out. 

"Where have you been? What were you doing?"

"I was doing what I said I would do."

"What does that mean?"

"I kept my promise. I helped you. I got rid of them for you. All those people who hurt you, tried to change you, are all gone. Well, almost all gone. There's still that snake, Melissa. She always tried to change you. She couldn't accept you the way you were. So, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to kill her too."

"No. You can't kill her. This isn't what I wanted."

Alyssa said angrily " I did it for you. I killed them for you. You weren't brave enough to do it, so I did. Someone had to, Riley!"

"You can't kill her. I won't let you kill her." And just like that, Riley, who was determined to keep her mother alive, got the strength to jump out of the mirror. She looked around and realized she was out. But she also saw Alyssa, holding a pocket knife in her hand. "I'm so sorry it has to end like this, Riley." She then threw the knife at her, aiming for her neck, but she quickly turned around and ran towards the door, but not fast enough to avoid getting hit by the knife. She then felt a sharp pain in her back, and saw a stream of blood dripping down her back. She fell down, and within a matter of seconds, she died. However, because she killed Riley, Alyssa would also die, since one could not live without the other.

Melissa came home from work and called for Riley. "Riley, you there?" There was no response. She called again. "Riley? Hello?" Still, there was no answer. She went into the bathroom and found Riley dead on the floor, bleeding. She called the police, but was too busy mourning her daughter to notice her own reflection smiling at her too.