Reflection

Short

Erik had never really been the biggest fan of ghost stories when he was younger. He learnt to love them slowly. Although they were more or less predictably told, they were a little more interesting than the cliché action hero story of saving the day and getting the girl. It was always the same thing. We knew the hero would prevail. But horror was a different story. Anything could happen. He loved watching and learning how people would react to situations and what solutions they would resolve to. Would he be able to survive or outwit the villain, monster or specter? Who doesn't imagine themselves being awesome enough to soothe the savage beast? He would run through scenarios all day and night. Coming up solutions and ways to circumvent the supposedly inevitable doom of the main characters of movies.

As he got older, he discovered Lucid Dreaming. Lucid dreaming is a state where you're aware that you're dreaming in the R.E.M state of sleeping. In R.E.M your body believes what you see and feel to be real. Remember that time you felt that rush of adrenaline and wind hitting your face when you fell off that building? How real it felt? Well if you could induce Lucid Dreaming you could both manipulate your dream and almost physically feel pain and pleasure! Erik soon learned though that this came at a price.

Unfortunately, if one does not disengage a lucid dream properly, you regain consciousness but your brain continues to believe you're asleep. It keeps manifesting your dreams and continues to disable your motor functions. As it does when you're completely asleep. This state is referred to as Sleep Paralysis. When enduring sleep paralysis, you're unable to move, speak and may find trouble breathing. And in the worst case scenario...you hallucinate...vividly. Erik learnt this the hard way because he had already trained myself to lucid dream automatically.

But that's enough of the back story. Here's the real story.
It had been a stressful time for him now. His had been having relationship troubles at home, and he had been thrown out of his university and was generally just lost in the world. As a result he suffered through many a nightmare. It was bearable though. Due to his innate ability with lucid dreaming, he was able to quickly alter the outcomes of his nightmares and fix them to be peaceful. Even so, falling asleep knowing what was coming would still be nerve-wracking.

But tonight would be different...

Erik had decided to go for a drive before returning home to his parents and sibling. He had heard of a place by word of mouth that would sell him an authentic dream catcher and aromatherapy scents that could help his nightmares. As you may have guessed, the shop was your typical mystical, dark and dodgy place that you'd see in scary movies and was run by a stout gypsy looking lady. He looked around, intrigued by the contents of the store. Crystals and dreamcatchers. Mannequins and figurines. Even shrunken heads which looked amazingly life-like. A shiny, fake diamond door-knob caught his eye. He leaned towards it and opened the door that it guarded.
A mirror lay inside and he sees his reflection. He smiles...but his reflection doesn't smile back. His heart sinks, and, as the fear, anxiety and paranoia hit, a moment later the reflection smiles back.

He sighs with relief as he realizes that this is no mirror, but a camera set at a delay to scare people as prank. "Very well done", he thinks to himself as he continues to look around. He heads towards a section of the room further back. As he walks past a door, slightly ajar, he catches something in the corner of his eye. He opens the door, only to find another mirror. He smiles...no reply... Another one, he thinks to himself. He closes the door and steps forward and slips on a plastic board on the floor. He bends over to pick it up.

"Do not open!"

"Weird"...he thinks to himself as he places the board on the pedestal closest to him.

He walks back towards the gypsy lady and requests what he came for, and proceeds home after receiving it.

He gets home and sets up his wards. Hoping they'd bring him some peaceful rest. It's late now and it's time for bed. "I hope this works" he thinks to himself, as he flops onto his single bed. He feels himself slowly dozing off.

A tapping noise brings him to attention. It didn't trouble him because he knew his dog like to rap at his window at night when she was bored and wanted to play. It didn't trouble him, until he realised the noise wasn't coming from the window. He glances in the other direction and sees a figure looming in his mirror.
"What the hell is that reflecting??"

The taps comes again...

He gets out of bed and looks into the mirror, and sees his reflection...but it isn't him. The reflection grimaces sadistically at him. As his emotions are about the burst, he comes to his senses.

"Another nightmare...you're okay...just ignore it and think of something else"

He closes his eyes and reopens them. His reflection is back to normal. There's no longer a tapping. And he heads back to his bed because this dream seems uneventful.

A piercing gaze causes him to wake. He sees himself looking down at him. He tries to move...but not a muscle reacts. He tries to speak...but not a word is heard. It dawns on him that he's experiencing Sleep paralysis again and there isn't much he can do except try to fall asleep again so that his body can awaken naturally. The Erik that he sees standing before him has that same sadistic smile as the earlier reflection. The clone moves closer to him and reaches its hands out. Slowly grasping onto his neck. Gripping tighter and tighter. He finds it harder to breathe with each second that passes and can't seem to force himself asleep to fix his paralysis.

Everything fades to black.

Morning comes, but it's a dull one. It seems as though the incoming light is being reflected rather than coming in directly from the sun. It's cold. Erik quickly realises he's no longer on his bed and most likely tossed and turned and rolled onto the floor. He turns and looks towards the mirror from his dimly lit room. He walks towards it as it seems like it's all he can see. "My eyes need to adjust more" he thinks to himself.
He looks into the mirror and sees himself. But his room seems a little more lit up in the reflection.

He smiles...

And the reflection smiles back at him and waves goodbye...
Erik's muffled screams slowly fade into the distance as the mirror shatters to pieces...and the last fragments of reflected light fade away.