Blurry

"W-what are you?" Tyler challenged, voice quivering with fear. He crouched in the corner of a dim, empty, once-white room. The walls were stained and grimy and three out of four naked bulbs barely lit the room. The Creature only laughed at him, smacking its synthetic lips and leaning back against the wall.

" It's me, baby. It's Josh." The Creature smiled, those same lips stretching across familiar pointed teeth. Its voice dripped venom, and the words tasted like cyanide and sugar.

"No. No no no, y-you can't be him. H-he doesn't call me baby. He doesn't love me" Tyler shook his head and rubbed his eyes. A single tear slid down his cheek defiantly. the piercing shriek of a laugh rang out again. The Creature strode across the room and knelt to meet Tyler's eyes. 

"Oh Tyler, of course he doesn't love you. How could he when you can barely love yourself?" The Creature tenderly traced the boy's jaw with its thumb, pointed teeth bared. "You know I'm right. You know it." It sneered. Tyler squirmed as it moved to press a toxic kiss onto his mouth. He quickly shifted his leg and kicked hard, sending The Creature skidding across the concrete floor.

" I know you aren't Josh, so what are you?" Tyler stood and wiped his mouth on his dirty sleeve. The Creature only blinked mechanically, getting to its feet slowly. "I said, what are you?" Tyler asked again. The Creature still resisted the question. "ANSWER ME!" He screamed. A bubbling laugh echoed around the room, and the bulbs swung wildly on their thin chains. The smell of burnt rubber filled the room as The Creature's skin began to ripple and melt, shaping into something new. Something hideously recognizable.

"No" Tyler breathed. He stared on at a perfect replica of his body, clothes and all. But its hands and neck were pitch black. The clone started by mirroring his actions, and then acting in its own terms. It soon spoke, using Tyler's voice as its own.

"Don't you recognize me?" It said sweetly, wearing the mask of Tyler's smile. "You know me." It hissed then, eyes narrowing. Tyler pressed his back against the cold wall, taking comfort in its stability.

"You aren't me. You-you  can't be me. You can't be" He gaped.

"Oh yes I can." The Creature menaced, lips spreading to reveal Tyler's crooked smile.

" I-I'm not afraid of you, you know."

"you can't lie to me. we both know how you're feeling right now." The Creature grinned , leaning forward to meet Tyler's eyes with its red ones " Oh, Tyler, of course you're afraid of me. You know I can't be what doesn't scared the hell out of you." It continued, features solidifying again.

" So then tell me, please, what are you?" Tyler begged.

"I can be anything you've ever feared.Ever." The burnt rubber smell was back, and the strange, bubbling laugh was echoing around the room again. This time, it wasn't The Creature that was changing, but rather a second body was coming into shape. It was in the form of Tyler again,  but this time, his face was tear stained, he wore only wrinkled boxer shorts, and his thighs were crisscrossed with the scarlet trails of the blade he clutched. The real Tyler gasped at the sight, his fingers flitting to the same place on his leg and his mind remembering what lay on his skin there. 

" See? i can be in multiple places at once, but I'm always something that absolutely terrifies you." This voice was produced from the mouths of both clones, their mouths shaping the words in unison, red eyes glowing. "This version of you is the one you are deathly afraid of becoming again, isn't it? I am simply wearing the disguise of the one you are terrified of remaining as. The real you." The creature finished, its voice projecting only from the first copy.

"W-what do you really look like?" Tyler pressed, almost afraid of what he would learn. The Creature turned its back to him then.

" I think you know the answer to that question, Tyler." when it turned back around, its features had been blurred into a red, black, and white mess. Tyler thought he knew the exact  face The Creature had put on.

" That's an interesting character to wear the mask of." Tyler said coolly, thinking he was playing along. 

" Not this time, it's no mask, Tyler."

"Then what is it? How did you-"

" Because I am." It smiled a mouthless smile, smeared lines coming to a curve on its face.

"No." Tyler winced. He squeezed his eyes shut, steeling himself for a second glance at his demon. 

When his eyes opened again, The Creature had been replaced by a large mirror, covered in a red-stained bedsheet. Tyler approached it carefully, fingers brushing the fabric before whipping it off. He gazed in, expecting to see himself. Instead, he was met with the same blurred red, black, and white mess. The same undefined features, the same smeared lines and lipless grin. The Creature materialized behind him and wrapped its cold, blackened hands around his black neck and moved its lips to his ear.

 " You are" It whispered before disintegrating into nothing. Tyler stared at his reflection as he came to the realization.

" I am" He whispered back. And then it all went dark.