When I woke up, I felt sweat dripping down my forehead. I had woken up from a nightmare. It was a very vivid dream that felt so real that even when you wake up, it’s hard to tell the difference between reality and a dream.

Someone was choking me, and I couldn’t breathe. And the scary part is that someone was me. It was someone with my face. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t escape. The terrifying scene is still fresh in my mind.

I got up from my bed, my heart still pounding. I turned on the light and looked around, The room was empty and quiet. I checked my phone, it was almost 4 in the morning. My nightmare gave me the urge to take a piss so bad.

Tired and terrified, I got up to go to the bathroom. As I passed the long mirror hanging right in front of the bed, I suddenly saw something, and I stopped. My reflection wasn’t syncing perfectly. My heart went cold. I took a step back, rubbing my eyes, and turned back to the mirror. I stood directly in front of the mirror and stared blankly.

And, I slowly made some facial movements to see if it mimicked me perfectly.

It did.

“Maybe I was wrong. I just woke up”, I spoke in my head.

Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that it was just fear. But, just to be sure, I smiled.

The shadow smiled too.

I stopped smiling and turned back to the bathroom. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw something strange. My reflection was still smiling.

A cold shiver ran down my skin. I slowly turned back. The smile was still there, unnaturally wide, strange. I was still as I approached, the shadow still smiling.

My body was numb. I was holding my breath. And suddenly, the entity in the mirror took a step forward. But I wasn’t walking.

The mirror turned to a watery skin, and the thing—the creature that looked like me—came out of the mirror. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t make a sound. I tried to move, but the body won’t budge. It slowly grabbed my throat.

A jolt of pain hit me. My vision blurred. The last thing I saw was that smiling face, my face. And everything disappeared into the darkness.

I woke up again, gasping.

I was still in the room, but I wasn’t sweating. The mirror was intact. I sat up slowly, still trembling with fear of seeing that face. But everything was quiet.

And I saw it again in the mirror. It was sitting on the bed, looking at me. And, still, smiling.

And something strange happened. It stopped smiling and came towards me. My reflection was standing, staring at me, calmly. It laughed at me, opened the door, and walked out. I looked around. The room looked the same, but everything was reversed. The posters were upside down. But it was eerily quiet.

“It couldn’t be”, I started getting terrified.

“Wait!” I shouted, but my voice had grown deeper. I thought I was going crazy. Somehow, I’m still in my nightmare.

I ran to the mirror. I put my hands on the mirror. But the mirror showed a cold, hard surface. I knocked. But the sound was deep, different—like it was coming from inside.

I backed away. Now, I was trembling. And a scary realization arose, I was somehow trapped in the mirror.