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Whispers in the Shadows: May’s 500-Word Horror Challenge
Which story gets your vote this month?
Faces - By Sandra Petrinovic
Reflections - By Dr. Kerry B
The Other Scott - By John Hannigan
Endless Ladder - By John Weagly
Enter your story inspired by this image in our new Shadowsphere group. Vote for your favorite—and remember, the top three stories will be published in our monthly webzine, Whispers from Beyond.
Deadline: May 25.
The shadows are stirring. Are you brave enough to answer?
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The Rat in the Mirror
They say the dead recall how they died, but I could not even recollect how I got into this abandoned rundown room. I stood there in the centre facing gray, peeling mildew-covered wallpaper. Glancing around at the four walls, they were all the same. A quick glance upward confirmed the ceiling had the same mildew pattern, but no wallpaper on it. Am I imprisoned?
Standing there, I stood inside the middle of the largest Rorschach inkblot test pattern ever conceived. This is when I noticed no door to get out of the room.
Nor any light on the floor, wall, or ceiling to illuminate the room, yet the room was still illuminated. How could I see the dead rat on the floor? I picked it up by its long hairless tail between my thumb and forefinger. Behind me in the middle of the wall was a mirror. A rapid glance over my shoulder confirmed it was a mirror. As I stood in front of the mirror, my reflection did not stare back at me. Instead, the rat floated alone upside down in midair without my reflection standing there. I shook the rat and observed it shimmer and shake upside down in the mirror. Flipping it over my shoulder, it sailed across the room. It bounced off the back wall without me anywhere to be seen. Once more, I glanced over my shoulder, and the rat lay on the floor matching its reflection to perfection.
I turned back towards the mirror. Startled! I caught my breath, there were five cobweb-covered bruised faces in the mirror, all with bloodshot eyes staring back at me. I sneered, extended my hand and waved ever so slowly at them. They followed my hand. I laughed at them; they did not laugh back with me.
Pressing my cheek and both palms against the mirrored surface, I pushed harder on its reflective surface, as hard as I could. Ripples like a pond formed about my wrist as it gave way a little bit. My stronger left hand and arm began to slip through the puddled looking glass surface; my head followed both hands through the rippling mirrored surface into the other realm.
Halfway through the looking glass, I reached out for the five, now, froze in fear. Within seconds, almost all of me was out of that room into this other realm. I grabbed on to them, knocking them over, down on to a gray stone floor. Their weight jerked the last of me free away from the mirrored surface.
I feasted on their blood before any could escape my fangs. Refreshed at last. I remembered how I came to be trapped alone inside that one room tomb. Once again, I'm free at last to feed on their kind.