The wind howled outside Sarah Thompson’s apartment window, branches scratching against the glass like skeletal fingers. Sarah huddled on her couch, a thick blanket wrapped around her shoulders as she tried to focus on her book. But her eyes kept darting to the antique mirror hanging on the wall opposite her.

There was something… off about her reflection tonight.

Sarah squinted, leaning forward. For a split second, she could have sworn her mirror image moved differently, with a slight delay. She shook her head, chuckling nervously. “Get a grip, Sarah. It’s just your imagination.”

A loud meow made her jump. Sarah whirled around to see a black cat perched on her windowsill, staring at her with unblinking green eyes.

“Where did you come from?” Sarah murmured, approaching slowly. The cat didn’t move, its gaze fixed on her. As Sarah drew closer, she noticed something odd – the cat had no collar, and its fur seemed to absorb the light around it, appearing as a cat-shaped void.

Just as Sarah reached out to touch it, the cat leapt down and darted across the room, disappearing behind the couch. Sarah frowned, peering over the back of the sofa. “Here kitty, kitty. I won’t hurt you.”

But the cat was gone. Sarah searched every corner of her small apartment, growing increasingly confused. There was no way it could have escaped – all the windows and doors were closed.

With a shrug, Sarah returned to the couch. “Weird,” she muttered. Her gaze fell on the mirror again, and she froze.

For just an instant, she saw the cat’s glowing eyes reflected back at her, though the room behind her was empty.

Sarah blinked hard, and the image vanished. She laughed shakily. “Okay, no more horror movies before bed.”

But as she turned away, she could have sworn she heard a faint meow coming from inside the mirror…

The next morning, Sarah awoke to sunlight streaming through her curtains. She yawned, stretching languorously. As she padded to the bathroom, still half-asleep, a flicker of movement in the mirror caught her eye.

Sarah stopped, staring at her reflection. Everything seemed normal, but there was a niggling sense of wrongness she couldn’t shake. She leaned closer, studying her face.

Were her eyes always that shade of green?

A knock at the door made her jump. Sarah hurried to answer it, finding her neighbor, Mike, standing there with a worried expression.

“Hey Sarah, have you seen my cat? Felix got out last night and I can’t find him anywhere.”

Sarah’s brow furrowed. “I’m sorry, I haven’t. What does he look like?”

“He’s all black, with green eyes. Kind of a troublemaker,” Mike said with a fond smile. “If you see him, let me know?”

“Of course,” Sarah agreed. As Mike turned to leave, she called out, “Actually, wait – I did see a black cat last night. It was sitting on my windowsill, but when I tried to catch it, it vanished.”

Mike’s eyes widened. “Vanished? What do you mean?”

Sarah shrugged helplessly. “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s like it just… disappeared. I searched my whole apartment and couldn’t find it.”

“That’s… strange,” Mike said slowly. “Felix is an escape artist, but I’ve never known him to just vanish. Thanks anyway, Sarah. I’ll keep looking.”

As Sarah closed the door, a chill ran down her spine. She turned to look at the mirror, half-expecting to see those eerie green eyes staring back at her. But her reflection was normal – wasn’t it?

Throughout the day, Sarah found herself constantly glancing at reflective surfaces – windows, her computer screen, even the polished chrome of her coffee maker. Each time, she expected to see something out of place, but everything appeared ordinary.

That evening, as Sarah was preparing dinner, she heard a soft thump from her bedroom. Her heart racing, she crept down the hallway, peering around the doorframe.

The black cat sat in the center of her bed, watching her with those luminous green eyes.

“How did you get in here?” Sarah breathed. She approached cautiously, not wanting to startle the creature. “Are you Felix? Your dad’s been looking for you.”

The cat merely blinked at her, then turned to look at the mirror. Sarah followed its gaze, gasping as she saw not her own reflection, but a shadowy room that definitely wasn’t her bedroom.

“What the-” Sarah stumbled backward, her hip bumping the nightstand. When she looked back at the mirror, her normal reflection had returned. The cat was gone.

Sarah ran a trembling hand through her hair. “I’m losing my mind,” she muttered.

A meow echoed from somewhere in the apartment. Sarah rushed out, searching frantically. “Felix? Here kitty!”

But the apartment was empty. Sarah sank onto the couch, her head in her hands. What was happening to her?

The next few days passed in a blur of paranoia and confusion. Sarah jumped at every shadow, constantly checking mirrors and reflective surfaces. She could have sworn she kept glimpsing the cat out of the corner of her eye, but whenever she turned to look, it vanished.

Her coworkers were starting to notice her odd behavior.

“Sarah? Earth to Sarah!” Her friend Emily waved a hand in front of her face. “You okay? You’ve been staring at that computer screen for like, ten minutes.”

Sarah blinked, forcing a smile. “Sorry, just zoned out I guess. Didn’t sleep well last night.”

Emily’s brow furrowed with concern. “You’ve seemed really out of it lately. Is everything alright?”

Sarah hesitated. Should she tell Emily about the strange occurrences? No, she’d sound insane. “I’m fine,” she lied. “Just stressed about the Anderson project.”

Emily didn’t look convinced, but she let it drop. “If you say so. Hey, want to grab drinks after work? Might help you relax.”

“Thanks, but I think I’ll just head home and have an early night,” Sarah declined. In truth, she was terrified of what might happen in her apartment if she stayed out too late.

As Sarah unlocked her door that evening, she steeled herself for whatever weirdness might await her. But the apartment was quiet and still. She let out a relieved breath, hanging up her coat.

“You’re being ridiculous,” she told herself firmly. “There’s no such thing as magic mirrors or vanishing cats. You’re just overtired and imaginative.”

Sarah fixed herself a simple dinner and settled on the couch with a book, determined to have a normal, peaceful evening. But as the hours ticked by, she found herself growing increasingly uneasy. The silence felt oppressive, expectant.

Unable to focus on her novel, Sarah’s gaze was drawn inexorably to the mirror. Her reflection stared back, pale and wide-eyed. As Sarah watched, transfixed, her mirror image’s lips curved into a smile she wasn’t making.

Sarah leapt to her feet with a strangled cry. Her reflection remained seated, that eerie smile still in place. Then slowly, purposefully, it raised one hand and beckoned to her.

“No,” Sarah whimpered, backing away. “This isn’t real. This can’t be happening.”

A loud meow made her spin around. The black cat sat on her kitchen counter, watching her with those impossibly green eyes. But when Sarah turned back to the mirror, her normal reflection had returned.

Sarah sank to the floor, trembling. “What’s happening to me?” she whispered.

The cat jumped down, padding over to her. It butted its head against her hand, purring loudly. Despite her fear, Sarah found herself gently stroking its silky fur.

“Are you real?” she asked softly. “Or am I going crazy?”

The cat merely purred louder, curling up in her lap. Sarah felt her racing heart begin to slow. Maybe she had just been imagining things. Maybe this was just a normal cat that had somehow gotten into her apartment.

But as her fingers combed through its fur, Sarah noticed something odd. The cat had no collar, but there was a small patch on its chest where the fur formed an unusual pattern – almost like a tiny mirror.

Sarah’s blood ran cold. She looked up at the mirror, seeing her terrified face reflected back. But now there was something else in the reflection too – a shadowy figure standing behind her, its features indistinct except for two glowing green eyes.

Sarah scrambled to her feet, the cat leaping away with an angry yowl. She whirled around, but there was no one behind her. When she looked back at the mirror, only her own pale face stared back.

“That’s it,” Sarah declared, her voice shaking. “I’m getting rid of this thing.”

She strode to the mirror, intending to take it down. But as her hands touched the frame, a jolt of electricity seemed to course through her. Sarah cried out, stumbling backward.

The mirror’s surface rippled like water. Sarah watched in horrified fascination as her reflection blurred and shifted, reforming into the image of a room she’d never seen before. It was dimly lit, with bookshelves lining the walls and strange symbols carved into the floor.

In the center of the room stood a figure cloaked in shadow. As Sarah stared, it raised its head, revealing glowing green eyes.

“Who are you?” Sarah whispered. “What do you want?”

The figure smiled, revealing pointed teeth. When it spoke, its voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. “I want what you have, Sarah Thompson. I want to be real.”

Sarah shook her head, backing away. “I don’t understand.”

“For centuries, I have been trapped in the spaces between reflections,” the creature hissed. “Watching, waiting. But now, thanks to you, I can finally cross over.”

“Me? What did I do?” Sarah’s back hit the wall. She was trembling uncontrollably.

The shadow creature laughed, a chilling sound. “You opened the door when you looked into the mirror that night. Your fear, your doubt – it created a crack in the barrier between our worlds. And now, with each glance, each moment of uncertainty, you widen that crack.”

Sarah’s mind raced. The constant checking of reflective surfaces, her growing paranoia – had she somehow made this happen?

“What are you going to do?” she asked, though she feared she already knew the answer.

The creature’s grin widened. “I’m going to take your place, of course. Step into your life, your world. And you… you will take mine.”

“No!” Sarah lunged for the mirror, intending to smash it. But before she could reach it, something slammed into her from behind. She hit the floor hard, the breath knocked from her lungs.

The black cat stood over her, but it was changing. Its form elongated, twisting grotesquely until it resembled a human shape made of living shadow. Only those piercing green eyes remained the same.

Sarah tried to scream, but no sound came out. She felt icy fingers wrap around her throat, dragging her towards the mirror. She kicked and struggled, but it was like fighting smoke.

As her head neared the mirror’s surface, Sarah saw her reflection change. No longer did she see her own terrified face, but the shadowy figure from before. It reached out, its hand emerging from the mirror like it was coming up from underwater.

“No, please,” Sarah choked out. “Someone help me!”

But there was no one to hear her cries. The shadow creature’s hand closed around her wrist, pulling her inexorably towards the mirror. Sarah felt a sensation like icy water closing over her head as she was dragged through the reflective surface.

The last thing she saw before darkness engulfed her was her own face, now occupied by the creature, smiling triumphantly as it stepped fully into her world.

Sarah floated in an endless void, formless and alone. How long she drifted, she couldn’t say. Time had no meaning here. Occasionally, she caught glimpses of the real world through reflective surfaces – a puddle, a window, a polished tabletop. But they were fleeting, gone before she could cry out for help.

She saw the creature wearing her face, living her life. It went to her job, talked to her friends, all while wearing a mask of normalcy. But Sarah could see the hunger in its eyes, the predatory grace in its movements. How long before someone noticed that something was terribly wrong?

Days, weeks, or perhaps years passed. Sarah’s consciousness began to fragment, her memories of her former life growing hazy. Had she always been here, in this place of shadows and whispers? Or was there something before?

But then, one day, something changed. Sarah felt a tug, a pull towards… somewhere. Confusion gave way to hope as she realized she was being drawn towards a reflection.

She emerged into a dimly lit room, blinking in the sudden brightness. A circle of candles surrounded her, strange symbols drawn on the floor in what looked disturbingly like blood.

And there, standing just outside the circle, was Mike – her neighbor from what felt like a lifetime ago.

“Sarah?” he breathed, his eyes wide with shock and relief. “It worked. Oh god, it actually worked.”

Sarah tried to speak, but no sound came out. She looked down at herself, seeing only a vague, shadowy approximation of her former body.

Mike stepped closer, though he was careful not to break the circle. “I’m so sorry it took me so long to figure it out. When you disappeared, and that… thing took your place, I knew something was wrong. It took me months to piece together what had happened, to find a way to bring you back.”

Sarah felt a surge of gratitude, tinged with fear. She was back, but in what form? And where was the creature that had stolen her life?

As if in answer to her unspoken question, a enraged howl echoed through the apartment. Sarah turned to see her doppelganger charging towards them, its face contorted with inhuman fury.

“No!” it shrieked. “She’s mine! You can’t take her back!”

Mike shouted words in a language Sarah didn’t understand, his hand outstretched. The creature hit an invisible barrier at the edge of the circle, recoiling as if burned.

“It’s over,” Mike said firmly. “You don’t belong here. Go back to your own realm and leave Sarah alone.”

The creature snarled, its form flickering between Sarah’s appearance and its true, shadowy nature. “Fool! You think your parlor tricks can stop me? I’ve waited centuries for this chance. I won’t go back to the void!”

It hurled itself at the barrier again and again. Sarah could see cracks forming in the air, glowing with an eerie light. The candles flickered wildly, shadows dancing on the walls.

Mike’s face was pale, sweat beading on his brow as he struggled to maintain the spell. “Sarah,” he gasped. “I can’t hold it much longer. You have to choose – step fully into this world, or you’ll be pulled back into the mirror realm when the barrier falls.”

Sarah looked down at her insubstantial form, then at the raging creature that wore her face. Could she really take back her life? Did she even remember how to be human anymore?

The barrier shattered with a sound like breaking glass. The creature lunged forward with a victorious cry. In that moment, Sarah made her choice.

She stepped forward, feeling a rush of sensation as she inhabited her physical form once more. The creature howled in fury and despair as it was drawn inexorably towards the mirror.

“This isn’t over!” it shrieked, clawing at the air. “I’ll find a way back. I’ll make you pay for this!”

Then it was gone, leaving only Sarah’s reflection staring back at her. For a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of green in her eyes, but then it was gone.

Sarah sank to her knees, overwhelmed by the assault on her senses after so long in the void. She felt Mike’s hand on her shoulder, heard his voice asking if she was alright. But it was all too much.

As darkness closed in, Sarah’s last thought was a question that would haunt her for years to come: Was it truly over? Or would she spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, afraid of what might be lurking in every reflection?

In the mirror, unnoticed by either Sarah or Mike, a pair of glowing green eyes blinked once before vanishing into the depths of the glass. Waiting. Watching. Biding its time until another unwary soul provided a bridge between worlds.

For in a universe of infinite reflections, there are always more doors to open. And always something waiting on the other side, hungry to step through.