2:46 AM – Crawford Mansion
The wind whispered through the shattered windows as if speaking a language understood only by the dead. Caleb stood alone in the mansion's hallway, his flashlight barely cutting through the darkness. Dust danced like ghosts over the torn floor, and the walls of the place groaned under the weight of time.
He had returned to the mansion after receiving a mysterious message through an old recorder found behind the Maestro doll. It said:
> "The mirror knows… but it does not forget. And beware of believing your reflection."
---
The Mirror Room – Upper Floor
He opened a wooden door with a creak that sounded like an old wound, and found himself in a circular room with no windows. In the center stood a massive black mirror framed in twisted bronze, adorned with musical symbols and small doll heads carved as if they were screaming.
Caleb approached slowly. He didn't see his reflection at first.
But after a moment… his image appeared.
His reflection smiled first, before him.
---
The Strange Reflection
He stared intently, then froze in place.
His hands in the reflection had six fingers.
He stepped back and looked at his real hand… five. But in the mirror, the sixth finger remained, moving as if mocking him.
Caleb muttered:
> "Is this a prophecy?... Or a curse?"
Suddenly, a mysterious child appeared behind his reflection. The child wasn't in the room… only in the mirror.
The child wore a cracked doll mask, and his clothes resembled an old theatrical costume. The child raised his hand and pointed behind Caleb… towards the corner of the room.
Caleb turned to find a tile on the floor that looked different.
He kneeled and began to remove it… revealing an opening leading to a hidden basement.
But before he descended, he glanced at the mirror…
And saw it begin to write in red, forming as if it were blood:
> "You're next… if you read this."
---
The Basement of Secrets
The basement was narrow, its walls covered with old photographs… pictures of children, artists, detectives, and criminals. Some were familiar faces… others were among the recently discovered victims.
In the center, there was a small wooden stage… resembling a doll display box, but the curtain was drawn.
Caleb approached… and lifted the curtain.
There, he found a small doll that looked exactly like him. The same coat… the same eyes… even the left hand had six fingers!
And on the doll's chest was a note that read:
> "When you look at yourself more than you should… you may not find your way back."
---
The Mirror Comes to Life
When he returned to the mirror room, it was not as he had left it.
The walls began to reflect his images… but from angles that hadn't happened yet. One reflection showed him being stabbed in the back… another showed him burning in the opera house.
A voice whispered from inside the mirror:
> "Everything you've seen… is just a rehearsal. The real show… hasn't begun."
---
Douglas and Anna's Return
Anna and Douglas followed him after he disappeared and found him sitting in the basement in front of the puppet stage, pale-faced.
Douglas asked:
> "What did you find?"
Caleb slowly replied, his eyes still fixed on the mirror behind them:
> "My reflection… is no longer mine."
He then pointed to the six fingers on the doll… and whispered:
> "Crawford wasn't just looking for actors… he was making them."
On the frame of the mirror, Anna found an old engraving that hadn't been visible before, revealed only after Caleb touched it:
> "Whoever looks into this mirror… will never return as they were."
Caleb closed
his eyes, then whispered to himself:
> "If this mirror remembers the future… I have to forget who I was… to stay alive."