Haunted Hearts

Chapter 4

The next morning, I was a complete wreck. After everything that happened, we couldn't sleep one bit so I hold Mia all night in my bed, and when the morning came and I was getting ready to come to work, Mia was already at the front door refusing to stay in the house alone. I couldn't blame her. After last night, I wouldn't want to stay there alone either. 

I've always known David hates when Mia comes to work, but I didn't have the heart to tell her that he had already threaten me to fire me if he sees her again.
But she still promised she will try to stay in the Burger King for the 5 hours of my shift.
Trying to pass as incognito.

"I bought Mia a burger, I hope you don't mind." Elena said, appearing from behind me.

Since I was so exhausted, I barely noticed her. I gave her a smile and said: "thanks— and thank you for the food and the money, Elena you shouldn't have done it, but you helped us. You helped us so much. Thank you."

"It's nothing, child. I want to help as much as I can—Morgan... you look.... Are you okay?" She asked getting so close to my face I could've sworn she could see my soul. The soul I didn't know existed. Until yesterday.

Suddenly, my stomach twisted and this sudden urge to throw up took over my body. I ran to the restroom without saying or hearing one more word.

I barely made it, and I started retching violently. But what awaited me in the porcelain depths was a sight beyond comprehension—a darkness so profound, so utterly disgusting, that it defied all reason. It seemed to writhe and pulse with a malevolent energy, tentacle-like tendrils creeping upwards as if reaching for me in the darkness.

Panic gripped me as I flushed the abomination away, my hands trembling uncontrollably. Yet, as I staggered away from the scene of horror, my reflection in the mirror revealed a visage twisted and contorted—a grotesque parody of my former self. My features, once familiar, now bore the pallor of death, my eyes hollow and lifeless, my skin pallid and gaunt.

In that moment, I realized with a chilling certainty that the horrors of the night had not left us unscathed. We were marked, tainted by the darkness, and I feared that its grip upon us would only tighten with each passing moment.

The more I stared at myself in the mirror, my features started becoming darker, scarier somehow.

My expression became twisted, almost wicked.

A sinister transformation overtook my reflection. My features contorted, as I couldn't find no resemblance to my own. A malevolent smile played upon my lips, but when I touched my face, there was no smile.
This thing that looked like me, but haunted, was staring straight at my eyes from the mirror.

My reflection was not doing what I was doing.
The mirror was showing something else.
It was as though it held a portal to another place, where a demon lurked, waiting to devour me whole.

"Hey," I heard from far, and as the familiar voice pierced the silence of the restroom, the eerie presence in the mirror vanished, leaving only my own trembling reflection. Elena's arrival offered little comfort, her unreadable expression adding to the growing sense of dread. "Come, it's not safe to talk in front of the mirrors," she urged.

Too weary and sickened to protest, I followed Elena to the air freshener hallway, confusion clouding my mind. "Why are we here?" I questioned, my brow furrowing with discomfort.

With a pained grimace, Elena explained, as she sprayed the scent of various sprays in the air. "Spirits abhor different smells. It's why we offer flowers at funerals—to keep unwanted spirits at bay."

Struggling to comprehend her words through the haze of nausea, I coughed weakly, my head spinning with confusion. "I don't understand," I confessed, the fear mounting with each passing moment.