Kaine didn't remember getting back to his room. One moment he was staring at the mirror, the next he was sitting on his bed, drenched in cold sweat, fingers trembling.
He hadn't said her name aloud in over a year.
Lena.
His sister.
She'd been gone since that night. The one no one talked about. The one Kaine tried every day to forget.
But now someone or something was dragging her back into his mind.
Later, at dinner, Kaine picked at his food. Elara sat across from him again without asking.
"I saw the mirror," he said, barely above a whisper.
She didn't react. "And?"
"It moved on its own. It… showed me her."
"Lena."
He stared. "How do you know her name?"
Elara didn't answer. She simply stood, picked up her tray, and said over her shoulder, "You'll go into the room soon. That's when it gets worse."
Kaine waited until nightfall.
Everyone was in their rooms. The halls were dim and quiet, the lights flickering slightly, as they always did after 11 p.m.
He crept down the corridor, the floor cold under his bare feet.
The door was there.
Still without a number.
Still bearing the deep scratches.
This time, it was open.
Just slightly.
Kaine stepped closer, his breath held tight in his chest. He pushed it open.
Darkness.
The air inside felt… old. Stale. Heavy, like a room that hadn't been opened in decades.
The only piece of furniture was the mirror taller than him, resting against the far wall. The same one he'd seen in the hall.
He took a step in.
The door clicked shut behind him.
Kaine spun, heart leaping. He reached for the doorknob, locked.
The mirror's surface shimmered faintly, as if lit from within.
He stepped toward it. Slowly. Carefully.
His reflection stared back, identical in every way.
But then, behind the reflection, a shape appeared, a girl standing in the shadows.
Long black hair. A hospital gown. Bare feet.
Kaine spun to look behind him. Nothing there.
He turned back to the mirror.
She was closer now.
Face pale. Eyes hollow.
And in a voice that came from everywhere and nowhere, she whispered:
"Why didn't you save me?"