The door creaked open, and Evelyn felt her stomach knot. Inside, the carriage was lined entirely with mirrors. Every surface reflected them—walls, ceiling, even the floor. Thousands of Evelyns stared back at her, each with a slightly different expression.
At first, it seemed harmless. But then… the reflections started moving on their own.
Her mirrored selves smiled too wide, their eyes hollow and black. Sophie's reflection leaned close to its glass, whispering things only she would know—secret cravings, shameful thoughts, fears no one else could have heard. Alex's reflection twisted, bones bending, face melting into a grotesque grin as it pounded against the glass, desperate to escape.
The glass rippled. And then… the reflections did step out.
Dozens of Evelyns, Sophies, Alexes, and Leos spilled into the carriage, twisted parodies of themselves. Some were bloodied. Some were skeletal. Some… looked almost normal, but their eyes burned with hunger.
One of Evelyn's doubles smirked, brushing a finger across her cheek. The touch was icy, yet almost intimate. "You're weak," it whispered. "Let me live your life. You're too afraid to embrace what you really are."
Her chest tightened, shame and heat rising in equal measure. The air thickened, making every breath heavy.
Sophie cried out as her double pinned her to the mirrored wall, its hands sliding against her throat. The reflection whispered in a low, venomous voice: "I know what you've longed for. I know the things you'd never dare to confess." Sophie struggled, her face pale with fear and something darker, as if the reflection's words were pulling the truth straight from her soul.
Alex swung at his double, but each punch landed against glass, shattering the floor beneath his feet and revealing nothing but void beneath.
Evelyn fought to steady herself. "This isn't us," she snarled, gripping the lantern tighter. "These are lies!"
But when she looked at her own reflection again, its smile wavered, turning pained. Its voice broke into a whisper: "Or maybe… this is who you've always been."
The room tilted. The mirrors shattered inward, raining shards like knives. Dozens of reflections screamed, lunging at them in a frenzy of claws and teeth. Evelyn raised the lantern high.
The light seared across the glass monsters, burning them back into their prisons. The air was filled with the sound of shattering and shrieking as one by one, the reflections collapsed into smoke.
When silence finally fell, the friends were left standing on a floor littered with broken glass, their own reflections gone—except Evelyn's.
Her reflection still lingered in one shard, smiling faintly, whispering so low she almost couldn't hear it:
"You can't run from me forever."
Evelyn's blood turned cold. She stepped into the next door, lantern trembling in her hand, knowing the train was only tightening its grip.