The door opened.
Not all the way.
Just enough.
"Amara…?" Malik's voice slipped into the room, uncertain.
Careful.
I didn't turn around.
I couldn't.
"Don't come in," I said again, softer this time.
Too late.
The door creaked wider.
A small sound.
But it felt loud.
Too loud.
"I just—" he started.
Then he stopped.
Silence.
Something shifted behind me.
Not in the room.
In the air.
In the space between us.
I stared at the mirror.
At my reflection.
Still there.
Still watching.
But now—
it wasn't just looking at me.
It was looking past me.
At him.
My breath hitched.
"No…" I whispered.
"Amara…" Malik's voice had changed.
Lower.
Uneasy.
Slowly…
very slowly…
I turned around.
He was standing just inside the doorway.
One hand still on the knob.
His eyes fixed on me.
No.
Not me.
Behind me.
"You're… not alone," he said.
The words dropped like something heavy.
Final.
My stomach twisted.
Because I hadn't told him.
I hadn't explained anything.
And yet—
He could see it.
"Don't let him see."
Too late.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, but my voice didn't sound like mine.
It sounded thin.
Distant.
Malik didn't answer immediately.
He took a small step back instead.
"There's…" he swallowed, his voice shaking now, "there's something behind you."
My heart stopped.
I didn't turn.
I couldn't.
Because I already knew.
The reflection.
It hadn't just been wrong.
It had been ahead.
"What do you mean?" I whispered.
His eyes flicked between me and something over my shoulder.
Trying to make sense of it.
Failing.
"It looks like you," he said slowly.
My chest tightened.
"But it's not moving the same way."
The room tilted.
"Don't let him see."
Now I understood.
It wasn't about me.
It was about it.
The thing that had been watching.
Waiting.
Speaking.
"Close the door," I said quickly.
"What?" he asked.
"Close the door, Malik!"
Something in my voice made him listen.
He shut it fast.
But it didn't help.
Because whatever he had seen…
He couldn't unsee it.
And whatever was in the room—
It wasn't tied to the door.
The air felt heavier now.
Thicker.
Malik's breathing quickened.
"I don't like this," he said. "What is that?"
"I don't know," I said.
And for once—
that was the truth.
A soft sound came from behind me.
Not a voice.
Not exactly.
More like—
movement.
Without thinking, I turned.
The mirror.
My reflection was still there.
But now—
it was smiling.
I wasn't.
My blood ran cold.
Malik made a small, strangled sound behind me.
"It just moved," he whispered.
"I know," I said.
And then—
slowly—
the reflection lifted its hand.
Not when I did.
Not copying me.
On its own.
It pressed its palm flat against the inside of the glass.
And for a single, terrifying second—
I felt it.
Like something pressing back.
Through me.
"It's too late."
The sentence wasn't quiet this time.
It wasn't distant.
It was loud.
Clear.
Final.
I stumbled back.
Malik grabbed my arm instinctively.
The moment our skin touched—
everything snapped.
A sentence exploded into me—
stronger than anything before.
"He shouldn't have seen."
I gasped.
Malik let go immediately.
Like I'd burned him.
"What was that?" he demanded.
I shook my head, backing away.
Because I understood now.
Fully.
Completely.
This wasn't about preventing the future anymore.
This wasn't about changing it.
This wasn't even about me.
Something had crossed over.
And Malik had seen it.
Which meant—
He was part of it now.
And for the first time since everything began…
I wasn't afraid of what I might do to him.
I was afraid of what would happen to him.
Because he knew.
And in this story—
knowing
always came with a cost.