Bogleech.com's 2017 Horror Write-off:
The Mirror is a Liar
Submitted by Dandelion Steph
What is that? Alex thought. Before her was a strange creature, all ill-proportioned, too plump in places, and staring with wet, bulbous eyes. The thing mimicked her movements as she reached toward it. Their hands met - and there was a wall between them.
Alex twitched her hands. The creature twitched its own.
A mirror. But...it's not my reflection.
Alex stared. She waved her arms about. With eyes wide and empty, the creature copied her perfectly.
She looked at the creature's hands - creased and bulging and cracked in places. Alex looked at her own...
And they matched.
No. No no no!
The creature's face copied her own, shamelessly aping her. Its white eyes were wide, and its pupils narrowed. Its head shook from side to side, and the skin of its face looked wet.
This - isn't - me!
The creature's face twitched, its eyes darting to and fro.
But it was only a mirror. Only a mirror.
The mirror is a liar!
Alex shouted at the mirror. The creature opened its cracked, bulging mouth, engulfed in indignant rage and panic, but no words came out.
Stop lying! It's not me! You're wrong!
Twitching,shiver-like, Alex brought her hands to her face. To her cheeks, to her jaws. Her nails dug in, scraping and stinging her skin. It hurt, it hurt, but beneath the pain she felt something better.
What she really was.
Alex dug her nails in deeper. No, that's all wrong - there's a weak spot.
So much easier.
In what felt like but a few blinks, it was done. When it all was peeled and scraped off, like a too-thick coat of grime, Alex's face felt wet.
Tears?
No. Not tears.
Alex turned on the faucet and splashed herself in the face. It felt cold, but so refreshing. Then she looked at the mirror again.
Before her was a creature with a wet and reddened face. It was pink, even a little purple in places. And around the eyes, and mouth, and temples, she could see little spots of shiny white. Taut fibers banded across the creature's face.
And the creature's eyes were nothing but bare, black sockets.
That creature felt like her. It was her. Nothing but her reflection.
Alex smiled.
That mirror won't lie to me any more.