Oscar looks in the mirror. His own face smirks at him from its depths, cocky and malevolent.

The only thing Oscar himself feels is helpless. They are both chained, unable to leave the room with the mirror, both at the mercy of their jailer, but the double seems mostly amused by that fact. Even if he was allowed to, Oscar isn’t sure the double can escape far, being a creation of the mirror.

He can only tell the time by the occasions when the door opens and food is brought in. They used to draw blood from him on every third day, but that stopped soon after the mirror was brought into play, so now food is all Oscar has.

There are other visits, but as far as Oscar can tell, they aren’t regular. His jailer must be a researcher of some sort, or at least someone curious in black magic – at this point his interest seems to be less in Oscar himself and more in the mirror’s properties. Oscar doesn’t miss the pain, but does somewhat miss the time when his incarceration seemed to have some purpose.

It’s been at least a month. He has no way to keep records, and his grasp on time is fading away along with his sanity. The double grins. The double strikes a pose and says, “My name is Oscar Dimes, pleased to meet you.”

Oscar feels sick.

He isn’t sure the double can see him. At first he was sure he couldn’t, but the double seems at least aware of his presence, because the creature makes it his personal mission to torture Oscar at every opportunity. They don’t know each other at all, Oscar isn’t even sure if the double has a name of his own, because he refuses to call himself anything but Oscar Dimes.

Oscar wants to break that damned mirror.

It’s already old, slightly cracked. One such crack runs across the double’s face like a crude scar, making him look even less like Oscar and that brings some comfort. This man – this creature – is not Oscar, and never will be.

The double picks up the heavy cloth and panic starts to settle in Oscar’s mind. He hates both the mirror and the creature it birthed, but seeing them is still better than nothingness.

The cloth settles over the ornate black frame and Oscar’s world is plunged into darkness. He wants to scream, but he cannot speak or move, stuck in the space inside the mirror.

If it’s ever broken, one Oscar Dimes will cease to exist.

Oscar isn’t sure which one.

—–

A shorter one for today! I tried to lean a little more into horror here, I but I don’t think I quite succeeded… Still, it was fun!