The mirror had stood in Eli's room since the day he moved in.
Tall, dusty, with an old wooden frame full of scratches.
But tonight… the mirror was different.
It breathed.
Its surface was foggy, even though the air was cold.
And within that fog, something moved.
We lit a small candle and placed it in front of the mirror.
The flame danced across the glass.
Then a sound began—soft, like someone taking their first breath after drowning for a long time.
Eli stood beside me.
His right hand still held Mara's doll.
Then, from inside the mirror… a faint light appeared.
Not our reflection, but another room.
The mirror showed the past.
We saw the living room of apartment 4B, but decades older.
A dark red patterned carpet. Old paintings hanging on the wall.
In the center of the room: young Mara—about ten years old—sat alone.
She held the same doll in her arms.
Her face was pale, her eyes vacant, staring at the floor.
Then, from the corner of the room, an older woman appeared.
We immediately knew it was Lydia—Eli's grandmother.
But younger here, perhaps in her early thirties.
Her face was tense. In her hands, a bundle of papers and a pouch of salt.
We watched a silent conversation, full of emotion.
Lydia placed salt in a circle around Mara.
She read something from the aged papers—a chant of some kind?
But Mara refused.
She cried. Shook her head.
Lydia stepped closer and hugged her—trying to calm her down.
But once the salt circle was complete…
Something in the room changed.
Shadows fell from the ceiling.
The walls began to tremble.
And Mara… screamed.
Eli covered his mouth with his hand.
He recognized the room.
"This isn't just a protection ritual…" he whispered.
"It's a binding ritual. They were trying to trap something… inside Mara."
The mirror shook.
The image distorted.
Then—blackness.
But only for a moment.
Another scene appeared.
Still in the same room, but time had passed.
Mara was now a teenager.
She spoke to someone beyond the mirror's edge.
A small boy—about five years old—slowly stepped into the frame.
Black hair.
Eyes like Eli's.
"I… know that boy," Eli murmured.
"He's… my uncle."
We watched Mara hug the boy, then hide something inside the doll.
A small star-shaped necklace.
The same necklace Eli found inside the doll a few days ago.
Mara whispered something to the boy.
And the last word we could see on her lips:
"Run."
Suddenly, a dark shadow darted into the room.
Mara turned swiftly, pushing the boy out of the salt circle—and jumped back in herself.
A flash of light exploded.
A crack formed in the top right corner of Eli's mirror.
And the reflection vanished.
We stared at each other.
Silent.
There were no words for the weight of what we'd seen.
Mara… wasn't possessed.
She sacrificed herself to save that little boy.
Eli's uncle.
And from that night on, Mara was sealed—not by an evil spirit.
But by her own family's ritual.
Eli sank to the floor.
His face was blank.
"My whole family's life is built on a lie," he said quietly.
"They said Mara disappeared. But they were the ones who sealed her. Trapped her."
I nodded slowly.
"And now she's asking to be freed."
Eli looked at the mirror.
"Can I… free her?"
The mirror fogged over once more.
Then words appeared:
"Only if you remember everything.""Even the pain."
We knew what had to be done.
Our task wasn't just to gather the pieces.
But to break the seal.
And the seal… was inside a memory.
I helped Eli sit in front of the mirror.
He held the doll, the necklace, and a photo of young Mara.
"Focus," I said. "Let the mirror show you the rest."
As he stared deeper, the room dimmed.
And I could feel the air shift.
Then he began to speak.
As if reading from a memory inside himself.
"I came here when I was little.But I didn't know why.Grandma's house always had a room I wasn't allowed to enter."
"One night, I woke up and walked to that room.I heard a woman singing.It was Mara's voice."
"She was singing the same lullaby my grandma used to sing when I was sick."
Eli began to cry.
"They were sisters… but also mother and daughter.Mara gave up everything.And my family made everyone forget her."
As those words left his lips, the mirror shook.
The crack in the top corner widened… then shattered.
But it didn't break outward.
It broke inward—revealing an opening.
And from that rift…
A cool breeze escaped. The scent of lavender filled the room.
And a soft voice, like a whisper:
"Thank you.""Now I remember, too."
The mirror stopped trembling.
And the final image we saw within was Mara, standing in the shattered salt circle.
She smiled.
Then bowed slowly…
And vanished into the light.
Eli sobbed.
I placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I think… she's free now."
The mirror now only showed our room.
But without fog.
Without shadows.
Just silence.
But a peaceful silence.
We decided to keep the mirror.
As a reminder.
Not of the horror that once happened.
But of someone's sacrifice that must never be forgotten.
And we knew…
This wasn't truly the end.
There's still the mystery of the "spirit contract."
Still secrets about how this apartment became what it is.
But that night, for the first time, we could sleep without the knocking.
Without the whispers.
Only… quiet.
And dreams.