text: To my family and friends. All the one’s who trusted me. The actions took here in this cabin were my own. What happened to those people was not my doing. There is no way to possibly prove this, but I must try. I’m fighting back now. I just wish I had sooner. It’s so obvious that those . . . *things* won’t go away. Now that I have trapped myself in this cabin, I can express to everyone my side of the story. Once the police find this letter, I won’t be able to explain. I’ve hidden all reflective surfaces in the room so I can finish this letter. I can hear them in the walls now. The boards sound as if they are going to break. A tremendous force is trying so hard to reach me. To “convince” me to finish the task given to me. Well fuck them. I’ve always felt like I was being watched. I thought everyone gets that feeling every now and then. They’ve probably been around me for years, but they didn’t want to be noticed until now. I first saw them a couple nights ago, in my mirror. I stood in the mirror getting ready to go out for the night and I could see a figure half in the doorway behind me in the hallway. I saw it move and I quickly turned around. There was nothing. My hallway was empty. I stood and waited; listening. Nothing grasped my attention and so I turned back to my reflection. When I looked into the mirror this time it stood in the center of the hallway. I jerked my head back. Nothing. Suddenly, I heard a wet clicking noise. Like tongue to teeth repeatedly. It was so loud it felt like it was directly in my ear. Quickly, I turned my head back to the mirror only to see that a disfigured horror was inches from my face grinning it’s black teeth. My adrenaline spiked so quickly I nearly fell to the ground. I began kicking and crawling my way out of the room. No figure stood beside me in the room but as I ran, I seen it again and again in the reflection from the pictures hanging in the hallway. After making my way into the living room I stood still. I now realized I hadn’t seen the same figure over and over, I had been seen multiple of them. I was frozen in the center as both sides of the living room had large windows. It was dark outside and the light from the well-lit living room reflected off the windows resulting in them to act as mirrors. Although I was in an empty room, the windows portrayed that nearly fifty of them crowded the living room and were facing directly at me. The figures were pale, lanky, and deformed. Some of them looked as if they could hardly stand. One of them took stance dead in front of me. Staring directly at ME, not at the window so I could see it’s face. My eyes shifted to the front door as I began to move my weight in order to start a full-on sprint when I was suddenly and forcibly shoved. I hardly caught my footing when I was instantaneously struck from behind. This time something cut into my skin. I investigated the window’s reflection and saw I was seconds from being swarmed. I instinctively threw my arms over my head. I was violently thrown to the ground as I felt several blunt limbs and jagged claws striking my body. I screamed. Ten excruciating seconds of this and suddenly, a seize. I felt cold and wet from my own blood. The onset of unconsciousness seemed inevitable. My back felt like ribbons of flesh had came off. I slowly rose to my knees and looked up. They were all now staring at the window so I could see their faces. Hollowed expressions stared back at me. There were just as many figures in the room but now a larger one stood in the middle. It had red covering it’s arms and feet. It was my blood. It leered at me. I couldn’t see its eyes, but I knew it was looking at me, as were the rest. Before me was writing on the floor. Three messages. The last of the three had been scratched directly into the floor. “Kill your neighbor.” “If you dont we will take his life and your fingers.” “**DO AS I SAY**”. I rose my head back to the window’s reflection. The tall one’s head was slanted. Inspecting my reaction. It was waiting. Did I have to act now? What the fuck was even going on?! This is a nightmare, it must be. Any minute I will wake up, right? Twenty seconds went by as I hesitated. Some of the figures began to leave. I stood up. Instantly falling back to my knees now realizing how bad the wounds covering my body were. I shouted, “WHY? WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I LISTEN TO YOU?!”. At this moment even more figures began leaving. All in the same direction. The biggest one broke stance and slowly followed the others. The room had emptied almost instantly. I made myself get up and stumble to the window in the direction they were headed. I could see my neighbor’s house across the yard. His house was well lit through the night and I could see through his kitchen, dining room, and living room windows. There was no movement. All was silent beside the few drips of blood leaving my back and hitting the floor below. Then I saw a curtain move. My neighbor appeared in the kitchen, covered in blood. He was panicking; scanning the room intensely. He had no idea to look at the reflections. He suddenly grabbed his arm and bent over in pain, screaming. The clothes on his body began to tear and blood would appear seconds later. He fell to the floor as the walls and curtains were stained with blood. He was mauled to death in that very spot. They did it. I walked back slowly from the window and slipped, crashing to the ground. I slipped on my own blood. The message they wrote. They were going to come back for me. Adrenaline overcame me again and I hopped to my feet. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” I began to make my way to the door checking reflections as I went. I swung the door open and ran outside. I began to go for my car. It dawned on me that outside, in the dark, was not a good place to look for reflections. I fumbled around in my pockets for my car keys as I approached the car door and began to unlock it. I glanced at my neighbors house and saw only one light flickering as the bloodied curtain sway lightly back and forth. I opened the door, sat down, and started the car. I shifted into reverse and peered into my rear-view mirror. The biggest one filled the back seat, his face inches from mine. Behind the car were the other figures. Next, I heard the clicking noise. I hit the gas but was instantly stopped. Sure, in hindsight I should have probably just gotten out of the car. Fuck you want me to say, I’ll remember that next time? The beings held my car into place and the biggest one grabbed the entirety of my head with one hand. It squeezed so tight I thought my eyes would pop. It continued clicking and I let go of the gas. I was to be obedient to it or I would be instantly killed. “I understand”, I thought to myself. I could barely reach the shifter and put the car into park. Once I did the figure pinched my head just a bit tighter and I instinctively grabbed my head. Except I didn’t grab my head. I grabbed it’s hand which I could only see in the mirror. It’s other hand came around and grabbed MY hand. I tried to scream and it pulled back for just a second then lunged once more and in one yank, ripped two fingers off my hand and dislocated another. I gripped what remained of my hand and screamed. Slowly, the being removed itself from the car and crept around outside, still holding my fingers. I lost it for a second and then seen it in the side mirror using my pinky to write a message on my car window behind me. The remaining figures began to disperse. I hunched over in my car and tried to control my breathing. I grabbed a shirt lying on the backseat of my car and wrapped my hand the best I could. I didn’t have anything to stop the bleeding. I sat in my car for probably 10 minutes. I was terrified but I was also done with this fucking game. I don’t even understand what was happening, how was I supposed to fight these things? I just waited for them to finish me off. The windows began to fog over. I became overwhelmed with anxiety as I knew the message on the window was waiting. I began to open my door. The cuts covering my body were now tender. I could feel stinging with every movement. I slowly lifted myself out of the car. The blood from the message was running down the side and onto the pavement. My heart stopped. “We know who you love.” “one of them will die every night that you dont take a life” “**WE ARE WAITING**” It’s been over two days since I read the message on my car. That day, I cleaned the blood off my car and attended my wounds. I drove and pondered what to do. I wondered if I could take a life. How was I supposed to do something like that? “I mean, I know HOW but like, DAMN IT!”. I talked to myself for hours as I drove nowhere. I made it several hundred miles from what was once home. The texts and calls came in just 24 hours after that fucking monster took my fingers. Those things didn’t start with someone I knew for a couple of years or something. It was my sister that called and said our mom was found murdered. Then several other messages of condolences and prayers followed. Today, just a few hours ago, the police left a voicemail on my phone informing me that my sister went missing and I was to appear at the police station for questioning. They must have connected the dots from neighbors death and my sudden disappearance to two members of my family dying. It’s a matter of time before they find me at this cabin I rented the next state over. A third person will die tonight unless I kill someone. So, I will. They won’t get what they want. I’m so sorry Mom and Sarah. I love you both very much and you didn’t deserve what happened to you. I can only imagine HOW it happened. Dad, or anyone for that matter, I don’t expect you to believe what I have written. Just promise me that if you ever see them in the mirror, you’ll take your own life, so they can’t. &#x200B; Written by C.T.