Mirror Image – Part 3: “The Door Beneath”
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Things seemed normal.
Aarav was back. Gauri had her son again.
The house was warm. The mirrors were gone.
No whispers. No cold spots. No shadows.
But some things had changed.
Aarav didn’t eat like before.
He hated sunlight.
He never entered the attic, even during daylight.
And sometimes… in his sleep… he would mumble words in a language Gauri had never heard before.
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One night, Gauri woke to the sound of scratching — like fingernails on wood.
It was coming from under the floorboards.
Aarav stood outside her room.
Eyes closed.
Hands bleeding.
Fingernails broken off.
He whispered, "He's not gone, Amma... He's just deeper now."
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Desperate, Gauri returned to the old priest — now dying, frail, but still with fire in his eyes.
He told her:
> "The mirror was a portal, not a prison.
When you broke it… you didn’t destroy him.
You freed him — and now, he has returned to where it all began."
> "Under the house… there’s a trapdoor. The house was built over an abandoned temple well.
That’s where the spirit of the twin waits."
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That night, lightning tore across the sky.
Gauri and Aarav lit a lamp and went to the attic.
They pulled the heavy trunks aside and lifted the old rug.
Beneath it was a wooden hatch.
Sealed.
Scratched.
And from within, a sound like breathing.
They opened it.
A cold wind blew from below.
Steps led down into complete blackness.
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At the bottom: water.
Still. Black. Silent.
And then…
A hand reached out — pale, bony, identical to Aarav’s — and grabbed Gauri’s ankle.
She screamed. Aarav pulled her back.
But a voice echoed from the depths:
> "One of us must stay.
One of us must drown.
One soul. One body.
Forever."
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Aarav turned to her, tears in his eyes.
"He’ll never stop, Amma… unless one of us goes with him."
And without waiting, he jumped.
The water hissed. Screamed.
The temple beneath trembled.
Then — silence.
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Gauri collapsed.
Days passed.
Then… one morning…
Aarav walked out of the attic.
Smiling.
Alive.
Warm.
But when she hugged him —
she felt no heartbeat.
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Final Whisper:
That night, in the temple beneath the house…
bubbles rose.
And a voice whispered from the dark:
> "Now we are one."