The ceiling was cracked. It was only barely starting to come apart; it would take a while for it to break apart completely, but it worried Nicole nevertheless. How had she not realized that before? She laid on her bed, staring at the crevices. That was what she had been doing the entire night - she hadn't gotten any sleep whatsoever.

She turned onto her side, facing the window. Outside were empty streets, which struck her as odd. Usually, the town would be buzzing by six in the morning. Wide awake, she pulled off her blanket and slipped out of bed. She glanced at the closet where Liam was sleeping. Strangely, he didn't seem to have woken up, whereas Nicole had expected him to be awake and shouting to be let out. The door was unlocked as well. Didn't she lock it? She considered the possibility of Liam finding a way out of the closet. He'd clearly wanted to go to the emerald forest instead of resting. Nicole ambled towards the closet and twisted the knob, opening the door.

The closet was a mess. Liam had disappeared as she'd figured, but in his place were scratch marks. Scratch marks everywhere. Dried blood littered the floor, presumably his. The scene before her painted the picture of an unsuspecting victim being violently dragged out of the room by an unknown assailant, even though Nicole had been awake the entire night. She was positive that she hadn't fallen asleep, so why hadn't she witnessed the ordeal that had clearly occurred perhaps hours ago? A wave of panic washed over her. She narrowed her eyes, gazing at one of the claw marks on the wall.

BANG! The sound of something, falling hard onto the ground caused Nicole to jump. She swung around. On the floor was a large chunk of plaster. A ceiling tile. The piece had created a crater in the wood. Nicole looked up. The cracks in the ceiling grew longer, and more pieces began to collapse. She could feel her pulse quicken as slabs continued to fall, one almost landing on her. Eager to get out, she rushed to the bedroom exit. She hadn't even touched the doorknob, when the door swung open, nearly colliding into her.

Instead of seeing her living room, Nicole was met with a valley of decaying roses. "What is going on," she muttered. Without thinking, she stepped onto the grass, the thorns from the flowers digging into her skin. The door to her bedroom closed behind her. She turned around and twisted on the knob again, but it wouldn't budge, so she began to pull frantically. "Open!" she screamed. "Let me in!" After a while, she gave up on the door. In the distance, she spotted a small wooden house. She made her way to the cottage, briers cutting her as if they were millions of tiny knives. The home seemed to be getting farther away every step she took, but eventually, she arrived in front of the building and entered after shaking thistles out of her legs.

Inside the building was a long hallway, definitely too big to fit in such a small house. Mirrors lined the walls, all of them the same size and with the same frame. Some, but very few lanterns hung between the frames as well, providing small glimmers of light through the dark passageway. Wary, but no more afraid than before, Nicole roamed the corridor. Her footsteps echoed through the hall. Not once did she look at any of the mirrors at first. Even so, she felt her own reflection grabbing at her limbs, pulling her back. The hallway had no end. It kept going and going, and Nicole couldn't stand it anymore. Finally, she turned her attention to one of the mirrors.

A shriek escaped her mouth. The face staring back at her wasn't human. Instead, her reflection displayed a life-sized doll, with black buttons as eyes and thick wooly hair. Taking sharp breaths, Nicole waved her hand. The doll waved back.

Just then, every other mirror fell from the wall, the glass smashing against the ground and scattering around Nicole's feet. Quietly, the doll in the remaining mirror began to laugh. It got louder, the threads replacing its mouth snapping and the fabric acting as skin tearing apart.

It raised its hand and knocked on the glass, soft at first, when harder, until the glass cracked and broke.

Nicole took a step back, her eyes darting from side to side, and back to the mirror. To the hand now reaching for her. She realized that whatever was happening, it would surely lead to her death. Instinctively, she tried to run for the exit. However, her legs trembled, but she found herself unable to move. She pulled at her legs, hoping whatever was holding her down would move. "No, please," she rambled.

She became so hysterical that she didn't notice the doll again until it had already gripped her head, covering her mouth. After realizing what was happening, Nicole tried to scream for help, but her cries were muffled. Before she could do anything else, the doll yanked her forward, her head banging into the mirror-