The room felt like it was spinning, her head heavy and pounding like a jackhammer on concrete. The young woman was thankful for the dim lighting, certain it wouldn't have helped her pounding headache if it were any brighter. Even as she slowly moved to sit up, it made her stomach lurch and a sudden dry heave to escape from her. The action startled her from her hazy slumber, forcing her to finally take a look at her dark surroundings. Nothing felt familiar about where she was. 

There weren't too many objects within the room, nothing that was of great significance anyways. A single mattress on which she currently sat, a single oak dresser that rested against the far wall. There was a candle that gave off a crimson glow, revealing the old distorted mirror hanging above the worn oak dresser. It's black frame, though dulled with time, still gave off an ominous shine within the flickering candlelight. 

Where was she and what happened the previous night? The more she searched for the answers, the more her head throbbed in retaliation to her thinking. 

Reaching up with a pained groan, Amista's fingers laced through her purple hued black hair. Her lilac eyes squeezed shut for the briefest of seconds before once more opening to reveal that she was definitely not within a dream. At the same time, she was also no longer in her room where she had thought she fell asleep the previous night after the New Year's party she attended, but that was definitely not the case. 

While still holding her head, reality quickly rushed up to meet Amista like a whirlwind of confusion. She was giving another good look around, seeing if she could find anything else within the room, anything that felt familiar. However, that was when she froze in place as the most eerie voice reached her ears. 

"Amista~" 

At first she didn't want to believe what she was hearing. The voice was soft and so hauntingly familiar, she nearly missed where she had heard it before. 

It was her own.

"Amista~" 

When her name was spoken once more, her lilac eyes darted towards where the voice was coming from. 

Amista's gaze landed upon the mirror, locking on it with a horrified look. It's frame still glinting within the dancing flame of the candle, however, movement within the glass had caused her to still like a statue frozen in time. She began to wonder if her eyes were playing tricks on her or if she was really seeing something move within. Something had appeared to be swaying within the reflection of the glass, something that definitely was not in the room with her. Not that she could see anyone in the darkness, even if they were standing right beside her. 

"Amista~" 

The third time that drawn out ghostly voice spoke her name, Amista dropped her hand from her throbbing head and let it hang back at her side. Hesitantly she pushed herself up off the springy mattress, steadying her swaying stance before setting her gaze once more on the mirror in front of her. As scared as she felt, her curiosity only overwhelmed it by tenfold. 

"Yes, that's it. Come to me child." 

Amista's first step faltered when the mirror spoke to her again. This time in a full sentence that left a chill rushing through her entire body. It struck her so hard she could feel the cold deep within her bones. 

Taking a rather careful step, testing her stability, Amista made sure she wouldn't fall over when she walked. Every step after was just as carefully placed, quiet against the old wooden floor of the room. She continued the pace until she was standing right in front of the mirror. Her reflection staring back at her, or what she had presumed was her reflection. Something did, however, feel quite off about staring into the mirror at herself like she was. 

"About time. . ." 

A terrified scream left Amista's lips, her eyes widening in terror as she quickly back stepped away from the mirror. Her heart hammered within her chest while her mind attempted to make sense of what was happening. She hadn't just heard her reflection speak to her. . . had she? It had to be a trick of the mind, her fear getting to her and making her see things that weren't there. Or in this case, hear things that weren't being spoken. 

Gathering up what little courage she had -which wasn't much- Amista once again stepped up to the mirror and stared into it. The person inside, the her she was staring at, laughed with dark amusement. It scared Amista at how much the person in the mirror was like her, but at the same time was so terrifyingly different. Her looks, the way she sounded, even her minor mannerism's were a direct replica. So many questions pertaining to 'how' rushed through her mind, questions that she wanted answered at that moment. 

"Who are you and where am I?" 

The demand came from Amista without any hesitation or a second thought. To her astonishment, it had done exactly what she had wanted it to do. The reflection of her in the mirror silenced almost immediately, however, the glint within their copied lilac eyes was very unsettling. It caused Amista to shift uncomfortably where she stood, fighting to keep her eyes on the reflection rather than averting it down to the ground like she always did when uncomfortable. 

"Why, my dear child, I am you. Don't you recognize me at all?" 

"No, no, you're not me." 

The disbelief that washed over Amista was extremely overwhelming and nearly completely took over her. Feeling much like a wave crashing down upon her, she fought to stand her ground and not lose her cool. She couldn't show the reflection of her, the impostor, that their words were slowly getting to her like a virus infecting it's host. No one could be her, no one but her. She was the only Amista and no one could take her place no matter what they said or how much they looked like her. 

"Well, I guess you're right. I'm not you, not entirely. . . yet." 

The person in the mirror fiddled with a strand of black hair that mimicked her own. She had a smug look upon her face as if she had already succeeded in whatever they planned to gain from mimicking her. Amista didn't think she had anything in her life that anyone would want. It wasn't like she was anything special, she knew the person imitating her would only be disappointed in the end. If that were to happen, what would then happen to her?

"You'll never be me!" 

Amista cried, panic filling her as she glanced around the dimly lit room once more. The laughter from her reflection echoed around her, sounding like a clash of thunder reverberating off the walls around her. It was an overpowering and nerve wrecking sound, but she tried her hardest to ignore the laughter around her. 

"Oh child, I'm already you. There's not a thing you can do about it either." 

The laughter still rang within the lookalike's voice, ringing in Amista's ears liking an annoying siren she couldn't shut off. Even without looking at the mirror, she shot back with her own retort, putting as much confidence she could muster up within it. It wasn't much given the circumstances, but she tried her best to get her point across.

"I'll stop you! Whatever you're planning I will stop you." 

"How do you plan to do that, hm?" 

The very question had Amista pausing, her mind rushing to whatever answer she could come up with. However, no answers or retorts really came to her. Even as her lilac gaze slowly fell upon a thick steel door not far from where she stood next to the dress, her mind couldn't come up with an answer. 

"I. . . I. . ." 

"You'll what? Escape and come hunt me down? Tell me child, you even known where you are or how you got there? You'll never be able to get to me." 

Her reflection was right, she had no idea where she was or how she even got there. Without that knowledge, how was she even supposed to escape and get back home. . . wherever home was. The steel door nearby looked as if it lacked a handle of any kind which meant it could only be opened from the outside. Even if she could escape, she had no idea how she got there. Thus, she had no idea how to return home. Every thought that she seemed to get ran her straight into a dead end and she would have to backtrack and rethink to come up with something else. 

"I'll find a way and get-" 

"Help? No one is going to help you. No one is going to know who you even are." 

The cackling began once more, pulling Amista's attention to the mirror once more. As soon as her eyes landed on the glass, the reflection of her vanished as if nothing more than a mirage in a desert. In it's place, another reflection appeared and took over her mimic's place. This one, Amista did not recognize in the slightest. . . and it terrified her. 

Looking back at her was obviously a woman, but they looked like something out of a horrifying fairy tale. The skin was a sickly green color, definitely not natural for anyone in any form. Protruding from it's mouth were two tusks, pointed skyward as if they had grown from the lower jaw. Matching horns protruded from either side of the forehead, sharp and dangerous but not overly large that they would be too heavy or noticeable when walking around. A large bulbous nose with three little warts rested in the middle of the face, reminding Amista of someone who had gotten stung one too many times by a bee. What stood out to her the most was how the reflection had the same lilac eyes and purple tinted raven hair that she did. Of course, the hair was messing and pulled back in a knotted ponytail, but it looked like hers regardless. They were so strikingly identical, Amista nearly missed the big pointed ears protruding from under the hair on the sides of her head. 

Amista reached up to place her fingers upon the mirror's glass, truly staring into the face of a stranger. She felt compelled to touch the mirror, find out if what she was seeing truly was indeed real or just a figment of her fear driven imagination. However, she was met with a rather grizzly sight when her hand entered the light of the candle, causing her lilac orbs to widen and a sharp gasp to be sucked in as her body began to shake in absolute terror. 

Now a sickly green color, fingers bony with long, jagged and chipped nails. The back of her hand and straight up her arm was covered in wiry black hair. Her hand's were not her hands and it caused her stomach to begin to knot horribly. She felt sick, nauseous even as realization struck her, that the stranger she was staring at in the mirror was herself. A twisted and transformed version of herself that she no longer recognized, that no one would ever recognize to be her. 

"No, it can't be. . ." 

As panic bubbled out of control deep within her, Amista shook her head in absolute denial. It couldn't have been her, she was a beautiful young woman that people adored. She wasn't some monstrous troll that people would despise and shun. She had to be dreaming at this point, a horrible nightmare that she needed to escape from and just wake up. That had to have been what was going on, there was no other explanation that she could come up with. 

"Yes, yes, yes. This is your life now. Enjoy it while you can." 

"NO!" 

Amista reached for the mirror and tore it from the wall. She tossed it behind her, listening as it hit a wall and crashed to the ground with a sickening shatter. She could imagine the multiple shards scattering on the ground behind her, a million sharp little facets just waiting for someone to step upon them. Still, with the mirror broken behind her, she could hear the woman that had stolen her identity laughing in the background. 

Running to the door, Amista desperately pounded against the cold hard steel. Panicked sobs left her lips while tears of unadulterated fear and terror left her eyes, trailing down her puffy green cheeks. She prayed that she could get someone's attention, anyone that could help her return home and reclaim the life that was stolen from her in the blink of an eye. 

"Have fun with your new life, I know I will." 

The sing song voice echoed in her head as the insane laughter resonated from behind her. While she continued to pound on the door, begging for anyone to open up and free her, the laughter faded into a deafening silence. A silence so quiet, Amista did not want to be stuck within it while the shadows danced around her in the orange candlelight.