I walked out of the Empire State building, at 10:59 pm. A minute before it closed.

A faint voice called something from behind me but I couldn't make it out.

I whipped around and saw, Jesse, she was calling for me. "Wait for me!!!"

I flipped her off, ran past her and sprinted towards the closet shack I could find.

\|/

The next morning, I went to the bathroom and went piss.

I washed my hands and looked in the mirror. Nothing. My reflection. Gone.

What happened?

I didn’t scream.

I should’ve. Most people would’ve. But when you’re staring into a mirror at six in the morning, half-asleep, and the only thing missing is you, your brain doesn’t really go straight to panic. I just assumed it was sleep deprivation, or a dream, or a hangover, but when I blinked, nothing stared back: just the bathroom behind me, with its cracked tiles, flickering light and the cheap air freshener shaped like a pine tree that smelled like a chemical imitation of death. Everything was there except the one thing that mattered.

Me.

I slapped my cheeks.

Still nothing.

“Okay,” I whispered. “Okay, okay, okay.”

My voice sounded normal. My body felt normal. I could see my hands, my arms, my chest: everything. Just not in the mirror.

A knock rattled the bathroom door.

“You alive in there?” Jesse’s voice.

My heart did a weird double-thump. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She wasn’t supposed to follow me after last night.

“Go away,” I said.

“No,” she said, and the doorknob jiggled. “You ran off like a psycho. I’m not leaving until you tell me what happened.”

I couldn’t let her see this.

I cracked the door open just enough to slip through. Jesse stood there with her arms crossed, hair a mess, wearing the same clothes from last night. She looked like she hadn’t slept at all.

“What?” I snapped.

She stared at me. Really stared. “You look… different.”

My stomach dropped. “Different how?”

She squinted. “I don’t know. Pale. You feel okay?”

I swallowed. Hard. “You followed me last night.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Because you bolted like something was chasing you.” She stepped closer. “What happened in the Empire State Building?”

I opened my mouth. A sharp, electric sting shot through my spine, like someone had plugged me into a socket. My knees buckled, and I grabbed the wall to stay upright.

“Jay?” Jesse grabbed my arm. “What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t answer. My vision blurred at the edges, darkening like ink spreading through water. And then, for a split second I saw something in the mirror behind her.

I gasped. “We need to leave.”

“Why?”

“Because,” I said, pulling her toward the door, “I think something came out of that building with us.”