The moment I returned, my eyes darted frantically around the room. Everything was frozen in time. I was wearing the same dress, standing in the same spot where I had vanished.
It was midnight, and the rhythmic, heavy breathing of my mother and grandmother filled the air. They were still sound asleep.
A wave of relief washed over me as I looked at their faces. They looked so peaceful, completely unaware that I had just surged through a dream, a different reality—or perhaps another world entirely.
I crept toward the bed I shared with my mother, then paused. My gaze drifted to the mirror.
It looked like an ordinary mirror again. The ethereal glow had vanished, leaving behind nothing but cold, silvered glass. I reached out, my fingertips trembling as they pressed against the surface.
"Ame?" I whispered, my voice cracking.
"Ame... are you there? Can you hear me?"
Silence. My own reflection stared back at me, wide-eyed and terrified. The mirror offered no answers, no light, and no portal. I sank back onto the bed, burying my face in the pillow to stifle the sobs that threatened to wake the house.
[What is this? I thought, my heart racing. Is this some kind of cruel joke? He promised he would always be there. Was it all just a dream? Everything that happened... was none of it real?]
"Ame,"
"Please. Where are you?"
"Where did you go?"