Chapter 1: Reflection

Self-image can be a complicated thing. What is seen through the perspective of a reflection? It's a different story and meaning for every individual, some reflections emphasize the good and some, the evil. On a rare occasion both attributes are shown in the most extreme ways possible. Stella Jones' story was a rare case, but that's what made it so exciting and frightening…

Stella came from an African American and native American background, she was a strong, smart, well mannered young lady who learned to respect all different cultures and remained a very friendly person. She always tried her best everyday to do the right thing and help others the most she could, even when she could not properly help herself. She got along with basically everyone and was doing very well at her job at the forensic lab. However, due to the type of work she did she was under the impression that nothing can ever truly shock her anymore, until one day after arriving home and seeing her reflection in the bathroom mirror…

She walked into the bathroom and she began washing up before looking up at the glass mirror, she stood still, staring deep into her reflection trying to figure out if she was hallucinating or not. What she saw was truly frightening, but more so confusing. She was looking at her own reflection, but it was altered to look like someone else, like something else. Although the reflection showed her same face and same medium size curvy body shape, the reflection's features were much darker and more defined Her caramel toned skin suddenly became a darker grayish color as her hazel eyes turned almost completely black and looked as if they were more sunken into her face. Brown-haired Stella gazed at the black-haired image that had exposed cheekbones and a faded, ghost-like face all expressing a look of disapproval and hatred. As Stella jumped back in fear, nearly hitting the back of her head on the bathroom wall, she tried to collect herself while closing her eyes to calm her breathing and rapid heartbeat. She figured that it was just a hallucination from her being over-worked and quickly washed up, turned off the bathroom light and ran towards her bedroom, quickly throwing herself on the bed and covering herself with her blanket trying desperately to fall asleep and forget what had just happened.

The next day Stella woke up feeling like she had been hit on the head with a hammer! She could not sleep all through the night because she kept having a repetitive nightmare about the image she saw in the mirror. She tossed and turned all night waking up with short breaths and cold sweats as she struggled to get her body to relax. This went on for hours until her alarm went off and she was forced to drag herself out of bed for work. She walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash up, all the while she avoided looking directly into the mirror. She was still shaken up about last night and wanted to get to work as soon as possible to distract herself. After she got dressed, she quickly grabbed her car keys from the table and headed to her favorite café to grab a cup of coffee before work. As she drove the road started to blur a bit due to her lack of sleep, but she was still able to reach her destination safely. She opened her car door and began walking towards the entrance of the café, until she noticed something strange…

As she was walking past the full window at the café, she saw the same image from the night before! Once again, it was her same body with the same clothing, but her face resembled something of a ghost or demon! She jumped back, startled then moved back closer to her reflection staring into it deeply, as she tried to understand why it reappeared. The image was not going away, and she can feel goosebumps beginning to form on her skin. She blinked once, then twice but nothing was changing. She stood frozen beside her reflection until she was interrupted by a knock on the window coming from inside the café. She jumped back in fear until she realized it was one of the workers gesturing for her to enter the building. She did not know why this image kept re-appearing, but she just shook it off and blamed it on her lack of sleep. What Stella did not realize is that it was something much more serious and frightening….

After quickly ordering her coffee she then headed to work looking down at her feet the entire time while walking back to her car. Once she arrived at work, she quickly bursts into the building without giving out even a single hello. It was unlike her to just rush into work like that but that image in her reflection left her really shaken up. She walked into her office setting her stuff down before settling in her chair exhaling deeply. She gazed at her desk and reached for her cup of coffee taking another sip hoping it will give her enough energy to get through the day.

Stella's thoughts were quickly interrupted by a co-worker knocking their hand on her desk. She quickly turned to face them; it was will. He was summoning her to the lab where yet, another dead body needed her attention and analysis. Once they entered the lab, the chill of air vents flowed throughout the room, sending shivers down Stella's body. There was a table in the middle of the room with a cold, grayish male corpse resting on it. Normally she was used to seeing dead bodies during her everyday duties, but this time she felt different. After seeing that strange reflection of herself, everything around her began to look strange as if she were in some sort of twilight zone. She cleared her head and walked towards the evidence bench as she peaked down at the corpse's face. He looked as if he was in his mid-thirties and healthy. It was a shame about his passing; he was killed by multiple stab wounds in his chest after a home invader broke into his apartment. Stella and Will gave each other a quick glance before removing the cover from the corpse's body. They started to analyze the body as they sampled blood from the opened wounds on his chest. Stella's eyes were losing focus and kept shifting over to the dead man's face. She looked down once more, forcing herself to focus on what she was doing, collecting skin and hair samples to test in the lab.

She carefully analyzed the body and collected all the DNA samples she needed, with will's help of course. She continued to scan the body with her eyes, for any hidden wounds, but there was none to be found. Her eyes flickered to the corpse's face once more as she began to feel light-headed. The corpse's face began to shape into a moving blur and stella was suddenly losing her balance. Her vision started to fade as dizziness overcame her. In a split second her eyes shifted to the body's face once more as she saw the disturbing image of the altered reflection of herself, but this time it was a grayish color resembling the corpse and it's eyes were sunken in even more as if it didn't have any! Stella jumped back in fear before gasping for air and falling unconscious to the floor…