老大恐怖小說一則

老大的處女作，紀念一下，2021年發表於Mailer Review，時年14歲。

The Mirror

She was already drifting off to sleep, eyelids drooping. The lowered sound of the TV in the background and the continuous pattering of rain on the roof seemed to fade as the world went fuzzy.

       Just as she was about to doze off, a sharp knock on the door awakened her from her reverie. She flinched violently, jumping up from the couch, heart pounding. Her eyes shifted over to the door, where another knock followed.

       “W-who is this?”

       A pause. Then, a voice spoke. “Hello? Is there an Amelia that lives here?”

       The voice from behind the door was faint and muted, but it was quite high-pitched and obviously a girl’s. Amelia’s mind whirled as she wondered who could have come to her house.

       “Yeah...what do you want with her?” Her voice was shaky, giving away her obvious discomfort.

       The girl behind the door stayed silent for a little while. The only noise was the consistent drumming of rain. Then, she spoke again. Her cheery voice rang through the empty house. “I assume this is Amelia I’m speaking to. Uh...it’s kind of hard to explain. Once you open the door, it’ll be obvious. The best explanation I can give is that we look...kind of similar?”

       “What?” Amelia furrowed her brow, confused. We look kind of similar? What kind of excuse is that?

       At this point, the knocking grew more impatient. “Hurry up, I’m freezing out here. And don’t you dare think of leaving me out here after I gave up everything for you.” This time, the voice had a malicious edge to it. Amelia shivered as a draft of cold air seemed to come from nowhere.

       “Excuse me, I have every right to leave you out there. You’re a complete stranger.” But even as she said this, she edged closer to the door, albeit staring at it warily.

       There was pounding on the door this time. “Let me in.”

       Then silence. It seemed like the girl had realized she was acting quite weirdly, because she had quickly corrected herself. “Please? It’s actually really important, and I’ve been waiting for so, so long…”

       Against her better judgment, Amelia put her hand on the doorknob. It was freezing cold, and she winced. “Alright. I hope this is worth my time…” she muttered to herself.

       Although she only pulled open the door a little bit, a gust of wind caught the opening door and it swung backwards, hitting the wall with a loud thump. A burst of lightning flashed across the sky, dancing between the clouds. In that moment, Amelia saw something...quite curious.

“Who...are you?” Amelia froze. There was no way that this could be possible. Standing in front of her was an exact replica of herself. She seemed to be looking in a mirror. The same, sparkling-brown eyes that she saw every day staring back at her in the bathroom mirror was right in front of her. Soft, brown locks fell from her shoulders, and she even had the same short ring finger on her right hand.

Amelia’s heart jumped up to her throat, and she started to shut the door. The girl hastily stuck her foot inside the doorframe. “Wait, wait! Hear me out. Hi, I’m Cassandra! Can I come in and talk for a while? Please? I have nowhere to go tonight, I was really hoping you would let me stay over.”

She tried to pry the door open, and seeing as that wouldn’t work, sighed and stepped back. Her foot, however, still kept the door open.

“I know it’s a lot to take in, but if you would just let me in, I’ll explain everything.”

There was a pause as Amelia considered it. Then, with a heavy sigh, she opened the door once more and beckoned the girl who was soaking from the rain to come inside. Cassandra beamed and bounced in. It seemed that they were the complete opposite; Amelia was silent and observant, while Cassandra seemed to not have a care in the world, always happy and bubbly.

“Oh, I forgot to mention, you can just call me Cass. All my friends do.” She plopped down on the couch as if she already owned the place. Amelia frowned. That movement perfectly copied hers; it reminded her of many afternoons coming home from school, casually throwing her books onto the table.

Sighing once again, and going to the other chair, Amelia asked, “So, why are you here? And how do you know me? Or my address?”

Cass’s eyes shone so bright, they were like stars. “Well, I found your picture on this website! And I was, like, so amazed that, like, you and me were the same! I just had to do a bit of digging around and I found you! I have school off back where I live, so I decided to come meet you. I mean, wouldn’t it be so cool to meet your doppelganger? This way I can tell ALL my friends back home that I got to meet another me!”

Cass said this all very fast, so it was hard to understand, but Amelia got the gist of it. So that’s what happened, huh? It makes sense. Cass seemed like a nice person, so she’d let her stay a couple of days.

“Wait, you decided to travel all this way by yourself to meet me? I’m flattered,” Amelia cracked. Cass giggled hysterically, as if that was the funniest thing ever. “Why wouldn’t I want to see what my doppelganger’s life is like? It would be so cool!”

“Well Cass, it’s your lucky day today. I don’t have school either, so you’re free to stay.” Amelia grinned, happy to have someone to spend her lonely days with. Cass squealed, hugging Amelia like they were already best friends despite only meeting just a couple moments ago.

“Come on, let’s have an official welcome party!”

 

It’s been six days already. Every day the girls had lots of fun, visiting all the places around the area, sleeping late and waking up late. They ate whenever they wanted, wherever they wanted, whatever they wanted. Cass had asked many, many questions, both about her personal life and about everything around her. At this point, Amelia was pretty sure Cass had the passwords to pretty much everything she had.

“Hey Ami, I’m going to go to the bathroom. Be right back!” Cass called over her shoulder as she headed out, closing the door softly.  The light in the room flickers and then stabilizes again. Amelia didn’t spare it a second glance; it had been winking on and off all day. The weather was turning bad again; that’s why they were inside today.

The weather was oddly reminiscent. Amelia looked up through the window, where the cold, dreary sky seemed to mope around, dripping tears all over the ground. The rain, buffeted by the heavy wind, seemed to rain down like little pellets on the glass of the window.

She leaned back, shutting off her phone and placing it on the table in one swift motion. Her eyes shut and she sat there, thinking about everything that had changed this past week.

Come to think of it, how did Cass even find her? She didn’t think she’d ever given her address out anywhere on the internet...even if she had a massive fanbase on social media, didn’t mean she wasn’t careful with personal information on the internet.

Just then, Cass came back. “I’m back,” she said offhandedly, and plopped down on the floor, picking up her phone.

“Hey...Cass?” Amelia wasn’t sure if she wanted to ask this question.

“What’s up?”

“Can I ask you something?” There was a pause.

“Sure, anything!” Cass put down her phone slowly, swinging her piercing gaze to Amelia. They made eye contact for almost a full minute, and Amelia was slightly unnerved. From day one, she had noticed that Cass had an unusually intense stare. Her brown eyes were much sharper than Amelia’s soft, hazel eyes.

“How...how exactly did you find me? I don’t recall having given my address anywhere…”

There was a tense silence as both girls looked at each other with such distrust. Then, Cass beamed. “Oh, silly, I should have told you! Here, come over to this room, and I’ll show you.” She stood up, beckoning Amelia over.

Amelia sighed, relieved. If Cass was treating it like no big deal, then maybe it was just her overactive imagination acting up again. She stood up, following Cass to the other room.

In that room, there was a giant mirror. It hung above the bed like a humongous painting. The bed wasn’t small, and on both sides of it there were small tables with lamps on each one. There was a closet off to the right.

Cass was already on the bed, studying the mirror closely. When she saw Amelia had followed her, she tugged her onto the bed, staring at the mirror, one hand reaching out to lightly touch the pristine surface of the reflective glass.  “Do you see that? It’s our reflection. We look exactly the same. Now look closer.” She pushed Amelia closer to the mirror. Amelia, her nose an inch from the surface, frowned. She started to straighten up again, but Cass’s hand stayed at her neck, firm and unyielding. Amelia could see a sinister grin on her face. “Do you see this? This mirror…it will take you someplace else.”

With one hard shove, Cass pushed Amelia into the mirror. The mirror seemed to shift around her, encompassing her, enveloping her, drawing her close. Amelia screamed, twisting back, trying to get Cass’s hands off her. But what she hit was not flesh. It was the hard, cool surface of a mirror. And Cass was on the other side.

Shrieking, Amelia banged on the smooth surface of the glass. She tried kicking it, punching it, scratching it; doing everything she could to try to break it. Nothing worked. And on the other side of the mirror, faintly, she heard Cass say coldly, “I’m terribly sorry. If you put up that much of a fight, I might even start feeling guilty about what I’ve done! But you know, it feels awfully good to be here. I’m sure you wouldn’t understand; all your life, you’ve been coddled. You have no idea what it’s like for people who grew up in more...unfortunate circumstances.”

Amelia tried to reason with Cass with tears in her eyes, but Cass shook her head. Her mask of indifference had started to crumble as she revealed a manic smile. “A pity, really, that it was you. Perhaps if it had been someone less kindhearted, I wouldn’t feel this pang in my chest that I do now. But what’s done is done, and I can’t say I regret it.”

Cass had gotten off the bed, maliciously waving goodbye to Amelia. By this time, she had already started wailing against the clear glass, no longer trying to escape. She knew there was no hope.

“Goodbye, Amelia. It was nice knowing you while it lasted.”

Click. The light went off, and there was the faint sound of the door closing and the lock sliding shut.

                                                 

                                                             鏡子

        她漸漸睡去，眼皮耷拉著。背景中低沉的電視聲和屋頂上連續不斷的雨滴聲似乎隨著世界的模糊而逐漸消失。

       就在她快要進入夢鄉的時候，一陣急促的敲門聲把她吵醒了。她猛地一驚，從沙發上跳了起來，心怦怦直跳。她的目光移到門上，又是一陣敲門聲。

       "你--你是誰？"

       敲門聲停了一下。然後，一個聲音說話了。"嗯~ ，有一個叫阿米莉亞的人住在這裏嗎？"

      門外傳來的聲音微弱而低沉，但顯然是個女孩的聲音。阿米莉婭腦子裏轉了轉，她想不出誰會到她家來。

       "是的......你找她做什麽？" 她的聲音有些顫抖，明顯聽得出她的緊張。

       門外的女孩沒有作聲，一陣沉默，隻聽到持續的刷刷的雨聲。然後，她又說話了。這次她換作了歡快的聲音，"我想我是在和阿米莉亞說話吧？呃......這有點難以解釋。不過如果你打開門，你一看就會明白了，很多人告訴我說，我們看起來......就像是一個人。"

       "什麽？" 阿米莉亞皺起了眉頭，感到困惑。我們看起來像一個人？這算什麽借口？她遲疑著。

       門外的敲門聲又響了，似乎越來越不耐煩了。"快點，我在外麵都快凍僵了。你知道碼？我為你放棄了一切，你可別想把我關在外麵。" 這一次，這個聲音裏彷佛有一股惡狠狠的味道。阿米莉亞打了個寒顫，似乎不知從哪裏來了一股冷空氣。

       "對不起，不過我完全有權利把你關在外麵，我根本不認識你。" 阿米莉亞一邊說著這話，還是一邊向門邊走去，盡管她還是警惕地盯著它。

 

       "讓我進去！"

屋裏屋外，一片寂靜。

       門外的女孩可能意識到了什麽，換了一副哀求的語氣，"求求你，這真的對我很重要，我已經等了這麽、這麽久......"

       不知是什麽力量的驅使，阿米莉亞把手放在門把手上。冰冷的感覺讓她打了一個激靈。"好吧。希望這值得我花時間...... "她喃喃自語道。

       雖然她隻拉開了一點門，但一陣風夾著打開的門，門向後擺動，砰的一聲撞在牆上。一陣閃電閃過天空，在雲層間飛舞。在那一刻，阿米莉亞看到了一些......相當奇怪的東西。

"你...是誰？" 阿米莉亞愣住了。不敢相信自己的眼睛。站在她麵前的是一個完全複製的自己。她似乎是在照鏡子。她每天在浴室鏡子裏看到的那雙閃亮的棕色眼睛就在她麵前。柔軟的棕色發卡從她的肩膀上落下，她的右手甚至有同樣短的無名指。

阿米莉亞的心一下子跳到了嗓子眼，她下意識地想把門趕緊關上。門外的女孩急忙把腳伸進門框。"等等，等等！"。聽我說完。“嗨，我是卡桑德拉！我是卡桑德拉。我可以進來談一會兒嗎？求你了，我今晚無處可去，我真的希望你能讓我留下來過夜。"

兩人僵持著，門外的女孩拚命用腳頂住門，不讓它關上，"我知道這讓你一下很難接受，但如果你能讓我進去，我會給你解釋一切的。"

阿米莉亞猶豫了一下，然後，她重重地歎了一口氣，鬆開手，招手讓那個被雨淋濕的女孩進來。卡桑德拉麵帶微笑，蹦蹦跳跳地走了進來。看起來她們的性格完全相反；阿米莉亞沉默寡言，善於觀察，而卡桑德拉似乎無憂無慮，總是快樂地冒著泡。

"哦，我忘了說，你可以叫我卡斯。我所有的朋友都這樣叫我。" 她癱坐在沙發上，好像她已經擁有了這個地方。阿米莉亞皺起了眉頭。這個動作完美地複製了她的動作；這讓她想起了自己許多從學校回家的下午，隨手把書扔到桌子上。

阿米莉亞又歎了口氣，走到另一張椅子上，問她："那你告訴我，你是怎麽知道我的？又是怎麽找到我的地址的呢？"

卡斯的眼睛閃閃發亮，就像星星一樣。"嗯，我在這個網站上發現了你的照片! 我很驚訝，你和我竟然長得一模一樣！然後，我就做了一點點小小的調查，就找到你啦! 我住的地方學校放假，所以我決定來見你。我的意思是，如果能見到另一個自己，那不是很好嗎？這樣我就可以告訴我家裏所有的朋友，我見到了另一個我！"

卡斯說得非常快，不是很好理解，但阿米莉亞明白了其中的要點。是這樣。嗯？聽起來似乎很有道理。卡斯看起來是個不錯的人，要不就讓她多呆幾天吧。

"什麽？你一個人走這麽遠的路就為了來見我？"阿米莉亞睜大了眼睛。卡斯大聲地笑了起來，仿佛這是最有趣的事情。"為什麽不呢？我為什麽不想看看另一個我的生活是什麽樣的？你不覺得這很酷嗎？"

"好吧，卡斯，算你幸運。我今天也不用去上學，所以你就留下來吧。" 阿米莉亞心裏想，有人能陪她度過寂寞的日子，也不錯吧。卡斯興奮地尖叫起來，擁抱著阿米莉亞，就像他們已經是最好的朋友一樣，盡管他們才見麵不到十分鍾。

"來吧，讓我們開一個正式的歡迎會！"

---------

已經有六天了。兩個女孩每天都有很多樂趣，參觀周圍所有的地方，晚睡晚起，想吃什麽就吃什麽，想去哪裏就去哪裏。卡斯問了她很多很多問題，有關於她個人生活的，也有關於她周圍的一切。阿米莉婭覺得卡斯已經對她的生活了如指掌了。

"嘿，阿米，我去趟洗手間，馬上回來！" 卡斯一邊往外走，一邊叫道，她輕輕地關上了門。 房間裏的燈光閃爍了一下，然後又穩定下來。阿米莉亞注意到，這盞燈一整天都在不停地忽明忽暗。今天又是一個壞天氣--這也是她們今天待在家裏的原因。

這天氣讓人奇怪地想起了什麽。阿米莉亞透過窗戶往上看，冰冷、沉悶的天空似乎在悶悶不樂，把眼淚滴滿了地麵。雨水在大風的吹拂下，似乎像小顆粒一樣落在窗戶的玻璃上。

她向後一靠，關上手機，把它放在桌子上，動作迅速。她閉上眼睛，坐在那裏，思考過去一周發生的一切。

她忽然想到一點，卡斯是怎麽找到她的？她不認為她曾在互聯網上留下過她的地址......雖然她在社交媒體上有那麽多粉絲，她一直很小心，不在網上暴露太多個人信息......

就在這時，卡斯回來了。"我回來了，"她斷斷續續地說，然後癱坐在地上，拿起她的手機。

"嘿......卡斯？" 阿米莉亞不確定她是否想問這個問題。

"怎麽了？"

"我能問你一些事情嗎？" 停頓了一下。

"當然，任何事情！" 卡斯慢慢地放下手機，直直地看向她。他們的目光接觸了幾乎整整一分鍾，阿米莉亞開始不安起來。從第一天起，她就注意到卡斯有一種異常強烈的凝視。她的棕色眼睛比阿米莉亞柔和的淡褐色眼睛要尖銳得多。

"你......你到底是怎麽找到我的？我不記得我在哪裏留下過我的地址..."

卡斯從她的眼睛裏讀出了這種不信任。她沉默片刻，忽然笑了起來。"嗨，傻瓜，我應該早點告訴你！來，到這個房間來，我給你看看。" 她站起來，向阿米莉亞招了招手。

阿米莉亞鬆了一口氣。如果卡斯沒把它當作什麽大不了的事，那麽也許這隻是她過度活躍的想象力又在作怪了。她站起來，跟著卡斯來到了另一個房間。

在那個房間裏，有一麵巨大的鏡子。它像一幅巨大的畫一樣掛在床的上方。床並不小，兩邊都有小桌子，每張桌子上都有燈。右邊有一個壁櫥。

卡斯已經在床上，仔細研究鏡子。當她看到阿米莉亞跟著她時，她把她拉到床上，盯著鏡子，一隻手伸出來輕輕地觸摸著反光玻璃的原始表麵。 "你看到了嗎？這是我們的倒影。我們看起來一模一樣。現在再仔細看看。" 她把阿米莉亞推近鏡子。阿米莉亞，她的鼻子離鏡麵一英寸，皺起了眉頭。她又開始直起身子，但卡斯的手停留在她的脖子上，堅定而不屈。阿米莉亞可以看到她臉上露出陰險的笑容。"你看到這個了嗎？這麵鏡子......它會帶你到別的地方去。"

卡斯用力一推，把阿米莉亞推到了鏡子裏。鏡子似乎在她周圍移動，包圍著她，把她包住，把她拉近。阿米莉亞尖叫起來，向後扭動，試圖把卡斯的手從她身上拿開。但她碰到的不是肉體。那是一麵堅硬、冰涼的鏡子的表麵。而卡斯就在另一邊。

阿米莉亞尖叫著，敲打著玻璃的光滑表麵。她試著踢它，打它，抓它；做一切她能做的事來試圖打破它。但沒有任何效果。而在鏡子的另一邊，她隱約聽到卡斯冷冷地說："對不起了，阿米，看你這麽絕望，我都對我所做的事有點內疚了。不過，你知道，住在這裏的感覺太好了。我相信你不會理解的，你的一生都在被嗬護著。你不知道那些在......不幸的環境中長大的人的生活是什麽樣子的。"

阿米莉亞試圖用眼淚和卡斯講道理，但卡斯搖了搖頭，露出猙獰的笑容，"我也很遺憾，我選擇了你。如果你沒有那麽好心，我就不會像現在這樣感到良心不安了。但事已至此，我也沒什麽後悔的。"

卡斯跳下床，冷冷地與阿米莉亞揮手告別。這時，阿米莉亞開始對著透明玻璃無助地哀嚎，她不再試圖逃跑。她知道沒有希望了。

"再見，阿米莉亞。認識你真好，這段時間我過得很愉快。"

哢嚓一聲。燈光熄滅了，傳來門關閉和鎖滑落的微弱聲音。

（大部分由機器翻譯）