The Whispering Room 
Part Four: The Final Face

Lina stared at the mirror.

It stared back but not with her eyes.

Eliza’s face was inside the reflection, smiling slowly.
“Only one of us can stay, Lina.”

Lina’s chest tightened.
She had destroyed the First Mirror…
Hadn’t she?
Why was Eliza still here?

Suddenly, the room grew cold. The lights flickered. Her parents turned to her with frozen smiles then stood still, like statues. Time had stopped.

The mirror glowed.

And Eliza stepped out.

Eliza looked real now. She stood in front of Lina, wearing the same clothes, same face, same voice.

But her eyes were wrong.

“Thank you,” Eliza said. “You broke the mirror. You set us free. But now… I’m not going back.”

Lina screamed and ran but no door opened. The house had turned into a maze of mirrors again. Her footsteps echoed. Her own reflection ran beside her but sometimes, it moved differently.

Suddenly, Lina was pulled into a mirror.

She was back in the Mirror World.

But this time… it looked exactly like the real world. The same house. Same people. Same everything.
Except it wasn’t real.

This was Eliza’s trap.

Eliza appeared again. “You’re not strong enough to beat me,” she whispered. “I’ve lived in mirrors for decades. You’re just a girl.”

Lina fell to her knees. Tears burned her face.

Then she remembered something.

The little boy.
The one who gave her the hammer.
The one who said, “Now it’s my turn.”

She whispered into the silence:
“Help me… please…”

And the house began to tremble.

A light broke through the ceiling, and the boy appeared his eyes glowing white. He wasn’t a boy at all.

He was Nyra’s brother, a forgotten soul who had once been tricked by her too.

“I can give you one last mirror,” he said. “One that chooses the truth.”

A mirror rose from the ground round, silver, and glowing.

“Both of you must look into it,” he said. “Only the real Lina will remain.”

Lina and Eliza stood side by side.

They looked into the mirror.

Inside, the mirror didn’t show their faces.

It showed their memories.

Lina saw herself as a baby in her mother’s arms. Her father teaching her to ride a bike. Her dog licking her face when she cried.

Eliza saw nothing.

Just an empty hallway.

And a fire.

She began to scream.

“No! I’m real! I am! I deserve to live!”

She lunged toward Lina but the mirror burst into light.

Lina woke up in her bed.

It was morning.

Birds chirped.

Her parents called her downstairs for breakfast. Her dog wagged his tail.

Everything was perfect.

But as she walked past a mirror…

She paused.

She saw herself. Smiling.

And behind her… in the shadow…

Eliza.

Still watching.

Still waiting.

And the mirror whispered softly,
“The game is never really over.”