If you’re looking for the best sci-fi short stories that blend horror and suspense, this tale will leave you breathless. Explore a chilling narrative about a mysterious mirror that leads to a dark, living dimension full of grotesque creatures and twisted realities. This is one of those best sci-fi short stories where curiosity comes at a terrifying cost, and the line between fear and survival blurs with every step. Dive into this gripping story and discover why the best sci-fi short stories often have the most unforgettable endings.
The mirror wasn’t supposed to be there.
I found it in the basement of the old McAllister house, buried under a pile of rotting furniture and dust-covered boxes. Its frame was ornate, a web of twisted silver that seemed alive under the flickering beam of my flashlight. At first, it looked like any other antique, a forgotten relic of a house long abandoned. But as I wiped away the grime, the glass shimmered, rippling like water. My reflection wavered, distorting unnaturally.
A chill ran down my spine. The basement was freezing, far colder than it should have been for a midsummer night. The air seemed to thicken around me, heavy and oppressive. I should’ve turned back, but something about the mirror drew me in, an inexplicable pull that made my chest tighten and my pulse race.
When the glass shifted again, I reached out, unable to stop myself. My fingers brushed the surface, and it was no longer solid. It gave way, cool and viscous, like stepping into a freezing lake. I stumbled forward before I could think, and suddenly, I was falling.
I hit the ground hard, the air knocked out of my lungs. The darkness around me was suffocating. My flashlight had gone out, but faint blue bioluminescent veins ran through the ground beneath me, casting an eerie glow. As my eyes adjusted, I realized I was in a forest, or what used to be one. The trees were skeletal, their branches twisting unnaturally toward a sky that wasn’t a sky at all but a swirling void of black and red. The air smelled of decay and something metallic, sharp enough to sting my nose.
Then came the sound. It was low and guttural, almost like an animal growl but deeper, vibrating through the ground. I froze, my heart pounding so loud it felt like it would burst out of my chest. The growl changed, turning into clicking noises, fast and rhythmic. They came from everywhere. I wasn’t alone.
“Okay, keep it together,” I whispered to myself, my voice barely audible over the clicking. My fingers fumbled for my flashlight, and when the beam finally flickered on, I regretted it instantly.
Something moved in the shadows. A creature stepped into the light. Its skin was translucent, its insides glowing faintly with a sickly green light. Its body was wrong, all angles and sharp edges, and its head was covered in blinking eyes that didn’t seem to focus on one thing but everything at once. Its mouth opened, revealing jagged teeth, and then it started making that awful clicking sound.
“Shit,” I muttered, stumbling back. My hands were shaking so badly the flashlight jittered, casting wild shadows across the grotesque thing. It tilted its head like it was studying me, and the clicking grew louder. More shapes emerged behind it, all of them just as horrifying, their glowing veins lighting up the darkness.
“Nope, nope, nope,” I said, backing away. My voice cracked, but I didn’t care. I turned and ran, my boots slipping on the slick ground. The clicking followed me, faster now, and I could hear the creatures moving, their limbs scraping and clicking against the surface.
I didn’t look back. I couldn’t. If I looked back, I’d freeze, and if I froze, they’d catch me.
Ahead, I saw it. A spire of black stone, rising out of the twisted forest like a beacon. It was covered in the same glowing veins as the creatures, pulsing in time with my own heartbeat. The mirror had to be there. It had to be my way out.
The ground shook as something lunged behind me. I felt claws swipe the air just inches from my back. I ran harder, my lungs burning and my legs screaming for relief. The spire grew closer, but so did the sound of the creatures. They were everywhere, their clicking and growling so loud it felt like they were inside my head.
When I reached the entrance of the spire, it wasn’t a door, just a dark opening that seemed to devour the light from my flashlight. I hesitated for a split second, but then another growl came from behind me, so close I felt the heat of its breath. I dove inside, and the darkness swallowed me whole.
The first thing I noticed was the silence. The relentless clicking had stopped, replaced by a deep, eerie stillness that made my ears ring. My flashlight flickered, casting weak beams of light across the walls. They were smooth, impossibly black, and pulsing faintly with that same sickly blue light.
I took a shaky breath, pressing my back against the wall. My legs felt like jelly, and my chest heaved with each gulp of air. Whatever those things were, they hadn’t followed me inside. Yet.
“Where the hell am I?” I whispered to no one. My voice barely carried, swallowed by the suffocating air around me. I gripped the flashlight tighter, scanning the room. The walls seemed to move, like shadows were crawling just beneath the surface.
Then I saw it. In the center of the room, elevated on a jagged pedestal, was another mirror. It was taller than the one in the McAllister basement, its surface swirling with faint streaks of red and black. I stepped closer, drawn to it despite every instinct screaming at me to run.
The glass shimmered, and for a moment, I saw myself. My reflection looked as terrified as I felt, but something was wrong. It didn’t move when I did. It just stared back, its eyes wide, its mouth twisting into a grimace.
“No,” I whispered, stumbling back. My reflection tilted its head, grinning. And then it spoke.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
The voice was mine, but twisted, warped into something unrecognizable. My legs felt like they were cemented to the ground as my reflection stepped forward. The glass didn’t shatter; it rippled, letting the thing through.
I stumbled back, my mind screaming at me to move faster, but I tripped over something… bones. Human bones. I bit back a scream, scrambling to my feet as the creature, the thing wearing my face, advanced. Its grin stretched too wide, and its eyes, though shaped like mine, burned with a cold, alien light.
“You can’t leave,” it hissed, its voice echoing unnaturally in the small space. “Not now. Not ever.”
I swung the flashlight at it out of pure desperation. The beam hit its face, and for a moment, it recoiled, the grin faltering. But then it laughed, a horrible, grating sound that made my skin crawl.
The walls began to pulse faster, the sickly blue veins glowing brighter. From the corners of the room, shadows peeled away, forming shapes, more creatures, all with warped versions of my face, their eyes locked on me.
The mirror behind them shimmered again, and I knew. That was my only chance. If I didn’t make it, I’d be trapped here, like whoever had left the bones at my feet.
I bolted for the mirror, dodging the clawed hands that reached for me. My own reflection lunged, shrieking as I dove headfirst into the glass. Cold, searing pain enveloped me, and then everything went black.
When I opened my eyes, I wasn’t back in the basement. At least, not the one I remembered.
The walls were the same twisted silver as the frame of the mirror, their surfaces writhing like living metal. The air reeked of burnt ozone and decay, thick enough to make my throat close. My legs shook as I tried to stand, but the disorientation made the ground sway beneath me.
“Get up,” I muttered to myself, forcing my body to move. I didn’t have the luxury of staying down. Not here. Not with them.
I scanned the room, and my heart sank. There was no exit. No stairs leading back up. Only the pulsating walls, slick with that glowing blue ichor, and the faint hum of the mirror behind me. It felt alive, watching, like it was taunting me. The creatures might not have followed me through yet, but I knew they were coming. And worse… I wasn’t sure I’d find a way out before they did.
A sound broke the suffocating silence. It was soft at first, like whispering, but the more I focused on it, the clearer it became. Voices. Low, rasping, overlapping, like dozens of people talking at once. They came from everywhere and nowhere, a chorus of fear that set every nerve on fire.
“Help me.”
The words were faint, broken and strained, but they were unmistakably human. I spun toward the sound, my flashlight trembling in my hand as its weak beam danced across the walls. Nothing moved, but the voice came again, louder this time.
“Please… help me.”
It was close, almost behind me. I turned slowly, dreading what I might see, but there was nothing there. Just the mirror, its surface now glowing faintly red. My own reflection stared back, but it didn’t mimic my movements. It just stood there, staring, grinning that impossible grin. And then, as I watched, something else emerged in the glass behind me.
I whirled around, but the room was empty. Still, the reflection in the mirror didn’t lie. There was something there… something I couldn’t see.
A hot, foul breath brushed the back of my neck.
I screamed and stumbled forward, nearly dropping the flashlight as I spun again. Still nothing. But I could feel it, hovering just out of reach, a weight pressing on my chest, making it hard to breathe.
The whispering grew louder. I pressed my hands over my ears, but it didn’t help. The voices were inside my head now, worming their way into my thoughts, drowning me in their desperation and anger.
“You let it out,” one voice hissed, sharp and accusatory.
“It’s your fault,” another whispered, venomous and low.
I shook my head, trying to block them out, but they only grew louder. My reflection laughed, a sound so cold and cruel it felt like knives slicing through my mind.
“Get out of my head!” I shouted, slamming the flashlight against the wall. The bulb shattered, plunging me into complete darkness.
And that was when they came.
The first hand grabbed my ankle, its fingers long and spindly, their grip icy and impossibly strong. I kicked out, but more hands followed, clawing at my legs, pulling me down. Their touch burned and froze all at once, and the whispering turned into a deafening roar.
I clawed at the floor, desperate to pull myself free, but the surface writhed under my hands, shifting like liquid. Shadows moved in the dark, their shapes freakish and shifting, eyes glowing like dying embers.
“Please, stop!” I screamed, my voice breaking as I felt the first claw slice into my calf. Blood, hot and sticky, ran down my leg, pooling on the floor. The creatures hissed, their hunger evident as they dragged me closer to the mirror.
“No, no, no!” I thrashed wildly, kicking and screaming, but it was no use. The mirror’s surface rippled, and I saw them inside it. Dozens of me, twisted and ghastly, their smiles wide and wrong, their eyes gleaming with the same sickly light as the creatures. They reached through the glass, their hands stretching toward me, clawing and pulling with a strength I couldn’t fight.
As they dragged me closer, I caught one last glimpse of my reflection. It wasn’t grinning anymore. It looked terrified. Helpless. Just like me.
And then the mirror swallowed me whole…
The last thought that ran through my mind before everything went black was how the best sci-fi short stories never have happy endings. And mine was no different.
For full-length novels, visit my author site and check out my books. Or stop by the blog for more of the best sci-fi short stories you’ll ever read.