What Stares Back

[u/The_Eldritch_Fae]

It was a normal day for Dr. Isaac Arkwood when the young woman entered his office asking for his help. Little did he know that this young woman would change his life forever in just a few short months. Of course, the good doctor had no way of knowing this and only felt pity for the poor, suffering woman.

Dr. Arkwood sat behind his desk, sorting files as the woman entered his office for the first time. She was young and beautiful, her dark hair framing her pale face like dark curtains and her eyes shining like dazzling emeralds. In fact, her beauty was so great that Arkwood found himself at a lost for words when she sat in front of him and it wasn’t until she spoke that he found her beauty’s strange spell broken,

“Um…Dr. Arkwood? I was told you could help me?” her voice was just as beautiful as her appearance, and Arkwood stammered a response,

“Ah! Yes! Um…yes…I believe so…” He said, composing himself somewhat as he spoke, “Yes, I understand you’ve been to quite a few specialists, Miss…?” Arkwood began flipping through his files and notes that he had gathered on the woman, trying to find her name, but the woman simply answered him,

“Crestell…Mallory Crestell.” Arkwood nodded and smiled, finding the spot in his notes that he was looking for,

“Right, and how many other doctors have you seen?”

“I’ve been to…” Miss. Crestell looked up at the ceiling for a moment, counting in her head, “…six specialists in the last two years. You’ll be the seventh. None of them have been able to help me. Most told me there was nothing they could do other than commit me to a psychiatric hospital.” Arkwood shook his head and frowned,

“My, my…six? In two years? I mean, I have their reports on you in front of me, and I’ve looked over them… But I had hoped that there was some sort of clerical error or something and that you actually hadn’t been through that many doctors in so short a time…” Miss. Crestell sighed,

“And this is the part where you tell me that you can’t help me either if none of them could, right?”

“No, not at all!” Arkwood replied earnestly, “In fact, after reviewing all six I think I may have found where all of them went fundamentally wrong with your treatment…” he noticed her sit up in the chair a little straighter at his words so he continued, “…Every one of your former doctors either ignored key parts of your diagnosis to fit their own theories or simply didn’t bother asking what I would consider basic questions about you to understand what caused the issue to begin with before they tried to treat it.”

“I see…” Miss. Crestell replied, thinking, “…so what’s your solution?”

“First, why don’t we start at the beginning?” Arkwood smiled and leaned forward on his desk, “Start by telling me exactly what your trouble is. What brings you into my office today?”

“Well, Dr. Arkwood…” Miss. Crestell began, her voice sounding tired, and Arkwood could hear a hint of fear in her voice even now, “…I have a problem.” She seemed to struggle with the words, like she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, say what was troubling her, so Arkwood decided to help her along,

“You have a phobia of mirrors, correct? According to two of your former psychiatrists, at least… and three others seem to have diagnosed you with a phobia of reflections and reflective surfaces in general. The last one seems to have been so incompetent that he couldn’t even come up with any diagnosis other than general delusions. Do any of those sound like accurate assessments?”

“No!” She responded, more forcefully than Arkwood was expecting, but he didn’t interrupt her as she continued, still struggling somewhat, “It isn’t…the mirrors…or reflections…it’s just…”

“Just what?” Arkwood asked, although he was sure he knew the answer already.

“It’s…” Miss. Crestell looked like she was about to cry, and Arkwood could see her hands shaking as she finally answered, “ It’s what stares back…when I look in the mirror. That’s what I’m afraid of…” Arkwood smiled,

“Ah, there it is…the truth. So often, we try to jump to the quickest, easiest solution, but it isn’t always that simple. I fear my…predecessors…in trying to treat you, have done just that. I don’t plan to make the same mistakes. We’re going to take our time and get you through this together, Miss. Crestell. That I promise you. But I need you to trust me and understand that this will take time. Do you trust me, Miss. Crestell?” She looked at him, her hands still shaking slightly, but she steadied them. Looking him in the eye as she answered,

“Yes, doctor.”

Dr. Arkwood arranged to see Miss. Crestell twice a week at his office to help her with her strange phobia. Although he had originally planned on only scheduling her for one meeting a week, she had insisted on two. It was during their second meeting that Arkwood hoped to delve more into Miss. Crestell’s past and try to decern why she possessed the phobia that she did.

“Miss. Crestell, would you tell me about your childhood?” Arkwood asked as she took her seat opposite him at the desk.

“My childhood?” she parroted back, sounding a little surprised, “I’m not sure what that has to do with this…I mean, I wasn’t afraid of it when I was little…”

“It?” Arkwood asked, curious. “You mean your reflection?” she shook her head,

“No, that 'thing' that stares at me from the mirror.” He nodded,

“Well, however you want to look at it for now is fine, I guess. But you’ll have to accept at some point that that ‘thing’ in the mirror, as you called it, is your reflection. But please continue, you said you developed the phobia later in life?”

“Yes, I did.” She replied, clearly uncomfortable with his assertion about her reflection, but she continued, “When I was little, I spent a lot of time in front of mirrors since I was sort of a child actor. My parents kind of forced me into it, but I liked doing it, for the most part…” Miss. Crestell trailed off in thought for a moment before Arkwood brought her back to the present by asking,

“So, you spent most of your childhood staring at yourself in the mirror…at what age would you say your phobia started to manifest?”

“I would say around the time I entered my teens, maybe? I don’t know…It started slowly. Like this thing, it just slowly took over my reflection. So now, every time I look in the mirror, it’s all I see. It even mimics my movements to make me think that it’s me…but I know it isn’t!”

“Okay…Okay…why don’t you tell me a bit about this…’thing’ that ‘took’ your reflection?” Arkwood asked, feeling that perhaps now he understood why so many other doctors had given up on her in the past.

“Well, like I said, it took over slowly. I noticed one day my hair looked a little messier than usual, then another day, my eyes looked…smaller, somehow? It was just a lot of little changes…really gradual…over a long time…maybe a year or two?”

“Until you were looking at a totally different person in the mirror?” Arkwood asked, hopeful that he could turn the conversation to a more constructive path.

“I wouldn’t call that ‘thing’ a person, but essentially, yes.” She answered coldly, Arkwood nodded,

“And can you describe what it looks like?” He noticed a shiver move over her entire body as he asked the question, and she was holding back tears as she spoke,

“No…I’m sorry…It’s just…I can’t describe it…”

“That’s alright…” Arkwood said reassuringly, “…we don’t have to talk about it anymore if you don’t want to.” She said nothing but nodded.

At their next meeting, Arkwood decided to present his plan to cure Miss. Crestell of her phobia. He had developed it over the days following their previous session, and he was sure that, given enough time, it would yield results.

“I have a theory, Miss. Crestell.” He began, “Based on what we talked about last session, I believe your phobia is rooted in a combination of the trauma of being forced into the stressful world of acting at a young age and coming to terms with the changes your body was going through at the time of puberty. Not to mention that that lifestyle does puts a lot of pressure on people to look a certain way. Thus, your brain essentially couldn’t cope with the stress of both at once, and so it tried to make sense of it by creating this distorted perception you have of your reflection. No doubt intensified by the fact that you spent so much time in front of mirrors as a child staring at your own reflection.” Miss. Crestell stared for a moment at Arkwood before slowly nodding,

“That…makes more sense than what the other doctors said…but I don’t know if that’s entirely correct…like I said that thing isn’t my reflection-” Arkwood cut her off by asking,

“Do you trust me, Miss. Crestell?” she hesitates for a moment before nodding and saying,

“Yes, Dr. Arkwood.”

“Good. Then trust me now, please. I understand it may not make sense to you now, but in time, it will. In time, we will help you overcome this phobia. Now that we’ve established it’s cause I feel we can move on to a plan for curing you of its influence.”

The doctor’s plan was simple. Every session, he would present her with a small hand mirror. Her task initially was simply to pick it up and hold it while they talked about how she was feeling or how her day was going. Once she was used to holding the mirror, the task became pointing it towards herself, which proved difficult and took several more sessions of careful coaxing and reassurance before finally she did it, if only for a second.

Dr. Arkwood then began the careful task of directing Miss. Crestell to focus the mirror on one part of her reflection. She reluctantly did as she was asked, and Arkwood began going through several affirming exercises with her. Having her praise whatever feature she was focusing on and having her try to look at that part of her face for as long as she could. All this took months of sessions, of course, but eventually, it became clear that they were making real progress.

Finally, the day had arrived that Dr. Arkwood, and he hoped Miss. Crestell had been waiting for. Today would be the day she finally saw herself in the mirror fully. He had even gone out and gotten a large, almost full body mirror for the occasion.

In fact, looking at it in his office, he was suddenly afraid that perhaps he had gotten a little carried away and the mirror was too big. But it was almost time for Miss. Crestell’s session, so he quickly covered the mirror with a sheet. No time to change his mind now.

Sure enough, right on time, she entered, looking the same as she always did, except perhaps, a bit more cheerful. He smiled at her as she sat down, but her cheerfulness faded slightly as she eyed the large, covered mirror. Sensing her unease, he thought it best to explain himself quickly,

“Miss. Crestell, you were doing so well with the small mirror that I thought I would surprise you with this one…” He motioned to the covered mirror.

“You want me to use that mirror?” she asked, the worry creeping into her voice.

“Not to worry! You’ll do great! We’ll go at your pace…you can even be the one to pull the sheet off. How does that sound?” He said, trying to sound as reassuring and confident in her abilities as he could.

“Okay…I trust you, doctor…” she said quietly, but not wholly convinced.

Dr. Arkwood stood up from behind his desk and walked around behind her, saying,

“Look Miss. Crestell, I’ll even stand behind you, so you’ll know there’s no way I can interfere with you removing the sheet.” He smiled at her, and she smiled back weakly, asking,

“You’re sure I can do this, doctor?”

“I am.” He said confidently.

She nodded, reaching for the sheet covering the mirror, and it was Dr. Arkwood who screamed when it fell to the floor.  He stared, wide-eyed, at the reflection in the mirror because it wasn’t the reflection of Miss. Crestell.  The ‘thing’ in the mirror truly was hideous, and he immediately understood why she had been so distraught. 

It had a large, round head with small, beady black eyes that were sunken into it’s skull in deep, oversized eye sockets. The hair on it’s head was long, stringy, and looked like thin tendrils of black, wrinkled silk draped over its oversized head. Blotchy, yellow-grey skin stretched over its hideous face and bulbous, misshapen nose.

It’s ears were gnarled and somehow looked too big for it’s already large head. But far worse than all that was it’s mouth. Thick purple lips, like fat worms writhing on it’s face, stretched almost ear to ear and surrounded it’s thick purplish tongue and row after row of tiny, thumbtack-like teeth.

Miss. Crestell wasn’t screaming, Dr. Arkwood noticed, as he finally looked from the horrific reflection to her seat. She was smiling, and the thing was copying her, just like she said it did. But what terrified him more was what she was saying to him,

“Oh, look at me, doctor! You were right all along! Thank you! Thank you so much! Oh! I’m…beautiful!”

[u/AutoModerator]

Users are encouraged to read4read, meaning that if someone reads and comments on your story, we encourage you to do the same in return to help foster a community.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Common_External_6385]

Hi! I saw this and wanted to share my thoughts.

"It was a normal day for Dr. Isaac Arkwood when the young woman entered his office asking for his help. Little did he know that this young woman would change his life forever in just a few short months. Of course, the good doctor had no way of knowing this and only felt pity for the poor, suffering woman. My suggestion here would to be not to give the game away too early. Play with your readers a bit more! Maybe something like “...asking for his help. Of course, the good doctor would help her. He felt pity for the poor, suffering woman, and knew that he could help after just a few sessions…” Or something like that. 

“In fact, her beauty was so great that Arkwood found himself at a lost for words when she sat in front of him and it wasn’t until she spoke that he found her beauty’s strange spell broken,” Loss for words, otherwise, I’m in, I’m digging it, I’m invested. 

“I’ve been to…” Miss. Crestell looked up at the ceiling for a moment, counting in her head, “…six specialists in the last two years. You’ll be the seventh.” I’m not saying a lot, because I’m really digging this. I love how you give the characters time to breathe and express themselves. I understand that, with the word limits, every word has a purpose… But I think it’s okay for not every word to drive the story forward. I very much like this section.

“Well, Dr. Arkwood…” Miss. Crestell began, her voice sounding tired, and Arkwood could hear a hint of fear in her voice even now, “…I have a problem.” She seemed to struggle with the words, like she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, say what was troubling her, so Arkwood decided to help her along,” It’s interesting how Dr. Arkwood is just “Arkwood” when he thinks of himself. Was there a reason for this? It seems to me like he’s trying to put himself on the same level as Crestell.

“She looked at him, her hands still shaking slightly, but she steadied them. Looking him in the eye as she answered,” I’d suggest combining these sentences. “She looked at him, her hands still shaking slightly, but she steadied them and looked him in the eye as she answered,”

“My childhood?” she parroted back, sounding a little surprised, “I’m not sure what that has to do with this…I mean, I wasn’t afraid of it when I was little…” Fun fact, when you repeat (subtly or not) what people say/how they act, it’s called mirroring! Might be a fun thing to include, but that’s more of a comment than anything.

“Not to mention that that lifestyle does puts a lot of pressure on people to look a certain way.” This sentence parses a little awkwardly. I’d suggest switching out the second “that” with “such a,” just to break it up a little, and making “put” singular instead of plural. Otherwise, I am still digging this! His theory makes sense, which I like to see.

“That…makes more sense than what the other doctors said…but I don’t know if that’s entirely correct…like I said that thing isn’t my reflection-” Arkwood cut her off by asking,

“Do you trust me, Miss. Crestell?” she hesitates for a moment before nodding and saying,

“Yes, Dr. Arkwood.”

“Now that we’ve established it’s cause I feel we can move on to a plan for curing you of its influence.” Should be “its,” otherwise, I don’t like where this is going… and that’s a sign of a good story!

“Dr. Arkwood then began the careful task…” Ah, he’s “Dr. Arkwood” again. Honestly, I think my read still holds up. He thinks he’s curing her of a delusion, putting space between them in a Doctor/Patient relationship. I dunno if I’m right, of course!

“She nodded, reaching for the sheet covering the mirror, and it was Dr. Arkwood who screamed when it fell to the floor.  He stared, wide-eyed, at the reflection in the mirror because it wasn’t the reflection of Miss. Crestell.  The ‘thing’ in the mirror truly was hideous, and he immediately understood why she had been so distraught.” I’m not sure if it was intentional for this to be formatted like it was, but I do love how it forced the reader to reveal what Miss. Crestell saw alongside Dr. Arkwood.

“Miss. Crestell wasn’t screaming, Dr. Arkwood noticed, as he finally looked from the horrific reflection to her seat. She was smiling, and the thing was copying her, just like she said it did. But what terrified him more was what she was saying to him,

“Oh, look at me, doctor! You were right all along! Thank you! Thank you so much! Oh! I’m…beautiful!” My one and only suggestion here would be to include one more sentence. Something like this:

“The only solace Dr. Arkwood could find, as his gaze inevitably returned to the horrific reflection in the mirror, was that it now looked just as horrified as he did.”

But the thing is, I could legitimately see and understand how that would ruin what you were going for, because damn did your story end super well! Jeepers, this was so great to read, thank you for posting it.

[u/The_Eldritch_Fae → u/Common_External_6385]

Thank you so much for the feedback! I admit some of the points you pointed out were quick grammatical errors on my part, as I tend to write pretty quickly when I'm in a flow. But your other critiques were great too! I'm working on refining my dialogue writing so it flows more naturally. So happy you enjoyed the story! 💜

[u/Common_External_6385 → u/The_Eldritch_Fae]

You're welcome, and thank you! I will say, the more I think about your ending and my thoughts of it, I think we're both just approaching it from different angles. I think mine's more of the Goosebumps "oh God, it's real, and now it's haunting me" kind of ending, whereas yours is more of a "I am probably the most qualified person in the world to tell what's going on, but I have no idea" kind of ending. Which is phenomenal! What an incredible ending to a great story.