Lena's heart hammered in her chest as the figure's long, gnarled fingers stretched toward her, its eyes gleaming with an eerie light. Her body screamed for her to run, but the fear held her in place, freezing her where she stood.
The figure's grin widened, its face contorting into something grotesque. Every instinct in Lena's body told her she was in the presence of something ancient, something beyond her understanding, and something that would never let her leave.
But then, a sudden realization struck her.
The camera.
She still had it.
In one swift motion, she pulled the camera from her bag, her fingers trembling as she raised it toward the figure. She had no plan, no idea what would happen, but she couldn't just stand there and do nothing.
The flash of the camera illuminated the space, bright and blinding, and for a moment, the figure recoiled, its hand freezing mid-air. Its eyes flared with a mix of rage and fear, and it shrieked, the sound like nails scraping across a chalkboard.
Lena didn't hesitate. She snapped another shot, and then another. Each flash seemed to weaken the figure, its form flickering, distorting, as though the light was tearing it apart.
With each flash, it screamed louder, its body shuddering and distorting into unnatural shapes. The walls around her seemed to vibrate with the intensity of its rage, but Lena kept firing, desperate to escape, desperate to push the entity back.
Finally, with one last, ear-piercing shriek, the figure dissolved into the darkness, vanishing as if it had never been there. The glass walls around her cracked, and the oppressive stillness of the place began to fade.
Lena stumbled backward, breathing heavily, her hands shaking. The space around her grew brighter, the shadows lifting as the air began to feel lighter.
Then, with a sudden, almost imperceptible shift, she was back in her apartment.
She collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air, her heart still racing. The camera slipped from her hands, falling onto the carpet with a dull thud. Her eyes drifted to the cracked mirror, now completely still.
It was over.