Set your story in a house of mirrors and make the atmosphere increasingly eerie.

Posted in Horror on Nov 17, 2023

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✍️ 43 stories

“The Art of Lost Keys” by Jarrel Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #225

I stare out the window at the overcast sky and the air looks like a prolonged orgasm. I haven’t left my apartment in thirty-seven hours, during which thoughts of me forgetting how to conversate with another human being fill me with a nameless dread. I need to break free from these walls. I reach for the car keys I sometimes leave on my writing desk, but my fingertips shuffle around medical bills, and I listen to some of the pages flip flop to the floor. My keys aren’t under my sombrero, either. I think about where else I would leave th...

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“The new house” by Layla Friend

Submitted to Contest #225

The first few steps through the hall are always the best. The worn-down floorboards creaking under her feet and the grandfather clock echoing throughout the house. She walks down the narrow hallway keeping her eyes glued to the walls, seeing her warped reflection in every battered down mirror she walks past, the thick dust that has been collecting over the years creating a protective layer. Four altogether, two on each side of the hall, balanced upon hooks that have been hammered into the walls, put there by the owners before her, as well as...

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“The Turnstile at the End of the Hall” by Alex Solomon

Submitted to Contest #225

I awoke in a hall of mirrors with the strange sensation that I'd been asleep for a long time. Moreover, I had no idea where I was, or how I'd gotten there. My head felt like a snow globe filled with dust. Conversely, the mirrors that surrounded me were so clear, that they could have been carved from slabs of crystal. Even the floors were made of brilliant glass that reflected off a glimmering mirrored ceiling. I got the sense that this was the first of many chambers. It was shaped like the inside of an igloo, leading to an archway, th...

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“Vanity” by John Jacob

Submitted to Contest #225

The house had been built a century ago, but renovated many times, making it look both old and new. Shadows spread across its face in the twilight, while the brass knocker and knob glinted furtively. I stood at the front door, caught between the obligation to go in and the impulse to leave; pinned like a mirror between reality and reflection. I would give back her key and leave. We would be separate, whole; there would be closure. I stood at the door for several minutes. The key warmed in my fist. The last of the light slid down under ...

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“Mirror..mirror on the war, all I see is my robot staring at me… ” by Perla Horn

Submitted to Contest #225

Hmm….and I thought you said you love me. I do but not the way you think I should - I said and rest my hand on his shoulder. I don’t understand. Why are you even questioning my motives. I did everything I could to take you home with me, but I was told you had to stay in the lab. You said, you will take me home, Ian cried and covered his face so I couldn’t see his dry eyes. I leaned closer and put my arms around him. Look, I promise to visit you everyday until it will be safe for you to leave this lab.&nbs...

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“Labyrinth of Despair” by Dita Dow

Submitted to Contest #225

The abandoned carnival, embraced by the radiant light of the sun, stood as a somber testament to a bygone era. Its once-vibrant face, now cloaked in faded, peeling paint, whispered melancholic tales of laughter and joy that had long since faded into the echoes of the past. Amidst the skeletal remains of dilapidated rides and crumbling booths, one structure stood as a solitary monument untouched by the relentless hands of time — the House of Mirrors. Towering and foreboding, the House of Mirrors wore a cloak of twisted metal vines, their s...

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“Reason” by Alaska James

Submitted to Contest #225

This is why I always stay home. Everyone wants to know why I don’t go out anymore and this is it. This is why I’m a homebody, this is the reason. I can hear that clip of Cardi B from that Love & Hip Hop reunion show or whatever, where she’s screaming “WHAT WAS THE REASON?!”. This is the reason. Every time I go out with them, some kind of crazy shit happens. They always want to do something extra. Something “exciting” or “scary”. Truth be told, I don’t want to do anything exciting or scary. I want to be in my pajamas on the couch, watchi...

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“Killer Mirror” by Paul Littler

Submitted to Contest #225

“I’m a huge fan!” “I get that a lot.” Eunice was shivering inside her large fur coat, eyebrow raised, watching Barry drop his pen. “It’s cold in here,” he said, “I expected something more, you know, glamorous…” Eunice smiled behind her oversized sunglasses, “Yeah, well, welcome to showbiz.” The studio for weekly music show ‘Jamboree’ occupied the hollowed-out space of a frosty Victorian church in north London. 1967 was both the best and worst year for ‘Jamboree’ and what happened to The Freeway Girls during the live performan...

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“Twisted Reflections” by The Singing Ghost

Submitted to Contest #225

Eddie was sitting in his middle school's cafeteria, programming a website on the computer the school gave him for assignments. It was a Chromebook, but he had installed Linux on it, since it could do so much more than Chrome OS. He was coding a forum website for a video game he liked called Void of Souls. It was pretty obscure– so obscure that he couldn't find any online communities for it– so he had decided to make one himself."Hey, want to go to the carnival with us?" Eddie heard Connor say behind him. "It just came to town a few days ago....

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“Metanoia” by Paisley Bird

Submitted to Contest #225

Enter to Receive Your Wildest Dreams, these words etched in stone above the door frame. Stark and cold, the concrete house sat in the loneliest part of the desert. It was rather small for a traditional house, it was more like a large shed, only sheds do not typically have candles lit around their opening. It was known as Metanoia, the Greek term for a transformation of the heart. One could not see the delicate flames from far away, they only become visible within six feet of the entrance. As soon as your eyes meet the blaze, a chilli...

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“House of Mirrors and Wonder” by S.M. Sykes

Submitted to Contest #225

Steven loved going to the Delaware State Fair every year. His parents had brought him here since he was a kid, back when all he wanted to do was ride the rides and get cotton candy. Nowadays he is way more mature than that. I mean he was 13 years old and had to act like it. Instead of running straight to the rides and cotton candy, Steven led his parents to the horse stalls and walked through checking out all of the animals. His parents looked at each other and laughed, they knew this was new but in the end, he would end up with cotto...

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“Reflections in a Hall of Mirrors” by Lilla Odinson

Submitted to Contest #225

I’ll admit, I really had been excited to see my nephew. But when my sister left him with me so that she and her husband could have some alone time, it sparked worries in me. You see, my husband and I had been married for almost two years. We had always assumed that we’d have children by now, but one thing or another had always gotten in the way. Seeing my nephew would usually bring me so much joy, but today it only brought me anxiety. I was summoned back into the moment by an ...

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“Four Sticks” by Erin Muñoz

Submitted to Contest #225

Lonnie needed a fix, and he needed it fast. As he drove down the quiet streets of a neighborhood full of houses far beyond his tax bracket, the radio hummed in the background. In the early hours of the morning, the radio played less ads and more music. Something by Led Zeppelin came through the weak speakers of the decades old clunker Lonnie drove. Had the man been of sober mind, he would likely remember the song. Lonnie only had one thing on his mind, and it was money. How to get the most of it and how quickly to get it to his dealer on the...

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“The House of Blood and Mirrors” by Emily Watson

Submitted to Contest #225

The house rose before me, its red brick and white paint faded and covered in molds and mildews and overgrown vines. No one in their right mind would have thought of entering. No one from Gatesville anyways. Not after what happened last year. But desperation had driven me near to madness, like that little rhyme from The Magician’s Nephew echoing in the back of my head: “wonder till it drives you mad what would have followed if you had”. Witches aren’t real, they say, laughing as they dress their children in costumes, sending them out to do...

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“Room of Mirrors” by A.B Julian

Submitted to Contest #225

Room of Mirrors By A.B Julian I stepped out of the cab and stood there admiring the Victorian exterior of the Blackwell mansion. I had some pleasant memories of this house from the time when I visited this place during summer. "Welcome, you must be Vance Blackwell. I am Jenna Spencer, the caretaker." "Vance Hanshaw. Marie Blackwell was my great aunt." "Oh yes. The lawyer mentioned. I forget easily. I am getting old. Please come in." Carrying my bags, I stepped into the house. The floorboard creaked under my feet. "Have you be...

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Set your story in a house of mirrors and make the atmosphere increasingly eerie.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 43 stories

“The Art of Lost Keys” by Jarrel Jefferson

“The new house” by Layla Friend

“The Turnstile at the End of the Hall” by Alex Solomon

“Vanity” by John Jacob

“Mirror..mirror on the war, all I see is my robot staring at me… ” by Perla Horn

“Labyrinth of Despair” by Dita Dow

“Reason” by Alaska James

“Killer Mirror” by Paul Littler

“Twisted Reflections” by The Singing Ghost

“Metanoia” by Paisley Bird

“House of Mirrors and Wonder” by S.M. Sykes

“Reflections in a Hall of Mirrors” by Lilla Odinson

“Four Sticks” by Erin Muñoz

“The House of Blood and Mirrors” by Emily Watson

“Room of Mirrors” by A.B Julian

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone buying a cursed — or perhaps blessed —mirror from an antiques store.

Write a story about someone trying to paint (or otherwise create) a self-portrait.

Write a story about someone coming across their doppelganger.

Write a story about a character who one day notices that their reflection has taken on a life of its own.

Contest #225

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

282

Contest entries

106

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: