Many versions of Anastasia

Messages kept popping up on her phone, Anastasia was excited but equally scared, she had agreed to spend a week in the house of mirrors and the reward of one million seemed huge but she had also read terrifying rumors online.

The stories were said to be true but a part of Anastasia's mind doubted the authenticity of those stories. Maybe she was being so dismissive because she needed to reassure herself but there was something inside her that compelled her to think maybe something sinister was going on inside that house.

The house of mirrors was said to be nearly a century old, on the outside it looked like a perfectly normal house but it was what awaited inside that set the house apart from the other houses built in that era.

Upon entering, the corridor was full of mirrors but they weren't ordinary one's, some were curved at angles to show a grotesque reflection while others were colored, some said there were red, blue and yellow mirrors but others said there were no yellow mirrors in the house.

She didn't know what to believe and what to ignore, the internet was filled with the information about the house, some exaggerated and some eerie but others said it was just a normal house with mirrors inside.

She thought maybe it was just an old house with mirrors all around, maybe it was going to be fun and not scary at all, that seemed to calm her a bit, she wasn't going to a haunted house, she was just going to have fun, click selfies and collect her reward.

As she drove up to the house, she could feel her heart speed up inside her, she didn't know how to control it, her palms became sweaty, she thought she would faint with anxiety but she somehow managed to control herself.

She took out her belongings and checked that she had everything she needed to survive for a week, she had packed her favorite chocolate biscuits, some packets of salt chips, some cheese and lettuce sandwiches and a few bottles of water.

If she ran out of anything, she would just order online, there was nothing to worry about and she had been reassured that everything in the house was working, the electrical connections were fine and there was proper water supply in the house.

She took a deep breath and took shaky steps towards the house, she braced herself for whatever was waiting for her inside. She stepped in hesitantly, the creaking of the door made her jump back in fear.

As she walked inside she saw no mirrors, the house was partly illuminated by the sunlight but it didn't create a vibrant atmosphere, it felt cold here and she shuddered. The floorboard creaked underneath and it gave her chills that felt as if her body was being ripped apart, she just wished that the floorboard stayed intact and didn't give out, that was currently her worst fear.

She stopped and looked up, there was a red door infront of her, it was plain apart from the red paint that made it stand out from the surroundings, she was hesitant to open it, she gulped wondering where it led to, she looked back and she could see the entrance of the house at a distance.

She had covered that distance but her legs faltered as she stood near the red door, her heart had begun to beat faster, she felt anxiety grip her, she feared the unknown, she feared what kind of monster awaited her on the other side.

She shook her head, she shouldn't be irrational, there existed no monsters or even ghosts, they were just a figment of imagination, something that people made up and the same thing was true for the house too, all the scary stories were just made up to dissuade people from getting the prize and she wasn't like other people.

She grabbed the handle and turned it, the door opened, it surprisingly didn't creak like the entrance, maybe it had been repaired. She entered, her eyes searching around, the walls were painted red, a lighter shade than the door, there were large mirrors all around, some were pink with golden frame while others were red with a black frame, there were normal mirrors too with a silver frame.

The whole thing felt amusing to her, the fear she had felt earlier began to leave her slowly, she felt a new kind of confidence overtake her, she was getting closer to her reward. The room felt aesthetic, everything was neatly arranged and the mirrors seemed to blend in with the color of the wall.

She snapped a picture of the room, she wanted something to look at and remember her adventure here, also it could provide her with some inspiration on how to decorate her own room. As she walked through the mirrors, she couldn't help but admire their beauty, she hadn't seen such beautiful mirrors before and it felt as if the reflections in the mirrors were many versions of her.

She realized that the frames of the mirrors were colored and shaped according to the color of the mirrors, the red ones had black rectangle frames, the pink ones had golden square frames and the normal ones had silver oval frames.

She couldn't help herself and took out her phone again and snapped a few selfies, the temptation was too hard to resist and she gave in, letting the beauty and aesthetics of the place grip her. She had to stop and remind herself the reason she was here, she had clicked a lot of selfies and it was time to stop.

As she looked around, she couldn't find any other doors or even a window. It left her puzzled, she didn't know where to go next and she hadn't been provided with any direction. She thought maybe she was supposed to go back and maybe there was another door near the entrance that she had missed.

As she turned to go back, her feet hit something metallic and before she knew it she fell somewhere pitch dark, she tried to get up but realized she had sprained her ankle, the pain made her wince. She took out her phone and looked around, the light from her phone guiding her.

There were mirrors in this room too but they were ordinary rectangle shaped mirrors with a silver frame, the room seemed ordinary too, she tried to get up but fell back because of the pain.

There was no switch here and she felt trapped, the fear that had earlier left her, began to creep back in, it gripped her mind and rattled it with all the worst case scenarios, maybe she was trapped here forever and would starve to death!

The thought made her heart race more and she quickly took out a sandwich from her bag, one bite was enough to nourish her and calm her fears, she tried to get up and felt her pain had lessened as she walked, there was no door here, nor anything that seemed to indicate there was a room beneath her.

As she turned around, she could see a yellow door, she was surprised, she hadn't seen it earlier, was her mind playing tricks with her or had she missed it?, she tried to dismiss the questions swarming in her mind and tried the handle of the door, it opened and it led her to another room.

As she walked in, the door shut behind her with a loud bang, the sound made her scream, she rushed towards the door but it was locked. She tried to open it but no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn't open.

The room was empty with no mirrors or windows, it was illuminated by a single bulb. She saw no way out and the fear creeping inside her veins made her scream and cry to be let out.

She felt something push against her and as she looked back terrified, the bulb flickered and went out, leaving her standing in the darkness, she tried to reach for her phone but realized she no longer had her bag with her, as she tried to make sense of the situation, she felt something grabbing her waist but before she could scream, she felt a strong sharp pain pierce through her as her consciousness faded away.