Face First

Mara had one rule: Never look in the mirror after midnight.

It started when she was eight. Her reflection would sometimes blink out of sync. Sometimes it smiled when she didn’t. She told her parents—it was just nightmares, they said. She grew up, pushed it down, convinced herself fear was just a trick of the mind.

Until the night her therapist, Dr. Flooding told her to confront her fear directly.

So at 12:01 a.m., Mara stood barefoot in the bathroom, facing the mirror. One breath in. One out. “I’m not afraid of you,” she whispered.

The mirror smiled.

But she didn’t.

Her reflection stepped forward—out of the glass—its face warped and twitching like static, eyes full of every terror she'd buried: drowning, choking, burning, loneliness.

She screamed and ran, but every wall became a mirror. Every reflection was her, twisted. Laughing. Chasing.

Finally, cornered, she turned and lunged at the reflection with her bare hands.

It shattered into dust.

And when the sun rose, Mara stood alone, bleeding but breathing. No more mirrors warped.

No more twitching smiles.

But in the back of her mind, something whispered...

"Tomorrow night we'll fight your fear of clowns..."

Click on image to read more about Dr. Flooding and his treatments, based on true events.