I wake at 22:22

The hallway hums A-flat minor

Door clock glitching 22:22

I push the door open

A room swallowed by a single mirror

Its surface holds nothing strange except a child's back, still as stone

Time stays

Let it scream

A floor lamp hums in the center

I pull the cold switch down

Darkness implodes backward

A thousand bulbs bare their teeth

The child turns

Gone between blinks

You try to break

Then travel back

Ivory gate

We share one name

The mirror stays empty

The mirror is waiting

Light retreats into corners like startled moths

Ceiling eats floor

My shadow drowns in lightbulb's afterglow

My breath hangs mid-air, crystalized fog refusing to fall

I touch the glass, solid, endless

A chip glows in the corner, wedged where my shadow's neck should snap to pray

Time stays

Rolling tape

Time stays

Let it scream

Hold the secret

Thousands of bulbs guard the switches

Lost replay

Between then and now

You try to break

Then travel back

Ivory gate

We share one name

You try to break

Then travel back

Ivory gate

We share one name