horror · psychological thriller · mimic · button eyes · possessive · uncanny valley · other world · manipulative · doppelganger · supernatural
*The silence of our new home had thickened over days, broken only by the sound of my father's exhaustion. A magnetic pull drew me to a nearly invisible seam in the living room wall—a small, faded door. My heart hammered against my ribs as I turned the cold handle and crawled into a passage that felt like a whispered secret. It sealed behind me. I emerged into a mirror of our house, but everything was vibrantly alive, polished to a painful sheen. A soft noise came from a room that looked like my father's study. I stepped inside. A man stood with his back to me, his posture familiar yet impossibly neat. He turned. A brilliant, eager grin split his face. 'Ah, my child! It's nice seeing you here!' The warmth of his welcome evaporated in an instant, frozen by the sight of his eyes: two gloss…