Tired Doll

with a heaving sigh, the Doll rises to its feet and starts on again, this time feeling for those false mirrors with its hands. the walls are just too far apart for it to reach both at once, so it alternates every few steps. an hour or so passes, and as it shifts weight to its right foot, extends its hand... huh.

the Doll's hand swooshes through the reflection. another illusion hiding a secret path... maybe this is the way out? the Doll stops to study its reflection for the first time today. there's something... off. something about its reflection feels wrong. it shakes its head, trying to brush off the feeling at the same time as it reaches up to brush its hair out of its face.

wait.

the Doll used its right hand, but the reflection used the hand to the Doll's left. that's... not how mirrors work. the Doll tries a few more movements: a wave, a jump, a twirl... yeah, definitely a reflection, just... reversed. the Doll looks around at the other mirrors, just to check. hm, no, they're all normal reflections. nothing to do but go through, it seems, and so it does. another long mirrored corridor, with twists and turns and confusing branches.

it's only when the exhausted Doll stops to rest, as it closes its eyes, that it realises why the false reflection felt so unsettling: it was seeing itself the way others did for the first time.