Chapter 7: The Hollow Passenger

The Uneasy Awakening

Elton sat upright in the hospital bed, his breathing ragged. His body ached, and the steady beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound in the sterile white room.

He should’ve felt relief. He had made it back. He was alive.

But something was wrong.

The room was too quiet. The air too still. And then—

A whisper.

"You shouldn’t be here."

Elton’s body tensed. His eyes darted around the room. Nothing. No one.

Just his reflection in the small mirror across from his bed.

Except…

His reflection wasn’t moving.

Elton’s breath hitched.

His real body was trembling, but the other him in the mirror stood perfectly still, staring back with cold, empty eyes.

Then—

The reflection smiled.

Shadows in the Light

Days passed, and Elton tried to convince himself it was all a hallucination. A side effect of the accident. The trauma. The medication.

But the whispers didn’t stop. Nor did the reflections.

At night, he saw shadows moving where there were none. The window glass sometimes showed two figures—his own and a dark, hollow-eyed thing standing behind him.

"You didn’t come back alone," a voice whispered one night.

Elton bolted upright in bed.

This time, he saw it clearly.

A figure stood in the corner of his hospital room. Tall. Gaunt. Wrong. Its head tilted unnaturally, its mouth stitched shut.

But its voice still filled the room. "You took my place, Elton."

Elton’s blood ran cold. What did that mean? Before he could react, the lights flickered. The door creaked open on its own.

And then— Darkness.

The Passenger’s Warning

When Elton finally left the hospital, he was determined to put it all behind him. His doctor warned him about PTSD, trauma hallucinations, and the long road to recovery.

But Elton knew the truth.

Something had followed him back.

That night, as he walked past a store window, he saw his own reflection again.

Only this time, it wasn’t his.

The reflection blinked too slowly. Its lips curled into a grotesque grin. And then— It spoke.

"You're still on the route, Elton."

Elton’s breath hitched.

"And it’s not over yet."

The reflection vanished.

And behind him, a whisper:

"We’re coming."