CAROLINE CALLAGHAN is a long-time horror fan who writes for fun. She has had several pieces of flash fiction published online (in 13 Human Souls and Pantechnicon), and has further work accepted for forthcoming print publications. She is a staff writer for Pantechnicon, where she specialises in author interviews and articles.

I remember clearly when I first saw him. I was in the bathroom, shaving. And there he was, grinning at me from the mirror. He looked just like me. Well, almost like me. You know how it is; you never see yourself the same way as other people see you. Like if you've got a mole on your right cheek, it's on the left cheek of your mirror image. So, there he was, just grinning at me. And then he stepped right out of the mirror ...

At first it was fairly innocent, just silly pranks. He locked me in the flat and went round the neighbourhood annoying people. He'd throw stones at people's living room windows when they were in there watching telly. He even broke Mr Thomas' greenhouse by putting a brick through it. He'd always come back and tell me what he'd done.

But then it got more serious. He put a lighted firework through old Mrs Green's letterbox. He didn't mean any harm, but in the panic she fell downstairs and broke her hip. The papers said she got some virus in the hospital and died six weeks later.

And then there was the girl in the park. He only meant to scare her a little, to take her money maybe. He told me all about it. He grabbed her from behind and held a knife to her throat. She was a pretty young thing, wearing a flowery summer dress. But she struggled and tried to scream. And, well, that feeling of power it gave him - it just turned him on. So, he pulled her into the bushes. With a knife at her throat she didn't resist. She let him do what he wanted.

But that was his downfall, of course. He left his DNA all over the place. That's how the police came to break down my door. I tried telling them it wasn't me, it was him - the guy in the mirror. I told them he looked a bit like me, but sort of twisted the wrong way round, like a mirror image. But they didn't believe me. They even said it was my DNA they'd found in the park.

So, here I am sitting on the edge of my bed in Menston High Security Hospital. I'm sitting here looking in the wardrobe mirror. And there he is again, just grinning at me ...

END