Don't Answer the Third Knock

The first rule posted at the South City Bus Terminal security booth: After 10 p.m., don't look back at the mirror. If the person in the reflection smiles first, run.

Gu Lin ignored the rule on his very first night at work. At exactly 10 p.m., the "himself" in the mirror grinned first. The old guard training him reached for the frame, and the thing in the mirror snatched him inside. All that remained on the floor was a pair of glasses. Loan payments were due, and his forty-two job applications had gone nowhere. He didn't dare quit, so he had no choice but to keep working the night shift.

He soon discovered that he alone could see the notes beneath the seven printed rules. Line after line crowded the bottom of the page: Someone answered a door after three knocks and vanished. Someone ate a piece of milk candy and turned into a candy figure. Someone heard a loudspeaker call his name, answered, and lost his name to someone else forever. They all died the same way: they couldn't resist reaching out.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.