The wall clock read 2:17 AM. Emilia sat alone in her small apartment in the city, immersed in the silence of the night. The soft hum of the fan and the occasional creak of the wood were the only sounds breaking the emptiness. From the window, the streetlight cast its glow across her face, creating shadows that danced on the walls.

  She had never been particularly sensitive to fear. As a child, she used to play at scaring herself with horror films, and she loved talking about the ghosts that others claimed haunted empty houses. Yet, something about this night felt different. Something hung in the air, an invisible pressure that made her feel uneasy. It wasn’t the darkness that troubled her.

  Emilia got up from the couch, feeling an unusual heaviness in her feet. She walked to the kitchen to get a drink of water. When she turned on the faucet, her hands trembled for a brief moment. It was fleeting, but she felt it: a pressure on her chest, an inexplicable fear that washed over her. She looked at herself in the mirror as she drank. She wasn’t used to seeing her reflection at this hour, and for some reason, the image staring back at her seemed... foreign.

  It wasn’t the first time she had felt this way. Over the past few weeks, Emilia had had the sensation that someone was watching her, as though something was lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to reveal itself. But it couldn’t be a monster. That didn’t exist. She knew monsters were just products of the imagination. What really terrified her, what truly made her tremble, was something much worse: society.

  In her head, there was always a voice that wouldn’t let her rest. That voice scolded her for everything she did, for every word she spoke, for every step she took. The fear of what others would say, the expectations of those around her, the rules imposed by the people in her life. The society she lived in had created a mental prison that seemed to devour her little by little. In her mind, there was constant talk of what was right and what was wrong, what she should be and what she shouldn’t.

  She picked up her phone and saw several unread messages. Most were from her mother, asking if she had gotten to work safely, if she had eaten, if she was taking care of her health. Emilia felt a bit suffocated by the overprotection. But the worst part was that she couldn’t ignore the expectations others had of her. Everything in her life seemed to be mediated by others. Her mother’s constant questions, her boss’s expectations, the comparisons to her sister—everything crushed her.

  And then there were others: friends who always criticized her decisions, coworkers who seemed to judge her for her silence, people who had opinions about her life without really knowing her. Every word that came out of her lips seemed tainted by her insecurities and fears. There were times when she wished she could be invisible, disappear from that unrelenting, critical gaze that judged her without compassion.

  Emilia turned off her phone and leaned against the kitchen counter, staring into space. She closed her eyes, trying to escape the feeling of mental claustrophobia. How many times had she tried to be someone she wasn’t in order to fit in? She had faked laughs, met expectations, and sacrificed herself to please others. And now, in the silence of the night, that feeling was becoming even more suffocating.

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  Suddenly, a sound snapped her back to reality. A soft tap, almost imperceptible, came from the front door. Emilia tensed. She glanced at the clock: 2:20. No one visited her at this hour. No one knew she was alone. Her heart raced as she walked toward the door. It couldn’t be an intruder. The door was locked.

  When she reached it, the sound stopped. Emilia froze for a second. Her mind raced. Reason tried to calm her, but there was something inside her that told her something wasn’t right. Fear began to surface. She slowly opened the door, barely leaving a gap between it and the threshold.

  There was no one there. Just the empty hallway leading to the other apartments. However, when Emilia closed the door, she noticed something strange: the mirror in the hallway reflected a figure that wasn’t there. In the reflection, a person stood in the middle of the hallway. She couldn’t see them directly, but she knew they were there. The figure was too blurry to distinguish if it was a man or a woman, but the sensation of being watched intensified.

  Emilia stepped back, her breath growing heavier, and the vision in the mirror seemed to move with her, as if it had a life of its own. The mirror was distorted, as if something was trying to break through it. The figure seemed to approach slowly, but every time Emilia tried to look directly into the hallway, she saw nothing.

  The feeling of being watched consumed her, and it wasn’t just from that figure in the mirror. Society was always watching, and the worst part was that she couldn’t escape. People judged even the smallest movements of her life, and if she didn’t meet their expectations, rejection was inevitable. Every step out of line was a step toward the abyss of loneliness. In her mind, the voices of her parents, friends, and coworkers blended with the image of the blurry reflection that watched her. It was as though that figure in the mirror was the epitome of all the judgments that followed her.

  She returned inside her apartment, quickly shutting the door. She needed to be alone, to distance herself from that presence she couldn’t understand. She tried to breathe deeply, but the air felt thick, as if something was contaminating it. She collapsed onto the couch, hugging herself in search of comfort. But comfort never came. The pressure in her chest intensified as the feeling of being watched grew stronger. She looked at the mirror in her living room, but saw nothing but her own reflection. Yet, in the depths of her eyes, there seemed to be a shadow, something that lurked, something that judged her.

  Terror began to consume her, but it wasn’t the terror of a monster, nor of a supernatural being. It was the terror of knowing she couldn’t escape the invisible eyes that always judged her, that society would never stop demanding she be something she wasn’t. The monster that stalked her wasn’t a physical being, but a reflection of others' expectations.

  Emilia closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pressure in her chest. She knew she couldn’t run from her own mind, that the real monster was the society that had shaped her, that had made her believe she was never enough. And as the figure in the mirror continued to watch her, Emilia understood that she didn’t need monsters to fear. The real threat had always been within her.

  Society had turned her into her own prison, a prison of fears, judgments, and expectations.