GLITCH.exe: Your World Has a Backdoor Episode 1: Mirror.exe

Episode 1: Mirror.exe

“Reality is just a well-coded lie.”

Rey Zenix had always felt... off. Not broken, not lost—just like he didn’t completely belong to the reality everyone else subscribed to.

At the age of 19, Rey wasn’t your typical uni student. He coded like he was born inside a server room, and his dorm walls were covered in Post-its with cryptic quotes, binary riddles, and a giant printout of a glitched Mona Lisa. But last night had been different.

Because last night, his mirror blinked.

Not a metaphor. Not a poetic exaggeration. His actual mirror. Blinked.

First, there was a flicker—then a ripple—like a pebble had been dropped on the surface. Rey had stared into it, eyes wide, heart racing. Then, on the mirror’s bottom corner, digital text began to appear:

“HELLO, REY.”

Today, his world felt brittle, like glass ready to crack.

In the background, the buzz of campus life carried on as usual. But in Rey’s mind, static hummed.

His friend Kael Riven noticed he was zoned out. “Dude, you okay?”

Rey stared at his screen. “If I told you my mirror messaged me at 3 a.m., would you call a shrink or an exorcist?”

Kael smirked. “Depends. Did it reply when you texted back?”

They laughed—but Rey’s chuckle was hollow. Because deep down, he wasn’t joking.

That night, he sat in front of the mirror again. Same chair. Same quiet.

At 3:03 a.m., it flickered once more. The words returned, but they were different this time.

“YOU’RE NOT WHERE YOU THINK YOU ARE.”

His throat tightened. “Then where am I?”

Nothing.

Until one final line scrolled slowly, glitching in and out:

“GLITCH DETECTED: EPISODE 1/6 LOADED.”

Rey leaned forward, heart hammering. The mirror didn’t blink this time. It smiled.