The on-duty nurse reports later that night that the only sounds from Tatjana's room have been quiet rustlings. They decide that they'll give the girl some time to calm down before anyone goes in to talk to her.
There will be no more sound from the girl's room all night. There will be no more special attention paid to her until morning. Then, at 6:00 A.M., when the girl still has not risen from her bed, one of the staff at the hospital will be sent in to rouse her for breakfast.
When she enters the room, the young staffer will look around, perplexed: she is new and unused to everything that goes on around the hospital. For a moment, she will not see anything but an empty room. It will be dark and it will be difficult to see; the light bulb in the room will have burned out.
Then the staffer will spot a shape sprawled on the bed. She will go over to rouse the girl, but to no avail. It will appear that the girl is simply sleeping, but there will be no pulse or heartbeat. She will still be wearing the headphones she put on last night, but the batteries in the MP3 player will have long since run out.
The staffer will run from the room in horror and summon everyone she can raise with her scream. Doctors and nurses will check over their patient, and then the police will be summoned along with an ambulance. No one will be able to do anything for her.
Later that day, people will come in to clean out her room. They will return the MP3 player to the boy, Alex, who lent it to her. They will find nothing much of interest except an open notebook on the night table.
One of the policemen will read some of the notes scrawled in the book. They will make him shiver, the stories and poetry in there. She must have been crazy, he will think to himself. Very crazy …
The last entry in the notebook will be dated June 8, 2007; the day before today. It will read:
"I've told them I'm not crazy. They nod and smile and tell me that no, of course I'm not crazy. I know they're just indulging me - they think I'm crazy. They think that my warnings are just the ravings of a madperson; They've probably heard a lot of people say things like this before, so they've learned to ignore it and just nod and pretend to listen. But they have to understand, I'm not crazy … They have to understand! I've asked them several times tonight – can one of their security guards stand outside my door? They always say that yes, of course, they'll put one there right away. But I look out through the crack between door and floor in my room, and nothing blocks the light. They have no one outside my door.
But I also know that it won't help. It isn't like Death from the 'Discworld' books is going to come in here and get me. Other things can happen – I think I want the guard only for my own peace of mind. But no one else believes me, and there is no guard.
I slump down onto my bed, exhausted (and why is that? Apart from the image in the mirror tonight, there has been no excitement). I think I'm about ready to fall asleep, but I try not to let myself. I lie back on my bed anyway, and I stare despondently at the ceiling, and the only thing my mind will dwell on is the image in the mirror tonight."
The policeman will ask around, but no, no, people will say; she didn't ask for any security guards.
"She must have been dreaming that," the policeman will say logically. "Something scared her a lot."
Meanwhile, Tatjana's friends will sit in the common room and stare despondently at the table. It is true that they were not good friends, but she lived with them; it will be hard to let go like they wish they could.
Alex will receive the MP3 player back and he will look at it like it might bite him. He will put it down on the table and make sure not to touch it. Dara and Sterling will become quiet and withdrawn; Dara will not take off her headphones. They will not hear the discussions of the policemen up the hall. If they did, they might have tried to defend Tatjana. But they will not hear, and they will sit quietly and try to get back to what they consider normal life.
Somewhere on the outskirts of the city, Aunt Deb and Uncle Daren will hear the news. Aunt Deb will cry. Uncle Daren will storm about in a rage that is merely disguised grief. Both of them will keep to themselves; neither will talk very much. Aunt Deb will briefly wonder whether Tatjana was telling the truth about images in the mirror. She will say to herself, of course not. Images don't appear in mirrors unless they're your own reflection. She will not be able to put it out of her mind, though she will try.
The chain of deaths at her school will end with Tatjana's death. Rumors will fly, but none will catch on. All will be much too far-fetched for the middle-schoolers. Kayla will find herself extremely downcast; but she will also begin to relax, now that the deaths have ended. The newspapers will stop their articles about the mysterious linked deaths at the school. Things will go back to normal.
Kaid will wander from place to place, and wherever he goes death will follow. But it will seem to him as if there is always an Annihilation Forcer after him. He will feel dogged, wherever he goes. He will strongly dislike the feeling, but he will be loathed to give up the power he wishes for. He will travel from place to place, never staying in one place for long. Jana will fade into the past for him; she will be naught more than a distant memory, seen sometimes during rest periods. Just another victim.
Eossi will return to his home and request not to be sent on such a job ever again. He will be confined to menial tasks like filing messages, but he will not mind. He will remember what happened to him with Tatjana and he will be grateful he is not on Earth anymore. He will make sure not to complain.
And, as odd as it sounds, Tatjana will fade into her own past. Her spirit will wander aimlessly about, enjoying the endless freedom she now possesses. However, it will seem as if she often finds herself tailing another spirit who seeks to do bad. And sometimes, Tatjana will find herself aiding the humans he means to victimize, because sometimes she will recall her own unknowing contact with Kaid and how terrifying it was. She will protect them until Kaid moves on. Then she will drift away, and some chance will bring her back to tailing him again. She will not mind. She will always remember herself when she was living, and she will remember the things that happened to her, and she will not get angry at the humans she seeks to protect from Kaid. Tatjana will almost grow to enjoy what she does.
And slowly, she will compile an account of her time as a living human tailed by Kaid. She will coax the stories from him when he is nearly asleep, and she will record them in her memory. She will implant them into the dreams of one particular human she will help to protect, years and years from now. She will hover around, enticing her helper to write. And through this person, Tatjana will put together this account. She will not know why. Perhaps it is because she wishes to forget about it and thinks putting it on paper will help.
Or perhaps she hopes this piece will warn others like her, other victims of Kaid's. Perhaps she wishes to inform them that they are not alone and that once, when she lived, she, too, was chosen to see the reflections.