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Start your story with someone buying a cursed — or perhaps blessed —mirror from an antiques store.

Posted in Fantasy on Nov 17, 2023

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✍️ 73 stories

Returning Marie

Submitted to Contest #225

Now before I say anything else, I just need to establish that I am not mad. I have every reason to be mad, but I’m not. I’m not mad. I’ve never been less mad than I am right now even though I have every reason to be madder than I’ve ever been in my life. To the best of my recollection, you were not working here when I came in on Sunday. I’m sure I would remember somebody with as many piercings as you, especially with you being such a young lady and all. I’m sure I would have made some sort of comment about how you don’t have a wedding ri...

43 likes 25 comments 25
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The Mirror of Monte Cristo

Submitted to Contest #225

It was a Thanksgiving like any other and Charles Scribe heated up a Hungry Man Roasted Carved Turkey dinner and poured himself a glass of Robert Mondavi cabernet in a plastic cup. Charles took his meal at his writing desk, as there was no dinner table in his apartment. Wine was reserved for holidays and though he had placed a bottle-stopper tightly over the wine bottle, it was still flat because it had been sitting in the refrigerator since the Fourth of July.The six-foot by eight-foot, forty-eight square foot writing nook by the far walls o...

30 likes 12 comments 12
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The Black Box

Submitted to Contest #225

Gabby double checked the address in her phone as her small Toyota climbed over rocks and roots down Orchard Road. After confirming she was indeed going in the right direction, she squinted at what appeared to be a massive, ivy covered, red brick building in the distance. The morning sun was cutting through just enough autumn fog to allow her to see it must have been built ages ago. The brick was crumbling, the ivy stretching, the windows coated with dusty memories.  She had received an email giving her a heads-up that a very worthwhile...

29 likes 15 comments 15
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No Refunds, No Exceptions

Submitted to Contest #225

As I wandered along the narrow street, a weathered, wooden sign with the word “Antiques” painted in red caught my attention. I stepped into the di­­mly lit shop, and the floorboards creaked, announcing my presence. At the entrance, a very strange man stood behind a thick table serving as a workbench. He looked like a cliché. He was wearing a tall top hat with a red ribbon, a dusty black jacket, and he had a stuffed raven sitting on his shoulder. The man was working on some sort of device or appliance, but I couldn’t make out what it was. Par...

22 likes 9 comments 9
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The Lost Looking Glass of Peter Pan

Submitted to Contest #225

The Lost Looking Glass of Peter PanStrange forces were at work. The loadstone of the human mind is more mysterious, and just as powerful, as the irresistible attraction the little needle on your compass has for the land far to the North. Henry had walked this way a thousand times, but today he was swept through the front door of Trudy’s Treasures as if he were on autopilot. No thought, just feet slowly shuffling their way along the worn wooden floor through a menagerie of peculiar objects perceived by someone to have outlived their usefulnes...

19 likes 3 comments 3
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Your Secret Is Safe With Me

Submitted to Contest #225

Karen held the artifact with two hands, turning it over to inspect every inch. The pewter hand mirror had impressions of the Romani Chakra symbol on its backside with interwoven vines and thorns along its sturdy handle. She remembered playing with her great grandmother’s hand mirror for hours, imagining some magic within revealing far away, mystical forests or foretelling her future. When she mentioned to the shopkeeper that it bore an uncanny resemblance to her great grandmother’s hand mirror, the shopkeeper said, “Perhaps this mi...

18 likes 2 comments 2
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Veil of Destiny

Submitted to Contest #225

In the heart of a quaint town stood an antiques store, its weathered sign creaking softly in the breeze. The narrow aisles were lined with forgotten treasures, each with a story to tell. Among the dusty shelves and faded tapestries, a mysterious mirror awaited its next owner. Margaret, an adventurous soul with an affinity for the unusual, entered the store on a rainy afternoon. The air was thick with the scent of aged wood and memories, drawing her further into the dimly lit space. She meandered through the aisles, tracing her fingers along ...

17 likes 4 comments 4
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Mirror of Truth

Submitted to Contest #225

Antique stores trigger memories of my grandparents’ kitchen. There was that white cabinet in the corner of the room that held my curiosity but never allowed me entry. Had I been older or less of an introvert I would have asked to see inside rather than just looking at it wistfully. I suddenly felt a sadness at the missed opportunity of my grandfather sharing with me stories of his antiques and how he bought and sold them.The bells jingled as I pushed my way in the day before Thanksgiving. Would the shop be crowded with cu...

17 likes 5 comments 5
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László's Mirror

Submitted to Contest #225

It wasn’t much more than a junk-shop, though it had a dusty sign that read RÉGISÉGEK, or ‘antiques’, hanging precariously above the door.Dust appeared to be a theme of the shop; the whole place was coated in thick layers of the stuff. It looked like it hadn’t seen a customer in a very long time. It was a minor miracle that Haine had found it at all, in fact, tucked away as it was in a narrow alley off one of the main streets of Budapest.He’d come out of the hotel, on the last day of his business trip, to scout the antique shops for a birthda...

16 likes 9 comments 9
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Marbles

Submitted to Contest #225

Marley loved marbles. Four-year-olds are simple that way, tickled by things they can hold and collect. The promise of marbles was enough to get Marley to tag along with her parents on a never ending quest to fill their old Victorian home with period furniture.  Once, at her mother’s favorite shop in Sandusky, the old woman working the cash register noticed Marley crawling on her hands and knees, reaching under an old dresser for something out of reach. “What’s down there?” The woman asked. “Marble,” Marley said. The woman reache...

15 likes 1 comment 1
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The Resplendent Quetzal

Submitted to Contest #225

Brielle Noonypill hurried to stitch her sister’s spangled cotinga costume. Fredericka, the elder Noonypill sister, tore the gown’s train by tangling herself mid-pirouette, while rehearsing her Passage Day dance. “Hurry,” said Fredericka, entering Brielle’s room. “The Cotters are already here, and oh no….” Freddy peeked out the door. “Miss Brightly comes with the class.”Brielle poked herself twice with the needle in the rush to have it ready, and her sister’s impatience was not helping. If her mother were still alive, she’d have it all d...

15 likes 5 comments 5
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I am a Mirror

Submitted to Contest #225

I am a mirror. I have been to many places throughout my life while being passed from hand to hand, job to job. I’ve seen countless bedrooms, even more antique stores, and I’ve even been employed out of doors once. One of my favorite jobs was in the subway. I got to see new people every day when I worked in the subway. I saw people walking past checking their reflection inside me. I obliged because I am a mirror. I see people and things as they are. I reflect back to them exactly what they want to see - no more, no less. That’s what a mirr...

13 likes 1 comment 1
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Monster

Submitted to Contest #225

Monster Once upon a time, there was a girl named Sylvia Snyde. Sylvia was very beautiful. Every morning, she looked into the magic mirror that she had bought at a local antique shop. The mirror was enchanted. It could speak, and daily, it told her how beautiful she was. No one is your equal in beauty, it would say. So Sylvia knew she was beautiful, and that knowledge began to change her. At school, Sylvia and her entourage would sit on the tables near the front of the school, judging their classmates. No person was safe from their captious...

13 likes 5 comments 5
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The Monaco Mirror

Submitted to Contest #225

2001 *** I had passed the boutique antique store many times and decided to go inside today. A bell above the door notified the store owner someone had entered and greeted me. “Please let me know if I can answer questions or show you anything. I’ll be over in the corner pricing some items if you need help.” Smiling, I said, “My name is Sabrina,” to which she replied, “I’m Rhonda Simpson, the shop proprietor.” We shook hands, and I began browsing. My years as a criminal detective had created a detail monster in my head. I approached e...

13 likes 13 comments 13
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Turn Back Time

Submitted to Contest #225

“I like this mirror! Ooh it makes me look thin!” Tammy slowly turned as she looked at herself in the mirror. She wasn’t one for shopping, and she certainly didn’t often shop for a dress or a skirt, but they had that reunion coming up so she thought she would look outside her comfort zone. “You are thin Tammy. Mirrors don’t lie.” Sharron browsed through blouses just outside the dressing rooms. “Well get your fat ass in here and see for yourself.” Sharron’s derriere was certainly not fat but Tammy wanted to get a rise out of her. “I don’t like...

13 likes 7 comments 7
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