Wicked Reflection

Zyla Howard opened the door to her new apartment. The building used to be Half Moon Motel, and all the rooms have a kitchenette, a bedroom area, a bathroom, and storage space.

The inside was modern and fully furnished. Zyla sat down her bag on the bed and tossed her key onto the small dish beside the door. Three rooms other than hers were on this floor. It was late, and her neighbors were probably already asleep, so she would have to get to know them tomorrow.

She placed her bag on the floor next to the bed. She would rest for now since tomorrow would give her plenty of time to unpack and explore the floor she lived on.

A sheet fell off of a full-length bella antique mirror fastened to the wall in the room's far corner. Something was there, a flickering shadow peering out and looking at the room it was in.

The shadow spotted her placing its hands against the cold surface. 

It watched her mimicking each moment that Zyla made in her sleep.

It has been far too long since the last time someone was here. Last time, the shadow had been so close to pulling that man into the mirror, but he ran away, ruining their chance of getting out.

This time, though, it would get out, and they would become her.

Zyla woke up early, opening the curtains to let the sunlight into the bedroom. She stood before the window across from her bed and looked out. The Half Moon apartments were tucked away in the timberlands of Chatsline Woods. All Zyla saw was a vast sea of trees, unlike the parking lot out front.

Walking over to her bag, she unpacked and put away her things.

Looking up, she saw her reflection. Zyla gasped in surprise and laughed at herself. It must have been covered up; sometimes, the sheet had fallen off at night. She fixed her hair and smiled, going back to her task. In the background of the mirror, a dark shadow figure copied her.

Zyla put her things away and knocked on her neighbors' doors to get to know them. There were three other rooms on the floor she lived on, so Zyla started with the room across from hers.

Knock knock...

"Who is it?" a tired, gruff voice mumbled behind the door.

"Sorry to disturb you, but I just moved in and wanted to introduce myself."

There was a short pause.

"You moved into 402? Look, you should get your money back and leave. Nothing good has ever happened to anyone who lived in that apartment."

Zyla frowned. "What do you mean?"

There was no answer, and she went to her next-door neighbor.

"They aren't home." a voice behind her said, causing her to jump.

She gasped, turning around to see a tall man with slicked-back copper hair and forest-green eyes offering his hand.

"Jareth Blackwood,"

"Z-Zyla Howard." she reluctantly shook his hand and let it fall to her side.

"You're the one who moved into 402?" he motioned to the door with his chin.

She nodded, picking at her sweater. "Do you know anything about it?"

Jareth frowned. "They say it's haunted."

Her apartment was haunted? She blew a raspberry and shook her head.

These people couldn't be serious, could they?

"Believe it or not, it's up to you." he turned towards his apartment door.

With that, he was inside his apartment.

Zyla looked at her watch and then headed to the store. Since the elevator was out of service, she walked down the four flights of stairs, got into her car, and parked in the lot.

She stocked her fridge and popped a frozen meal into the microwave.

Zyla glanced at the mirror and saw something shift behind her reflection.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes. Was it just a trick of the light? 

Zyla shook her head; she had to be tired. The talk of ghosts haunting her apartment was asinine. A ding brought her out of her thoughts; she got up and walked to the kitchenette to retrieve her meal and sit at the small table.

As Zyla began eating, the lights in the room flickered. She raised her head and looked around the room; the lights dimmed. Could it have been faulty wiring? The resonating sound of someone knocking on glass made her jump in her seat. Getting up, Zyla slowly walked to the window. How could someone knock on the she was on the fourth floor?

tink tink tink

There it was again. Looking to her side, Zyla saw her reflection and gasped in surprise. It might sound silly to be frightened of her reflection, but something was wrong with hers. It waved at her, wiggling its fingers and grinning at her from ear to ear.

Zyla backed away as her reflection started to crawl out of the mirror.

This was their chance as they slowly began removing themselves from the mirror—their prison. Standing upright, they advanced forward to become who they wanted to be. 

Zyla screamed, and the reflection grabbed her, forcing her to walk to the mirror. "Why are you doing this?!" she yelled at them. Tilting their head, the reflection gave it some thought.

"To become you." was their reply.

As Zyla was pushed into the mirror, it felt like she was tumbling into pitch darkness, like Alice into the rabbit hole. When she could move again, Zyla looked out the mirror to herself. No, not herself..her reflection. She watched as they brushed their hair in the bathroom and smiled.

There was a knock on the apartment door, and her reflection practically skipped over to the door, opening it. Stepping aside, they let the person in. When the person came into view, Zyla's heart dropped.

Jareth Blackwood.

"Well, it seems you've gotten yourself in quite the predicament, Miss Zyla Howard." He grinned, his pearl-white teeth making an unnaturally wide smile. He had told her this place was haunted, but this thing that put her in the mirror wasn't a ghost.

Walking over to the mirror, he pulled it off the wall and looked at Zyla in the mirror. He asked, now frowning, "Only if you had listened to me." Jareth shook his head and tucked the mirror under his arm. 

The last thing Zyla saw was her reflection waving goodbye to her with wiggling fingers as it shut the door to what used to be her apartment. Jareth whistled as he opened the door to his apartment and walked into an extra room.

He placed Zyla on the wall in the middle with the rest of the mirrors in his collection, all with someone inside them. Jareth felt he had outdone himself this time as he walked over to a closet, taking out a mirror with a dark shadow flickering inside it.

A cacophony of voices echoed around Zyla. There was an urgency about it as she, too then, joined them, watching as Jareth Blackwood closed the door behind him.

Leaving her and the many others alone in complete darkness.