Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Katie walked slowly through the antique store. She was looking for a vintage mirror, a sigh of frustration escaped her lips, this was the fourth antique store she had been to. Each mirror she looked at seemed to be 20 years old. Katie wanted something unique yet elegant and somewhere between 80 and 100 years old.

A flash of silver caught her eye, taking a step closer to the gleaming silver; her fingers gently brushed some of the dust off before she used both hands to carefully pull it out of the stack of mirrors. 'This is exactly what I've been looking for!' Katie thought grinning widely

After purchasing the mirror, she layed it carefully in the back of her SUV; the mirror was in need of polishing. Despite the dust and grime, the wall mirror was the most beautiful she'd ever seen; the frame was at least 6 inches wide with delicate flowers, leaves and birds carved in. There were a few spots of mirror rot that needed to be taken care of but that was no problem; Katie loved restoring antiques.

As soon as she got home, Katie got to work on restoring the mirror; she could tell there was something really special about the mirror. She worked carefully to remove all the rot from the mirror before beginning the painstaking process of polishing the silver. Within a couple of hours, the mirror was ready to be hung. She stood there looking the cleaned mirror, mesmerized by its beauty it was only when her cell phone began to buzz that Katie was jolted from her trance.

“Hello?” asked Katie

“Katie, did you forget date night?”

Katie looked at her kitchen clock, her eyes closed as sighed, “Chris, I am so sorry! I lost track of time...can you forgive me?”

“You know I forgive you,” chuckled Chris, “what were you doing?”

Katie's eyes wondered back to the mirror, “I found the perfect mirror for my bedroom...it's silver, vintage and so beautiful. In fact, I could use some help putting it up.”

“I'll be over in twenty minutes...maybe we could watch a movie or something?”

Katie couldn't stop looking at the mirror, so lost in thought, she forgot to reply.

“Katie...are you still there?”

She jumped, giving a slight shake of her head, “Sorry...yes that sounds great!”

After hanging up, Katie carried the mirror upstairs to her bedroom; she gazed at her reflection in the glass. “Interesting...” murmured Katie her eyes widening. Her reflection was her own but her features seemed more prominent: her eyes were greener, her skin smoother, even her hair seemed fuller and a more luscious chestnut brown. Out of curiosity, Katie looked at her reflection in her old bedroom mirror; her reflection didn't appear to be anything extraordinary. She returned her attention to her new mirror, her fingers lingered on the cool glass. Katie's attention was once again so absorbed by the mirror that she didn't hear Chris call her name or his footsteps pounding up the stairs.

A squeal of surprise escaped her lips as she felt a hand rest on her shoulder; her eyes widened when she realized the hand belonged to her boyfriend.

“I thought you heard me,” smiled Chris his tone light, “I'm sorry for scaring you sweetheart.”

Katie wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder, “It's okay, I was distracted...I lost track of time again.”

Chris tightened his arms around and asked, “Are you feeling okay today? I can make some soup for you if you'd like...”

“I think what I'd like most is to hang this mirror, then go downstairs and watch a movie with a large bowl of popcorn.”

He kissed the top of her head and took her old mirror down replacing it with the new one. Katie felt his hand take hers, she walked with him downstairs and though she smile at something that Chris said, her mind stayed on the details of the mirror...especially the way it showed her reflection.

Later that night as Katie laid in her bed forcing her eyes to stay closed; however, the task of falling asleep was proving difficult. The mirror had only been in her possession for about several hours yet she couldn't help but feel obsessed with the object. In fact, Katie could almost swear to hearing her name being whispered as she tried to fall asleep. Chris had left an hour earlier, so she knew no one else was in the house; yet there it was: a delicate sweet whisper. It beckoned her to look at her reflection in the silver mirror.

Katie kept her eyes closed as she slowly sat up in her bed, adjusting the pillows behind her back; she felt strange...it was like she was no longer in charge of her body. The mirror continue to entice her to look, to take one small peak at her reflection. Katie felt her eyelids flutter open, she looked at her bedspread yet before she knew it, her gaze rested on her reflection. Her reflection seemed almost surreal, it looked like her but somehow the woman in the mirror was stronger, and it was clear that the woman was more powerful than Katie. The woman in the mirror smirked cruelly at her knowing that Katie couldn't tear her gaze away from the glass in front of her. She sat completely still through the night, staring at the reflection in the silver mirror. Even though Katie's body seemed to begging for sleep, the mirror kept it's tight grip on Katie's body, forcing her to stay awake so it could continue to gather it's strength from Katie's soul.

Dawn's early rays began to trickle into her bedroom, chasing away the cold dark shadows and yet Katie continued to sit and stare at her reflection. Katie had never felt more exhausted, in fact she felt sick to her stomach. Suddenly Katie's alarm went off, the power the mirror held over her suddenly broke!

Katie tore her gaze away and with stiff, tired muscles, slowly made her way to the bathroom. She used the wall for support, her hand flicked on the bathroom light; when she saw her reflection in the bathroom mirror, tears began to stream down sallow, thin cheeks. What she saw horrified her: her hair seemed dull, the brightness in her eyes had disappeared, her skin was dull and pale. Katie could swear she looked like she had lost a considerable amount of weight. 'How can this be?' she thought as she wrapped her arms around herself, 'The mirror's reflection of me...it can't be! Mirrors don't have power, mirrors aren't evil...and yet...'

Katie went back to her bedroom and stood in the doorway; she didn't want to risk standing in front of the silver mirror. Carefully, she took it down off the wall and carried it back downstairs; she carried it outside and left it briefly on the back porch. She came back with a hammer, kneeling down Katie flipped the mirror over and raised the hammer high above her head. As she gazed at the glass, Katie began to feel strange again, like she was losing control of her mind and body...without hesitation and with as much strength as possible, Katie slammed the hammer into the glass.

A sense of satisfaction filled her as she observed the damage. This feeling of satisfaction didn't last long, in horror she watched the glass repair itself! Soon it was like nothing had happened, the cracks had completely disappeared. Katie turned the mirror over, icy desperation filled her veins; she had to do something to get rid of this mirror before it destroyed her or anyone else. Thinking quickly, Katie grabbed paper bags and duct tape and began to completely cover the mirror; once she finished, she threw it in the trunk of her car and began to drive.

She didn't want to risk someone else finding it and being a victim of its strange power. Katie continued to drive until she found herself driving across a bridge; 'I'll have it sink to the bottom of the river...it's not likely someone will find it there.' she thought

Katie pulled over and after some searching, she found some heavy rocks and used the duct tape she kept in her car for emergencies. She was about to carry it up to the bridge when she thought of leaving a note with it. Finding a scrap of paper and an old Ziploc bag, she wrote a note of warning: Do not open! This mirror is evil and it will kill you!

Taping the note to the mirror, Katie struggled to carry it to the bridge; once she stood in the middle and had the mirror balancing on the rail, she looked down at the still, sparkling water. Without a second thought, Katie pushed the mirror over the rail and watched as it crashed into the water. It didn't take long for the mirror to sink and the moment it was out of sight, a breath of relief escaped her lips. Katie felt her strength coming back, she felt free.

With an extra bounce in her step, Katie walked back to her car with a wide grin on her face; with the mirror at the bottom of the river, she felt more like herself. Without a care, she turned the volume up as she drove back to her home.

The mirror sunk until it reached the soft sand at the bottom of the river, it would wait patiently until some poor soul would discover it, thinking they had found a treasure. Katie was stronger than it realized, a mistake it would not make again.