The House of Mirrors

I grasped my sister's hand as she pulled me to the House of Mirrors.

I have an opposed feeling towards mirrors, but I'm not really sure if it's trauma or a phobia, but I hated them.

When I was 6 years old, my brother, who was great at drawing, drew a big, scary, smiling clown with teeth bared, a circular, red nose, and blue hair on my bedroom mirror with colourful Sharpies.

I woke up, and per my routine, strolled casually to the mirror, wanting to look at my reflection first thing in the morning, when I discovered the horrendous drawing.

I jumped and yelled out of fear, and Mum and Dad ran upstairs to see what was the matter.

My Mum ran into my room and saw the drawing and immediately grasped what was going on. My brother was snickering behind Dad.

From that moment on, I hated two things: Clowns and mirrors.

For me those two things were the world's most terrifying things to see, for a core memory had planted that scary thing inside my mind, and I felt like I was destined to be forever scared of clowns and mirrors.

So when my younger sister pulled me to the House of Mirrors, where a big clown was sitting on top of the building, I refused, and pulled her back.

But then she whined, ''Can we please go in there? I love mirrors, I can see myself, who is very pretty, multiplied into tens!'' Ugh, that was so typical of her, she's so confident, which is a good thing, until she got too confident.

I reminded her, ''But, do you remember when once, we got lost in a House of Mirrors at the Farm Festival too? And you were so scared you cried out loud for mommy..'' I said those last few words in a mocking tone.

She glared at me, ''Don't you dare bring that memory back inside my head! But, please!!! Can we just go inside, for the last time I promise!'' She seemed intent on getting what she wanted.

I hesitated for a long time, when finally I thought, ''Maybe it's time to face my fears and look in a mirror again, after all, it's been a long time since I have seen myself in a mirror, I've only seen myself on my phone's camera, never in a mirror all these years..''

I nodded to my sister, giving her the go sign. 

She exulted by saying ''Yay!'' loudly and pulling me behind her as she ran to the long line at the House of Mirrors.

We got in line and since the line was still so long, I sent my sister away with some money to buy some caramel popcorn in the stands, and she got back 5 minutes later with some buttered popcorn. She always got my orders wrong.

I scrolled impatiently through Instagram, feeling thoroughly bored, and starting to think of just leaving and going inside the House of Mirrors another day, and when I suggested the idea to my sister, she blatantly disagreed, and all I could do was shake my head.

When it was finally our turn to enter, my heartbeat quickened and my pulse accelerated rapidly.

There were so many mirrors, in front of me, behind me, to the left of me, and to the right of me. I started trembling as we wound through the path and the lights got dimmer and dimmer.

Suddenly, I felt my head spinning around and I shut my eyes for a second, trying my best to ignore the creepy clown music playing in the background.

When I opened my eyes again, my sister was nowhere to be seen.

''Shoot,'' I thought, ''I've lost her, she's always wondering off all by herself..'' 

I tried to find my way through the dizzying path of mirrors when suddenly the lights went out and a group of teenagers behind me squealed, they probably thought this was part of the attraction.

I put my hands in front of me and kept walking, calling out my sister's name, ''Sophie, Sophie..'' I kept doing that for five minutes but what felt like an eternity.

Abruptly, I felt a hand on my shoulder and someone saying to me, ''Hello miss. Anything I can help you with?'' I opened my eyes, for I had been keeping them shut tight all this time and so I haven't realised the lights were back on and my hands were groping the air in front of me and I kept calling my sister's name multiple times and keeping my eyes tightly shut like a weirdo.

I swallowed a frog in my throat as I saw the handsome staff's face peer curiously at me.

But something wrong was happening.

The worker's prominent nose suddenly elongated and he looked like a real life pinocchio, and I was startled. His cheeks bulged as if someone had stuffed chocolate in his mouth. His eyes popped out at me and his sweet smile turned into a malicious grin.

His red cap suddenly turned into a clown's hat, red and blue with bells hanging off the edge.

His red shirt was turning blue, red and black and his feet were growing up. He was instantaneously three times taller than me and looking down at me as a horrifying monster clown.

I was shocked. What is happening?

I turned my head and ran through the maze, my head focused on one thing only: the exit. I crashed into mirrors as I ran, but I kept going and as I saw my reflection in the mirrors, they somehow turned to something else; the clown.

Everyone else had disappeared, the tourist couple, the teenager gang, and the young boys exploring. Where did they go? I ran straight though the maze and finally saw a dazzling light shining at me. There was a sign above the doorway, the one that I've been searching for, that said ''EXIT'' 

I ran straight out, but there seemed to be something terribly wrong, everything was dark, there were no food stalls, no people, nothing. It was all black. Suddenly a loud cackle rang beside me and an evil voice said, ''You are trapped. You can't run. Good luck trying to escape.'' And that voice cackled again.

I was terrified. I called out for my sister but she was nowhere to be seen. The cackle grew louder and louder until it sounded like it was right beside my ears. A figure slowly approached me out of the darkness. As it was starting to take shape, I realised what it was. A clown.

It was the same clown I had seen earlier and he stretched his hands out to me. He then grasped me by my shoulders and shook me hard.

My Mum yelled to Dad, something I couldn't quite hear, and she shook my shoulders hard, trying to wake me up.

The pillow and blankets were wet from my sweat, and my Mother's face was pale, she was scared something wrong had happened to me.

I gasped for air as my Mother pushed a glass of water toward me. I gulped hard and finished the whole glass. It was a dream. Just a dream.

It turns out I had been yelling for my sister's name and had awoken the whole house with my yells. I was tossing around wildly, as if possessed by some villainous ghost.

My Mum had woke me up, had rescued me from getting murdered by that blood-curdling clown.

It was just a dream.