Mirror Mirror in the Hall

It should have been like any other ordinary day, but it was the day her life was about to change forever. Denise was like any other regular high school student. Nothing extraordinary has ever happened to her until May 20th, 2015. A couple weeks away from her high school graduation, from her last band concert, her last yearbook signing, and only a day away from her last day on Earth.

Denise was walking the halls of her school, making her way to the band room for one of her last practices of the year. As she entered the band hall, she noticed a note sticking out of her trumpet locker. She glanced around the room to notice the drummers in the corner sticking one of the smaller students in a tuba case. She noticed on the other side of the band room, the director was asleep in his office. Nothing out of the ordinary. Her fellow trumpet players and the trombone players were building a fort in the middle of the band room with chairs and instrument cases. She pondered for a minute about who the note could have been from. She opened it cautiously, because she has been the target for pranks in the past. When the paper was unfolded she read the words "choir room 2:30pm. Be there or be sorry." Denise gazed at the clock above the door frame of the band director's office, which read 2:28 pm. Denise was not fearful from what she just read, in fact, she completely shrugged it off. The crumpled ball of paper bounced off the trash can and on to the floor next to the lockers. She grabbed her trumpet, and her sheet music, and headed to one of the practice rooms.

Several hours later, Denise headed home. After a long day at school, and practice, she wanted to take a warm bubble bath to ease her mind before the Spring Concert on the 20th. It was approaching fast, only two days away. When she got home, she headed straight for the bathroom. As she started ripping off her clothes, she ran the bath water. She decided to bathe in candle light. The lights were turned off, and her music was turned on. She sank under the water and tried to relax. Denise felt uneasy. She felt as if someone were lurking. She knew she was home alone, but she did not feel as if she was alone. Her bath was ended abruptly. She drained the water and dried off. When she got out of the bath tub and caught sight of the mirror after she turned the lights on, she felt as if her heart had stopped. She tip toed over to her steamy bathroom mirror and examined it. She froze. She was standing in front of the mirror, but her reflection was not there. She sprinted out of the bathroom and into her room, where she spent the rest of the night. Denise ended up falling asleep, still startled.

One more day until the Spring Concert. Denise sauntered to the band room for one final practice before the big night. Still shaken up about the mirror incident, she tried to convince herself she was having a nightmare. She gulped as she approached her locker to find that crumpled note she threw back in her locker, but this time there was more writing. She trembled as she read the note again, "Last chance. Meet in the hallway in front of the theater dressing rooms. 2:30 pm. Alone." Denise swore her heart was an anchor the way it dropped. She hesitated, but she went this time. She was too nervous to go by herself so she grabbed her best friend, Ava, who was not in band. Ava tried to convince Denise she was overreacting and someone was playing a prank. They got to the hallway and the both froze, as if they had just seen a ghost. Ava was paralyzed. Denise gazed around at the mirrors in the hallway. It looked as if someone had wrote on them with lipstick. The mirrors had oversized letters written on them and it spelled out, "I told you to come alone. Now you will pay. Say goodbye, FOREVER." Even underneath all the words, there was one thing Denise noticed. The one thing that truly scared her: there was no reflection in the mirrors. Denise was choked up, she sprinted out of the hallway and sped home, leaving her best friend behind. She was unsure if she should tell someone or call the cops.

May 20th, 2015, 4:30 pm. Two hours before the concert. Denise was getting ready with the other band members in the same hallway the traumatized her the night before. Denise had a gut wrenching feeling, she knew something was wrong. She just did not know what. She looked around and saw everyone's reflection in the mirror wall. She even saw her own, and she was frightened. She was sure she did not see her reflection, or her best friend's reflection the day before, so why was her reflection there now?

The band director came out and called everyone to the band room. Denise stayed back for a minute to see if things would change. Once the hallway was empty, the lights began to flicker. Denise frantically spun around to face the mirrors. This time she saw her reflection, but it was distorted. She could not understand why, she felt like she was in a funhouse, except she was not having fun. Again, she did not feel like she was alone either. She advanced toward the mirrors. The reflections were shaking as if someone were wiggling the whole wall. The lights were flickering faster. She heard a distorted voice say, "I told you that you would be sorry. And now you're going to pay!" The lights flickered faster and Denise crouched down on the floor with her back against the mirror, and her hands clasped over her ears. She was crying with her head between her knees. She heard footsteps approach, and all of a sudden the lights stopped flickering. She examined the hallway and stood up. She turned to face the mirror to see how her make up was running down her face, but instead she saw a dark, shadowy figure standing behind her. She froze, she could not even breathe. The figure was tall and slim. She could not make out the face or any features other than its claws. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, and tightly squeezed her eyes after the figure started approaching slowly. The shadow let out a blood curdling scream, the lights started flickering again, and the mirrors were shaking. Denise felt cold hands grab her and the next thing she knew, she was falling. It felt as if the figure had pushed her off of a cliff and her band hallway was at the top of the cliff. That is when she realized she was inside the mirror, falling.

The lights came back on, the mirror stopped moving. The entire band and the director scurried into the hallway after hearing that screech that was let out by the figure. The band director was flabbergasted at what he saw. All of the mirrors on the wall were broken. Cracked, shattered, completely destroyed. There was no sign of Denise, the only thing left behind was her cellphone and her make up bag.

Five years later, the search for Denise has stopped. Her body is nowhere to be found. Her family and friends are devastated. When someone disappears off the face of the Earth for five years, it can not be a good thing. Everyone in her life has proceeded on, still trying to figure out what happened to their beloved Denise. While Denise is in a completely different world, alive and well. The only downfall of Denise's actual fall is: she has no memory of who she is or where she came from. She has no idea she's even missing from Earth, but even worse, she still has no idea where she is.