Mirror Mirror

Chapter 9

Jarrod’s arrival at his house the next day caught him by surprise.  It was funny, because Jarrod hardly ever left his keyboard, unless he was behind bars, which happened, sometimes in his line of work.

“Jarrod! What’s up?”  Stephen was hoping he had some good news for him, but he had no idea it was this- 

“I left a message on line for anything on mirrors and curses...came up with a load of garbage, and then these.”  He said handing Stephen a folder.

He reached out, slightly lost.  “News spreads fast around this town.”  Jarrod explained.

“Mickey,” he thought as he opened it.  There was a small stack of papers, all with the words mirror and curses underlined.  He skimmed through the first page.

Dated 1802, it read: The remains of the daughter of a well known artist, Vince Hawkins, were found today.   It appears that she died in her bedroom; in front of the very mirror her mother had used to commit suicide with . . . the terrible truth of the death came to light after local children visited the place at Halloween,  and notified the local authorities . . . myths surrounding the strange demise of the girl and her mother has been around for many years.

There were a few more inconsequential details, and then it stated that her remains had been cremated, and that the plans to bring down the structure had been halted.  They had decided to use it as a guesthouse instead. There was a small picture of the mansion at the bottom.  Although the picture was unclear, it still looked magnificent.

Another article read pretty much the same, except that the mirror had been removed from the premises, and then sold to a Marguirette Danhauser. They didn’t know how far was true, but the woman had apparently sold off most her belongings-and according to some-swapped her slaves for it.

Most of the papers contained bits and pieces of information about the whereabouts of the mirror.  It was supposedly passed down to Marguirette’s descendants, most of them dying mysteriously before twenty-three...all of them beautiful red - haired women.  Some claimed it was the curse, but no evidence was found to prove it.

The mirror had suddenly disappeared.  The last account of it was dated 1969.  There had been some kind of problem with a purchase by Lady Francine Phillipino.  She claimed that the mirror she bought was cursed and that it was trying to possess her.  She had tried to break it, but that didn’t work, so she had it hidden instead.  After that, not much else was heard about it.

Minnow- a small town, much like the one they lived in. It was situated in Hawke Island a couple of hours drive from Sunset Hill, where they lived.

Jarrod had been watching Stephen intently.  “I’ve read all of them.”  He said when Stephen looked up.

He still hadn’t said anything because he was too busy taking it all in.  There had been roumers about a curse.  It may be something, or not.  He had to find out more.

“Jarrod...how did you manage this?  I thought...”

“I picked it up from a chat line.  ‘Girls vs. Girls.” 

Stephen furrowed his brows in confusion.

“On the net...” He continued.  “I go there sometimes to catch up on the towns’ hot stuff.  You get some of the best, most fascinating stories there...and the latest gossip.”  He grinned when Stephen shook his head in surprise.

“Yeah...yeah...Don’t be fooled by my exterior, I’m girl crazy too.  I didn’t learn all this cool stuff for nothing, you know.”  He ran his fingers self - consciously through his hair, causing it to stick up in odd angles.  Just don’t mention it... bad for my rep.”  He whispered, looking like an imp.