The House That Never Was

IV: Mirror, Mirror

When they reached the end of the hall, John and Joanne turned right. They were now in a very long, narrow hallway. The lighting was just like the previous hallway. It was dim and kept flickering. There were mirrors of different shapes and sizes hanging up all along the hallway on both sides. They all had strange markings like the furniture in their bedroom. The reflections in some of the mirrors were distorted. It was like looking through rippling water.

"Babe, come look at this one." John called over to Joanne.

Looking into the mirror, Joanne snickered. "We make such a cute couple."

The mirror distorted their heads and elongated them. Their heads and faces were stretched to unbelievable lengths. They were long and thin, like characters in a cartoon.

Why would anyone want mirrors like this in their home?" John asked.

Joanne ran her fingers through her hair. "I don't know. It is pretty weird."

Joanne walked across the hall to another mirror. She was looking into it when the lights flickered off. When they came back on she let out a scream at what she saw. The lights flickered off again. This time when they came back on her reflection was what she saw in the mirror. John ran over to her and placed his hand in the small of her back.

"What was it?" He asked, a look of concern on his face.

Her voice and body trembling, Joanne responded. " I saw a woman's face." She began to cry. "It was decayed and gross. I think she was dead."

"Are you sure that's what you saw?" John asked, a puzzled look on his face. "Maybe your mind was playing tricks on you."

"Dammit, John!" Joanne exclaimed, a sense of anger and frustration building inside her. "I know what I saw! I didn't imagine it."

"Okay, babe! Okay." John said as he threw his hands up in surrender. "I believe you saw something."

John decided to examine the mirror more closely. As his hand got closer to the mirror, the hair on his arm stood up. "I can feel some kind of static charge or something." He felt a good zap as he touched the frame. "Ouch! What the Hell?" He yanked his hand back quickly. Shaking it to try to get rid of the buzzing feeling in his arm. "That was weird."

"Yeah, no kidding." Joanne said with a shaky voice.

As John turned to face Joanne, an arm reached out of the mirror and wrapped around his throat. It tried to pull him into the mirror. Struggling against it, John's face was turning red. In a panic, Joanne grabbed a vase and smashed it into the arm around john's neck, shattering the vase on contact. The arm let go and retracted into the mirror as John dropped to his knees.

"Are you okay?" Joanne asked in a panic.

After catching his breath, John replied, slightly coughing. "Yeah, I think so."

Standing up, John looked at the mirror. He puts his hand on it and felt the glass. "What the fuck? That's impossible!"

"Well, it happened." Joanne told him.

Deciding not to stick around and wait for it to happen again, they moved on to a closed door down the hall. Gripping the knob and slowly turning it, John gently opened the door. A horrid smell that made them both gag came from the room. John felt the wall inside the room and found a light switch. Turning on the light, they could see rotten garbage all over the room. Flies were flying all around. Maggots were crawling all over the room. John jumped back and closed the door.

"That was disgusting!" John shouted out, trying not to puke.

Joanne, retching from the smell and sight of the room, "Oh my God. What is wrong with these people?!"

"Some serious Texas Chainsaw shit, I'd say." John replied. "We need to find Lisa and get everyone together. Then we need to get the Hell out of here."

Continuing down the hall, John and Joanne came to an open room. It was dark in there. The only light came from the hall. There was a woman in a torn gown with what looked like mud stains on it. Her hair was ratty and thinning. Her skin looked to be a very pale color.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall." The woman said. "Who will be the next to fall?"

"Hello?" Joanne called out to the woman.

"They took me. They'll soon take you too." The woman replied.

"Who took you?" Joanne asked.

"They did." The woman replied as she turned around to reveal her face. Her skin was dry and cracked. Her flesh was rotting off. "They will take you too."

At that moment, they realized it was Lisa. Joanne covered her mouth as she began to sob. Then, the lights flickered off and back on. Lisa was gone.