Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror 8

Placing the frame on the hook with Marilyn's help, Stacy smiled as they stepped back to gaze at it. The frame had been shined up by Allendra when she had had a bad night during their midterms and was looking brand new. Stacy's sister had come through the painting for her, creating a family portrait with the woman who had attached herself to the mirror surrounded by her family.

In the painting Joline was smiling, surrounded by her mother and children, her father and husband nowhere to be seen. That had been a very deliberate decision on Stacy's part once Killy had found the journal that the woman had hidden amongst several of her books. She had apparently written two journals, one for her youngest daughter to explain some hard truths about the child's father and grandfather, and one for them. Both men had read her journals over her lifetime, but they had married into the family so it hadn't been a hard decision to remove them from the painting.

Stacy's mother, having heard about what the woman had written, had decided to strike the names of Joline's father and husband from the family history books. They were now known as Man A and Man B, the only two in the family history to have lost their names. Stacy worried that there would be more struck from their family tree, but she couldn't really do anything until she finished going through all of the journals and paperwork.

Brandy was turning out to be a great help: making notes and finding all sorts of information that Stacy alone couldn't discover. Miranda was helping where she could and so was Killy, both of them helping to set up accounts that was attached to her family's own. Which was turning out to be a godsend since so many of the files couldn't been seen in person any more since they were so fragile.

Luckily the online versions were free for a person if you were a worker or were vouched for by someone worked for them.

Smiling, Marilyn chuckled as she pulled out a windex wipe and wiped down the special protective glass. "I think that it looks perfect here. It's out of the way and next to her family's grandfather clock," she said. She stepped back once she was done.

Stacy hummed in agreement, the rest of the woman joining them in the living room, standing around the painting with smiles. "She looks happy now."

"Your sister told me that it didn't feel right to her to paint Joline with such a blank face. Something about it not coming out right," Allendra said. Her and Stacy's sister had started to get to know each other quite well over the last few weeks when the woman had come over. During that first meeting, they had been bonding over their art and their chosen careers into graphic design work.

Allendra had an interview at her dream job thanks to Stacy's sister, which had just made her that much happier at the fact that she had the job. She would be working as a paid intern during her last year of college, getting in her needed hours and making a bit of money while a secondary scholarship that came with the internship would pay for the bills that her job didn't cover.

Brandy was about done with her major degree and was already planning for the year of classes that she would be taking to finish off her minor while starting work for the local university as a research professor. Once she had also finished with her minor, she would be able to fully take over for a few of the retiring professors, which made her happy. She just had one last semester to deal with after the current one.

Miranda was the only one of them who had finished off all of her classes and was just finishing a few things to get her official degree. She said that it was all easy and just mostly paperwork. She had also started to date a nice man who treated her well and was happy about how that was going for her.

Kendra was about done with her first semester of law school and was planning on doing a round of self-study for the summer while she worked to save up the last bit of money she needed for the rest of her years. She was still dating the guy who she had been dating before they moved into the house. She had told them that things were a bit rocky since he was nearly forty hours away in the next city. He was going to college there but they were talking about him moving back to starting work once he finished his schooling.

Marilyn was the one that surprised them all, having found a sweet girl who had turned her head and was taking her time in getting to know her girlfriend. Said girlfriend had come over for a day with the roommates and had called the house 'peaceful and beautiful'. Everyone had agreed with her observation.

On top of having a new girlfriend, Marilyn had a job at a boutique and was named swing manager so that she could easily work the last of her classes around it. She would be spending the summer before her last year starting to learn all of the in's and out's that she had to know about being said manager of the place. She was very much loving the job and seeing all of the new designs that was making her want to put her future business degree to good use in running her own one day.

Stacy herself had graduated with high marks and a near perfect GPA outside of the one class where her teacher had hated her for whatever reason, but she wasn't worried about it. It had only been a minor class and one that wasn't truly needed for her chosen career. She had easily found a job and was working from home for the most part since her first big project with them was her own house as a way to build up a portfolio for her future clients.

She had nearly finished putting it all together for her boss. She just needed to finish getting the pictures of the living room done since they had finally found a furniture set that worked for them. All of the roommates had agreed that it was a gorgeous set and the house felt finished. At least for the moment.

"So, do you think that there's anything else that you have to worry about running around now?" Allendra asked as she draped herself over Miranda, getting an eyeroll from the other female.

"As far as we can tell? Nope," Stacy said, smiling slightly. She tucked her arms under her breasts and stared at the portrait some more. "Killy was nice enough to come in and dig through the rest of the house to make sure that nothing was left hidden. There isn't. There's lots of history to everything kept, but nothing attached as far as she can tell." She shifted and smiled over at Miranda. "She did say that you'd be able to do a yearly cleansing?" she asked Miranda.

Miranda smiled and nodded her head as she tucked her hands into her pockets. "It's not something hard. None of us is allergic to the sage and mixes that I use. I can also do it while you guys are gone so I can air things out. I'll have to do it at the same time that my aunt did it though, or at least around that time. So it'll probably be doing it while it's cold outside. And freeze the house to get rid of the scent of burnt sage and oils," she said.

Stacy smiled at her. "I'm sure that we can all stand going out for a few hours while you do that. Thank you, Miranda. Just tell us how much it'll cost to get the stuff and I'll either take it out of your part of the rent or we'll all pitch in," she said. Miranda smiled and nodded before she turned back to the painting.

"I think that Joline found her peace when Aunt Killy cleansed the mirror and her from it," she said.

Stacy turned back to the portrait and her smile grew. "Yeah, I think so too. I had a good dream about her last night. I'm sure that she's a lot happier now that her history has come to light," she said, rocking on her feet.

Kendra, who had been quiet up until that moment, suddenly smirked at them. "I say that we all go out, grab some good booze, take out, new movies from Wal-Mart, and do a movie night in celebration of getting rid of cheating bastards. I think we deserve to celebrate it yeah?" she asked. The women all shared looks before cheering and going to grab their purses and shoes.

Stacy smiled as she followed after her friends, glad that it seemed as if things had gotten better for all of them finally. She was pleased with how life was treating them, and she was happy with how she had such amazing friends in her life.

Last part. Make sure that you go and check out my next story when it comes out. More horror, less just straight paranormal.