Into The Mirror

Chapter 1: where it all began

"Come on Rosie, you're taking forever! If you don't hurry up you're going to have to do the forfeit and call Ryan and tell him you want to hook up with him!" Alexandria belted. She pushed me towards the bathroom door, where the other girls were stood, taunting me because I was not-so-secretly petrified of playing this game, but I kept my chin up and continued to joke around with the girls.

"If I have to hook up with weirdo Ryan I will literally never speak to any of you guys again." I laughed. They knew I was joking; we knew each other like the palms of our hands. 

"Just shut up, and play the game already, you little drama queen" Ruby rolled her eyes, laughed and pushed me inside the bathroom. 

"Can you guys at least make sure my parents aren't up because of the noise we've been making before we start taking turns with this lame game?" I asked them in order to buy myself more time, and they knew exactly what I was doing. 

"Your parents will be fine, I promise, now go in there and take your turn, just like the rest of us are going to, sweetie. The host always goes first, it's just a rule" Britney chimed

So I didn't really have much of a choice. You can't blame me, or the other girls for what happened next, even though it was so obviously our faults for being stupid enough to play the game.

There I was; alone. If I was dragged into hell, nobody would be able to rescue me. There was a single candlelight in the bathroom; one mirror was placed above the sink and I faced it, staring deeply into my own eyes, wondering if my image truly had the power to look back at me. I took a few seconds to brace myself for the girls potentially coming out to try to scare me, locked the door and prepared myself for what was yet to come. 

It was midnight, on Halloween: the only day of the year that this was known to properly work. There was a thunderstorm brewing outside, however, my parents slept peacefully in their bedroom, whilst my close friends waited attentively, on the other side of the door, for me to commence chanting her name. 

I hadn't a clue what to do next, as I had never tried to communicate with the dead in the past and quite frankly, the simple thought of it sent shivers down my entire body. I asked the girls, who stood patiently outside the bolted, bathroom door what my next move should be. They responded in great detail to make sure that I didn't mess it up, so I carried on with the dare as planned, mainly to prove to them that nothing would happen, although I'm not sure I ever truly believed that myself. There was always something telling me it was a bad idea, but I guess we don't always listen to our gut feelings, do we? We're too full of pride to call it quits.

"Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary." I paused, breathed deeply, then continued.   "I cross my heart that I killed your son." I whispered this in the faintest voice I could possibly do it in. The girls didn't believe that I had done it and made me do it yet another couple of times so that they could hear the chants escaping my lips. On the third try, I started to feel like I was being watched: it was red flag #4590. 

For a second, I started at my own reflection in the mirror. I washed my face too and tried to convince myself that I would be okay, especially considering the fact that nothing had happened during that brief moment that I stood by the sink. I fell into a somewhat comfortable state of mind. 

Suddenly, I heard 3 ear-bursting, extremely distinct screams coming from outside, in the upstairs corridor. The horror movie screams had all left my best friends' mouths and entered my eardrums, deafening and petrifying me. The candle blew out behind me, sending me into even deeper shock. I couldn't no longer move. 

I felt a nail dig into my shoulder; turned around and there I saw her...