Short Stories

A Reflections Purpose

I stared into the mirror, searching the depths of my sea green eyes. I knew there was something there. There had to be! I tentatively reached a finger towards the mirrors surface. I expected it to ripple and shake, as it had last time. It didn't. The reflection was staring at me hard. I gulped. You must let me in!

I won't.

I needed to get inside the mirror. I needed to see what is was like. I wanted to know what was so bad that my reflection wouldn't let me enter. I had been inside the mirror once before, when I was younger. Why wouldn't it let me come back now? Let me in!

No.

I don't understand. You let me in when I was younger, I pointed out.

That was a mistake. It wasn't supposed to happen. Now you won't stop trying to come back. There cannot be two in one world!

I huffed with impatience. "Mary!" My mother called from the bottom of the stairs.

"What?"

"Are you staring at that mirror again?" I heard exasperation in her voice.

"No," I said swiftly. Too swiftly, unfortunately. My mom walked into the attic.

"Mary, that's it. I'm getting rid of this mirror. I don't know why you are always looking at it and talking to it. It's worrying me." Concern filled my mother's gaze.

"Mom! It's nothing. Please don't take it!" I pleaded.

"Mary, you are talking to a mirror. You claimed to have lived inside a mirror when you went missing for 2 months! This isn't healthy. Your father and I have decided to get rid of this mirror." She turned to leave, then turned back to me. "And you have an appointment with a psychiatrist tomorrow."

I looked back at the mirror. Why won't you let me in? Everyone thinks I'm crazy. Please just let me in!

No! This infatuation isn't good. You weren't supposed to come in the first place!

I glared at the reflection. It glared back. Fine. I jumped to my feet and stalked off. Maybe I can come back tonight. Mom and dad will be sleeping and maybe that stupid reflection won't be there! I nodded to myself. The rest of the evening, I acted thoroughly subdued and finally told Mom that I wasn't feeling well. She immediately told me to go to sleep. I went upstairs and crawled into my bed, pretending to be asleep when Mom came to check on me.

The grandfather clock in the hallway struck midnight. I sat up and crept out of my room. I listened intently. There wasn't a sound coming from my parents bedroom, except for occasional snores. I ran out of my room and up the attic stairs. I softly closed the door behind me. I turned towards the mirror.

There was no reflection. Ha! I knew you wouldn't be here! I approached the mirror. It was strange not seeing my reflection. Just a mirror, empty of a human figure. I skimmed my fingers on the mirror's surface and felt a shiver run down my spine as the mirror rippled. Just like it did before. I pushed my arm into the mirror and crawled in. The mirror swallowed me up.

I landed on my hands and knees with a thud. I stood up and looked back at the mirror. There was no one in my attic. I stood up and ventured further into the mirror world. The paintings were alive! The painting of my great great grandmother glared at me harshly. "You shouldn't be here!" She hissed. I ignored her and kept walking.

The china dolls on top of the old wardrobe blinked their cold dead eyes. They tilted their heads. "Come play with us, Mary."

"No thanks," I said. The dolls started to crawl towards me.

"You've been away for ever so long!"

I sped up. Old stuffed animals crawled after me. "Come play, Mary! You've forgotten about us!"

The chess pieces were having a battle on the board. I didn't stop to see them. I kept walking away from the surge of toys following me. Books flapped around, using their pages as wings. I ducked as one narrowly missed my head. I finally reached the door leading out of the attic. I turned the knob...the door opened to nothing.

It was black. There was no escape. The toys, books, and chess pieces came running towards me. I screamed and kicked my feet, smashing the doll's porcelain faces. I savagely gripped the stuffed animals and tore at their stitches. The chess pieces scratched me with toothpicks and needles and all odds and ends. The dolls grabbed my ankles as I tried to run. I screamed and was pulled down. The toys climbed on top of me, pulling my hair and biting me.

"Get off!" I felt the weight of the toys lifted off of me. I cracked my eyes open and saw my reflection. She grabbed my shoulders and began pulling me towards the mirror. "You've confused them! Good job!" She growled. I was crying.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to see the inside!" I cried.

"There's a reason that you are in your world and I am in mine." The reflection pulled me up to the mirror. "This time you won't come back!" She pushed me into the mirror.

I fell back into my own attic. I scrambled towards the mirror as the reflection raised her fists. A surge of toys fell onto her, clawing, pulling, and biting. She screamed and threw her fists into the mirror, shattering it. The glass flew towards me. I shielded my face with my arms.

"Mary? What's going on up there?" My dad yelled. He burst into the attic, followed by Mom. Mom nearly screamed when she saw me, bruised, with bite marks and cuts all over from the toys and glass. Then she saw the broken mirror.

"What did you do, Mary?" She cried.

"I just wanted inside the mirror!" I mumbled.

Mom grabbed my shoulders and pulled me downstairs. She sat me down on a chair and began to wash out my cuts. "You bit yourself too? Mary, what's gotten into you?"

I didn't reply. Let them think what they want. I'm crazy. I began to laugh, giggling at first, then gradually growing into a fit of hysterics. I vaguely heard Mom call for Dad and heard the wail of sirens in the distance. Someone jabbed a needle into my arm.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a padded cell. I tried to move my arms. I looked down. A straight jacket? I looked up as someone walked into my room.

"Welcome to North Crest Asylum. I hope you enjoy your stay," a nurse with a much too large smile said. "Now, why don't you tell me about your....reflection problem?"

"She saved my life."