Charlotte After Dark

Chapter 15: Mind Over Matter

I was standing before a mirror bigger than any I had seen before. It was made of dark wood and carved with intricate symbols I had never seen before inlayed with gems so bright I almost had to shield my eyes as they caught the light. I looked at myself, younger and smaller than I was now. The mirror was clearer than water and kept my gaze like I was in a trance. I lifted my finger to touch the glass, drawn to it like it was beckoning me. I could hear it whisper, Yes, Charlotte, as the outline of a grim face began to appear before me. The unnatural voice sent shivers down my spine, but I didn't recoil.

"Charlotte, no!" A voice boomed at me, grabbing me from behind with both arms, spinning me around and cradling me into his chest. As I looked back to the mirror, the outline had disappeared and it looked like any normal mirror I had seen before.

I looked up and there was my father. He looked down at me with his light brown eyes, lighter than I remembered, and the same sandy colored hair I had. I hadn't ever seen a photograph of my father, but in my heart I knew--it was him.

"Don't ever touch that mirror, Charlotte," he said to me. He tried to sound stern, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. "It's dangerous."

"It told me to--" I began.

"Don't ever touch it again," he repeated, carrying me out of the room and shutting the door behind him. He muttered a few unfamiliar words I couldn't make out as we continued down the hallway in an alien house. As I looked down the walls, there were oil paintings of people dressed as oddly as I had ever seen. They stared at me, some with steely gray eyes like my sister and others with golden brown eyes like my father's and I swore some of them even moved as we seemed to glide down the hall.

I dug my head into my father's chest, breathing in a scent I could only faintly remember. There was a loud clamor of people downstairs but they seemed so far away. The laughter from downstairs echoed throughout the house, but we seemed to be moving farther and farther away. Soon, the laughter became only an eerie echo, distorting the further we moved away.

Suddenly, we fell.

"Charlotte!" My father cried out as we fell into the blackness.

I was no longer small, but now back to my regular self.

"Dad!" I yelled, the blackness starting to envelop us both.

"Charlotte..." he said. He sounded so far away as I reached out my hand, desperate to catch his.

My voice was caught in my throat as I tried to cry out for him.

"Charlotte..." he sounded even farther away now. My hands clung to the thin air as I tried once more to reach his hand, but I failed.

"Please don't leave me!" I exclaimed, feeling the hot tears sting my face.

"Charlotte..." It was only a whisper now and could no longer even see his outline.

I was jolted awake, now sitting upright in the bedroom, alone. I caught myself staring the mirror, still covered by the sheet. It still made me feel like I was being watched, especially after my dream.

I brushed a few stray strands of hair from my face. Had I really just seen my father? My mother was intent on not keeping any pictures of him in the house and, when I was younger, I had combed my memory for a glimpse of him, something to keep him alive in my mind. I was never able to visualize him, and met with only cloudy outlines, but just now he had visualized right before me as I dreamed. I knew it was him. I hadn't created him in my mind--it was him.