Burning Passions is a short story that was written for the Mirror, Mirror competition hosted by WattpadAfterDark. Enjoy!
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BURNING PASSIONS
Feeling like an idiot, Evan sat on the bed in the hotel room. His laptop was open to an internet website that professed to teach mirror scrying for beginners. Snorting at the ridiculousness of the situation and his insane reaction to being left literally standing at the altar, he took a swig of from the outrageously expensive wedding champagne bottle while staring at his computer. Through only slightly drunk eyes, he read about how he could "find his true love by making a connection with the spirit realm through staring into a mirror."
So, that was all Evan needed to forget his fiance of five years, huh? He just had to stare into some shiny glass for a while. Then, the ghosts would show him the woman he should really be with.
Bullshit.
But, what the hell did he have to lose?
Sighing, he stood, not bothering to tie the ridiculously opulent resort robe. He was making the most of this vacation in spite of the fact that he was newly single rather than a newlywed.
"This is so stupid," he mumbled to himself as he turned off his lights and stood in front of a darkened full-legnth mirror.
Following the directions on the website, he tried to clear his mind while he affixed his eyes on the polished glass. He willed his mind to focus on his desire to find her, the person he should spend the rest of his life with. After five minutes of silent staring, his eyes began to water, and he decided to give up.
Scrying was stupid. He didn't know why he'd tried it. The champagne had clouded his judgement. That's why.
Just as he was about to turn away from the mirror, though, he found himself smelling...smoke. Immediately, the scent set off alarm bells in his head. He was a firefighter, and smoke usually foretold of danger. He needed to call someone with a warning, locate the source. Where there was smoke, there was fire.
He needed to-
After a moment of panicked reflection, though, he realized the smoke was coming from the mirror. Not behind it or from the frame or anything normal. It was flowing out of the glass surface and dancing through the air. It almost seemed like it was reaching out to him.
Evan didn't recognize the smell of the smoke. Usually he could tell if it was chemical or plastic or wood. But this smoke smelled like sulphur and sex, sweet and spicy, like chai tea but far more hot and dangerous.
Then his reflection disappeared and he found himself looking into a dark room, as if the mirror had become a window. Evan wanted to consider what he was looking at a cave, though the stone looked purposefully carved into walls and floors. He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes as he tried to focus on what he was seeing seeing something shift in the darkness and Evan felt the oddest urge to get closer and see what it was.
