Mirror

How much do you love your reflection?

Hazel had just finished her hot, steamy bath and was ready to do her daily tasks of the night. She twirled around in the bathroom, doing all sorts of poses and making all sorts of faces at the mirrors. She could do that any time of the day when she was at home. After all, her house was covered in mirrors.

Hazel lived alone in a rather normal house than the big mansions her parents and brother resided in. She took the chance to change the house to suit her own tastes when her parents asked her for her sixteenth birthday wish. Her obsession for mirrors was nearly incomparable to any other obsessions known, at least within the town she lives in. Nonetheless, her family still love her the way she is even though she is quite an oddball.

She played with the mirrors until she heard a Crash! Hazel immediately knew it was a broken mirror because she knew all about mirrors. She hastily put her robe on, tied it rather messily, and followed the continuing sounds of broken mirrors to the basement.

She descended carefully down the stairs which led to underground basement. She took each step slowly as she held tightly onto the bat her brother left from his earlier visit. It took her fifteen minutes to finally arrive to the basement and surprisingly, she saw nothing and nobody but broken glass.

She felt relieved as she let down the bat and walked forward towards the broken mirror. It was odd. There was no one in the house but herself and there was no access to and from the outside in the basement - there wasn't even a single window.

Hazel steadily picked up one of the mirror shards and held it up to see if there was anything wrong with it. Nothing but her reflection was all she could see. She picked up the rest of the broken shards and threw them away into the garbage can.

"I can't believe it. I just bought that wonderful mirror too. Who would be so cruel to do this?"

The currently broken mirror was recently bought. Hazel took huge notice of it when she passed by a small antique shop. She learned from the shop owner it once belonged to a beautiful princess who loved mirrors, similar to Hazel herself. She felt as if it was fate and took the opportunity to quickly purchase the grand mirror for herself.

The shop owner sold the invaluable mirror unexpectedly easily to Hazel and at an unreasonably low price as well. Hazel might not have bought it, though, if the shop owner had told how deeply and horrifyingly cursed that mirror was. He was selfish and wanted to save himself from a catastrophe that now awaited Hazel.

"Take it," he said, "I have no use for it anyways. Besides, I feel you are much like Princess Sophie. You must take it. I insist." He seemed persistent and so willing. Hazel had no choice but to accept such a beautiful mirror for a low price.

Hazel sat in front of the broken mirror, "What a shame, I bought it at such a great price too. Still, why is it that mirror is the only one broken?" She leaned closer to the mirror and touched it gently.

Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Hazel suddenly heard more broken mirrors from around the house. She immediately turned to her surroundings as an instant reaction. Bang! Bang! Crash! Crash! Crash! It sounded as if someone was running crazily and wildly around the house.

Hazel gripped the bat tightly as her heart seemed to fail her. Her pulse beat rapidly and she began to feel like she was on the drop tower or a roller coaster once again. Her body shook and so did her frightful voice.

She yelled so that her voice rang within her house. "Who are you? Why have you come? I ask you to leave immediately or at least tell me what you want!" The sound waves of her shaky, loud voice bounced against the mirrors and echoes returned to her immensely.

An unfamiliar whisper followed the echoes and travelled through Hazel's ears. She searched everywhere but there still wasn't anyone there. Instead, she met the broken mirror. Within the cursed mirror, clearly saw her reflection and the reflection of another - a young woman with long golden curls and a gown dyed in a deep scarlet red.

Hazel turned around and no one was there, but the extra reflection upon the mirror was still there. The young woman was close behind her. As Hazel watched their reflections, the young woman reached out to touch her.

Hazel felt coldness down her spine as she felt the cold and icy touch physically. Realization slowly hit her and she screamed. She thrashed around recklessly without aim and not knowing she was powerless against the young woman. She broke her mirrors no longer with a care in the world and screamed continuously from terror and horrid, but most of all, she screamed for her life.

Her strength exhausted from moving around so much and this time, she heard the words, which were no longer a whisper, much more clearly. Hazel was frightened and stood in place, paralyzed, with her body shaking tremendously and tears being forced out of her eyes.

"I want a body, a beautiful one. I want to once again live rich and large like you. I want to be once again surrounded by mirrors like you have. Most of all, I want you the painting-perfect body image of a loved and beautiful princess."

Hazel met the deep purple eyes of the ghost through the mirror. The young woman smiled at her as wickedly as the witch-like colour of her eyes. She then took her neck and began to strangle her.

The shock of the pain managed to allow Hazel to control her body once again. She grabbed and pulled the young woman's wrists as she watched their reflection but failed due to the young woman's powerful brute force. Hazel centred her strength to her left arm and used the bat, which she held onto so dearly, and smashed the antique mirror.

The young woman disappeared and Hazel fell on top of the mirror shards, giving blood to the glass. She fell asleep as peace befell her and dreamed a good dream.

She woke up feeling good as she rose from her bed with a refreshing smile. She looked at her surroundings with a bright expression on her face, "It's so beautiful here, with mirrors in every corners of the house. An eternal dream, that's what this is, but I know this is obviously reality. From now on, I'm Hazel Ainsworth."

She got off the bed and sat at her dresser drawer. She looked at her reflection and touched her face and began to brush her hair. "I feel as alive as I did 350 years ago."

 

 

Fin.

Reviews

[Vian]

I'm kind of scared now. The way you wrote it clearly implicated that Hazel had won, but she did not. It was very beautiful and well written. Thank you for writing.