Today started out as every other day. I woke up went to the kitchen made a light breakfast. Eggs, toast, jam, and a cup of coffee. I don’t make it a habit of drinking coffee, but I knew there was no way I was making it out of the house without some caffeine.
Last night was horrid. For some reason I kept waking up at all hours of the night with a subtle feeling of someone watching me. Normally this would freak someone out but I didn’t think much of it. It was exam week after all. I always have jitters leading up to them.
After scarfing down my breakfast, I went to get ready for the day, put on an easily passable as clean pair of pants I found on my floor and a blue flannel… perfect and ready for the day…
As I went to get into my car, I caught a whiff of something foul… after sniffing around my car and probably looking like a maniac while doing it, I discovered that the smell was indeed my own breath… fantastic… I ran back inside and began scrubbing my teeth when I heard a bird outside of my window singing its morning song. I turned around watching the little blue jay hop along in the grass as it found a big worm… hmmm seems like the early bird really does get the worm…
As I turned around and bent my head down to spit, I saw something in my mirror. It wasn’t a ghost or anything paranormal standing behind me. It was just… my mirror had a slowness to it. It was subtle but I could have sworn I saw it. After shaking my head around a bunch and moving left and right, it became more apparent that my mirror indeed had a slight lag in it… is that even possible? There it was however… possible or not. When I would move my head, a decisecond later my mirror image’s head would move. It was definitely odd but it was probably either from the caffeine I had, the sleepless night, or both.
I looked down at my watch… I wasted at least five minutes playing in a mirror. I’m going to be late. I ran outside to my car to begin my morning commute to college.
The day went on slowly between classes and I can barely even remember what my professors taught. All I can remember clearly is trying to stay awake in class and skipping lunch to take a well deserved nap.
My drive home was no better. I had to pull over half way just to stretch my legs or else I was probably gonna fall asleep behind the wheel, and that wouldn’t be good for anybody.
When I finally got home, I plopped down on my bed and passed right out. By the time I awoke, it was dark out. Silently cursing myself, I turned over to see the clock. It read 9:45pm… my five minute nap turned into a five hour one. My bladder was also killing me and was probably going to burst if I didn’t relieve myself. After using the royal throne, I began to wash my hands completely forgetting about the mirror acting weird until I began to walk out the door… my mirror image… it… it… didn’t… It was noticeable this time and was definitely not my mind playing tricks on me. Earlier, it was barely a fraction of a second, but now at least for second or two my mirror refused to obey my body’s movement. I shifted my eyes from side to side and my mirror image wouldn’t obey until a few seconds later but then… it stopped. The mirror image just stared at me no matter what movement I made it… I… I mean it… just stared at me… disregarding every rule in the book of reflections that I thought were there. Horrified I just stood staring at myself or what I thought was myself for the longest time. Even then as I stood, my reflection stared back at me unblinking.
My reflection started to move its lips… slowly… they curled up into a smile. It was an impossibly large smile that should have terrified me. I don’t know if I was in a trance or maybe in shock but something told me, I would be okay, and that this would all be okay I was so suddenly… calm…. And I began to smile as well… It just felt right as I gawked at my mirror. It felt like home. I felt like everything that was happening was meant to be and that this was going perfectly as planned.
My reflection reached his hand out to me and planted it on the other side of the glass. Without thinking but with perfect control, I reached out my hand and placed it over his on the other side of the mirror. After that was a blur I was staring… into my bathroom and in my bathroom was my reflection smiling. However this time I wasn’t smiling… this was wrong. I watched in despair as my mirror self raised a fist and punched my mirror, it cracked and splintered. I knew what he attended to do as little shards of glass glistened down.
I desperately tried to claw my way back to my reality as my mirror-self reared back his fist once more and hit the glass hard with purpose. My view to my bathroom vanished. I was left in a dark room of empty space. I didn’t know what else. I didn’t know how vast this room was. So I did the only thing I could think to do… I ran. I kept running in one direction in hopes that somehow some way I could get free. I ran for miles, weeks, years. I never got tired, I never got hungry, and I didn’t stop running, trying to find a way out.
I’ve seen things in here. Creatures with no description just floating about. I’ve seen wanders like me as well just walking aimlessly. We never talked, never said a word other than glancing up at one another. For a brief second, each of us holding the same face of agony and then looking straight once again. One time I thought I recognized an old friend of mine, a childhood friend we used to hang out every week but then one day he just stopped coming around. We stopped and stared at each other and I almost felt a little bit of joy – which is odd because the entire time I’ve been here I have felt nothing, but then we turned and continued out separate paths. It was like that for a while, walking in a void, glancing at the wanders like me, as well as the other creatures that dwelled in this place.
I can’t describe them. They are slick and oily. Each one is different in one way or another. Some have tentacle like appendages and float above us while some are bulky and have giant claws. Maybe I could describe them better if I examined them more. But they were terrifying and dangerous. The one thing they had in common was they were larger than us. The smallest one I’ve seen was twice the size of a human. Some humans trapped here wandering like me thought it was smart to stare at one of the void creatures. It never ended well. I’ve seen more than a dozen get ripped to shreds, pulled apart, and sometimes toyed with until they had nothing else to give. The worst part was hearing their screams.
I got pretty used to looking away from things in this place and never focused on anything that wasn’t right ahead of me for more than a few seconds. But there was rarely any sound here, besides the shuffling of feet. Even that was so dull you couldn’t hear it without focusing. So when you heard a human screaming and pleading, it was hard – if not impossible, to drone out the noise. Honestly, I think the humans that looked into the eyes of these things just gave up on finding an exit and knew that looking at one of the creatures would put an end to their suffering.
I didn’t give up. I kept waking and walking even if I never found an exit. I wouldn’t give that thing that swapped places with me the satisfaction. I kept walking until in the distance I saw another mirror floating still and silent in time and space. As I approached it, my whole appearance changed. It was a painful experience. My bones snapped and bent and my skin stretched and catorted but I didn’t care… I… was… going… to… get… out… I was now an eleven year old as I approached the mirror and saw the girl I turned into.
I am that girl. As soon as I took her spot, I ran out the front door and never looked back. I know it was wrong but I knew there was only one way to get out of that place… I wrecked an entire family. The mother of that girl is distraught because she thinks her precious daughter has gotten kidnapped but I know that what is in store for her is much worse than any kidnapper. I am writing this to warn you. Never to stare into your mirror for too long, and if you notice that your mirror has a small delay, no matter how slight, never look in another mirror again, trust me. It is not worth it. Also if you are hearing this and you are the mother of… well me now… I’m sorry.