THE MIRROR

As long as can I remember, I’ve had that mirror in my room. It was long and spanned over almost half the wall. Just a plain, simple mirror. My parents had told me it was there since we had moved in and thought it was certainly fitting for a girl like myself and thus, never thought to take it down.

I never thought much of it either. I would fix my hair, do my make up in front of it every morning and race out the door, never to give it a second thought. That is until I decided that I needed to have a change of pace, by renovating my room a little.

I asked my parents to have the mirror moved. Agreeing, we had some men come around and pry the old mirror off the wall without chipping or damaging it and had it propped on the wall of my walk-in wardrobe, in which it just barely fit.

Satisfied after the change I went about covering the wall with posters and postcards. Now that the faint outline of where the mirror had once resided was hidden. The mirror was never thought of again.

Till one night.

It was probably about a week after I had moved the mirror. My parents were away on a business trip and me and my two younger siblings had the house to ourselves. The day had gone well enough and I had put the two to sleep.

I lay in my bed,fast asleep. I wasn’t the type to be woken easily however a feeling of unease washed over me as I slept. I found myself waking up in the middle of the night bathed in cold sweat. Breathing raspy breaths into the emptiness of my bedroom. The source of such a state was unknown. I didn’t feel as if I had had a nightmare, nor was I feeling sick. But the pit of my stomach churned, as if warning me of something.

I pushed the feeling aside, hoping it would go away. It was about one o’clock in the morning and all as deathly quiet. I could hear my own breathing which I tried to steady, attempting fall back into my usual slumber. However in the darkness I heard an ever so quiet tap. A tap, like something knocking on glass.

Tap-tap.

I looked at the window, nothing was stirring the bushes outside my bedroom that could cause such a sound. So I turned back to face the wall.

Perhaps it was just my imagination, or maybe even mice, since the silence was so deafening that I could hear a pin drop.

Then I heard the sound again.

Tap tap. Tap tap.

Four taps, loud and clear, cut through the silence.

I paused, holding my breath, trying to listen for the source of the sound.

Nothing.

I held my breath for what felt like eternity,yet the tapping had ceased.

Exhausted, I convinced myself that it was lack of sleep that was causing me to over think things and so I shut my eyes, and tried to sleep once again.

Tap tap. Tap tap. Tap tap.

My eyes flew open as the tapping bored through the silence once again. I lay still, hoping it would cease as before.

However the rhythmic tapping continued gaining speed, faster and faster, faster and faster until it was was irritating as it was frightening.

Now I was wide awake and knowing my siblings it was probably them playing some sick joke on me. Fed up I bolted upright, turned on the nightlight and shouted in to the space that was my room.

“QUIT IT!!”

The tapping stopped and just as I was about to turn off my nightlight it resumed again, the tapping escalating to a banging sound.

I got up, profusely annoyed and irritated and searched for the source of the sound.

It came from my wardrobe.

I never doubted once that my siblings wouldn’t hide in there, waiting for me to freak out. Stomping up to the wardrobe I flung the door open in a rage.

There was no sign of my siblings.

No one.

The pounding had stopped.

However there was a red hand print, dribbling down the face of the mirror. Fresh, as if only made seconds ago.

I walked up to the mirror, reaching out to touch the stain. Only to be greeted by a loud bang.

My heart skipped a beat at the sight.

A creature, what I could make out from the dim illumination of my night light, with a decaying hand and gnarled fingers resumed its banging against the glass in a attempt to break the barrier separating it and myself. 

It’s somewhat human resemblance made it all the more terrifying.

It’s jaw was unhinged and it’s head snapped back in some grotesque angle. It’s eye sockets dribbling with blood as if tears. Thin straggly bits of hair wound out of it’s rotting flesh of a skull.

It stared at me, sending chills down my spine, continuing to beat at the glass with more strength on each impact.

My eyes were transfixed, I couldn’t move. It’s rasping breaths and gaping sockets locked in on me. So hungry. So desperate.

The banging was so intense that the mirror began to shake and suddenly dipped forwards.

A loud crash as the mirror shattered into a million pieces on the hard wooden floor. The spell of fear was broken and I regained control of my body.

All I can say that the sound that came after I cannot describe. A scream,a cry, a wail, that made my heart leap out of my mouth as I threw the bedroom door open and sprinted up the corridor, hurling myself into the bathroom and locking the door.

I shivered in the dark waiting for the sound of a body, sliding against broken glass. Waiting for it to come get me. Waiting for the long nails to scrape against the door.

Holding back sobs I curled up into a ball against the wall, praying.

It had probably been about an hour, which to me, seemed like days. All I could hear was silence. Finally I felt my heartbeat returning to normal and my breaths pacing out slowly.

I waited till I felt confident enough to stand and tiptoed past the bath and the sink mirror and the toilet over to the door.

Slowly,I twisted the knob.

But it didn’t open.

I felt a certain dread fill me as I suddenly remembered that the bathroom door lock was broken.

Retreating, I reasoned that it wasn’t as bad as being with the smashed mirror or that creature that resided in it.

Relived I lay my back down on the cool tiles, getting comfortable for the rest of the night. Until I heard a sound. Not even a meter away from me.