Mirrors
A Short Horror Story
A woman named Emily Weathers was found dead in her apartment on July 10th by one of her neighbors. The neighbor said it smelled a mix of sulphur and ash, to which they called the management to investigate. Upon forced entry after repeated attempts to get into contact with Miss Weathers, management found her body on the floor, arms folded over her chest, with her eyes missing.
Reports also note a symbol of wings in what was confirmed to be her own blood was drawn around her, giving her the appearance of an angel.
This isn’t the first report like this in the Northsky area, as seven other identical incidents were reported around the town. Whoever is responsible for these murders is still at large, and the town of Northsky is expressing caution to all to be on the lookout for strange behavior.
“What is it with this town and murderers?” Sam questioned while preparing the potatoes for dinner.
“Maybe it’s time to move,” Claire responded, “I don’t like the idea of living here anymore.”
“Hey,” Sam said, moving over to Claire as she cut the chicken, “It’s going to be okay, alright? The police are on the case, we’ll come up with something soon.”
“How do you know that?” Claire asked, still worried.
Sam sighed, but smiled at her, “I’m not supposed to talk about ongoing investigations, you know that.”
“Come on,” Claire pushed, “At least give me something. Tell me you have some good news to calm my nerves.”
Hands on his hips, Sam looked down for a moment, then back up to Claire, “We have several leads, but this guy is slippery. Definitely the hardest case I’ve worked on in my career. But don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you, okay? You’re safe.”
“Not really feeling it.”
“Hey, come on,” Sam said as he walked back over to her and embraced her. She hugged back strongly, clear to Sam how worried she was. “You have the emergency button right?”
Claire nodded.
“Good, so if anything is wrong, you just press that button and I’ll come running, okay?”
“Okay.”
A cell phone went off, pulling the two apart for Sam to grab the phone. He answered, walking out of the kitchen for a moment to talk with whoever it was. After a few minutes, he strolled back in, looking concerned and disappointed.
“Sorry baby, but worked called, they think they got something on this case,” Sam told her.
Claire nodded, this wasn’t the first time he had to leave suddenly for work. Packing up his bag, Sam wished her a goodnight, promising to be home no later than midnight. Claire normally wouldn’t mind, if it wasn’t for the recent news keeping her on edge.
…
“I’m concerned,” Sam said to the other cops in the meeting room at the police station, “My house is in line with this guy’s likely attacks.”
“As you’ve made us aware several times now,” one cop muttered.
“I want a car outside my house,” Sam continued, ignoring the comment.
“You’re the boss,” said the same cop, standing up and heading out along with one other.
“The rest of you, get to work. We need to stop this guy. Pattern shows tonight is the night of his next attack.”
…
Finishing the dishes, Claire walked out of the kitchen towards the staircase. She strolled up to them, heading to the bedroom, going straight for the bathroom. It wasn’t that late yet, with still enough time to read a couple more chapters in her book.
Flicking on the lights, she looked herself in the mirror, pulling the bands out of her hair, and letting her ponytail break apart, allowing her hair to fall down to her shoulders. She closed her eyes and waved her hair around, letting it spread out and fall naturally.
She looked back up at her tired eyes, only to see another pair staring back at her, from behind. Whipping around, Claire felt her breath catch as she saw nothing but her shower curtains. She choked on the air for a moment, still in shock and confusion of what she just saw.
Hesitantly, she glanced back at the mirror, but there were no eyes staring back at her. Claire gazed at the mirror, mostly at herself, for what felt like several minutes, seeing if it would happen again. She blinked, turned away and looked back, and even left the room to try to replicate the eyes she saw. But nothing showed.
Rubbing her eyes and sighing, Claire continued to brush her teeth per usual nightly routine. Musing over what occurred, she figured she probably saw nothing but phantom imagery that eyes can play on the mind when tired.
Once finished, Claire turned the lights off, and went back into the bedroom, laying down on the bed while pulling out her book. As she opened it, she looked across the room at the stand-up mirror in the corner; it angled towards the bedroom door, eyeing it with paranoid suspicion. Though, nothing looked wrong.
She took to her book, flipping through pages rather quickly because of her speedy reading. The creaking of the door caught her attention, thinking it might be Sam already, though that would be strange for him to be home so soon.
She looked up, only seeing the door opened a crack, not moving any further. She felt the nerves from before rushing back, coming up with no good explanation for the sudden creak of the door. The windows were closed and the air conditioning off, just the way she liked it. So wind wouldn’t make sense to push on a door like that.
She looked around her room again, eyes darting to the stand-up mirror in the corner. Yellow eyes peered into the bedroom from the door, catching a glance of Claire. She screamed as she bolted from her bed, pressed up against the wall by the bathroom.
But the door remained merely cracked, moving no further than that. Claire stared at the door, flicking her eyes to the mirror only to see nothing but the hallway outside.
She wanted to believe it was all in her head, that maybe something was wrong with her, like she was sick or tired. But something told her otherwise.
Trying to get the courage to investigate the hallway, Claire moved over towards the door slowly, hand outreached to grab the knob. She quickly gripped and yanked the door open, peering out into the hallway to see nothing but the knick knacks she herself put up when first moving in years ago.
Feeling minor bits of relief, Claire turned back around to her room, her eyes locking onto the mirror revealing a figure standing next to her. Claire screamed as she jumped back out of her room, seeing the figure move towards her for a moment in the mirror.
She took off down the hallway, hand in her pocket and furiously pressing the emergency button Sam left her. Claire only hoped it worked as she has never used it before.
She dashed into the next room over, the main bathroom on the second floor. In there she scrambled through the various items on the table by the sink, finding a hand mirror. She clutched it tightly, moving it around as she stared intensely into it.
Back into the hallway, Claire aimed the mirror around, finding a body hanging from the ceiling down the hall staring at her. She ran the other way, mirror still aimed at the creature as it crawled along the ceiling towards her.
Screaming her way down the stairs, Claire felt a force thrust her the rest of the way down, smashing her head on the bottom, knocking her out cold.
…
“Come on Claire,” Sam said nervously, “Pick up.”
After the third attempt to call her, Sam dialed the police car stationed at their home.
“Yeah,” said one of the two cops in the car.
“Where are you?” Sam demanded, a little louder than he meant to.
“Outside your house, just like you said.”
“Claire isn’t responding, and she tripped her emergency button.”
“You guys have an emergency button?”
Ignoring the comment, Sam ordered, “Go check on her now!”
“Alright, alright.”
“Stay on the line,” Sam said.
He stood from his desk, throwing his coat on and heading out the door. Though he trusts his own force could handle the situation, it was more personal for him. Headed into the station’s garage, Sam heard a respond over the call.
“We knocked on the door,” said the cop, “No response, but all the lights went out suddenly.”
“Enter!” Sam shouted, recognizing the steps the other murder incidents took, “Get in there!”
Sam hung up, calling dispatch for another squad to be sent to his address. He peeled out of the garage, turning on the sirens, and gunning down the street. Sam sped through downtown as fast as he could, not slowing down unless taking turns.
In record time, Sam pulled up to his house along with the extra squad car. Everyone got out, moving their way up to the broken front door. The other cops must have already gone inside like he said.
Moving inside, the cops spread out as Sam moved upstairs. He inspected each room before noticing a trail of blood heading down the hallway, giving Sam an uncomfortable feeling in his gut. Following it, Sam saw it go under the bedroom door, currently closed.
He tried opening it, finding the knob itself to be boiling. Flinching back, he radioed for the others to come upstairs. Shooting the knob, Sam kicked the door open, aiming his gun inside, ready to catch the murderer.
What he saw was two dead cops on the ground, mutilated. Nearby lay Claire. hands over her chest, eyes closed.
“Claire!” shouted Sam as he ran towards her. But he stopped when he saw the cleaver by Claire. Sam looked back at the cops and towards Claire, not knowing how to comprehend what happened.
Instead, he aimed his gun at the bathroom, figuring the murderer tried to flee before doing the rest of his work. As he moved that way, his peripheral vision caught something in the mirror. A black figure crouched over Claire, burned hands on her face.
Sam spun back, seeing Claire’s face moving upward, only the left eye opening. He looked back at the mirror to see the figure, hand by Claire’s left eye, ready to take it, just like the others.
Sam took aim at the space the figure took up according to what he saw in the mirror, and fired. A high-pitched screeching noise reverberated around him, making him want to grab his ears in agony.
He looked back at the mirror, trying to figure out where that ‘thing’ went. He took aim again at a blank space as he fired more shots into the air, hitting his mark. The creature screamed again, roaring in anger.
The other cops showed up, ready to provide help, only for one of them to have a sudden gash in their neck, blood spurting out.
“Get down!” shouted Sam as he fired more shots where the mirror revealed the figure. More shrieking made Sam’s ears fill with pain, but he kept firing until a wave of force pushed him back.
All was quiet. He got up quickly to look at the mirror, moving towards it and aiming it around, though seeing nothing. Having no way to know for sure if the creature was gone, Sam ran to Claire, picking her up and rushing out of the house. The last remaining cop followed along, clearly terrified, though unsure what really happened.
“What do we do now?” said the man, “What was that thing?”
“I don’t know,” Sam said, “And I don’t care. I’m getting out of here, and I suggest you do the same.”
“You’re leaving?” the cop questioned.
Sam stopped and spun around, “Yes, and you would be smart to do the same. Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t human. And it doesn’t just haunt one house. It is something far worse, and I want nothing to do with it.”
The cop stood there dumbfounded, but nodded his head, going back to his cop car slowly.
Sam continued onto his own car, sitting Claire in the passenger seat. He got in himself, cruising out of town without a second thought. While driving, Claire finally stirred, sitting up in her seat.
“You okay, baby?” Sam said as he kept his eyes on the road.
“No one must know,” Claire said.
“What?”
“You cannot leave what already is set in motion,” Claire mumbled.
Sam looked at her, not seeing Claire staring back, but the yellow eyes instead. Claire grabbed ahold of Sam’s throat, screaming at him as he tried to swat her away.
As Sam battled Claire’s possessed body, he couldn’t evade the obstacles of driving any longer. With a last scream of his own to compete with Claire’s, Sam drove the car off the road, hitting into something he didn’t see, causing what little light was left in him to cease to exist.
…
In the crash’s distance, a little boy watched from his home, watching a broken woman stumble out of the wreckage, making her way back from where the car had come, dragging the lifeless body of a man with her.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this short story, consider checking out some of my other work. Also, connect with me on Twitter! I enjoy engaging with other writers.
