Mirrored Secrets

Nikita gripped the steering wheel tight, her eyes closed as she inhaled, held her breath and exhaled deeply. She could not believe what had just happened inside that house. Panic-stricken, with a fire drill ringing loudly in her head, she had hightailed it out of there just as soon as she could, escaping that mirror to the past, and the memory of what would now haunt her forever…

…Time stood still for what seemed like an eternity. Nikita was rendered speechless by the frightening image that had been illuminated before their eyes just moments before. Her face purple and bloated, and her body limp and lifeless, hanging from the rafters in an awful and tragic reminder of the history that surrounded not only this house, but the untouched and unbroken mirror. So what was it saying? Was this a twisted premonition of her destiny? Would she too succumb to the fate of her great-grandmother before her?

Nikita shook her head in fervent denial. The idea was ridiculous. She knew that there were endless tales surrounding her family which went back generations. Most of them merely legends passed around in the evenings. This was no different.

BANG!

The girls jumped, turning to find the attic door had slammed shut. Nikita grabbed the handle and rattled it violently but to no avail. They were trapped. Just what WAS going on here? Was it more than simply a legend told over time? Was there something there? She shook her head. She didn’t believe in ghosts and she wasn’t about to start now. But…something strange sure was happening here which defied explanation.

Glancing around them the attic had that empty untouched feel about it. Cobwebs hung loosely from the rafters and the old wrought iron candelabras that once used to grace the rooms of this now empty house, though the spiders had long since moved on. There appeared to be nothing there but faded memories and haunted secrets of another generation. But still Nikita felt a nagging feeling of something more.

Looking down at Beth huddled on the floor, Nikita saw that her friend had fallen asleep. So grabbing the opportunity she made her way back towards the lone mirror in the centre of the room. Its mystery haunted her, and once again she found herself in front of the 100 year old heirloom that had belonged to her great-grandmother. She studied it carefully, taking in its every curve and detail. It was just a mirror. What was so special about it?

Suddenly she felt an unseen force as a light shone from beyond her reflection and she squinted in its brightness. There was a loud ringing in her ears, as if there was a firedrill in her head, making her cringe. She thought she felt a slight breath on her neck and the swish of a skirt but when she turned nobody was there. Beth was still huddled by the door asleep.

She turned back to face the mirror. Her reflection was obscured by the radiant light that beamed from it, and Nikita found she had to shield her eyes. If only she could see past that light. But the more she looked at it, the more she was drawn to it…almost as if she were in a trance.

Helpless, yet without a moment’s hesitation, she walked towards the mirror. Just before the brilliant light engulfed her Beth woke to see Nikita step into the dazzling reflection which swallowed her whole and left behind an eerie silence. She could only scream as she watched Nikita disappear into oblivion. And then there was nothing.

Silence.

An eternity seemed to pass before there was any sound. Nikita lifted her weary head as she tried to decipher the noises outside the attic window. Oh, how her head hurt! And her body ached. I don’t know what happened, she thought to herself, but I just want to get out of here. Grasping for something to steady her, the oppressive feeling of tight shoes made her stumble as she looked down. What the…? Nikita found that she was no longer in the jeans and T-shirt she had been wearing when she came to the house, but a grey dress with petticoats, pantaloons and a restricting corset in which she could barely breathe! What was going on here, she thought looking around frantically. And where was Beth?

Suddenly she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. The attic door! Someone was coming to let them out! Running toward the locked door in anticipation, they were getting out at last, they could go home! But when the door opened Beth was not there, nor did Nikita recognize the person who greeted her with a gruff smile. Instinctively, Nikita didn’t like the man. His smile was a leer, far from genuine. He wasn’t here to help, but what did he want?

“You ready to behave now, Emily?” he growled.

Emily? Who the heck was Emily? Her name was Nikita.

“What you standin’ there looking like that for then? Cat got your tongue?” he chuckled. “You’re normally a lot more feisty than that!”

“Wh – who are you?” she managed to say.

Suddenly he broke into laughter. Nikita didn’t know what was so funny but he seemed to find whatever it was incredibly amusing.

“Are you sure that knock on the head didn’t confuse you none? Or are you trying to put one over me?”

Nikita thought it best to keep her mouth shut, so she didn’t say another word. But when laughing man grabbed her arm she pulled herself from his grasp quick smart. She wasn’t sure what he wanted, but she knew it wasn’t good.

“Now that’s more like it!” he grinned. “That’s the Emily I know! Show a bit of spirit, woman. You know I love it when you fight!”

“Get your hands off of me!” Nikita spat at him. “I don’t know who you think you are, or what you want, but you have no right to come in here and grab me like you own me!”

That seemed to amuse him even further.

“Oh, you know exactly who I am and what I want, dear Emily,” he sneered. “And I have every right because, my dear, I do own you. And YOU are going to learn the lesson AGAIN the hard way! And again, and again and again. Until you learn that I own you and YOU owe me.”

He threw her on the cold hard attic floor. Nikita looked around frantically once again for Beth, but there was no one there but this smelly gruff and badly dressed man. She tried crawling backwards to escape but he was too strong, and she felt the full force of his weight bearing down on her. She fought and punched him, all the while wriggling beneath his sweaty body. She felt him fumble with the front of his pants as she began to panic. No, this cannot be happening to her.

“That, my dear Emily,” his breath was hot on her neck, “is marriage.”

Suddenly she went still. She stopped fighting and lay there in stunned silence. Marriage? She was married to this brute? But, how? She didn’t know him. And he called her Emily. What was happening to her?

“Atta girl, Em,” he purred. “You know who’s boss, don’cha? May as well accept it, ‘cause you know it’s gonna happen anyhow.”

So she just lay there while he took her on the cold hard attic floor. Tears formed in her eyes as he grunted and groaned to his own rhythm then his dead weight sprawled on top of her when he was finished. He gave a satisfied sigh as he got to his feet and tucked in the tendrils of his clothing, while Nikita curled into a ball and cried to herself. She would not let him see her tears. Then he turned and walked out of the room, locking the attic door behind him.

Nikita picked herself up and dragged her bruised body across the floor to the mirror. The mirror had started this, so maybe the mirror could end it. She wasn’t sure what was happening to her but if she could just get back to the mirror she could find her way back, instead of being where she was now. But gazing at her reflection she could see nothing except a sad lonely young woman, bruised and battered, trapped in her own living hell. She reached out to the mirror but only banged her bruised knuckles on the glass. How did she get here then if she could not get back?

“I don’t want to live like this,” she cried out. “I can’t! Don’t leave me here, please!”

Nikita sobbed to herself with a feeling of despondency and hopelessness. She was trapped. Trapped inside this locked attic, trapped in an abusive marriage, and trapped in a time or place she didn’t understand. She wanted out.

Suddenly, Nikita knew what she had to do. It was the only way. Looking down at the depressing gown she wore, she began to rip it to pieces. Carefully and purposefully she tied each piece together, fastening the end into a noose, and pulled it tight to make sure it was secure. Then she swung the end of it around the rafter above her head and tied the other end to the locked door. She kicked off the oppressive shoes that were too tight anyway and slowly stepped onto the chair she had placed in front of the mirror, placing the noose around her neck. Tears stung her eyes as the truth of the past finally dawned on her and she gazed at her reflection one last time. She knew now why the mirror had held a reflection of her face, her body hanging limply from the rafters. Because she had lived it. She was Emily. She was her great-grandmother, and this was her mirror. There was no craziness or madness in her family. Only a terrible secret from the past she took to her grave, leaving others to only speculate about her demise. But Emily would not be violated again. She would keep her dignity in tact, even in death.

Emily took a final breath and gazing at her reflection kicked the chair from under her. The pain was excruciating. She wanted to breathe and she wanted to fight for breath, but she knew she couldn’t. She just watched her reflection as the life seeped from her and her vision clouded into blackness.

Silence…again. Then…

“Nic!” a voice seemed to pierce the distance between dream and reality.

Although groggy, she groaned and opened her eyes to find Beth’s concerned face looking down at her. She felt as if she’s been ten rounds with Mike Tyson, her whole body ached. She tried to sit up but her head pounded, and she cringed.

“Careful,” Beth soothed. “You’ve had an awful knock on the head.”

“What happened?” Nikita managed to whisper.

“I’m not sure, it was all very strange,” Beth replied. “I’d been asleep but I woke up to see you go up to the mirror and try to walk into it! And I mean ‘into’ it! You stepped up to put your foot through the mirror but only ended up going bottom end up flat on your back and smacking your head on the old chair next to it. It was all rather frightening. I must have screamed the house down, because this kind old man walking by with his dogs heard me and came to see if everything was alright.”

She indicated the kindly man crouched next to her, something seeming vaguely familiar about him. But Nikita simply put it down to the knock on the head.

“So he unlocked the door?” Nikita asked Beth.

Beth look puzzled. “What do you mean unlocked the door? It wasn’t locked.”

“It wasn’t?”

“Of course it wasn’t,” Beth smiled, reassured that her friend was back in the land of the living.

Maybe it had all been a hallucination.

Just then the kindly old man spoke up, “You sure that knock on the head didn’t confuse you none?”

Terror filled her once again as Nikita screamed….. unable let go of the steering wheel.