The woman in the mirror

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn’t my own.

‘’Millie get back here!’’ A shrill voice screamed. My body began to heat up and sweat began to appear from every pore of body. I was frozen. The image in front of me was of someone i used to know. Someone whom i hoped, was long gone.

‘’ MILLIE WHERE ARE YOU WE HAVE TO GET TO SCHOOL’’. A hand touched my shoulder and I flinched. My eyes were wide and the beads of sweat were now dripping down my forehead as i whispered to my sister ,‘’ do you not see her too?’’ A wave of confusion and worry seemed to flash through her dark brown eyes as she sighed and sat down. ‘’ you have to remember she died three years ago. It’s all in your head. Now come on before we’re late for school.’’ She said.

But she doesn’t know what i did. She doesn’t know that when ms Kaley came over that night in the middle of October,she was not a victim of a horrible serial killer but rather, a victim of a little girl who was just too afraid of the dark.

Flashback

‘’CAN WE TURN OFF THE TV! YOU KNOW IM SCARED OF CLOWNS’’ i screamed. ‘’ No. You promised that you would watch this whole movie all the way till the end. That was part of the dare.’’ My sister yelled back in a stern voice. Clutching onto the bedsheet covers, i squealed as the clowns wig began to show up in the pitch darkness of the tv screen. ‘’Boom’’ a loud clanging sound was heard and the electricity was turned off. I looked over to see if my sister was beside me but my eyes were still adjusting to the dark. Yelling as loud as i could, i crept over to hold on to the warm arms of my sister beside me. Cold. I was met with the unfamiliar feeling of metal. Turning around slowly whilst squinting i saw a dark figure looming in the back of my kitchen. ‘’SARAH!’’ I yelled out to my sister. I was met with uncomfortable silence. Gripping onto my blanket,i wrapped it around my body as a makeshift shield and inched over to the other side of the living room to grab my baseball bat. There had been rumours in this neighbourhood of a serial killer on the loose. Just last week, our neighbour , a plump man named rod died in a car crash. Then, two days later, the old lady who lived across the street from us, died from a metal pan falling on her head from two stories up. Not hours after, another incident of a little boy being found lifeless mysteriously on the roof of they’re house was brought to light. While all this could be chalked up to coincidental deaths by our clearly bribable police department, we all knew there was something much bigger on the loose. Even me, the little defenceless twelve year old knew that when my 21 year old sister was sitting, at home, pretending to play games with me for her own enjoyment whenever our parents were out of the house, that she would much rather be out partying with her friends and she was only with me so that I would not be on the front page of our daily paper the next morning.

I raised my baseball bat up and was on high alert. My eyes had adjusted to the dark very well now and i was taking note of every swift movement that was taking place in the house. A shadow was slowly inching towards me from behind our curtain and closing my eyes tightly, i swung my bat as fast as i could and heard a loud ‘’thump!’’ Sound. Seconds after, i felt something hard against the back of the forehead and became unconscious. When i finally woke up again, i saw my English Teachers lifeless body laying on our cold marble floors. Bleading out from her head, where i seemed to have hit her. I tried to feel for her pulse. None. Taking shallow, unforgiving breaths, i raised my hands to my forehead to wipe off the sweat the was pooling back up.

‘’DING!’’ “MILLIE OPEN UPP’’ my mom yelled from behind the door. I was frozen. ‘’COMING MOM’’ yelled back .My sister. On her way to walk towards the door turned to look at me. ‘’Millie what are you doing on the floor?’’ She asked with a quizzical expression on her face before turning to look at the horrifying mess of a situation that lay before her. ‘’ i promise i found her like this Sarah’’ i said with a cautious tone. She debated my answer for a split second and made her decision. ‘’You distract mom at the door ok? Ill be right back’’ she said as she began to drag the body and move it away. I turned to walk toward the door, still shaking violently when, ‘’MILLIE. By the way, shhhh’’ my sister yelled as she kept a blood soaked finger on her lips.

Present

‘’ GIRLS! Get down for breakfast’’ my mom yelled from downstairs. I rubbed my eyes and began walking to the bathroom along with my sister to go and brush my teeth. It had been a day since i last saw ms Kaley in the mirror. Her head was bashed in and a baseball bat was sticking out of her head with blood continuously pouring out. Her eyes were black and bruised and it looked like someone had pulled her out freshly from the dead. I had also refused to look at any more mirrors since yesterday and wasn’t going to start today. I quickly finished my routine and went down for breakfast. Grabbing the spoon i took the first glance at, i saw the same reflection of her staring back at me. I threw the spoon down and went to go cry in my bedroom. My sister saw all this happening and picked up the spoon and began examining it. From the look in her eyes i could tell, she could see exactly what i was seeing. She took the spoon and broke it in half and threw it away.

‘’Dad, can i stay home today? I’m not feeling well’’, i asked from the opposite room. Him, still being busy with typing out his letters half acknowledged my question and nodded.

Good. I thought to myself. There was something not quite right with this house and i needed explanations. For years, I pretended like that night never existed. Everyone else did. They all chalked it back up to a missing persons case that I’m sure was never even attempted to be attended to. but now it was clear. None of it had been a dream. My teacher was coming back to haunt me for everything i had done.

I took a deep breath and waddled over to my bathroom where i had seen her last night and looked at the mirror. Sure enough she was there. Forcing myself to stay calm, i whispered, why are you here? She pointed downwards towards one of the dressing cabinets. I opened it and found nothing but old makeup and a hairbrush that was broken at the end. I looked back up at her with the same questioning look but she never wavered. I decided to remove everything from inside the dresser to see if there was perhaps an item that i had missed. That’s when i saw it. There was a little ledge on the bottom of the drawer that you never would have noticed without taking all the items out. I decided to pull on it and saw a drawer below it that was filled to the brim with knives and guns and mid evil looking torture devices. I screamed. What was happening? A million thoughts were running through my mind but one was clear and i tried brushing it away but it kept coming back. ‘’Ms Kaley, is my sister the serial killer? I asked in such a hushed tone that you probably couldn’t even hear me if you stood right next to me but she heard. And she nodded. Then she began to show a scenario in a video. There was a girl.jet black hair with green eyes which i noticed was me and a brunette with dark brown eyes.my sister Sarah. It showed me taking the gun and shooting the girl right in the chest. I shook my head violently as tears threatened to escape. I should have known that’s what she was here for. Revenge. I wasn’t the one who had killed her it was my sister who had knocked me out before doing the deed. And she had killed many other people too.

I wasn’t ready to do this. I took a step back to process this when ‘’HEY’’ my sister yelled. The blood drained out of my face. I did the only thing i thought possible at the moment and grabbed the gun. If she really was who ms Kaley said she was, who’s to say she wouldn’t try to kill me too?

My sister smiled. What? Why would she be smiling after all that has happened? I thought to myself. Still shaking, i was still trying my best to hold the gun steadily. ‘’Mom, dad come see this’’ she yelled. When my dad came in, he burst out laughing. ‘’What’s so funny? ‘’I asked.

My sister came out and quickly reached out to grab the gun from my hand and pointed it towards the mirror. She aimed and the mirror shattered into a million different pieces. My mom finally came in, holding a long sword and placed it in my hands.

Millie, it’s time we introduce you to the family tradition.