Mirror Mirror Part 4 of 7
Mirror Mirror is spread over seven chapers and a new chapter released every Friday.
This is chapter four, click here to read chapter 1
That Melanie had not recognised the mirror from her home ten years previously was abundantly clear, and Roger her husband indulged her every whim much as Derek had tended to do with Pauline. As the covers came off, those imprisoned in the reflection were treated to the sight of a drawing room straight out of Edwardian England; no surprise then that the young couple had chosen the mirror to adorn the place. The only question which remained was how to attract the attention of the buyer without causing the same kind of alarm which started the process ten years earlier. Maria and Pauline spent many hours in earnest discussion but without a foolproof strategy it was left to the mother to confront her daughter directly and hope for the best.
Days passed without an opportunity as people filed in and out of the room on the other side without leaving Melanie on her own. Without that privacy the surface of the mirror would not change from reflective to clear and although all of those trapped could see events unfolding on the far side, those playing their parts were completely unaware that they were being observed. Those ‘days’ Pauline realised were turning into months in the real time world where Melanie and her husband lived, and she found it increasingly odd that during the entire period no trace of Derek had been seen. She consigned those matters to the back of her mind to concentrate on the more important job of breaking free, and one early summer Sunday morning as the rest of the household slept in, Melanie entered the room in her housecoat and slippers carrying the first coffee of the day along with the morning papers.
Pauline’s heart leapt at the sight of the lone figure but cautioned by Maria, held back from immediately approaching the front of the frame. Watching first from a distance and then approaching slowly she raised one hand in silent greeting to the daughter whose growing up she had completely missed. Melanie was engrossed in the generous folds of the broadsheets spread across the surface of the coffee table and her attention was limited to their contents and that of her coffee cup. Nevertheless the size of the pages and their turning necessitated a raising of her head as the current story moved on from one sheet to another. It was then that the movement at the periphery of her vision grabbed the attention. She looked at the mirror out of the corner of her eye and frowned. Looking around the room for the genuine article whose facsimile was now presenting itself her gaze returned to the silvery surface.
Melanie was not and never had been one for the dramatic, choosing to believe that all things had a natural and logical explanation. What she now saw defied all logic, but unlike her mother before her the reaction was totally different Instead of a near hysterical scream, she calmly placed aside the newspaper, drained her cup and slowly walked across the room to the mirror. Standing six feet short of the surface she stared in amazement at the face she had not seen for ten years. The silent voice on the other side mouthed a single word.
“Melly”
At that point the connection was made. From her early years Melanie had learned to sign as her grandmother was deaf. Both she and Pauline had excelled at the skill, a fact which drove Derek to distraction when they talked together in his presence. She also knew how to lip read, and the one word reply brought tears to two sets of identically blue eyes. Melanie had always had a talent for the unusual, and from early childhood seemed to ‘know’ things that others did not. It has been the source of some concern to her, but Derek had laughed it of as coincidence.
“Mummy.”
Together they approached the mirror and each extended a hand to the surface. Pauline felt Maria pull her back and Melanie recoiled in surprise at her mother’s sudden movement.
“No, the instant that you touch you will both exchange places and the curse will continue. I am sorry Pauline, but we have to find another way.”
Melanie was still standing with her hand resting on the mirror and had seen what she had believed to be her mother’s sudden retreat. She removed it as Pauline approached once more, signing that they could not risk contact in that way. Telling Melanie to lock the room to prevent others entering, she explained the story of the mirror and what had to be done to release those trapped. The daughter’s initial consternation dissolved with the possibility of their reunion and she looked around the room for some heavy object to accomplish the breaking of the spell. That act was to be delayed as the rattling of the door indicated family members surfacing for the day. Quickly ‘signing’ off she unlocked the door and the vision in the glass vanished. For Pauline this was a minor disappointment and she set her mind to the following day when she would surely be able to engineer a solution to the problem.
Roger’s appearance at the door could not have come at a worse time for Melanie as she fought to regain control of her now turbulent emotions. She and the rest of the family had long given Pauline up for dead, and the circumstances of her disappearance from the midst of a crowd of friends had been the talk of the area for quite some time. Now, and she was struggling to come to terms with what she had just seen, her mother had reappeared albeit out of reach with a message on how to free both her and a number of other unfortunates from their prison. Roger’s knocking at the door was becoming more insistent.
“Sorry, coming. Hold on a minute.” Glancing back at the reflection she unlocked the door.
“What’s going on Mel? You alright?”
“Yes, yes perfectly alright. Sorry love, I must have flicked the catch by mistake and dropped off with the papers. Coffee?”
The rest of the day passed without further incident and Roger accepted her lame explanation for the locking of the room. He had, however, noticed an edginess in her demeanour as evening approached as she looked for another opportunity to speak to her mother again. He asked her again if there was anything wrong and the words she used were to come back to haunt her in subsequent days.
“It must be the mirror, ugly old thing” She laughed nervously “I’ll be glad when it’s gone.”
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