Mirror Mirror Part 6 of 7
Mirror Mirror is spread over seven chapers and a new chapter released every Friday.
This is chapter six, click here to read chapter 7
Ralph Colmore returned home to find his front door wide open and a strange car blocking the entrance to his drive. His day had started badly at work and the time spent there had not improved its quality by one iota. Now in need of some peace and quiet he was faced with an invasion of his privacy by goodness knows who. Slamming the door of his Jaguar XJS he stomped up the driveway and into the hallway where his wife was still crouched against the wall. The scene before him was like something out of a Hitchcock movie and The Birds came to his mind. The damage had gone unnoticed until now, but the floor was littered with the broken fragments of a number of ornaments which had been scattered by Daphne in her flight. It seemed at first that a burglary had taken place and that the two intruders were somehow making their getaway.
Once appraised of the truth of the situation however, he calmed down and whilst sceptical about the story told to him, the look on his wife’s face and her confirmation of at least part of the tale made him more amenable.
“So you see” Melanie continued “The only way to release those trapped is for the buyer to smash the mirror and break the curse.”
She winced inwardly at the Dark Ages logic of witches and witchcraft, but with no more plausible explanation there was nothing left to fall back upon. Colmore stepped into the lounge and glared at the object of his wife’s fear. Shaking his head he returned to the hallway.
“There’s nothing there that I can see.”
“No, there won’t be” Melanie reiterated “You must understand that your wife bought it and she is the only one who can see what’s in there. My mother is stuck behind that thing and no-one else but the purchaser can release her.”
“Why don’t I just sell the thing to you then?”
The idea was brilliant in its simplicity and with Daphne refusing point blank to have anything more to do with it, Ralph’s solution was the only one on the table. Roger had his doubts as to the logic of the proposal, but if it made Melanie happy he would have danced an Irish jig at the same time. Agreeing a price they shook hands on the deal and an amount of money changed hands between Melanie and Daphne. Taking a deep breath, and not knowing what to expect Melanie slowly entered the Colmores’ lounge.
The mirror was mounted above a large fireplace housing a pile of logs ready for the evening, and at first there seemed to be nothing in the reflection. However, on a little closer inspection the surroundings on either side of the glass were not a match. With heart now thumping loudly Melanie crept towards the object of her mother’s ensnarement. What if someone else on the other side got there first? Would that then prevent Pauline speaking to her through their signing? In the event, and out of the kind of misty background normally reserved for the kind of horror film which Mark had used to scare the daylights out of her as a child, the smiling figure of her mother came forward to Melanie, arms outstretched in tearful supplication.
Daphne Colmore’s initial shock at the sight of the unfamiliar face in the mirror was matched by the crushing disappointment subsequently felt by Pauline that her daughter may no longer be able to rescue her. Her attempts to communicate with the mirror’s new owner had resulted only in the hysteria she herself felt all those years ago in her own home. That the poor woman was going through some kind of personal hell was beyond doubt, but the overbearing problem of how to become free superseded all other feelings. It seemed an age since the woman had run silently screaming from the room and without Maria’s calming influence she may not have been ready for Melanie’s entrance.
“You have to stay by the mirror.” She had said “Whatever happens it is very important that you somehow persuade that woman to help us.”
“What if she doesn’t come back.? Look how terrified she was.”
“You came back, did you not?”
“Yes, but…”
“In that case we have to wait. There is no other choice. Look! The door is opening!”
Amidst the collective holding of the breath of almost fifty trapped souls, a female form stood framed in the doorway. Pauline was unable at first to identify the figure and assumed that the owner had returned, much as she had all those years ago. It was only when Melanie approached the centre of the room that Maria pointed through the mist and shook Pauline by the arm.
“Your daughter, look! She has returned. She can see you. Go to the frame but whatever you do, do not touch the surface. Tell her to break the glass, it is our only hope of escape. I will make sure that everyone is ready.”
With both parties to the drama now in place, Pauline signed the instructions to her daughter and watched as she picked up a heavy ashtray from the coffee table by the window. With both feet planted firmly before the mirror and not three feet from its silvery surface, she took a few deep breaths and hurled the object towards the face of her mother. Outside in the hallway, Roger and the Colmores heard the splintering crash of the shattered glass and the cry of alarm from Melanie as her projectile found its target. With legs weighed down like lead they raced into the lounge and the source of the devastating noise. Within the room, Melanie had fallen backwards on to the sofa covered in a shower of broken fragments. The mirror frame lay on the floor before the fireplace, its wooden back board now bare and forbidding. A thick, slightly musty fog was spreading out across the thick carpet like a fall of soot. Melanie coughed, stood up and brushed the shards of mirror fragments from her clothing. As she stood facing the now broken remnants of the once beautifully ornate framework, disappointment hit her with the force of a demolition ball.
In the midst of the devastation, there was not a single human form to be seen. Her mother was not there.
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