Inside the Company: Man in the Mirror

We go through life passing many reflections, not truly paying attention to any of them. Why would you? It is merely a reflection of light off a shiny surface. However, have you ever looked in a mirror and caught a glimpse of something else, out of the corner of your eye? Which is worse, seeing something or seeing nothing in the mirror at all? It all began a week ago when my life began to change.

It was a normal morning, after a steamy shower, I grabbed my towel to wipe the condensation off my bathroom mirror. That was when it happened, a flash of a shadow jumping past the toilet and out the window. Shocked, I turned around to see nothing. Turning back to the mirror was what shocked me, my reflection seemed to appear more shocked than I was. It was minimal but noticeable. His eyes were wide with fear rather than confusion. I was perplexed but shrugged it off as my morning grogginess.

The next day, I thought I saw myself blink. Mundane, I know, but still rather strange. I tried blinking rapidly to trigger a mistake in my reflection but he matched every blink as if he could read my mind. I snickered a bit, realising how stupid I must have looked and gone back to bed.

The 3rd day was when things got really weird. I saw the shadowy figure again. This time in more detail, lurking in the corridor. It was a tall figure, hiding in the shadows. For a short moment, I caught a glimpse of its eyes, it reflected light like a cat’s eyes. I turned to my right, to look into the corridor on my end. Nothing. When I turned back to the mirror, my reflection made a soft shake of his head. I stumbled back. It seems like he realised that the gig was up as he began pounding on the glass on his side, shouting. All I could hear was the silence, I couldn’t hear the pounds or his shouts.

I slumped against the wall, scared. I was covering my eyes hoping that whatever was happening would stop. I slowly crouched back to my room, averting any reflection.

The next morning, I woke up and went to brush my teeth, shrugging off the previous night as a nightmare. I wish it was. When I looked up into the mirror, I saw the reflection of the bathroom but I wasn’t there. I waved my hand, nothing. I rushed to check every other mirror in the house. Nothing. I lost my reflection! I was definitely panicking as I grabbed my showerhead and flung it at the mirror, breaking it. They say that breaking a mirror is 7 years of bad luck. I had a feeling that the bad luck wasn’t my biggest concern.

A few days passed after I cleared up the shattered remains of my bathroom mirror and as I removed the other mirrors from my house; trying my best to ignore my lack of reflection.

I hid in my room, remembering the monster I saw and how I felt nothing seeing it except fear. It was the feeling of looking into an endless abyss, a certain type of void that you feel drawn into.

Day 7, I had to leave my house. I ran out of food to eat. I had to go to the grocers for a quick shopping run. While shopping, I needed to go to the washroom urgently. Thankfully, I went during an off-peak hour so no one else could see my lack of reflection. I locked the washroom door, to keep others out. I instinctively wanted to keep this to myself. I felt that if people saw this, they would look at me funny.

The grocery store washroom was rather decrepit. One of the lights would flicker periodically. I was already on edge so why the hell not right? Make everything creepy as hell. I swear that God loves messing with me. The washroom was a long corridor with a large mirror spanning across the many sinks. Between the flickers of the faulty light, I saw it again in the reflection. The monster.

This time, I could see him clearer. Or rather I could tell it was a ‘him’. He was tall, pale and bald. He wore nothing, revealing his grotesque, slightly hairy skin. He has a pot belly but very thin arms and legs. His skin was worn on his face like a mask, leathery and loose. The most unsettling thing about him was his long, slender fingers. They looked like they have 2 joints too many.

I leaned into the mirror in fear but it didn’t feel hard. It felt more like a liquid membrane but it was too late. I leaned my weight into it and I fell through, landing hard on the ground. Looking up, I saw him. His eyes pierced my soul as I decided to bolt away.

I ran back to my house. That was when I realised that the world I was in didn’t make any sense. Everything was mirrored. It was summer earlier but now the cold air was definitely a winter breeze. All the trees were dead. All the houses looked run down as if by years of neglect. The most jarring difference was that no one was around. All I could see was faint flickers of light jumping from where reflections would normally be.

When I reached my front door, I turned the knob only for it to fall off, severely rusted. I kicked the door open and that was when I smelt something horrible. It smelled like a rotting piece of meat with a sick sweetness to it; like a few drops of perfume on a week old Sunday roast.

That was when I saw it. My body. On the ground. Eyes wide with fear. My tongue fell out of my mouth. My neck, twisted. I was dead. Or rather, what I saw the days prior, my reflection, was dead.

I reached for my own neck before stifling the urge to break down and vomit. I had to find a way back. The monster may have killed my reflection and he may be coming for me next. I rushed to my bathroom. Then, I remembered. I smashed my mirror a few days ago. That’s when the door to my bathroom began to creak open.

Those strange fingers began to curl around the door as I got up and proceeded to jump through the window.

“There are no laws in this world as far as I know. So, I guess breaking and entering would be okay,” I thought to myself while running through the neighbourhood.

I chose a house and burst through the door and looked for the largest mirror I could find. I jumped headfirst into it as at that point, it was a gamble I was willing to take.

I crashed to the floor. On the other side. Without time for a sigh of relief, I picked up the heaviest object I could find, a hairdryer, and proceeded to smash the mirror. I guess I made a ruckus as a few seconds later, my neighbour opened the bathroom door. She screamed and ran back to her room.

I was paralysed by my own adrenaline as I rushed towards her, trying to explain what was going on. She pulled out her taser from the cupboard and gave me a jolt. I woke up a while after in police custody and began writing this entry on my phone. Watch your mirrors for any irregularities. Don’t try and go through them. As far as I know, he can only hurt you if you are on the wrong side.

.ɘbiƨ ǫnoɿw ɘʜƚ no ɘd yɒm uoy ƨɒ ƨɘɔnɘɿɿuɔɔo bɿiɘw ɿoʇ bnuoɿɒ ʞool ƨyɒwlA

Next Post