The Curious Mirror

by Louis Denair

"Oh mother, why do you torment me so? Have I not made it clear that I am not hungry at the moment?"

Jenny fought like a lion, and she succeeded too. Her success however was that in achieving absolute perfection in the trade of hypocrisy. She was getting stronger and stronger at it, so that day by day the Jenny her mother used to know gradually became a complete alien. And with that process the poor widow continued to shed all her hope like a deciduous animal.

"But pumpkin!"- Miss Peralto retaliated – "Surely you must be STARVING. When was the last time I saw you eat? God be my witness, three days will have surely passed tomorrow and if you don't eat something you might well have no need to bother anymore. Now please, don't be silly Jenny. Sit down and at least have a bit to make your mother happy. I have made strogonov macaroni, your favorite isn't it my dear?"

"Why I am truly shocked mommy! Don't you recall that I absolutely despise pasta, let alone strogonov? Honestly, you could at least try to remember my likes and dislikes or at least please don't claim that you do because that's just pure hypocrisy."- while she uttered these words she managed to twist her face into a grimace of profoundly spiteful disgust. Upon hearing this the poor woman was transfixed in complete stillness for a good minute, her eyes gleaming with anxiety and her usually jovial face now burdened with a look of perplexed confusion. Then as if struck by a thunderbolt she jumped into a series of inarticulate and chaotic explanations:

"But truly I could have sworn just the other day you said you would love to have some macaroni! I could never dream of lying to you, how can you say that honey. Its just that I could swear… Oh please forgive me pumpkin, I did have good intentions you see. Its just that when one ceases to grow stronger the process of aging becomes so troublesome. By and by it starts to play tricks on you and then… well I wouldn't like to bother you with the problems of the old."- she tried to make a jocular smile but in the end a gentle twitching of her lips had to suffice- "After all, I am sure you have enough problems with youth to start with."

Finally the woman's psychic started to limb a little. One could wish for more, but to Jenny that was more than satisfactory at the moment. After all, it was dinner time and she was absolutely ravenous. That dish looked so riveting and she was at such a point where she could hardly resist the temptation of anything slightly resembling a meal, eatable or otherwise. Now was the time to rest, she reflected, smiling inwardly as she the thought of finally sitting down to her dinner passed through her mind.

"Well, I may have a nibble or two if you insist. But keep mind that I am doing it just because you have gone through so much effort and it drives me mad to see people sweating and puffing in vain."

The meal took place in complete silence, stirred only by Jenny's mother's unsuccessful attempts to strike a conversation. As Jenny pierced her mother with her eyes the good-hearted woman could not help but hide away in the virtual shelter of her own plate, obeying her daughters speechless orders like a trained dog.

When the bell struck midnight Jenny was in her bedroom combing her hair, perfunctorily waving her hand to and fro over her head. When that ritual was over, and she profoundly hated it, was almost willing to sacrifice her life just to eradicate its pestilent existence, she moved to another, even more painful, tradition of inspecting her face, just in case her hideous scar was ever to evaporate miraculously. She hated it, such burden on such a beautiful face. The shame she had had to endure, and for what, she reflected, for what sins was she punished with that curse. Her mother kept saying that every evil has its function as the catalyst of good that is yet to arrive, but so far what good has it brought her? Shame and alienation was all that it reaped for her. Of course, surely the ones to see such an atrociously tainted face must have felt very lucky indeed to have evaded the magnitude of her misery. Sometimes she felt that the whole world was filled to the brim with joyous energy and she was the only one not to have drunk from the cup. It was her firm belief that of all the people in the world she was the epicenter of that happiness, its sole source, and that was the cause for her manifold misery, her constant sorrows. To taste the opiate drug she had to consume her own self, and in fact partly she did, or at least she tried. Right now the charm was gone and the true Jenny had once more awakened from her slumber. "Damned be her", she murmured under her nose. As she gazed into that peculiar world of reflection a weary, wrinkled woman in ragged gauzy dress appeared on the mirror's relentless surface. Her long hair failed to succumb to her scrupulous caressing and brushing and seemed to live a life of their own, every piece pointing in a thoroughly different direction as if in a perpetual disagreement mixed with mutual enmity. Like the crown of medusa, hers seemed to be assailed by myriads of venomous snakes that withered and twisted with agitation. For a moment Jenny thought about screaming out loud a series of critical remarks about its state and disobedience which she herself considered an act of unaccounted foolishness. She, however, refrained from succumbing to the instantaneous impulse at the very last moment, thus saving herself from what she expected to be subsequent anger and mockery relentlessly hurled from her mother, millions of sharp bullets piercing her heart and her soul. Not from her, that was out of question, for a moment she was thankful to the whole world to have evaded such unbearable circumstances. She was just about to lay on her bed when a human voice struck her ears. In fact, it was, though she found it impossible to believe, her very own. "Going somewhere, little princess?", resounded her own, venomous voice. But it seemed more vibrant, confident perhaps. Confused as she was she almost tripped as she struggled to locate the source of that sound. "Behind you!". She turned and stared in suspension of disbelief as her own reflection in the mirror, or at least what appeared as such a moment ago, now lived a life of its own, scolding and mocking Jenny as she stood there spellbound with amazement. "How dare you, such a well mannered lady and yet the ugly thing brings itself to thievery! What do you have to say for yourself now when you have been caught red-handed maggot?", the figure laughed demonically.

"Who in the blazes are you? What manner of joke is it? And how dare you call me names in my own house!"

"Now we are acting surprised, are we now?

"Come out wherever and whoever you are or I shall call for the police!"- Jenny cried out in numerous directions.

"Go on you foolish girl, tell them you are stalked by your own reflection, I'm sure they will understand. And don't think you are going to get away that easily, I'm going to haunt you wherever you go, be it home, madhouse or otherwise." That was madness, and she knew it well. But she decided to play along, see what would happen.

"Alright, let's pretend I am neither mad or delusional, what do you want then? Tell me what is your purpose so that we may be done with it. You are getting on my nerves!"

"Why, the hypocrisy of this all. You've murdered a great part of my own! Eradicated my existence, stolen my soul and you, my maggot, you are going to pay for it dearly. I shall look into it!"- as the last syllable was released the mirror image began to blur and the face of Jenny's reflection, to her own dismay, turned green and crippled. What she saw before her eyes was no longer her reflection, it was a monster penetrating her with eyes as black as coal and as she sunk her gaze in those eyes she found herself drawn deeper and deeper into that malevolent stare. Soon she lost the control and no sooner had she realized her inability to intervene it was already too late, she was in a different realm, completely out of touch with reality. As far as she could reach fathoms of impenetrable darkness stirred terror in her heart. Then came the whispers stemming as if from nowhere, striking her ears with strange and unaccounted incantations that brought unexplainable anxiety in her being, caused her stomach to churn and her bowels to twist in spasms of agony. She screamed as loud as she could alas her efforts were in vain, if there was any good soul anywhere near, it could not hear her or simply did not care. And the whispers, they appeared to grew stronger and sharper with her every shriek. Then, far in the distance she saw the horrid face of the monster that menaced her mirror. First it was distanced, small. Then it drew closer and closer, rapidly growing in size until finally it had grown so big that she could scarcely breathe for fear of being devoured by the stupendous monstrosity. The creature emitted a foul fetor that permeated the air with an almost suffocating staleness. For a minute the crude being stared with its dark eyes into her own. She struggled to avert her face, alas in vain. Her head was transfixed in place by forces unknown. Then the previously black eyes burst into blazing green fire and with that outburst came a shriek of unconceivable magnitude, with deafening power it seemed to jolt through her ears into the very core of her psychic, super-inducing not only physical but also immense psychical pain. "Stop it, stop it for God's sake!"- she cried, albeit her voice diminished in the magnitude of the horrid shriek. No one listened, no one cared. She was on the verge on madness, the face grew even bigger and the damned voice louder. "Stop it, stop it you bastard!". Her vocal chords were incandescent from all the screaming and yet the voice emitted seemed to sink in that ocean of madness. Her skull seemed to split in two, her heart beat faster and faster as if it was going to tear her frame apart. She knew she was going to die, she felt half-dead in fact. Then all of the sudden the whole realm seemed to escape. The face ran away and the shriek silenced. Her vision blurred for a moment and then a vision of yellowish white slipped into her vision. With the remembrance of the hellish place she had just, by some miraculous way, escaped she was still dizzy and confused. It was not until soon that she realized, what she gazed at now was just the mould-infested ceiling of her bedroom. Cold in perspiration she awoke once more to the gloom reality, although the gloom of it was now exceedingly agreeable in comparison to the doom that she had barely escaped. Suddenly a horrible thought struck her consciousness, quickly she turned her glare to the cursed mirror. For an instance her whole frame trembled in fear, but then came upon her a surge of acute relief: the intruder was gone for now. Was it reality or a nightmare, she wondered. With a strained tone of hopefulness she added her mother's favorite saying: "Time will tell"…

It was 10 in the morning when she woke up from her nightmare. Far in the distance Jenny could hear her mother calling for breakfast. That voice which would have otherwise been the origin of her utmost irritation now seemed to sooth all her pain like an effective medicine, though devoid its annoying bitterness. It was just a nightmare, and now she has awoken to her old reality, old and yet somehow possessing a waft of freshness. Suddenly a feeling of peace and tranquility surrounded her being, involuntarily, impulsively and to her own amazement she burst into a series of genuine laughter accompanied with tears of happiness.

The person that appeared to Miss Peralto's eyes as she majestically descended the stairs caused a deep gasp, for the Jenny that was now before her very own eyes was so diverse from the gloom presence she had dinner with just the other day. A gleaming lily-white dress fit perfectly on her body while the once unkempt hair now hung prominently, every stem shining with a luminence of its own and dazzlingly beautifully especially now in broad daylight. Sweet perfume wafted lazily across the room, filling it with an aura of intimate joy that was hardly understood by its very source, let alone an ignorant bystander. The Jenny she brought up years ago had returned. "What's for breakfast, mommy?", Jenny asked with a tone of profound joviality as she took her seat by the table. "Oh, I'm afraid I overslept a little and well.. all we have is the remains of yesterday's strogonov", she hesitatingly exclaimed. "I have ruined it all, now she will go mad and my beloved daughter will be no more!", she thought as her face turned gloom and dreary. "Oh but mother, no worries. You know that I absolutely adore all that includes pasta. In fact, I can't think of anything better than this to start a day", she cried out emphatically.

"But.. but you said just the other day that you don't like pasta!"

"Well, now I do", Jenny pronounced jovially, her face wrapped in a jocular smile.

Suddenly Jenny heard what seemed like a dim sound, bearing a striking resemblance to the screech of a cat being stepped upon.

"Did you hear something?", asked Jenny with a grimace of confusion on her face.

"I don't believe so, and should I?"

"Oh never you mind, it was probably nothing. Now I really am ravenous, let us eat, shall we?"

"Don't mind if I do!"

The two figures went on eating and talking in intervals, raving on about gossips and various trifles. They seemed completely oblivious to the persistent screeching, croaking and squeaking that resounded throughout the residence. Soon the sound would diminish, never to be heard again and its source would remain unrevealed for eternity to come.