Free Monthly #21 Mere Images

A short story about mirror people who merely lurk... you just don't know they're there!

Mere Images

There wasn’t much else to do but retire upstairs for the evening, so that is what I did. My two roommates would already be in bed as it was late in the night, so I would need to be quiet while I prepared for bed. I had no intentions of going to sleep, not yet, but I could feel the weariness creeping in. I donned comfortable pants and slipped into the bathroom, skipping the noisy floorboards as others were already asleep. So far, so good.

While I brushed my teeth and made to remove my contacts, I found I felt strange. Rather, the room felt strange, like I was not alone. I looked around and no one else was around. The experience was odd and one that I didn’t quite understand. After the day I had, I was not in the mood for any of my mind’s tricks, so I told myself, “Stop being stupid.”

Several minutes later, as I sat at my computer in the office room across the hall from the bedrooms, I noticed the same feeling while I scrolled through various social media websites looking for the best memes for an upcoming political election. I surveyed the room and saw nothing out of place. However, I couldn’t shake the creepy feeling in my bones. It was enough to make me sit uneasily in my chair. I continued with what I was doing and found a couple good meme templates that would be useable tomorrow when my brain was operational. I saved the files, shut the computer down, and headed to bed.

My sleep was restless for a time. I resisted turning on the fan despite the heat in the upstairs rooms. The dial was too far away and my body was already half asleep. That was when I noticed the feeling, not just creeping, but sinking into the room in the entirety. It was as if the darkness of the room intensified and the ambient light from street lamps outside faded. My eyes told me that was not the case, but it felt like that was happening. I repositioned my arms, but otherwise remained still. At some point, sleep seemed to take because the feeling floated away and I was left in my dreams.

I woke and checked my watch for the time, a little after one in the morning. My mouth felt dry and decided it would be best to grab a glass of water to stave it off. I made my way over to the bathroom where we kept extra glasses for these occasions. I poured a glass. When I looked up to drink it, however, I saw someone in a mask standing next to me. This made no sense since I had not turned the lights on and that none of us owned any masks. We rarely played pranks on one another, and this was certainly not behavior we had ever engaged in. My first thought was the white masked person was robbing us. I opened my mouth to scream, but the figure grabbed my shoulder and shook his head.

I turned to look at him directly and gasped. The room was dark and I couldn’t see anything. The presence I had felt earlier was back, and it was strong, but not overbearing. I continued to look at my shoulder where I felt the pressure and called for help. The pressure did not release and after the third call, someone finally opened their door and walked down the hall. “What is it? Why are you yelling?”

I looked back into the mirror and saw a man’s face instead of the white mask from before. He was looking at me with his hand gripping my shoulder. His features were mostly nondescript, though he was a man of European heritage and had a broad reaching mouth and grin. His eyes twinkled as he stared at me maniacally. The man was a full foot shorter than me and even shorter than the masked individual who had grabbed me. I glanced over to the hallway and could barely make out Jeremy. “Do you see this?”

“See what? It’s pitch black.”

“Look in the mirror.” I beckoned him with my other hand and he came in and looked at the mirror in disbelief. The mirror did not emanate light, but it displayed Jeremy and me, as well as someone wearing the Ghostface mask and cloak from the Scream movies. The look on Jeremy’s face was enough to convince me that whatever was happening, Jeremy was confused by it too.

“What the hell.” Jeremy flipped the light on and looked at my left shoulder where the figure stood and I nearly kicked myself for not flipping the light on sooner. “But there’s nothing there Alex.”

As I shifted my eyes to look, I saw nothing as well. The feeling on my shoulder lifted, and I could no longer sense any presence. I gazed back at the mirror and saw nothing, no man or masked individual, standing next to us. He and I gazed at one another, dumbfounded for a time, as we stared at the mirror. I was the first to speak. “I think this place might be haunted or something.”

“Do you believe in ghosts?”

“Not really, but I’ve never ruled it out.”

“What do you think we ought to do?”

I pondered the question for a few seconds. As I did, I saw an arm with a glove and a knife creep up from behind us and my eyes widened. Jeremy saw it as well. He spun about to face the attacker while I stood riveted to the floor. I felt as if I could move, if I wanted to, but I had no desire to either. The hand and arm grew until the shoulder of the same man with the broad mouth smirked into the mirror. His head was so hunched down that it appeared as if he had no neck between his head and shoulders. He looked at me through the mirror and winked before turning to Jeremy. Jeremy glanced into the mirror and breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, it’s gone.”

“What?! NO HE’S STILL THERE!” I shouted and tried to push Jeremy out of the bathroom, but I was too late. The maniacal man cackled without a sound and I watched as the blade slashed down at Jeremy. I watched through the mirror in horror as blood came forth strike after strike. I couldn’t bear to turn and see Jeremy as he crumpled to the floor. After another series of strikes, the mysterious monster in the mirror ceased his action and his gaze turned to me. Our eyes met for a moment as his blood-covered face and knife, dripping with Jeremy’s blood, glinted with an evil sheen.

The others came running after hearing my scream. “What’s going on here?” Alfred demanded, while Felix joined his side without speaking. Both had looks of annoyance on their faces.

What surprised me most was not their appearance, but the fact Jeremy stood next to me staring into the mirror with a shocked look upon his face. When he realized I was looking at him, or rather past him, he looked over and saw our fellow roommates. No one said anything for several seconds and Alfred asked again, “What’s all the commotion? Y’all just playing or something, staring into the mirror?”

“Huh?” Jeremy’s question was what I was about to voice. It sounded stupider than I thought, so I refrained from speaking until I had something better to say.

“What’s with all the screaming?” Felix asked impatiently, “You’d think someone was dying or something.”

“I—uh. Well, I don’t know. Alex?”

“You saw it like I saw it.”

“No, I didn’t!” Jeremy protested.

I glared at him and he motioned with his eyes for me to check the mirror. When I did, I saw a masked man from the first appearance. Only this time, he was wearing a hood and precisely where Jeremy was standing. The icy feeling of horror petrified my entire body as fear set in. I blanched, and the whiteness of my skin must have been clear enough to Felix and Alfred as they changed their demeanor at once. The figure shook his head. I understood it to mean that I could not let them know who Jeremy appeared to be. “It was nothing. I was just trying to prank Jeremy, and then you all, but Jeremy doesn’t want to play along, I guess.”

I sighed to emphasize the point. Alfred looked exasperated by my answer more than anything. “Really?”

 “Really.” I replied with as much force as I could muster. “I guess it isn’t in the cards. You should go back to bed.”

Alfred left, but Felix stayed. He was looking at me with curiosity. “Ya sure you’re okay?”

“I am completely fine.” I said, with a hint of hysteria in my voice. “And I will go to bed shortly.”

“Well—uh, alright then. You look like you’ve seen a ghost, though. Don’t let the night get to you Alex.” Felix turned and strode away. Before he closed the door to his room, he turned his head to me and said, “Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” The door shut, and I slowly turned my gaze to Jeremy, who was still looking at me and then at the mirror. I leaped back as I saw another figure in the mirror. This time, the figure visible to me wore a Ghostface mask. I leaped back to avoid the hand-axe he was swinging. I narrowly evaded it. Jeremy shut the bathroom door and grappled me, covering my mouth in the process. I watched as the axe man prepared a second swing and attempted to scream.

“There is no help.” Jeremy said. “There is only becoming one with us.”

I whimpered as the axe silently whizzed through the air and I burst forth from my bed with adrenaline running through my veins. I looked about frantically, and after a moment, I decided it was all a dream. My throat felt hoarse and a glass of water might soothe it, so I moved from my room to the bathroom. I flipped on the light before entering and stared into the mirror, checking every corner as I crept into the bathroom. “It was all just a dream. Don’t be crazy Andrew. Don’t be crazy.”

I poured a glass of water as my thoughts raced through the dream. It occurred to me I was not me, but I was Andrew. No. That wasn’t right. I was Alex; I was Alex in the dream, but my name was Andrew. I shook my head and downed the water from the tap. I looked up into the mirror and smiled until my grin turned my features into a Ghostface mask and I could no longer stop smiling.

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