Reflections of the Other Side
Reflections of the Other Side
Dear Edwin,
I think it was at Heike’s funeral that I saw you last, before my exile into the countryside. With her passing, I could not stand to be around the society of men anymore, especially those at the university. I found a quiet place, a small house cradled by mountains and close to a charming little village. Here I aimed to retire with my books; I did not bring a single servant with me from the city. I hoped to find some peace from the tragedies plaguing my life’s end. However, as you know, my mind does not stay idle for long. What a fool I was to pursue knowledge best left untouched at this stage of my life! If you read this letter it means I have failed. I hope you will understand and do what I ask of you.
It was a month after I first arrived that I finally decided to venture down to the village. The evening sky was clear and just becoming twilight as I entered the empty main street. I made my way down the street towards the village square. I remember stopping before the square and wondering why it was deserted and the houses so dark; I had not seen a single soul since entering the village. It was while I was looking around that I saw a lone light at the end of a narrow alley towards my right. It was coming from a door, slightly ajar, of a rundown shop. I could see the shapes of various curiosities and antiques piled just inside the window. Oh, how I wish I never noticed that cursed shop at the end of that foul alley! And yet I walked towards it, like a moth to a flame, and entered its dusty confines.
I walked into that small shop, looking at all the various old items strewn about, and approached the counter. There, an old Asiatic man wearing a robe, possibly Turkish in origin, greeted me. He saw that I was staring at the mirror directly behind him and hastily took it down and placed it before me. At this point, not wanting to buy some useless garbage, I made to leave and continue on my way. But that cursed man knew exactly what to say to tempt me! He told me that the mirror could reveal to me knowledge of “the other side” if I gazed upon it at midnight. Of course I took him for a mad man, yet he only smiled and, to my disbelief, said that it could show me “her.” It could show me my sweet Heike! In my troubled and confused state I gave the man a few coins and took the mirror under my arm. Turning to leave, he told me one last thing that I now wish I truly heeded, although I thought he was mad and I a hopeless fool. He told me that I must not look into the eyes of anything that appears in the mirror, or “it will cross over and not rest until you join it.”
I brought the mirror home and hung it in my study. After a brief inspection of its ordinary frame, I became distracted by my books and forgot about the foolish item. However, towards midnight, I felt the familiar grief and loss that overwhelms me in the late hours. I sat before the mirror and stared at my tired eyes, watching as the clock behind me slowly approached midnight. Dear Edwin, please believe all that I say next! My image in the mirror began to shift and fade and before me a tall man came slowly into focus. I was so frightened that I only barely just remembered the words of the man in the shop. I stared off to the side and watched in my peripheral vision as the tall man walked towards the mirror and leaned forward, as if he was staring at his own face. He then abruptly walked to the side past the frame, only to be replaced by the shock of my life. A woman entered the frame and, out of the corner of my eyes, I could recognize the familiar golden-white shine of her hair. Startled, I looked up into the eyes of Heike and nearly fainted. All that remained of her beautiful eyes were two black pits full of devilish smoke! I saw her smile at me before I could remember myself and avert my horrified gaze.
Edwin, I am almost out of time since the clock swiftly approaches midnight, but I must tell you what happened next and what I need you to do if I fail. After that night, and for two weeks, Heike would appear in any reflective surface I passed by, appearing to get closer and closer with each frightening appearance. I tried to find the Turkish man in the village and return the mirror, but where his shop was now only exists a solid brick wall. I threw it into the river, but when I returned home it was hanging in my study, completely undamaged. As the weeks passed by, I locked myself in my room and avoided any reflection, barely managing the courage to venture out and eat the food that remained. I can hear her now at night, Edwin, whispering from the mirror in my study. She is haunting me, calling me to join her. Last night I woke up seated before the mirror in my study, the creature that was my Heike reaching out to me from the mirror. I’m going to try something radical since I feel my time is running out. I am going to try to capture her gaze in another mirror as it faces the cursed one, in a last hope that by gazing her own eyes Heike will return and rest in peace. If that doesn’t work, I beg you to destroy the mirror when they find me and this letter! Please, you must believe me!
Sincerely,
Adelbert
The police found the body of my friend Adelbert weeks after he passed, supposedly of heart failure. He was found slumped on a chair between two mirrors, a look of panic upon his gaunt face. In the village, they gave me the letter they found on his corpse, as well as the mirror that he wrote of. Ever since his wife died I was always concerned for him. It was a tragedy that he wasted away by himself, locked up in that cold country house.
The weather was too dark and stormy when I reached Munich to destroy and dispose of the mirror outside safely, so I hung it in my study with a sheet over it, since Adelbert’s mad letter was quite disturbing, to say the least. At some time during the evening, I fell asleep in my study chair and awoke to see the mirror facing me, its cover blown off by a strong draft. The letter must have frightened me, because I thought I saw the silhouette of Adelbert illuminated in the mirror by a sudden flash of lightning. The flash was enough to recognize the hollow outline of his familiar eyes. I quickly lit a candle but all that appeared in the mirror was my own scared expression. I deduced that I was jumping at my own shadow and, noticing the time to be just after midnight, made for my bedroom. Hopefully, tomorrow will see the destruction of this damned mirror.
Word count: 1247