Broken Glass

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn't my own. What stared back at me from beyond the glass could have ben described as an eldritch monstrosity by some, nightmare fuel by others, grotesque by most, and to a select few, awe inspiring. Inky black flesh stretched over a skeletal frame, two heads on the same neck; one wearing a white actor's mask with empty eyes and vacant smile in addition to a set of antlers resembling those of a white tail deer, the other an amalgamation of mouths, teeth, and eyes. Tentacles branched out from its back, and for a moment, it seemed as though they were moving.

I left the room, a little shaken by what I had seen, but I managed to sketch out most of what I saw, but I spared some details. I cautiously returned to the mirror and lifted it off the wall. There was something inscribed on the back, but it was too faded to make out. I had acquired this mirror after my grandmother passed away, and had decided that I would hang it a few days ago. I hadn't paid much attention to it since then, but strange things have been happening around my apartment lately.

I've been hearing scratching noises in the night, and my dogs have been growlign lowly at my closed bedroom door; ultimately making it difficult to sleep. I wish I knew what to do, but I don't. My grandmother was superstitious and kept all her mirrors covered at night, and perhaps I should begin doing the same, because I'm starting to see this creature more and more frequently. It started out brief at first, like with my reflection beginning to have a darker and darker shade of skin until it turned completely black, and then the heads appeared. After that, it was a matter of time before the rest of it followed.

I don't know what this thing is or what it wants, but there is something both chilling and familiar about it. Another thing about my grandmother, was that she didn't like me all that much. I've had my suspicions that she wanted my parents to abort me, or at the very least, that she wanted me dead, but I brushed it off. She didn't act meanly towards me, just very distant and cold compared to my cousins and sister. I remember I woke up one night to her standing over me and chanting something I couldn't understand, her eyes vacant and cold as the darkness around us. I only stared up at her, frightened and confused. I had done nothing wrong, at least, nothing that I knew of.

I approach the mirror as the memory of that nights fades, and once again, I am confronted by the creature. It smiles at me, and I feel myself smile back.

"What are you?" I ask quietly.

I'm you. It answers back, and I'm hit with a realization: this mirror shows what we hide deep inside of ourselves. Our minds are powerful things, and it can hide from us the truth about ourselves, and this is what my mind was trying to hide from me. No wonder my grandmother didn't like me, she knew.

"What are we?" I ask.

Whatever you think we are. It replies.

It feels as though something clicks into place in my mind, like something that was kept hidden had finally made itself known to me, and I think that this thing in the mirror is that missing piece. I smile, thinking about all the people who have hurt me, and thinking about the creature that I see before me, I wonder what I could do to them if they knew that this was the real me. How many ways could I exact revenge? Something else clicks into place: the inscritption on the back of the mirror. I'm willing to bet that whatever that inscription is, it's meant to keep this creature trapped.

"How do I get you out?" I ask, wanting mroe than anything to embrace the darker side of me, the side that aches to be free.

Break the glass. It replies softly.

Without hesitation, I grab the nearest heavy object, a large three wick candle, and drive it through the glass; freeing the thing that has been dying to get out.