Eden

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn’t my own. I only knew it wasn’t me because of the eyes, lightless eyes that stared back at me emptily. Everything else about the face matched my own, but those eyes terrified me.

With a slight tilt of her head, my reflection smiled at me. Her mouth moved, saying words I could not hear, yet I knew by each movement of her lips what she said.

“Just a little bit closer.”

I don’t know why, but I felt compelled to obey. I took a small step towards the mirror, then another, and another. As my face neared the glass, a mere inch between it and my nose, my breath fogged its surface and turned to mist that wafted around my reflection like smoke. She continued to smile at me, though I now stood too close to see more than her eyes. Fear prevented me from turning away.

She stepped back and away from me, though I felt no ease at the distance she placed between us. Somehow, being so close to the mirror meant I remained within her reach, yet my feet would not move at the urgency blaring in my mind.

“Look,” I saw my reflection say.

As she stepped aside, I saw the room behind me in perfect detail. It was the same, except, like my reflection, it wasn’t. The colours were dull, as though polluted by shadow.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as a chill made my hair stand on end. Something lurked beyond the walls of that room

My reflection returned, her face as close to the mirror as my own. She took a step back. I did, too. With each step she took, I followed, as though I were the reflection. That thought terrified me, and I screamed at myself to look away, to run, to escape.

The scream was only in my head, and it went unanswered.

I saw her smiling, as though she new my thoughts. Perhaps she did.

In horror, I watched her hand raise and come to rest on her chest. I felt my own pressing lightly on the same spot, hovering just over my wildly beating heart. Clammy sweat beaded on my flesh as a wave of dizziness threatened to topple me.

My reflection opened her mouth, but the words came out of my own. “All I have is yours.”

The sudden fever must have given me a newfound strength, for I managed to turn away. I grabbed the first thing I saw, a dust-covered sheet I’d dropped earlier, and flung it over the mirror. The moment the glass was concealed, my knees gave way beneath me. I had managed to free myself from the mirror’s spell, but the power of the fever remained.

“Eden? Eden, are you in─ EDEN!”

A pair of hands grabbed my face, and I was forced to look up into the eyes of Great-Aunt Mariposa. I saw her worry and tried to reassure her.

“You are not fine,” she quibbled. “Did you see?”

My swirling brain could not comprehend her meaning. “I don’t know what you─”

“─The mirror! Did you see inside the mirror?”

She was shouting at me with no regard for my headache. I could feel fever-induced tears running down my cheeks. I just wanted this feeling of weakness to go away. “She talked to me.”

“Eden, think very carefully. Who did you see? What did she say?”

“She didn’t say anything. I did.”

Great-Aunt Mariposa’s lips tightened. I could see the fear in her eyes, and I knew she knew something. I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t think straight.

“We need to get you into bed,” she decided. “Come on, you’ll need to help me out. I can’t carry your weight at my age. That’s a good girl. One foot in front of the other. That’s the way.”

When I came to, I was lying in bed with a cold compress placed on my forehead. The fever had broken but I still felt awful. My body shuddered, and I made an involuntary noise in my throat. With my eyelids heavy, I glanced around the room. I was back in my bedroom. My boxes of stuff still sat stacked wherever floorspace permitted, waiting to be unpacked. They’d been sitting there for almost a week as I couldn’t bring myself to believe that this was to be my new home.

The door opened. “Awake at last,” Great-Aunt Mariposa greeted. She smiled, but the creases of worry could not blend in with the fine lines that aged her. “How do you feel?”

“Like someone threw my brain in a blender then poured it back in my head.”

“I brought you some soup. It will help.”

Though I would have preferred staying in my current position, I pushed myself up, so I was seated with my back against the headboard for support. “Thank you.”

With her watching, I tasted the soup. Hunger flared to life within me, and after a few mouthfuls, I could feel my strength beginning to return.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Great-Aunt Mariposa sighed in relief.

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” I told her with a small laugh.

She turned her eyes away, opting to stare at the boxes. “I know this can’t be easy for you, the difficulties you’ve had to face at your age. Though I don’t mind having you here until you get back on your feet, surely you would have preferred to stay with your mother instead of this old aunt you barely know.”

“No,” I said harshly. “And don’t ever speak of that woman to me again.”

She blinked at me, evidently shocked by the venom in my tone. “Very well. If that’s what you wish.”

“Thank you, Great-Aunt Mariposa.”

“It’s not my place to tell a grown woman what to do, but if you’re going to stay here you may as well call me Aunt Mari.” She grabbed the empty bowl from me and made as though to leave, then turned back to me. “And don’t go near that room again.”

When she had gone, I decided to get out of bed. Her words made no sense to me. What room?

Though my limbs still felt a bit like jelly, I made my way to the ensuite. After washing my face, I glanced at myself in the mirror. My skin had paled from the fever and there were bags under my eyes, eyes that stared back emptily. Her eyes.

Gasping, I jumped away from the mirror, hitting my head against the wall. “Ack,” I grunted, rubbing the back of my head.

Warily, I glanced back at the mirror. My reflection was my own this time. “I must have been imagining things,” I decided. “Just a feverish illusion.”

Feeling more drained than energized, I returned to bed. I don’t remember when I fell asleep, but I woke up to the late afternoon sun shining through the gaps in the floral curtains leaving strips of light on the floor. It might have been residual fatigue from the extended nap, but something about it didn’t seem right. The shadows were darker, more ominous; they felt alive.

My throat chose that moment to close, and I gasped for breath. The room shifted and warped as I continued to suffocate. Then, I woke up. At least, that’s what I try to convince myself.

I sat up, surveying the room that looked completely normal. Trying to calm my breathing, I got up to peer out the window. The trees surrounding the house reminded me of a wall. They were the sentries, though I couldn’t decide whether they were protecting the inside from something on the outside, or the outside from something within.

“All I have is yours?” I muttered, the words just popping into my mind. “What does that even mean?”

I watched the clouds rolling overhead, chasing the sun towards the horizon. A few drops splattered against the window as it began to rain. The sound of the rain didn’t soothe me like it so often did.

The light flickered on, and I came face-to-face with my reflection. She smiled at me, her lightless eyes holding me captive. “I’m coming,” I hear myself say. But those are her words, not mine.

“Oh good, you’re up,” Aunt Mari said behind me. “Does this mean you’re feeling better? Eden?”

Lightning streaks across the sky and the power of my reflection is broken. I pull the curtains closed in hopes that they’ll be able to keep her out.

“Aren’t you a little old to be afraid of thunderstorms?”

I look at Aunt Mari and laugh to cover my fear and embarrassment. “I suppose I am.”

“Why don’t you come on downstairs? I could make us some hot chocolate and we can watch a movie.”

“Do you have popcorn?”

Aunt Mari smiled at me. “Of course.”

My fever hadn’t totally gone away yet, but I didn’t want to be alone. I believed that if I stayed with Aunt Mari, then I would be left in peace. The stress, the heartache, the anger, the loss, the hurt, the betrayal, that was the reason I’d come. I needed an escape, a chance to start fresh.

That night, as the storm raged outside, I felt a sense of calm. An uneasy calm. The real storm was coming.

I don’t remember if I saw the end of the movie. I just remember waking up to the smell of bacon. “I’m sorry, Aunt Mari. I didn’t mean to fall asleep during our movie night.”

“No need to apologize, dear. Are you feeling better today?”

“I think so,” I told her as honestly as I could. The unease remained, but the fever seemed to have gone away. “I’ll be better once I have some of whatever you’re making. It smells delicious!”

“If your appetite is back then I’m glad. Do you have any plans for today?”

I took a seat at the table as she placed the tray of bacon alongside other breakfast goodies. “I think I’ll start unpacking.”

Aunt Mari looked shocked for a moment, then she broke out in a large grin. “Oh, Eden. That’s simply marvelous. But don’t push yourself too far. You only just recovered from your fever, and I won’t have you working yourself back into the sick bed right away.”

“You got it,” I promised, then proceeded to eat my fill.

With the breakfast put away and dishes cleaned, I went to my room to unpack. I worked my way through the boxes slowly, taking my time finding places for each of my belongings. When the empty boxes started taking up space, I collected them and carried them to the designated storage room.

On the way back to my room, I stopped in front of a closed door, staring at the doorknob intently. “I just need to make sure,” I said, already pushing the door open. I didn’t open it all the way, just a crack wide enough to peer through.

The sheet still covered the mirror, through one corner had slid off. I’d thrown the sheet hastily, so it made sense that perhaps I hadn’t gotten it hooked over properly. Still, even seeing a corner of the wood exposed turned my stomach into knots. What was more, a crack had appeared in the wall climbing away from the uncovered corner. I was sure it hadn’t been there before, but it seemed logical that I might have missed seeing it.

I was reaching out to grab the sheet before I realized I’d entered the room. In a moment of clarity, I realized what I was doing and made a hasty escape, slamming the door shut behind me. I didn’t look back, running until I reached my room. I collapsed to my hands and knees in a panic, and there I remained until my heartrate returned to normal.

“What am I doing?” I asked myself, leaning back against the wall. “You’re letting your past life stir up hallucinations, that’s all this is. Get a grip and stop trying to sabotage this chance to move on. It’s all in your head.”

I knew I was only fooling myself, but those thoughts were easier to believe than what was really going on.

“There’s only one thing to do at a time like this,” I decided.

Aunt Mari’s house sat located just up the hill from a small town. Forest surrounded it, and there were all manner of hiking trails nearby. With all the nature waiting for exploration, it was time to get back into building better lifestyle habits. Out here, with plenty of fresh air, I figured it would be easy. After all, it’s more exciting to go out jogging in a forest than down city sidewalks.

I knew Aunt Mari would protest to my going jogging, but I assumed there would be no reason to deny my chance at going on a short walk. I told her I needed to breathe the countryside air to clear my lungs and my head.

“There’s chance of rain still today yet,” Aunt Mari cautioned.

“Don’t worry,” I told her as I tied on my running shoes. “I won’t go far. I only want to explore the area a little bit to see what jogging paths I might want to take.”

“Very well,” she acquiesced. “But try not to stay out too long. You’ve already had a busy day.”

I smiled warmly at her, refreshed by her caring nature. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone genuinely worried for my safety out of love rather than selfishness.

The air outside smelled clean compared to the city. With the scent of moist earth mingled with pine, I felt energized. Though it was a bit dark due to the overcast skies, I made my way down the gravel driveway towards the trees. The drive blended in with the road so that it would have been impossible to tell where one began and the other ended without the mailbox to mark the divide.

The trees to either side of the road were starting to fill in with leaves after a long winter. The grasses growing betwixt them already reached up to my knees, and flowers could be seen poking their heads up above them. Butterflies could be seen in all directions in numbers I had never seen before. Watching them lifted my heart and brought peace to my mind. I could have stayed there among them forever.

A drop of rain lighted on my cheek, and I looked up through the branches at the sky. I could hear the droplets splattering against the leaves.

Raising my hood, I turned back. If it hadn’t been for the previous day’s fever, I thought I might have stayed out to enjoy the rain. As it was, I didn’t want to worry Aunt Mari too much more than I already had. Even so, by the time I got back to the house, rainwater dripped from my clothes.

Aunt Mari frowned at me the moment she saw my drenched state. “To the bath,” she commanded with a firm pointing of her finger.

I felt no urge to argue with her. A hot bath sounded like just what I needed.

As Aunt Mari got the water ready, I went to my room to strip myself of the wet clothes. Wrapped in my robe, I found, to my delight, a perfectly prepared bubble bath. The smell sent me back to the days of my youth, and a time when life hadn’t seemed so rough. Giddily, as though I had reverted to my childhood self, I practically jumped into the tub. The water instantly gave ease to my body, and I leaned my head back against the edge to relax.

I don’t know how long that sense of peace lasted, but it wasn’t long enough. I soon got that unnerving feeling that I was being watched. Ignoring it didn’t work, as much as I wished it would.

Inhaling deeply, I opened my eyes. At first, I refused to look away from the ceiling. Slowly, hesitantly, I glanced at the door. It remained shut. No one had entered the room by the looks of things, but I knew with certainty that I wasn’t alone.

With my breath quickening, I stared at the fogged mirror. Panic overcame me and I started to gasp as hot tears burned my eyes from the paralyzing anxiety attack. I pressed myself against the tub, curling up into a fetal position as best I could, my shaking body causing ripples in the water. The bubbles were almost gone, but I still thought they might hide me.

From behind the mirror, spreading up the walls and onto the ceiling, what looked like cracks in the plaster were forming. They grew not only in length but in width as well, allowing me a glimpse into the abyss. A hissing whisper echoed out from the darkness, the words repeating and overlapping as they grew in finality.

“All I have is yours.”

My hands lost their grip on the edge of the porcelain, and I slipped beneath the water. I nearly inhaled bathwater in my shock, but I managed to sit up and gasp air instead. When I wiped the water from my eyes, the mirror had returned to normal. There were no cracks, no darkness, and no voice. I was alone once more, yet the uneasiness remained.

Not wanting to risk drowning myself accidentally, or another hallucinogenic episode, I pulled the plug and stepped out of the tub. I dried myself quickly and dressed in a rush. My first thought was to find Aunt Mari. I craved her presence, the presence of someone real and comforting.

“Aunt Mari?” I called, thinking she might be in the kitchen. When there was no response, I figured on checking her bedroom.

I found her in the last place I expected. She stood outside the door to the room wherein sat the mirror, and her hand stretched towards the doorknob.

“Wait, Aunt Mari! Don’t open it!”

Aunt Mari paused, turning a confused expression in my direction. “What are you─”

I grabbed her hand, yanking her away from the door. “Don’t open it!” I reiterated forcefully. The fear had me in a frenzy, but I knew something lay in wait beyond that door. I didn’t know what it was or how it got there, but I knew in my gut that it had come from beyond the walls within the mirror. “It’s not safe. Please, you can’t. . ..”

My words fell away as I collapsed in another panic attack.

“Eden!” Aunt Mari exclaimed in fright, kneeling next to me. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t speak. The words were trapped in my throat. It felt like someone had their hands around my neck, squeezing until I couldn’t breathe.

“It’s okay,” Aunt Mari crooned, holding me, and rocking me as though I were a child. “I’m here.”

Her words had a calming effect, and soon I felt the control of my body returning.

“There. You’re fine now.”

“No,” I gurgled, the word catching in my throat. “No, it’s not fine. It will never be fine with that thing in this house.”

Aunt Mari looked at me with an expression I hadn’t seen before. She knew exactly what I was talking about. She understood my fear. “What thing?” she asked, feigning innocence.

“The mirror!” I snapped.

She looked away from me sheepishly. “It’s just an antique.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

I grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to face my desperation. “It’s evil! I don’t know what lurks inside it, but it wants to get out. I know you already know that. We have to destroy it before it has the chance to destroy us!”

“How?”

“Do you have a sledgehammer? A regular hammer will do if you don’t. Or maybe a baseball bat, a crowbar, a cast iron pan? Anything that could break the glass.”

“Dylan kept his tools in the garage. I never got rid of them.”

Grabbing her by the hand, I dragged her away from the room.

“I’m sorry,” Aunt Mari whimpered behind me. “I thought it had given up. It’s been quiet for so long. . ..”

“It’s not your fault,” I reassured her. “Let’s just get it dealt with now before it’s too late. That thing from the other side, whatever creepy alternate mirror reality it’s from, it can’t be allowed to touch this one anymore than it already has.”

We found her late-husband’s toolbox. A layer of dust coated it and everything within from lack of use, but even the beginnings of rust were no obstacle. I scooped up a hammer, hefting its weight. The head felt heavy, and I knew it would serve well.

With weapons in hand, we made our way back to the room. Each step churned my stomach, but I forced myself to go on. I wanted to stay with Aunt Mari, but I couldn’t live the rest of my life in fear. If I was to be able to move on from my past, destroying this mirror was the first step. I don’t know why I felt that to be true, but I just knew it was.

Hand trembling, Aunt Mari turned the knob and pushed the door open.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. The room had been completely transformed. It was no longer of this world, but of some other. Though the furniture sat where I remembered them being, I couldn’t recognize them. The best way to describe it was that it appeared as an extension of the room beyond the mirror.

As for the mirror, it sat completely uncovered, the sheet I’d thrown over it now in a heap on the floor. A sort of veil like smoke poured out along its edges, consuming everything it touched. I felt a tugging as the mirror drew me towards itself. Though I needed to get close if I wanted to smash it, I fought the urge to obey.

Making my way across the room, I tried to keep my focus on everything all at once. I didn’t want to make eye-contact with the mirror in case my reflection tried to make me her marionette doll. I didn’t want to be manipulated, not ever again.

With my senses working on overdrive, I soon found myself in front of the mirror. My arms trembled as I raised the hammer above my head. I could not longer resist the temptation. I looked up.

The mirror was empty. The room could still be seen reflected in it, but my reflection simply was not. I shouldn’t have hesitated. I should have taken that as my opportunity.

That one moment was all it took.

My reflection appeared suddenly, darting out from the mirror with arms outstretched. She grabbed my wrists, and I screamed. Her face, though my own, had become twisted and warped. The eyes bulged outward, and the mouth widened beyond what any human’s should. Her scream echoed my own, though where mine had been birthed of fright, hers sounded triumph.

“Eden! Eden, smash it!” I heard Aunt Mari shouting. “Do it now!”

I wanted to do as she said, but the power of my reflection grew overwhelming.

The gaping mouth continued to expand as my unrecognizable reflection laughed at my weakness. She loomed over me, her flesh starting to merge with my own.

That terrified my more than anything, and I finally found the strength to bring the hammer down.

That was the last thing I remembered. I must have blacked out after shattering the mirror. It wouldn’t surprise me to wake up in the hospital with my face shredded. At least the deed was done, though I couldn’t imagine feeling safe looking in any reflective surfaces for a while.

I opened my eyes to see a familiar ceiling. I wasn’t in the hospital.

My body felt stiff and sore. From what I gathered of my surroundings, I lay on the floor. I couldn’t see Aunt Mari, and the worry for her safety jolted me into wakefulness. “Aunt Mari!” I called, searching for her.

I stood, staring at the room in confusion. Things look off, backwards even. The colours, they were wrong. Looking down at my feet, I don’t see any glass.

“Aunt Mari?” I called, taking a few steps forward.

I stop. The door. It’s gone.

Bracing myself for what I might find, I turn around. The mirror is unbroken, just as I feared, and my reflection is watching me in amusement.

She smiles at me and beckons me closer.

Trembling, I obey.

With a vicious grin on her face, she holds up the hammer that only moments before had been in my own hands. She hits the glass, her face and the room breaking into fractions.

“NO!” I scream.

She continues to smile, tossing the hammer aside. “All that was yours is now mine,” she says.

“Eden!” I hear Aunt Mari calling from elsewhere in the house.

“Aunt Mari!” I yell, pounding against the wall. I fear touching the mirror in case it shatters my only link to home.

“Supper’s ready.”

“Coming!” my reflection calls back, never taking her gaze off of me. She backs out of the room, maintaining eye-contact the entire time.

With her gone, I turn back to survey this new world I find myself trapped in. There’s no one else but me. I’m alone, just like I’d always wished to be. It’s peaceful, just like I’d always wanted.

Then I hear the creatures, the unknown things beyond the walls. I wonder how long it will take for them to break through. Will they kill me, eat me, tear me to pieces? Will they be able to pass through the mirror and enter my world?

I crumple to the floor, fingers intwined in my hair. I don’t know what’s real anymore. Maybe this is all in my head.

“Aunt Mari,” I moan. “Aunt Mari, Aunt Mari, Aunt Mari.”

Dr. Davidson watched the girl pityingly. Reality no longer touched her. She had become caged in her own mind, and nothing he did could help.

With nothing else to do, he left the padded room, sealing the heavy metal door behind him.

“How is she?” Dr. Peters inquired.

“No improvement.”

“Who was she?”

He made a note on the clipboard hung next to the door. “Eden.”

“Do you think she’ll ever truly be Eden again?”

“The mind is a mysterious thing,” he commented absently. “It weaves its own reality, a dimension inside of itself, and for a brief time, it interacts with the reality where we as humans coexist. Somewhere along the way, hers withdrew, disconnecting her from the reality where she ought to be living her life. Instead, she’s trapped in a world we know so little about. It’s impossible to say whether or not she’ll be allowed to come back.”

As they walked away, continuing their rounds, the girl in the room smiled. “All I have is yours.”