Go Ask Alice

Introduction

This story is for the Vocal "Broken Mirror" Challenge which you can read about below.

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn't my own, not surprising because the silvering on the back of the glass was very worn and flaking, so I just saw a shadow reflected there. The glass was covered in hairline cracks so the actual mirror would have to be replaced, but the frame was what had drawn me to it.

I never frequented antique shops and junk shops because, to be honest, they were boring, but walking past this one in Alnwick the frame caught my eye and I had to go in and take a closer look.

The frame was amazing, with lots of intricate work, surmounted by a headpiece that made me think of the Nulliniac in Clive Barker's "Imajica". The frame made me think of intertwining snakes wreathed in gold, and the more I looked at it the more I had to have it.

I looked at the price and it was far too expensive, especially given the mirror itself would need replacing, so I found the owner and he came with me to look at the mirror. Whether it was the flaking silver or the hairline cracks, or something else their seemed to be about five or six shadow reflections in the mirror.

I said that I wanted it, mainly for the frame, but as the mirror was severely damaged I could only offer him as half his asking price.

Owner: "I can do you you a quarter reduction, but the mirror is fully functioning and has a story behind it. Would you like to hear about it before to you take it? We can deliver and hang it for you if you want, but we would not replace the mirror and would advise you not to try and replace it"

Me: "I really do want that frame, but I would like to know why I shouldn't replace the mirror and also about the provenance of the morror and frame"

Owner: "The last owner was a woman called Alice Lindle, she called herself a witch, but she was spiteful to the point of being evil. She hurt animal, and frightened children by telling that she had cursed their familes and when things happened the blame often fell on her.

She would invite newcomers to here house and more often than not they were never seen to leave, though she would ask them if they had friends or family in the area.

People would ask about the mirror and said it had been handed down through her family for many generations. When people remarked on the facked that they could not see their reflections, only shadows, she told then it was a prison for the stolen souls of those who crossed her. This only cam out when the police recieved a couple of complaints about missing people. The missing had let their friends and family know they had been invited to visit Alice Lindle, and that was the last that anyone heard of them.

The police got warrants to search the property, and in the basement and loft they found decaying bodies, being eaten by rats and crows.

Alice Lindle was arrested, and the bodies identified as those that had been reported missing as well as ten more of them. Alice obviously had mental issues and was sentenced indefinitely to Broadmoor. It her statement she said the souls of her victims were locked in her magic black mirror and if anyone broke the mirror they would be devoured my the souls that the mirror contained.

I'm probably not selling this very well am I?

There may be nothing in what she says, but you could probably send here a letter and ask more about the mirror"

Me: "You mean 'Go Ask Alice'?"

I laughed thinking of Jerefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and the subject of Lewis Carrol's "Alice" stories being called Alice Liddle, very similar to Alice Lindle.

Me: "That is an incredible story, but I do want to see myself in the mirror, but not as a tortured soul. Do you take cards? And yes I would love you to deliver and hang it for me, when can you do it?"

Owner: "Yes I've get the card reader and we can deliver and hang a week on Saturday between ten and twelve, is that OK for you"

Me: "That's great, looking forward to seeing that in my hall"

Owner: "That's in the book, but I really do think that you should leave the original mirror"

Me: "I will research it and take care before I change it, I might even try to ask Alice about it ......"

This story continues and concludes here