Goblin Bites: Scary Stories 14

When Judy left home for college, she was eager to finally begin her young life of independence. She'd gotten into the school of her dreams on a scholarship, which her parents were very proud of even if it was a good three states over from her home. Although Judy didn't know anyone at her new school or the new town she would be moving to, she was a fairly outgoing young woman, and confident that she would make many new frends very soon.

Even before arriving on campus, Judy knew that unfortunately she couldn't afford to live in a dorm there. Fortunately for her, however, there was a small series of apartment buildings near the school that were much more affordable than the dorms. Plus, it gave her the added benefit of more space, without having to share that space with an assigned roommate. She signed a lease quickly on an apartment a block away from campus, then as soon as she was settled took a waitressing job at a cafe nearby to cover her rent.

She had been working and going to school for a full semester when she was walking back to her apartment one evening after a shift at the cafe. There was a quirky old antique store on the way, that she passed by often but hadn't had time to look around in. Sitting on the sidewalk outside the antique shop was a floor-length mirror that day, covered in a thick layer of brown paper and packing tape to protect the glass. She stopped to take a peek at the mirror, and within minutes she was in love with it: the beautiful, hand-carved trim, the brass furnishings on the sides, and even the sturdy, built-in wooden stand it possessed was breathtaking. She pried back a corner of the paper to check the glass, and was stoked to see that it was perfectly in tact. Judy wondered why the mirror was just sitting there outside, seeing as it was in such great condition, and decided to walk in and inquire about it to the proprieter.

The older man who ran the shop waved dismissively at the mention of the mirror. "I've had that old thing for ages," he'd said, "lots of people have bought it, but they always bring it back after a few weeks and ask for a refund. Honestly, I can't get rid of it! If you want it, you can have it... just don't try to return it later, got it?" Judy was over the moon at the man's offer and agreed to take it off his hands right away. It was awkward carrying the large mirror home by herself, but luckily she didn't live too far away from the antique shop.

Once she got it home and set it up in her bedroom, she carefully peeled off the paper and took a good look at it. The glass was immaculate, but a little dusty from being covered up for so long, so she grabbed some supplies from the kitchen to clean it. While she was wiping off the glass, she paused when she thought she saw her reflection smile at her. She shook it off, deciding she had imagined it due to exhaustion, then started getting ready for bed for the night.

The next morning after getting dressed, she stopped to check her outfit in her new mirror. She had liked what she picked out before putting it on, but as she studied her reflection, she suddenly heard a voice whisper, "Those jeans make you look fat."

Judy startled and qickly turned around, looking for the source of the voice, "What? Who said that?!" Of course, there was no answer. She looked at her reflection again with a frown, then a few minutes later changed out of her skinny jeans and into a long, flowy skirt instead.

As the weeks wore on, Judy found herself growing more and more self conscious about her appearance, which had never happened before. She second guessed every outfit she chose, which caused her to be late for class on more than one occasion, but it was more than that. She suddenly saw problems in the mirror that she hadn't noticed before: her nose seemed a bit too wide, her face too round, and her eyes too close together. Her hair too seemed a bit more stringy and flatter than usual, and she couldn't seem to do a thing with it. By the end of the month, she started walking across campus with her head down and hardly spoke to anyone.

Her friends had noticed the change in Judy, and voiced their concerns when they were hanging out one evening. They were in Judy's apartment, studying in her bedroom, when they noticed her glancing repeatedly at her mirror. One of her friends, Lila, frowned at her, "Judy, are you okay? You don't seem like yourself at all."

Judy's eyes glazed over, never leaving the silvered glass pane, "Am I okay? I've finally seen myself like I really am. All these flaws... How can I be okay if I'm so... so ugly?!"

Her friends traded a look, then turned back to Judy. "Ugly?" her other friend, Marie, repeated, "Girl, are you blind?! You're fabulous! Just look at your reflection!" To prove her point, Marie glanced at Judy's mirror, but quickly did a double take of her friend's reflection. Judy wasn't smiling on the bed beside her, in fact she looked close to tears, but in the mirror Judy's reflection was wearing a wide, almost manic grin. Marie blinked, and Judy's reflection immediately changed back to normal. Out of curiosity, Marie asked her friend, "Judy, when did you get that mirror? I don't think I noticed it here before."

While Judy started telling her friends about how she acquired the mirror, Marie studied the antique looking glass up close. Suddenly, she heard a loud voice whisper right next to her ear: "Those curls are so frizzy and nappy. How can you live like that?! It looks like you have a briar bush on your head!"

Marie whipped her head around angrily to her friends sitting on the bed, "Excuse you?! My hair looks absolutely gorgeous, thank you very much! I can't believe either of you would even say that!!"

Judy and Lila looked at Marie, stunned and confused. "We didn't say anything about your hair," Lila said, "Are you feeling okay?" Marie furrowed her brows, then looked back at the mirror again. Her reflection was smiling at her with deep, gleeful malice, but when she blinked - just like before - it returned to normal a second later. Marie gave a little shiver and took a step back from the mirror, "You know what? This thing kinda gives me the creeps. Mind if I cover it up?" Judy said she didn't mind, so Marie grabbed a heavy blanket from the closet and draped it over the mirror. Once the glass was covered, she returned to the bed and they all went back to studying again.

For about an hour, everything was fine. Judy had begun acting a little bit like her old self again and the mirror was momentarily forgotten about. Per Lila's suggestion, they put their books aside for the night and decided to do their nails to unwind a bit. Judy got up to grab her manicure kit from the closet, not realizing she had stepped on the corner of the blanket covering the mirror in the process. When the blanket slipped off the mirror, both Lila and Marie backpedadled against the headboard with a gasp. Judy turned back to look at them, alarmed and confused, "What? What's wrong? You guys are starting to freak me out here!"

Lila and Marie held each other, staring at the mirror silently in horror. Eventually, Lila managed to point at the silvered glass, her dark almond eyes wide with fear, and utter an unintelligible whimper. Judy slowly stepped over to look at the mirror herself, and the manicure kit in her hands smashed to the floor. Her reflection was staring back at her, closer to the glass than it ever had been before. Her hands had transformed into giant claws, scratching deep gouges into the glass from the other side, and her naturally blue eyes were hollow black pits as they stared back at her. "You shouldn't have done that," it said, "Why did you do that?! Why did you try to put me in the dark?!"

Judy's jaw worked silently, but no words came out. Her twisted reflection began to snarl and beat on the glass, finally causing a scream to erupt from Judy's throat. In a fit of panic, she tossed the blanket back over it, cowering immediately after at the inhuman snarl that came from underneath the blanket. The entire mirror shook and vibrated, requiring Judy to hold onto it to keep the blanket in place. "Help me!!" She screamed to her friends, tears of desperation running down her face. Lila and Marie broke from their stupor and immediately ran over, scrambling to figure out what they could do to help. Marie held the blanket tightly over the glass with Judy, while Lila ran out to the kitchen. A minute later, Lila returned with a hammer and a roll of duct tape.

She gave the hammer to Marie and muttered, "Just in case," then began taping the blanket in place over the mirror securely. She used up almost the entire roll just to make sure the blanket was on there to stay, flinching and yelping every time the mirror jumped and rattled under her hands. As soon as she stepped back, both Marie and Judy let go of the blanket. In a fit of panic, Judy then took the hammer from Marie and smacked the glass through the blanket a handful of times. More agonized, inhuman shrieks came from the mirror as it shattered, but Judy didn't stop hitting it with the hammer until the apartment was filled with silence again.

All three friends stood there, looking at each other in shock after, asking one another silently if what had happened actually happened. Eventually, Marie was the first to move again. She grabbed the mirror, carefully so that no shards of broken glass would fall out of the blanket, and dragged it out of the room. Judy and Lila followed her out, giving her a hand as she took it outside and tossed it in the dumpster behind the building.