Mirror, Mirror

1

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn't my own. Clouds of grey smoke twirl upward spiraling around the colored tapestries hanging above my crown. The still warm mouthpiece of my water pipe sits only inches from where it left my wicked lips. Her image still lingers in the reflecting glass, haunting me. My poor dead stepdaughter. Daddy’s perfect little princess all rotted away.

My skin prickles with the sight of her. Smile lines crease the pale skin on my cheeks as the corners of my lips turn up. My eyes linger at the sight of her once stunning, dark as midnight hair that flowed in lustrous waves over her small shoulders when she was alive. I take pleasure in seeing it as it is now, falling in matted dirty locks that cover her lowered face. A chuckle escapes my mouth at the vision of her beloved blue and yellow dress she wore with such perfection and innocence in life now hanging off her dead body tattered and frayed. My smile widens seeing the smudges of earth streaked down her once pale as the driven snow skin on each of her arms. Finally, I stop at the red apples clutched in both of her hands. A single bite missing from each. Two gifts I gave to her.

What has she done? I question, rhetorically. This girl. This naive girl. I am the evil queen. She has no idea the power I command. She thinks possessing a magic mirror will bring me fear. I am her murderer. I am the monster in this room, not her. I watch as she lifts her head up. Her empty sunken eyes stare at me from the other side of the glass.

All around me the room I am in comes suddenly alive with the sound of crows cawing. Their rattle calls echo off the sandstone blocks that form the castle walls. A strange wind rushes in from stained glass windows, I know are closed. My breath catches. Words coming from nowhere are spoken in her soft, birdsong voice.

Magic, mirror who is the deadest one of all?

Slowly Snow White drops the apples from her dead hands. Her left arm rises toward me, her index finger extends out until the tip of that finger points directly at me. She begins moving forward as if she will walk right out of the mirror's glass. Even in death she moves with grace. My heart feels as though it will burst from my chest and spill still beating onto the floor to bounce across the wood with every contraction. Her sweet voice drifts back into the room this time more sinister than before.

My Queen, you will be the deadest one of all

Snow White, her features twisted in unnatural distortions begins to run toward the mirror’s front. I fall backward unable to control my fear. Before I can catch myself I land awkwardly on the timber floor. My hands and legs move together to slide my body further away from the mirror. A helpless feeling invades my every thought. I watch in terror as my darling Snow White bursts through the glass vanishing into a mist that hovers in the cold castle air a moment before dissipating. My voice escapes me in an involuntary scream of words.

"MIRROR, MIRROR!" My breath rushes out of me uncontrollably. I am hyperventilating. I have never been touched by fear in this way. I am a sorceress of the highest order. I have taken this kingdom and become its queen with a mastery of spells. I have vanquished this pure and innocent child twice before. Flames lick their way up the mirror’s glass spilling warmth into the room. My slave, my demon familiar, appears in the glass before me. I look at the floating face of the wizard I trapped within its surface years ago and instantly my fear is replaced with a boiling rage.

"Why have you done this? Why have you allowed this fright, this ghoul into my magic?" I demand. His answer comes in a familiar baritone voice.

"My Queen it is not I but Snow White who has overtaken your magic. Her spirit is wrought with energy much stronger than my own. You used too much dark magic in vanquishing her. You have upset a balance that is meant to separate the dark from the light. Fair Snow White cannot ascend her soul is too tarnished by what you have done. She cannot sink either, my queen the pureness she breathed in life is too bright to be burned in Gehenna. Your magic has trapped her in a purgatory between the fates that has allowed her to breach the veil between the living and dead." I interrupt him not knowing if he has finished tired of his blaming and inane explanations of what I already know. Does he not think I know of the balance?

"I am not concerned with how she has come to be this way. I am concerned with how I will finally rid myself of her." My hands go to the hourglass curve just above my hips. Determination to destroy my annoying stepdaughter once and for all rakes through my every thought.

"If I may, my queen?" The low notes of his voice float from the mirror’s surface once more. I turn away, irritation swimming through the crystal seas of my eyes. I have no time for his drabble.

"Go on if you must but make it quick. I need time to decide how I will do away with Snow White for the third time." As soon as I am finished, he answers with what I perceive to be a note of masked eagerness in his voice. But I dismiss my trepidation as soon as it comes in another wave of anger for Snow White.

"If you were to break my glass while her image was within me her pathway to this world would be gone." I contemplate this. A rumble of laughter makes its way up my throat and escapes me.

"Mwhahaha, muwhahahaha" The pure simpleness of it is divine. Break the glass, that's it. I stop in my tracks and spin to face the mirror again when the realization that my initial suspicions of his eagerness were correct. "You would like that wouldn't you? I break the glass and then you're free."

"I was only thinking of stopping Snow White, my queen." I stare deep into him. Tendrils of smoke rise through his glass.

"Go now mirror. I need time to think of how I will break the glass and keep you trapped."

2

The bite of the first apple I gave Snow White brought her sleeping death. I thought I was rid of her then, sleeping forever in the glass coffin outside her little dwarfs’ house. Until good looking, but terribly dumb Prince Ferdinand came along to give true love’s kiss.

They were so happy in those first moments after she woke. Happily ever after was right there for them. That's when the bite of the second apple I gave came into play. I didn't repeat the mistake of the first apple. The bite of the second apple brought forth a hideous, gut-wrenching death that left them both screaming with pain as they died.

I can still hear the sound of their cries when I close my eyes. Sweet music that plays in the melodies of my heart when I think of it. Poor stupid Prince Ferdinand. A single bite of a poisoned apple puts his princess to sleep and what does our hero prince do on his way to rescue dear sweet innocent, Snow White? He accepts an apple from a broken old women and thanks her after he takes a fatal bite remarking how sweet the taste of it is. Even now I can picture with exact detail the moment he kissed her. The instance their lips touched my apple’s spell was activated. I still get warm goosebumps each time I see the vision of that one fatal kiss.

I thought my evil intentions were complete with her death. The kingdom was finally mine. The fumbling king, who I had poisoned years before was gone. His sole heir was dead. For an entire year I lived in the bliss of Snow White’s death. Every night after she screamed her way into the afterlife, I stood in front of my prized Rococo mirror asking my slave wizard who was the fairest one of all. I cannot describe the ecstasy I felt in hearing, I was indeed once more the fairest maiden in all the land.

Morning air whistles through the castle towers and flutters the flags on the highest points. The air is cold this spring. The peasants below will complain of their difficulties to grow their crops. They will ask for relief. I will give them only fresh taxes or death if they prefer in return.

Pushing the thoughts of peasants away I turn to Snow White, she is the only thought I have time for. Tonight, will be our finale and I will be ready for our final curtain call. Since her attack I have been formulating a spell that will not only banish her from this world but send her into the deepest parts of the netherworld where she will suffer for an eternity instead of ascending to the heaven she deserves. It will be my last revenge against the pureness of her soul.

After sleeping a few restless hours, I have come to a room in the very center of the castle. The queen’s room where only I am allowed. Bright yellow flames lick up from the floor painting the damp sandstone blocks of the surrounding walls with dancing light. It is time for my incantation. Slowly I turn the intricately carved wooden ladle in the center of my cauldron in slow circles. Allowing the deadly wood of the Manchineel tree to infuse inside the spell. Images of demons start to appear in the shadows of the flames as I call forth the evil I need.

Creatures of the Netherworld come forth and give the power I seek,

come forth Diablerie, sweet Diabolus give the strength of Lamia,

devour the daughter of Zeus, blight this spirit of ascension, curse this vital

spark to Caina. Tooth of wolf, scale of dragon, eye of newt, bark of

poisoned tree, mix, boil, and bubble, devils' dung, dew of sea, holly hock

silver dust, toil thy cauldron with trouble, baneberry, chanterelle, boil

boil, blind worms sting, bride of the sun, blood of Hestia, come together,

sew this fiendish wickedness. Fuse this apple, harden its core to shatter

enchanted glass, to banish the one I want gone, and keep trapped the one

I want remained.

3

The castle gate is closed the binding chain is drawn tight. The windows are barred with oak timbers. My chamber doors are shut with their bolts slid into place. It will only be me and Snow White tonight. It is time for my dead stepdaughter to learn a final lesson. I have already taught her about having beauty fairer than my own. Now it's time to teach her about coming back to haunt me.

A pale moon shines in the dark of night. Incantations I’ve chanted all evening course through my veins infusing my blood with magic. Goosebumps rise on my flesh as my body tingles with anticipation. I crave this. I have never felt more desire for anything as much as I feel for destroying my troublesome stepdaughter.

Snow white, I whisper her vile name tasting each one of the sour syllables as I speak them. The hour of midnight is here. The time has come. I move to take my place in front of the mirror.

My image stands before me in the reflecting glass. Each curve, each exquisite line of my elegant body attracts my vision. My figure is a perfect sculpture of beauty. I look from my porcelain skin to the dark oceans of my eyes, and I know I am more than this kingdom deserves. Taking a moment to linger over the long black strands of shimmering hair falling over my shoulders I ready myself for what is to come, then I speak.

“Magic, mirror where is my dear sweet Snow white?” Smoke rises through the glass. Flames starting at the bottom edges of the ornate gold trim surrounding the glass grow bigger in size until they engulf the mirror’s entire surface. The shadowed face of my familiar slave does not appear. The fire flickers out leaving the glass black. In a distance beyond the room where I stand a familiar, torn, blue and yellow dress begins to appear at the edge of my sight.

I watch my dead stepdaughter as she slowly approaches waiting for the perfect moment to give her my last apple. Faintly at first then louder her once living voice fills the air around me with her angelic sound. She taunts me with every word she sings.

Who is the fairest of them all?

Snow White is fairer

Ugly Queen

Snow White is the fairest of them all

Worms drop out of her mouth as she sings. A smell of rotting decay permeates the room. A trace of fear races through me before I push it away again. I will not allow myself to be scared by this child. My fingers squeeze down against the shiny red skin of the third apple I have prepared for her. Underneath the tips of my fingers, I feel the pulse of the spell I placed inside the apple’s core thudding with evil intent. The time has come to put this trouble to an end. The time to throw the last apple is finally here.

As if she can read my mind her dead eyes shoot up to my own. Her broken limbs move in a lumbering run gaining speed as she races toward the surface of the mirror. Creaks of glass fill my ears. I know only seconds are left before my lost stepdaughter will burst from the mirror shattering the glass and sending a thousand shards flying through the air that will plunge deep into my skin and drain my crimson blood like a blanket of knives being thrown over me and wrapped tight.

Her mouth opens into a black hole of screaming death. I have no time left. I throw the apple. In a blur of red the apple turns over in quick revolutions as it flies. Time slows to crawl. The skin of the apple impacts the mirror's glass just as Snow White's pale decayed face reaches the other side. An explosion of light fills the room blinding my vision. Stepping clumsily back I rub my eyes and wait for my vision to clear.

Slowly the room comes back into focus. First a blurred image of the broken mirror begins to appear. Then a clear portrait of the mirror’s backing naked of glass materializes. My eyes focus on a black knot swirling in the center of the wood. A black hole in the aftermath of battle. Inhaling deeply, I think, she is gone.

Looking away from the mirror I search the glass on the floor to see which shard my apple has captured my slave in. That's when I feel it. A shiver of icy fear running down my spine. Hands clasp around each of my arms. Tiny knives fashioned from nails on the tips of fingers stab into my flesh. Magic other than my own twists into me. Horror spreads through my mind as I try to move and realize I am paralyzed.

"Hello, my queen." His familiar voice sends terror running through my blood. What have I done? The question screams inside my mind. I try to speak but my mouth won't open, my tongue won't move.

"Thank you for letting me out after so long." His breath is hot as it falls on my neck. "I've tried for years to find a way out of that mirror. When I saw your silly jealousy over that innocent girl. The lengths you were willing to go to. To kill a child just for your vanity. That's when I knew I'd found my escape. I do feel awful for poor Snow White, may her soul rest peacefully. I am forever in her debt." A raspy laugh escapes his throat. "How silly you were to never consider that she had not come back. Creating a phantom is apprentice magic, my queen. But I counted on your jealousy blinding you. In your rush you never considered that once your magic entered the mirror the bonds you hold over me outside of it would be powerless. If only you had taken a moment to think about what you were doing. If you had, you may have remembered that I never lost control of my magic inside the mirrors realm." His lips move closer to my ears. "It was child's play to block your entrapment spell. I do admit, it was a gamble to assume you would use an uncomplicated spell, to believe you would be so focused on your departed stepdaughter that you wouldn't consider that I might fight back against your magic. I am pleased to know I was correct, I cannot tell you my queen, how sweet this moment is."

I shout incantations in my mind. Anything to break the magic he has cast over me. I must move. I must fight. I must not allow this. Move! I command it, I shout inside my mind. Desperation leaks into my thoughts. For the first time in my life, I feel real panic. Please move, I plead. Even a finger, a single twitch of a strand of muscle is all I ask. Is all I need to begin the breaking of this wicked enchantment. I put every energy I have in my aura to this one effort.

The sharpened points at the end of the nails on his right hand pull out of my skin. Blood runs warm down my arm as they leave. Move, I plead once more. His hand comes up to my neck. One of his knife like nails slices into my ivory skin. I feel the cut spreading from one side to the other. My life's blood rushes out in cascading waterfalls that fall down over my breast. I feel weakness spreading inside of me. Even paralyzed with his magic I feel my body crumpling in on itself. My eyes grow weary. The lids above them close and then open a last time before slowly closing again. In a fading distance I hear his voice.

"Rest now, my queen." Blackness envelopes me as I sink away to death.

My eyes open. At first, I am unaware of anything. I wonder sleepily if I am waking from a dream. I move to pull back the coverlet. My hand grasps nothing. Suddenly I am fully awake. The horror of what has transpired is fresh in my mind again. I wonder if I am dead. I must be dead. Is this the afterlife? All around me is a black void inside of which I am floating in. I try to move and realize I can only float. A truth slowly starts to whisper in my mind. I shut it out. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to think it. His voice booms into the emptiness engulfing me in its sound.

Magic, mirror how is my queen doing?

My essence draws involuntarily forward. The truth I whispered has come for me. I know smoke is rising at the bottom edges of the reflecting glass. Flames are starting to rush up toward the top. I know I am the slave now. I am the one who must find a way out.

The end.

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Thank you for reading.