The Cursed Mirror

Anna had always loved antique shops. She enjoyed browsing through the old and dusty items, imagining the stories behind them. She was especially fond of mirrors, which she believed could reflect the souls of their owners. She had a collection of mirrors in her apartment, each one with a different shape and style.

One day, she came across a mirror that caught her eye. It was a large oval mirror with a silver frame, decorated with intricate patterns and flowers. It looked very elegant and expensive, but it was surprisingly cheap. The shopkeeper told her that it was a bargain, because no one wanted to buy it. He said that it had been in the shop for years, and that it had a strange history.

He said that the mirror had belonged to a wealthy lady who lived in a mansion. She was very vain and obsessed with her beauty. She spent hours in front of the mirror, admiring herself and ignoring her husband and children. She also treated her servants cruelly, and made them work hard without any rest or reward.

One day, one of her servants decided to take revenge on her. He secretly replaced her mirror with a cursed one, that he had obtained from a witch. The witch had told him that the mirror would show the true nature of the person who looked into it, and that it would slowly drain their life force.

The servant waited for the lady to look into the mirror, and watched as she screamed in horror. The mirror showed her a hideous face, full of wrinkles and scars. She tried to run away from the mirror, but it was too late. The mirror had already attached itself to her soul, and followed her wherever she went. She could not escape from its reflection, which grew uglier and uglier every day.

The lady became mad with fear and despair. She locked herself in her room, and refused to see anyone. She stopped eating and drinking, and wasted away until she died. The servant then took the mirror and sold it to an antique shop, hoping to get rid of it.

But the mirror was not satisfied. It wanted more victims, more souls to torment and consume. It changed its appearance to suit the tastes of its potential buyers, and lured them with its beauty and charm. It made them fall in love with themselves, and then showed them their worst nightmares.

Anna did not believe the shopkeeper's story. She thought it was just a silly tale to scare customers away. She bought the mirror anyway, thinking that it was a rare and valuable find. She took it home and hung it on her bedroom wall.

She looked into the mirror and smiled. She saw a beautiful face, with bright eyes and rosy cheeks. She felt a warm glow in her heart, and a surge of confidence in her mind. She thought that the mirror was the best thing that ever happened to her.

She did not notice the faint flicker of malice in the mirror's eyes, or the subtle change in its expression. She did not hear the faint whisper in her ear:

"Welcome to your nightmare."

She also did not notice that she was not alone in her apartment. There were two other people who had followed her home from the antique shop: a man and a woman who were also interested in the mirror. They had seen Anna buy it, and decided to steal it from her.

They had waited until Anna fell asleep, and then broke into her apartment. They crept into her bedroom, where they saw the mirror hanging on the wall. They were mesmerized by its beauty, and felt a strong attraction to it.

They approached the mirror slowly, reaching out their hands to touch it. They did not see Anna's face in the mirror, or their own faces. They saw something else: something horrible and terrifying.

They screamed as they realized their mistake: they had fallen into the trap of the cursed mirror.