Up to Nature

The mirror showed an image that wasn't my own.

My head swam as I felt my heart stutter. My reflection in my mother’s vintage hand mirror was…wrong. She looked like me–she had my same wavy brown hair and sad hazel eyes (which twinkled with an unfamiliar mischief). Her lips, however, were curled in a sinister smile I knew I did not wear.

I don’t know why I did it–I’ll never know why I did it–I ran a finger along the crack in the glassy surface and hissed as thick, red blood oozed out of a fresh cut. I cursed under my breath. The smile in my disturbed reflection grew deeper and more ominous until the reflection faded altogether. In its place, I saw the depiction of a small creature–it looked like a strange mix of a mouse and a hamster. Puzzled, I traced an outline of the animal with my bloody finger, and the glass lit up with an eerie, crimson glow.

I set the mirror on my vanity face-down. My eyes followed the curves of the intricate gold filigree, which twisted against the black lacquered background. I’d always loved and hated the mirror in equal measure. It thrilled me and made me feel uneasy every time I looked at it.

I went downstairs and out the back door to get some air, which suddenly seemed in short supply.

The backyard felt lonely without Dinah, my sweet little white-and-gray cat who’d been missing for over a week. She usually only went outside with me, but she’d snuck out when someone left the back door open. I checked her food bowl (I’d filled it with her favorite kibble and treats) and glanced inside the little heated house I’d set up for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. I sighed and sat heavily on the swinging porch chair.

“Dinah, where are you?” I said out loud, hoping she was close enough to hear me.

I heard a rustle in the nearby bushes, and my heart leapt, hoping my sweet kitty would appear and meow at me as she always did. Instead, a little brown creature with beady button eyes crawled out of the brush. It looked like a mix between a large mouse and a hampster, and my breath caught as it skittered close to me. It looked up at me, observing me with a weird sort of intelligence before it turned and scampered back into the bushes.

“How curious,” I said, then louder called, “Dinah, come catch this mouse-thing! It looks really tasty!”

There was no answer. I sighed as I got up and went back inside.

***

After another day of barely paying attention in my classes followed by a brutal afternoon of knocking on every neighbor’s door within five miles of my home, I returned to my room and threw myself on my bed, exhausted and defeated. No one had seen even a hint of Dinah. She had to be somewhere–she couldn’t have disappeared into thin air.

I hauled myself out of bed and snatched up the hand mirror.

“Show me Dinah!” I growled to my smiling reflection. I nearly dropped the mirror when it shifted and showed me my sweet kitty! She was somewhere dark–I could just barely see her shape. I quickly slit my finger on the cracked glass and traced her outline. The mirror flared red just as it had the previous day, and it took everything I had not to throw it down as I rushed outside.

I held my breath as I listened for some sign of my lost girl. I heard the bushes rustle and tried not to get my hopes up too high.

“Meow?”

“Dinah!” I screamed as a little white-and-gray head emerged from the brush. I tried my best not to scare her as I ran to my baby and scooped her into my arms. She was filthy and seemed out of sorts, but she was alive and relatively unhurt. I raced inside and called out to my mom. Our girl was finally home!

***

The veterinarians had been surprised at how healthy Dinah was considering she’d been on her own for nearly two weeks. They commented on the strange black markings on her side and joked that they looked like tire tracks. I gave her a warm bath as soon as we got home, and she purred happily on my bed as her newly-cleaned fur dried.

I walked to the mirror and held it like a friend.

“Thank you so much. I don’t know how you did it, but you brought my sweet baby home,” tears streamed down my cheeks as I gazed at my reflection. The woman who shared my face stared back at me with a disquieting grin.

***

The following day, a deep curiosity entranced me. I peered at the mirror laying innocently on my vanity. I was delighted to have my kitty back home where she belonged, but I contemplated what other creatures could be called with such a powerful object. Haltingly, I walked to the mirror and picked it up.

My same disconcerting likeness smirked at me from the looking glass.

“Who are you?” I asked, not expecting an answer.

To my shock, the woman’s face was replaced by a dark scene. I squinted at the image, trying to make out the location. Something drifted by, and I realized the mirror was showing me an underwater landscape. I could just make out a fish-like shape, its pointed fins moving languidly through the water. Mesmerized, I cut myself and sketched the figure I saw in the shadows of the mirror. The blood blazed scarlet through the murky picture.

My stomach dropped. I slowly set the accursed object down and drifted outside as though in a dream.

The backyard was dark, even though it was midday. At the edge of the house, I saw what seemed to be a wall towering above me as far as the eye could see. I crept towards the wall and realized it was made entirely of water, held in place by an invisible force. As I grew closer, I peered into the murky depths and observed enormous shapes swimming through the new-made ocean. I could see whales drifting in the darkness, and a giant white shark floated nearby. I wanted to run, but instead I drew closer to the water’s edge. As I gazed in utter disbelief, I saw the image from my mirror leering at me. Her eyes narrowed to inky black holes and her mouth split open to reveal rows and rows of sharp, serrated teeth.

I felt a wetness on my shoulder, and slowly craned my head up. Whatever force had been holding the ocean up was crumbling, and water began to gush toward me.

I turned to run…