The Girl in the Mirror

There was a yelp and a growl that came sharply from the living room. 

“Now what?!” said Mary, I’m never going to get this place ready for the party.  Just as she was leaving the kitchen the dog came crashing through the hall and slammed into Mary Waters sending the plate of appetizers out of her hands and all over the floor “Alison!” shouted her mother,  “This has been going on all day, enough- is- enough- it- is- time- for- you- to- get- to- bed.”

Alison knew that when each word was its own sentence then she had reached the point of no return. Yielding, she sighed and shuffled off the bathroom kicking some chicken wings just as Mary was reaching to pick them up. She didn’t look at her but Alison knew Mary’s face would be red as a beet.. and she smiled to herself.

“Gary!” Shouted Mary. She was still kneeling in the hall, feverishly trying to clean up.

 “Gary I need some help with your daughter.”

That’s right thought Alison, his daughter, not yours as she pulled out her toothbrush and paste and started to brush. An average Friday night, dinner party for a bunch of people that no one really knew, her Dad escaping down the basement while things were being prepared, Alison pushing Mary to the edge and 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, SMASH! There goes the appetizer plate, pretty basic really.

“I can’t take it anymore Gary, she is like this all the time” she hates me and frankly I can’t take it anymore.

Alison peaked out the door and went back to brushing. As she turned her head she caught a movement in the mirror. She thought it was the cat but there was no one else in the room.

There was a full length mirror that hung on the door and the medicine cabinet above the sink. Something was in the reflection that wasn’t in the room. A piece of red material, just a portion was visible like it would be in a normal reflection, just outside the frame of the glass. But this was different because it was lying on a hardwood floor. She was standing on tile. She leaned onto the vanity and close to the mirror. A dark shadow swept over the ceiling behind her and she lost her footing slipping back into the door. Alison’s breathing became shallow and she was just about to call for her father when a shadow reached out through the tall mirror and pulled Alison back into it. The toothbrush hit the floor and bounced in behind the garbage can.

To be cont.