Reflection: A short story – Science Fiction.
Danny brushed his teeth thoroughly in front of the mirror. He couldn’t help but to keep his eyes on the tipped hourglass on the bathroom table. He watched as the last grain of sand trickled through a narrow path down to the bottom. His mother, Kate, had taught him to brush his teeth for at least three minutes after breakfast and before he went to bed. There was a single phrase atop of the mirror, beautifully carved. It simply said:
“You are not your Reflection”
It was one of those phrases that carried a hidden meaning. A meaning that will only reveal itself to you once the time is right. The last drop of sand fell to the base of the hourglass and Danny stopped brushing his teeth. He rinsed his mouth, his face and toothbrush and gazed into the mirror one last time. Waving his arms and making stupid faces, he smiled back at himself.
“You’ll always do what I do, won’t you?”
He was very careful not to touch the mirror as Kate had warned him that he’d leave greasy fingerprints on the reflective surface. They had just bought it yesterday and Kate intended to keep it in an immaculate condition for as long as she possibly could. The shopkeeper whispered something in Kate’s ear just before the buying process could proceed and Danny glanced over his shoulder to see a troubling look spread across Kate’s face. Danny knew what ever the shopkeeper said, Kate felt reluctant in sharing it with him. After taking a last look at himself, he walked out the door unaware that his own reflection did not. Instead, it tilted its head towards the closed bathroom door and a malicious grin spread across its face. Danny lay peacefully in his bed reading a fantasy book he’d borrowed at the library several weeks ago. Suddenly he heard a knocking at his bedroom door.
“Come in,” he said.
Kate trudged into the room, leaning against the doorjamb. Her eyes fought the light that filled the room. It was only then Danny realized how messy his room really was. He ducked his head in shame for forgetting to clean it up as his mother had told him on the day they were in the library.
“Still not asleep at this hour?” Kate yawned. Danny glanced the clock hanging on the wall. It was nearly 11:30.
“Just 10 more minutes mum.”
Kate looked at him with suspicious eyes. “Alright, but that’s the last time I want to see you go to bed his late.” Kate yawned again. She approached Danny and kissed him on his forehead.
“Mum?”
“Yes?”
“What did the shopkeeper whisper in your ear that day?”
Kate quickly changed the topic. “Goodnight Sweetheart”
“But, Mum!”
“Goodnight Danny,” she replied in an assertive tone, nearly slamming the door behind her but not intentionally.
“Night, mum.”
The sound of brushing teeth filled the house on an early morning. Danny was always first to get up on weekends. Kate usually woke up two hours afterwards and Danny did everything as quietly as he could so as to not wake his mother up. She’d been acting differently ever since she bought the cursed thing. He felt it was necessary for her to get some rest. He hoped there was a good reason why his mother had not revealed the secret to him yet at the same time, Danny could not hold his curiosity to find out.
After finishing the process, he gazed at his own image as he usually did when his mum wasn’t looking. Showing off his fit, athletic body. “Looking good champ,” Danny smiled.
“Could be better…” a voice replied. Danny sprung back in shock to see if Kate was around, but then realized that the voice, sounded a lot like his own.
He stared at his own reflection, and his reflection stared back at him.
“Am I sane?” he murmured.
“Probably,” replied the voice. Danny fell back with a fright. Scrambling back to his feet, he pressed himself hard against the bathroom door. The boy in the mirror laughed. “What’s the matter Danny boy? I’m sure you don’t look that bad.”
“Wait…you’re…are you?”
“You?”
“Me?” asked Danny, desperately regaining his breathing to a normal rate.
“Unless you have a twin on the other side, I’d say me and you are more alike then you think.”
Danny felt more confident now and warily approached the figure. “Who are you?”
The boy smirked. “Well, that’s a strange question to ask yourself now, isn’t it? Don’t be frightened. I’m just a reflection. Nothing more.” Reassured that he’d haven’t yet lost his sanity, Danny wondered if it was the mirror. He reached out a hand to feel it’s clean, reflective surface. However, his fingers disobeyed the command and suddenly, he remembered what his mother told him about touching the delicate item. Reluctantly, he clutched his fingers in a fist and retreated his arm. “C’mon Danny boy, what’s the matter? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of mirrors,” the boy taunted him, pressing his hands against the surface. Danny looked studiously at his reflection, and for a moment the two matched. The boy’s fingers curled around Danny’s, somehow passing through the mirror and grabbing his hands firmly. Danny attempted to pull away but could not. “What’s happening? What is this!” he panicked.
The boy simply smiled, pulling Danny steadily through the transparent surface. Danny tried to resist, pulling away, but it was hopeless. The boy’s strength overwhelmed his. He could see his hands on the other side now, pulled vigorously by the boy. Tears flooded his eyes and ran down his cheeks. “No! Please stop!” he pleaded.
The boy’s laughter grew louder as he pulled even harder until Danny’s face passed through the mirror. “You’re gona love it here!” he cackled madly, pulling the rest of Danny’s feeble body through the mirror while plunging himself to the other side.
Danny tried his best to stand up, but collapsed each time like a poorly built block tower. He felt woozy and confused. Danny scanned the room. ‘Was this all just a bad dream?’ he thought. He was back in the bathroom. Back at home. Nothing had changed.
The walls were the same plain white colour, the bathtub resting under a slightly opened window and the washing machine stood next to the shower as it always had. Danny’s strength gradually came crawling back. He stood up and made his way to the bathroom sink, where he splashed freezing water on his face several times, then reached for a towel. Wiping his face dry, he glanced at the… That’s when he noticed something was indeed very wrong. The towel slipped out of his trembling fingers. This was not a dream, and Danny pinched himself a few times to reassure himself of that.
His hands explored the blank, white wall where the mirror meant to be. ‘Can’t be…where is it?’
“Where is that damned thing!?” he yelled, unable to control neither his voice nor his sanity.
Danny began to panic, rushing for the door, hoping for a way out. He swung it with great power nearly dislodging the door from its place and stepping into a room that seemed very familiar. Another bathroom. A copy of the previous.” What is this?” He murmured, rubbing his eyes trying to wake up from a nightmare that seemed all too real. The room was an exact replica of the previous, and once again…no mirror.
Danny fell helplessly to his knees. “Where am I?” he said in a dry whisper. The sound of light footsteps broke through the silence, and for a moment Danny felt his heart stop. Taking no chances, he hid behind the long, spacious shower curtains wrapping himself into a cocoon. The sweet scent of fresh strawberries comforted him a little. His mother chose these overpriced curtains just for their alluring smell. Danny had always thought it was a waste of money until now.
The door handle lowered, Danny’s eyes widened with curiosity. He stood as still as a statue. A young boy came through the door, wearing clothes similar to his. A white long sleeved shirt and dark brown pants. Danny peered out from behind the curtains to get a closer look at the figure. The boy obviously had not noticed him yet. He simply stood in one spot and gazed around the room as if something seemed out of place. While the boy was looking in the opposite direction, Danny carefully twirled out of his cocoon, careful not to lose his balance. He prowled behind the boy. The mysterious figure turned around, he didn’t expect a fist flying straight for his face. The boy fell to the ground, unconscious.
Danny glanced at his clenched hand, surprised at his own strength yet didn’t know how to react. He’d just knocked the conscience out of someone he didn’t know and wondered if the boy was alright. He looked at the boy who lay face down to the floor and effortlessly rolled him over examining the face he’d just struck. However what Danny saw, nearly made him scream. The boy who lay on the floor, was him.
‘Could this be the same boy who dragged me through to this godforsaken place?’ Danny thought. At the same time, he knew it couldn’t be. His reflection had already swapped lives with him. He grew more anxious for his mother’s safety with every second passing. Foreboding thoughts ran through his mind. Something told him he had to get out of here, and fast. He hoped that his mother was still alive and well. The boy’s fingers moved. Danny gasped, stepping back. He picked up a bottle of mango-scented shampoo in one hand and a toothbrush in the other, ready to strike.
The boy let out a strong grunt, adjusting his jaw with one hand and lifting himself off the ground with the other. He turned to Danny, and their eyes met.
“Who are you?” the boy asked. Danny’s mouth moved but no words slipped out. He felt as speechless as a goldfish in a fishbowl.
“You feeling alright buddy? You look worse than me.”
“My name’s Danny.”
The boy looked at him as if he knew so already. “You know, that name sounds awfully familiar to me.”
“Really, how?” asked Danny, raising the toothbrush up to the boy’s neck as if warning him not to come closer. The boy did not answer. For an awkward moment, the two just stared at one another, unsure of what to say next.
“You ever get a feeling that you’re talking to yourself?” asked Danny.
“No, have you?”
“…Sometimes. Was there a mirror here?” He pointed the shampoo bottle at the plain, white wall, which looked down towards the sink. The boy glanced at the patch of white, then replied, “A mirror, you say? Can’t say I’ve ever seen one.” The boy seemed strangely calm talking to someone who looked exactly like him. Yet he acted like he’d never seen anyone like Danny before in his whole life. That is, if you’d call being stuck in a mirror a life. The door creaked open. A figure looking exactly like Danny crept inside.
“Who’s this?” the new arrival asked.
“This here is Danny,” replied the other boy.
“You know, that name sounds awfully familiar to me.” His voice lowered into almost a whisper.
“Are we related?” added the boy who just walked in. The door burst open and another boy entered the crowded bathroom. He looked no different than the rest of them.
“Who’s this?” he asked.
“That’s Danny,” one of the other two boys replied.
“You know that name sounds awfully familiar to me…”
“I gotta get outta here!” Danny yelled, running towards the door in a berserker way, waving his arms madly in the air and threatening one of the boys with a shampoo bottle and the other with a toothbrush. He’d lost his sanity completely. Staring at yourself through a mirror was one thing. Talking to yourself inside a mirror was something different. Danny burst open through another door, not surprised that he ended up in another bathroom, yet relieved to find that he was alone. Silence filled the room.
‘Could they still be there?’ Danny thought to himself, hoping that they had not decided to follow him. His curiosity beat the best of him and he couldn’t resist the temptation to slightly open the door and take a peak inside. No one was there. A sudden force pushed him through the doorway and into the deserted bathroom. Maybe he was imagining things. Maybe they didn’t exist. Something caught his eye as he scanned the room. Something he’d thought he’d never see again.
The mirror.
“Beware of the mysteries that lie beyond the mirror,” he whispered the words of caution inside Kate’s ear. She did not forget these words. They haunt her more today than any other, as if trying to convey a hidden a message. Why did I ever buy the damned thing? Kate wished she could take it all back, maybe if she’d taken the shopkeeper’s advice seriously, she may have thought otherwise.
You’re a fool! What on earth were you thinking?
Kate closed her eyes and remembered the shiny, surface of the mirror gleaming in the sunlight. The mirror stretched out from the floor to Kate’s glossy dark, brown hair that sways in the faint breeze. Her fingers explored the bizarre markings engraved in the ancient wood, which made up the border of the artifact. It felt as smooth as her fine skin.
“Mum, are you alright?” asked Danny, anxious to hear a reply.
From the breakfast table, his mother stared at a distant point on the wall, unaware that she had not yet touched her food. He eyed her suspiciously.
“You haven’t even taken a glance at your food, are you well?”
Kate looked blankly at her son; the fresh smell of eggs and toast drew her attention to the plate. Kate picked up a fork. Lifting it up a few inches from the table, she slammed it suddenly on the hard, timber surface. “What time did you wake up today?” she asked. Her tone carried a scent of poison and she looked at him with predator eyes as the moment of truth began. Danny gazed up at his mother, surprised she would ask him this question he secretly did not know the answer to. Danny swallowed the last piece of food in his mouth very slowly, and looked away for a moment, but the menacing glare of his mother’s eyes had drawn him back to her.
“Answer the question,” she demanded.
Danny fell back in his chair, helpless as a mouse cornered by a ravenous cat. He looked anxiously at the clock as if it held the answer. It was twenty – five past nine and exactly 20 minutes after Kate woke up. “Around seven,” Danny replied. As uncertain as he was, he tried to sound most confident in his answer.
Kate relaxed, leaning gently back against her chair she took the first bite. To her surprise, Danny had passed the test. Perhaps he fluked it? She couldn’t tell.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered softly. Forgetting her manners not to talk with her mouth full. “I shouldn’t have…I…I need to go to the bathroom,” Kate climbed recklessly out of her seat and disappeared without a single word into the corridor. Danny heard the sound of a door slamming into its place, and took a long sip of tap water out of his cup. He sighed with relief and glared across the table. His eyes transfixed on a sharp, cooking knife. A sinister smile formed on his face. The prey would soon become the predator. Kate breathed heavily, standing back to the locked bathroom door. Her belief in the words the shopkeeper whispered in her ear grew stronger. Danny had never known how to cook eggs in his life and he certainly wouldn’t drink plain water for any of his meals.
Something was amiss. Her heart pounding out of her chest, she glared wildly around the bathroom in search of the mirror that wasn’t there. Kate closed her eyes in an attempt to relax, let her breathing go back to normal. But she’s interrupted by a gentle knocking on the other side of the door.
“Mum, can I come in?”
There’s no reply.
“Mum it’s me, Danny. Let me in, I just want to help.” Her hands trembled with fear. Part of Kate wants to let her son in, the other half warns her to keep the door shut. What if it’s not Danny but his reflection? How would she know?
“Mum please, let me in.” The door unlocked. Danny hesitated to come in. He waited for permission, holding the concealed weapon behind his back. His mother stared him from head to toe.
“Is it really you…?” she murmured softly. Danny smiled warmly and came closer to give his mother a welcoming hug, wrapping both hands around her back quickly, as to hide the knife from her site. Her hands griped tight around the body of her son and he felt cold. There was no warmth, no heartbeat, no soul and finally she knows. Kate stepped away slowly. Danny tried to advance but his mother put out her hand, signaling him not to come any closer. With her free hand, she pointed at a large empty wall in the room.
“Where is it, Danny?” A moment of silence passed between the two. Danny saw fear swirl in his mother’s deep blue eyes. He knew she had found out the truth and really, it made little difference to him now. “What’s the matter mother…don’t recognize your own son?” Kate stepped back as she saw Danny reveal the blade from behind his back.
“You’re a monster,” she whispered.
Danny sprang forward and grasped Kate’s neck with his fingers digging deep into her flesh like claws, then slammed her hard against the wall. She brought her hands to meet Danny’s, struggling to release the iron grip upon her neck. Kate strove to wriggle herself out, like a fish trying to flip itself back to the ocean. “Let her go!” a voice thundered from behind. Danny’s grip loosened, Kate collapsed on the floor gasping for air. He spun around, twisting the blade in his hand and gazed upon the boy he’d trapped in the mirror this very morning. “How on earth did you get out of there?” the boy asked as he approached the real Danny, holding the weapon comfortably in his hand. The reflection had a predator look in his eyes, savouring a meal to come.
“Come and get me you bastard,” Danny taunted, sprinting off into the living room knowing that his own reflection could not resist to follow. The boy in the bathroom glanced at Kate for a moment, who couldn’t stop coughing and choking on her own breath. “You’re next,” he grinned wickedly.
Danny’s reflection had no reason to rush as he patiently walked towards the living room. He would soon find his other self; the living room was spacious with limited places were one could possibly stay hidden. “You should have stayed back in the mirror, nothing can save you now,” he called. As if to oppose this point, Danny came out of a blind corner and landed a fist on the boy’s face. His reflection grunted and staggered back to reclaim his balance, then thrust the knife forwards.
Danny shifted his body to the left, dodging the blow and beating the knife out of the boy’s hand with his own. His reflection scurried to pick it back up but Danny kicked it out of the boy’s hands, sending the weapon down to the end of the corridor, far from reach.
Kate had regained her breathing. She peeked from the bathroom to see the battle of the Dannies was nowhere near an end. Looking the other way, she spotted the knife that lay only a few feet away from her. A thought struck her head like a lightning bolt. The Mirror! No time to waste. Sounds of broken glass and fallen furniture thundered from the living room like a wild storm. There weren’t many places where the mirror could be kept. If it was still in the house, Kate knew exactly where to look. She slipped past through the corridor avoiding any attention from either Danny or his reflection. Seizing the knife along her way, she entered her son’s room.
There were a dozen toys and a couple of books lying aimlessly on the floor. She wanted to ground him for forgetting to clean up his room after he had two weeks to do so, but perhaps now was not the most appropriate time. Kate searched behind the curtains and dug through the junk that filled the closet. Disappointed that the mirror was not there, her search led her into the filthy depth below Danny’s bed and under his bedroom sized, hand –stitched mat. Kate had almost given up. Her choices became thin and in such haste, she’d lost her balance and fell clumsily onto the bed.
“CLANK!”
A spark of hope escaped from the extinguished flame that once burned in her eyes. She jumped from the bed to lift the sheets. Surely enough, there it lay. All in one piece – but not for long. The living room was littered with debris of saucers and once beautiful vases. The dinning table lay tipped on it’s side and most of the chairs had lost their purpose. The reflection swung an old wooden chair at Danny, who parried the blow with what he used as pole-arm, which in reality was an old broomstick. He imagined himself being the hero from his fantasy novel where he fought the evil knight that threatened his kingdom. Of course, fantasy only went so far, and reality seemed slightly different.
Danny had not noticed that his body stood in perfect range and open for an attack. His reflection took advantage of this and delivered a powerful kick into his chest. Danny fell on his back and gave out a loud grunt as he used the end of his broom to get himself back up. The reflection grew impatient. He wished the weapon still lay in his hand. For one, it would have ended things a lot quicker. The boy converted his rage into power and with great force; he broke the chair into several components with the iron heel of his foot. Then picked up two of it’s legs, and held them firmly in both hands. Danny lost his footing, he hadn’t realized but his own feet had already taken several steps back. The idea of getting beaten to death by a couple of thick sticks did not particularly appeal to him.
Sweat ran down the sides of his cheeks and down his neck. The boy charged forwards, swinging one hit after the other. Danny could block a few, but it wasn’t long before the boy beat the broomstick out of his hands and just missed the side of his head.
He gave Danny a cold stare with wide eyes that seemed to almost explode out of their sockets, and a grin that showed total hostility. The boy laughed hysterically as he followed Danny’s trail who fled into his own bedroom. Danny gazed at his mother almost bewildered and then across to the mirror. “Break it!” a cry of pain escaped his mouth and drops of blood spat out onto the floor as the bladed side of the chair leg skimmed across his back, and sent him crashing to the ground. The impact paralyzed Danny.
His reflection ignored Kate and instead, prepared a finishing blow that would send the piece of wood straight through the back of Danny’s neck. “What a pity you’ve escaped from the mirror, just to die here.” The boy smiled as he went for the strike. “No!” Kate protested. Her cries were followed by a the sound of broken glass. The reflection froze. The tip of his weapon an inch away from performing it’s final task. Danny rolled over on his back with moans of agony. There was a deep purple and blue mark where he’d been hit and some blood trickled out from a fresh wound. Danny overlooked the pain and stared in astonishment. His eyes jumped from the tip of the wood to the still eyes of his reflection.
He averted his head away from the point of death, and his attention to his loving mother. Kate knelt beside the shattered mirror, still holding on to the knife that pierced it’s surface. Her hands trembled but she managed to give out a warm smile that comforted Danny, and he smiled back almost chuckling a little. The scars that spread across the mirror reflected it’s marks on the boy who stood still. Concentrated beams of light escaped through the cracks of his body, literally ripping him apart. Danny and his mother covered their eyes as the reaction took it’s final peak in a sudden, blinding flash. A lot like an explosion. All that remained were the instruments of death that now lay on the ground next to him, and the mirror that lay on the bed in perfect condition.
