Mirror In The Woods

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"Mirror In The Woods"

by: Wes Robert Ward

Walking in the woods one early misty morning Alexander McCandless encountered something out of the ordinary. More extraordinary, you might say. Something strange and frightening to say the least.

The year was 1842 of the month of October on the 31st of our Lord and Savior. The bewitching hours had begun after the stroke of midnight outside the town of Burkittsville, Maryland in the county of Frederick.

Alex as many call him had stepped into the Black Hills Forest without considering the words of the Elders in the town. Many had said it was a cursed woods.

Stepping on wet crunchy leaves and without really noticing his surroundings, Alex came upon an ancient mirror in the woods. He didn't realize it then, but soon he'll wish he never came upon it in these cursed woods.

The deep dark woods to be exact for Alex had lost his way and couldn't figure out north from south or east to west. It was becoming confusing and somewhat perplexing like an endless maze out of nowhere.

And yet as Alex was trying to figure out his bearings and which way he had come from he had turned around, and low and behold in the middle of a hazy clearing was this ancient mirror surrounded by old moldy stones.

Somewhat bewildered Alex stepped back and just looked at it. Even though the border was old, the mirror was still as new as the day it was created. Not one smudge, not one wetness on it.

The dew itself was in high quality that morning and everything was damp\u2026 except for the mirror. It was as dry as a bone.

Alex slowly stepped forward and whispered, "What's this then? What or who pray tell put such a strange mirror out here in yonder country? In deep dark woods as these? In a land of forgotten woes and misery?"

As Alex inched closer he suddenly saw his reflection in the mirror. Curiously he gazed at his face in the mirror and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Suddenly Alex winked at himself\u2026 except that Alex realized he did not wink at all as he stood among the dead leaves long forgotten by the dreary trees above.

"What the devilment is this?" Alex cried as he leapt back, "Nay, not I nor any part of my well being did not wink."

The reflection of Alex said otherwise in an eerie voice, "Lesser knowns such as yourself have entered here more graciously. Be mindful of your being and bring an offering, please."

"What dark magic is this?" Alex cried as he saw himself speak when he knew not that he spoke before. His eyes in the mirror turned demonic red and Alex took a dreadful gasp for he felt pure evil from within it, "Demon, what are ye? What do you want of me? You shall not have my soul."

Evil Alex spat, "What useless thing is that to me? No, not I have any use for such clutter as that. No, my wondering friend. I want something more interesting. See the sacrificial dagger below on the stones?"

Alex looked down and saw an ancient golden dagger with two red rubies on each side of the hilt. He gulped a dreadful gulp, "Yes."

"Friendly chap, I will show you the righteous path out of these foreboding woods if you drive the dagger through your palm and spill your blood upon my stones."

Alex cried, "What? You must be kidding. No not I, Demon, I will find my own way out and you may go back to Hell from once you dwelled from."

And as Alex walked past the mirror he heard it say, "I will see you soon."

Sooner than Alex realized hours later as he thought he had found the right way out of the woods, he turned and there was the mirror.

Evil Alex said as he leaned against a nearby tree in the mirror, "Pleasant walk, friend? Not much out here to gaze artfully upon and yet the dead trees are like tombs in a cemetery. And yes, each has a grave with a fool as yourself under it."

Alex had walked in a circle, he thought, it was his only conclusion at that moment of time, "Um yes, I must have walked in a circle or whatever. Less you mind of course. Yet, no importance to you. I will find my way out."

Evil Alex said, "None have left without an offering. It doesn't hurt too much as long as you drive it in deep and fast. Alas, once you feel the point of the dagger in the center of your palm try not to think just drive it deep as quickly as possible. Must be fully lodged to the hilt, I'm afraid. The blood must gush for my stones to feed."

Alex declared, "How now, I am quite fond of my palm, and not only that, but the hand that holds my palm as well. And I certainly do not want a dagger to the hilt in it\u2026 never you mind."

Evil Alex said, "Never say never, fool. The stones lust for blood. For the sun and the moon may shine, and days turn into nights, and weeks turn into months, and years turn to centuries\u2026 you will never leave without feeding the stones. Age has no number here, and no not neither hunger or thirst."

Alex laughed somewhat at the mirror reflection, "Demon, you have no power over me. Why, I can pick up one of your cursed rocks from here abouts and shatter you like cracked ice."

"Do so then," Evil Alex chuckled then said in the reflected form of Alex as he waved his hand where Alex's hand stayed still, "Crack me, shatter me, throw your hatred at me. Alas, unless you kill the glass\u2026. you are the arse."

It said that last statement in a deep Demonic voice. As if it was telling Alex that he was doomed unless he did the Demon's bidding.

Suddenly Alex's anger was almost his undoing as he picked up a nearby rock and threw it right at the center of the mirror. What he thought would shatter into a million pieces and henceforth give him several years of bad luck never happened.

The rock flew into the mirror and just like a solid form sinking into liquid metal is what it did and on the other side Alex's evil image caught it in his hand and crushed it as if it was a lump of dirt.

Evil Alex said, "I have eternity, do you? For every lap you run around my woods you age one year. Oh dear, I must have forgotten to tell you this\u2026 feed the stones and I will release you from this cosmic burden."

"Forget you," Alex yelled out, afraid out of his mind, "I do not believe your lies, Demon. I will find another path. One of enlightenment I'm sure of\u2026 one my God will shine his light on, I'm sure of."

Evil Alex laughed, "Go, wear yourself out walking here and though. Drag yourself, crawl and creep\u2026 I will see you soon, young man or should I say old?"

So Alex walked and he walked and he walked. Pass trees and rocks and shrubs. Up hill, down hill, here and there. For hours and hours and into day and night.

Every time he saw the mirror he'd pick another direction of the woods and ignore the Mirror Demon's taunts and laughter which would turn into cackles. And yet he was right, Alex did not thirst or hunger\u2026 as for age he did not want to believe what could be lies.

The next morning Alex walked up to the mirror, tired and sore. And sadly feeling the years. Like a heavy weight has overcome him. Is this what aging does? Is this what it feels like to grow old? He thought, "I'm only 24 years old since September."

Exhausted, Alex knelt at the mirror in front of the feeding stones and looked up into the mirror. Tearfully he cried as he looked at the old man in the mirror.

"No, no tis isn't", Alex felt his wrinkled face and hands, "Tis lies, it must not be true."

What once was blonde and gorgeous hair had turned to long dark grey. His youthful face was now aged with wrinkles with crow's feet under his eyes. He now knew he spent many lifetimes in these cursed woods. He wished he had listened to the wisdom of his elders who he knew were long gone.

"Tis is, dear fool," cackled Evil Alex who was old just like Alex. His image always cloned Alex himself, no matter what state he was in.

Alex looked at the evilness in the eyes of his reflected form. He knew it was helpless to fight it anymore, "Age has no number, you say, no hunger nor thirst as well\u2026 yet hatred lies within me in what I've become."

Evil Alex cackled in his own old image, "You grow old, old as a dead leaf many step upon. What once was green and apart of youthful stems is now dreadful brown and tossed away from the living tree of life. How grey you turn and one more walk will make you white. Fifty years have gone by, my old friend, and I must say you are the most stubborn of all my past feeders. What say you now, Alex? Another jauntless stroll through my weary woods or will you do my bidding?"

Alex exhaled with defeat, "Yes, what must I do again. Years have made my mind forgetful, sad to say."

Evil Alex pointed down below on the moldy stones, "Pick up my sacrificial dagger. Hold your hand over my stones. Drive the dagger through ye palm. And feed my stones life again."

Alex looked at the dagger again. In each time he came back to the mirror in his endless walks he never took too much notice of, but now he did.

It was a golden dagger with silver blade, sharp as any dagger he ever saw. On the golden hilt was a bright gold plating with odd symbols that looked Egyptian. On each side of the hilt were two of the brightest rubies he ever saw. He thought they must be worth a fortune, but he was too tired to care.

The last thing about the dagger that Alex noticed was it glowed a golden glare. Which he thought was odd.

Alex ever so slowly picked up the dagger by the hilt and held it before his eyes, "So light to hold, yet lethal it is."

Evil Alex leaned into the mirror with blood lust in his red eyes, "Yes, a true cursed beauty isn't she? Forged from the flames of hell and cooled from the waters of tranquility. Be still ye beating heart for it just wants a drink from your life's blood."

Alex looked at his evil reflection, "Into the palm then? Mayhap just an inch?"

Evil Alex growled as he slapped his own palm onto his side of the mirror, "To the hilt\u2026 like a virgin's hymen, it wants to taste the blood."

Alex held the dagger upside down and held the point of the dagger to his palm. Already it had pierced his skin in the center lightly and a tiny pool of blood was forming.

"YES, YES!!!" Evil Alex cried excitedly as he saw the blood, "DRIVE IT DEEP INTO THE HAND THAT PRAISES YOUR CHRISTIANITY!!!"

Alex was about to close his eyes and do as his evil reflection demanded until he saw the golden glow of the dagger. He looked up and saw a red glow around the flat palmed hand of the Mirror Demon who had his demonic hand on the other side of the mirror right up against it.

Alex gripped the dagger hard and said, "You want me to feed the stones?"

"YES, FEED MY STONES!!!" the Mirror Demon demanded, "BLEED UPON THEM LIKE A STUCK PIG!!!"

Alex yelled, "Demon, there are no bounds to your wickedness, but my dagger has other tastes."

And as quickly as Alex could he drove the dagger through\u2026 not his palm, but through the mirror into the palm of the Demon who held his hand palm first on the mirror surface on the other side.

Evil Alex screamed such a demonic cry as loud as a Banshee in agony, "AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!"

Alex fell back and couldn't believe what he did, but he did it just the same. And if he could he'd do it again even to a century or so.

"WHAT HAVE YE DONE? NO, NO, THIS MUST NOT BE SO!!! GET IT OUT OF MY HAND!!! I MUST NOT DIE!!! NO, NO, NO!!!"

Suddenly the mirror started cracking from the dagger pierced hand in the mirror. Like ice cracking on a frozen pond it began to shatter.

"ALEX!!! ALEXANDER MCCANDLESS, YOU FOOL!!!" the Mirror Demon panicked as he tried to rip his hand out of the embedded dagger in the mirror, "YOU FOOL, I WOULD HAVE MADE YE YOUNG AGAIN!!! NOW I CURSE YE OLD FOREVER UNTIL YOU ROT IN YE GRAVE!!!"

Alex replied, "I'll gladly take seven years bad luck over the fifty you gave me. Be gone, Demon, be gone from my dreary sight, take flight or set sail and GO BACK TO HELL!!!"

"AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!" Evil Alex screamed in agony as he and the mirror shattered into a million pieces. It bursted out all front and back. Alex himself felt the sharp stings of the glass.

The dagger itself vanished into a blur of disappearing as if it never existed, the golden glare will always make Alex wonder what alignment it beared\u2026 good, evil, or neutral, who knows. And the mirror borders and the base turned to ashes before Alex's eyes.

Alex was free of the cursed mirror demon and not only that the woods itself was free. What once was dreary and forgotten, the woods turned into a forest of true beauty once again.

Green appeared on ground and trees, shrubs, and grass, and leaves. Flowers bloomed around in multiple colors\u2026 red and purple and orange and yellow and so on and so on.

Alex even noticed the stones melt into the ground and forevermore be gone forever. Good riddance, he thought, he never wanted to feed them anyway, and yet he wondered what would have happened if he did. An image came to mind suddenly out of nowhere that if he had done as the mirror demon demanded the stones would have come to life with demonic eyes and sharp teeth and then devour Alex alive as he screamed to a horrible demise.

Alex shuddered as the image left his mind. He had chosen another path, the righteous one.

Alex held his hands before him and he knew then that he would never have his youth again, but while he was alive he would live again\u2026 no, he will live again.

Not so far away Alex heard distant Church bells ring and the path out of the woods opened up to him with a trail only his Lord and savior blessed him with. Bright tiny rocks appeared out of nowhere forming a path out of the woods, the beautiful woods now.

The righteous path was there for him to walk upon and he smiled for he knew at that moment that he did the right thing\u2026 he did the right thing. It had cost him his youth, yet what was age but a number anyway.

And Alex walked out of the woods, towards the bells\u2026 to live again.

The End. \ud83d\udd14

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