"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of
sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose
boundaries are that of the imagination. Next stop: THE TWILIGHT ZONE."
- Rod Serling
***
Into the Looking-Glass - A TWILIGHT ZONE story
By Anon Allsop
A cursed mirror begins our trilogy of an evil, vain young woman's trip
into the unknown. Ending somewhere between there and here, where the
known and unknown intersect. Only to play itself out inside...The
Twilight Zone!
-One-
"Out of my way, stupid old hag!" she hissed as she pushed the ancient
woman aside, causing her to fall into the street, directly into the path
of a coach as it made its way through the city.
Under the hooves of the horses the old woman was trampled, and then
crushed beneath the great weight of the wheels. The attractive girl
paused and looked at the destruction she had caused, only giving it a
mere moment of her time. "One less..." she muttered under her breath,
feeling no remorse for the death she had caused. Turning back toward her
business, she motioned for the stunned shopkeeper.
"I'll take that one!" she demanded, pointing to the ornate looking-glass
with the long handle and carved wooden frame.
As he handed it to her, she studied her reflection while primping her
hair. His eyes again were drawn to the crowd as they gathered around the
old one, bent and broken, alive no more.
"You going to..." he began to ask, pointing over her shoulder at the
dead woman.
She glanced back and shrugged, then returned to examining her
reflection. "She got in my way, for that, she deserved what she was
given. The way I see it, I did her a favor!"
"A favor?" he asked as he patiently waited for her to pay.
"She isn't hurting any more...she has no more worries where her next
meal will be coming from...it's a favor, and I'm glad I was able to help
her."
The shopkeeper stood silently disgusted for several minutes, then after
a few additional seconds he softly spoke, "That'll be..."
"I'll pay this..." she interrupted as she tossed the coin at his feet.
The man bent down and picked up the coin.
He hesitantly glanced upward at the beautiful woman. "Well, I uh...I was
thinking that it would sell for something more, like..."
She glared at him, her stunning blue eyes bespoke contempt of his lower
class. "You'll be happy with what I pay, or you'll get nothing!"
Another elderly woman rushed upon the scene. As she neared, she
collapsed to the ground in her grief, crawling the last few feet to her
dead sister. She looked at each of those surrounding her for the answers
to her sister's death. Each pointed toward the young beauty who was
still admiring herself in the shop's many looking-glasses.
Slowly the ancient sister stood to her feet, helpful hands assisting her
as she regained her balance. With as much of a determined gate, she
walked toward the primping girl.
"Was this your doing?" she asked, barely understandable from the loss of
her teeth.
The girl saw the ancient sister's reflection in her looking-glass and
scowled, slowly turned, and she placed a kerchief over her nose. "She
was in my way...she must have stumbled."
"She was pushed!" The ancient one pointed a gnarled finger at the girl.
"By you!"
"She stumbled!" the girl insisted with a sneer. "She was already dead
anyway, she just didn't know it! Now go away - your old decaying stench
is making me ill."
The old one scanned around ignoring her insult, disgusted at the girl's
lack of remorse for her sister's death. "You will pay..."
"Oh, fine." She pulled a gold coin from her clutch and tossed it to the
ancient one. "There...now bury her. While you're at it, try taking a
bath!" She turned her back on the old woman, but still watched her
reflection through the glass.
The withered old woman pointed a finger at the girl, "You caused her
death, yet you do not feel any remorse for it!" The girl only laughed
her response, not even turning to face her accuser. The ancient one
continued. "You seem to be so entranced by your own reflection that you
fail to see what goes on around you...so will be your sentence!"
The beauty laughed as the old woman continued. She was still pointing,
speaking as loudly and as clearly as was possible without teeth. "Each
time, wide eyed that you face your reflection...any reflection, a tiny
little bit of yourself will be ebbed away until you are nothing more
than a withered old shell like that of myself and what was my sister!
Your very essence will be locked away in that looking-glass you seem to
admire so much! And there it will stay until the day when it can be used
on someone who can appreciate it much more than yourself!"
"Go away, old hag, you're bothering me!" She pushed her purchase into
her clutch and scowled at the elderly woman. "I'm immune to your silly
threats! They mean nothing to me!"
The old one glared at her. Even with the onset of blindness, seeing only
mere shapes and shadows, her look seemed to bore right through the much
younger woman's body, directly into her very soul. "Then...it begins."
From far outside of the city, a low rumble of thunder could be heard.
-Two-
"What is the matter, child?" the nobleman asked from his seated
position, as his daughter entered the room. "You seem troubled..."
She sat down her purchases and frowned, "It was nothing, Father."
"Let me be the judge of that, Constance. Sit down and tell me what is
troubling you." He motioned for her to sit on the couch opposite where
he was resting.
The girl sat down. "An old woman was struck by a coach today - it was
right before my eyes!"
He sat up, "You poor dear!" Quickly moving to his daughter's side, he
took a seat upon the couch. "Tell me of it."
"She stumbled..." Completely lying about her involvement. "...and fell
onto the street. It was so horrible!" The girl, Constance, began to
conjure up tears to sell her lie. "I tried to aid her, but it was
already too late!"
"At least you tried to aid her." He sighed as he hugged his daughter,
slowly giving her back a reassuring stroke. Behind them, in walked a
young man.
"Did she tell you, Father?" he asked as he flopped down in the chair
that his father had been sitting in earlier. "Did you tell him,
Constance?"
She quickly glared over her shoulder at her brother. "Of course I told
him!"
"Oh?" he replied with a smile, "Did she tell you...that many of those
who witnessed the entire tragedy, accuse Constance of pushing the old
woman into the street?"
She wheeled upon her brother, "They lie!"
"I'm just repeating what they're all saying," he shrugged his
indifference.
"They're all lying! They just hate me because I'm beautiful!" she
hissed, the pure hatred of all people she considered beneath her, spewed
through her words. She stood quickly and ran from the room, and her sobs
were heard echoing down the richly decorated hallway.
The father sighed, "What do you think happened?"
Her brother stood, shrugged and dropped a coin to the table. "After it
happened, Constance tossed this at the dead woman's sister. She told her
to use it to pay for the burial. Most there considered it blood money
and would not accept it, let alone touch it. I found it still lying on
the ground where it fell." The young man stood looking at his father. "I
think she was involved in the death of the old woman."
The older man's shoulders slumped. "The old woman...the sister you say,
can you see to her aid?"
"I already have." His young son sighed. "I've taken care of the burial
on behalf of our family." He scratched the back of his head. "Father,
how can someone who is so beautiful as Constance, be so evil toward
others?"
Under his breath, the tired man sighed, "I ask myself that same
question, each and every single time she does something like
this...something evil...or wicked!"
-Three-
Constance was still seething as she slammed her bedchamber door closed,
and in a huff she threw herself upon her bed. Her anger now was focused
upon her brother for interfering between her and their father.
She sat up and punched a diminutive fist into her pillows. "Were I a
man, dear brother, I'd give you a thrashing you wouldn't soon forget!"
She raged and then stood. "You keep interfering where you should just
keep your nose out!" She growled, as she leaned out the window to watch
the passersby on the street far below.
As she stood watching, an evil plot began to form in her mind. Constance
knew that she lacked the physical strength to harm to her brother, but
with a few coins, she could find those who would do it quite easily. A
wicked smile formed on her beautiful face.
She quickly made her way to the bed where she had thrown her clutch in
her anger. Reaching inside, she withdrew the looking-glass she had
purchased earlier in the day, and also a handful of coins. Setting the
glass aside, she began to focus on the gleaming coins. One by one she
began to count them out, gradually her eyes were pulled toward the
polished surface of the looking-glass and her own beautiful reflection.
A shudder ran along her spine, and goose bumps broke out upon her arms
as she recalled what the ancient woman had said. She only pondered a
moment as she decided with a haughty laugh that her words were nothing
more than idle prattle.
Constance smiled into the mirror and fluffed up the front of her hair,
first pushing it one way, than another until each strand was resting
perfectly in its place. "Stupid old hag!" She spat her contempt out like
a foul taste in her mouth. "You deserve to meet the same fate as your
ugly sister." She glanced toward the coins spread about the bed.
"Hummmm...I wonder if there's enough to take care of both my 'dear'
brother and the decrepit bitch?"
There would be enough time for fine-tuning her plot, but for now, she
returned her gaze into the reflective surface of her looking-glass.
-Four-
Two full days passed and although the commotion she had caused had died
down somewhat, Constance continued to focus her anger directly upon her
brother. She found him wandering in their gardens, trying to compose a
letter to his fianc?e.
"Well hello, dear brother!" she chirped sarcastically.
"Go away, Constance..." he replied, not even giving her the benefit of a
glance.
"Oh, Eric, still trying to compose your vows for your wedding?" she
laughed, and the venom in her voice made his skin crawl.
"I said go away!" he glared at her, covering his writings from his
sister's view.
"What's wrong, brother dear? Afraid your little harlot won't be
interested in you...especially now, since she already has another?"
"There is no other!" he snapped angrily.
"What would you call her brother, then?" she laughed.
"What are you driving at?" he scowled at his sister.
"It's obvious that she has been experimenting with her own brother...at
least that's what I've been telling everyone!" She broke into a fit of
evil laughter. In anger, Eric picked up his paper, jar of ink and quill.
"I must find a place where I can be alone!" As he stood he smiled, took
the jar of ink, and poured it over her head, then laughed as it rolled
down her face. "Now your face is as black as the window to your
soul...dear sister."
Constance bolted to her feet as her brother walked away; ink rolled down
her chin and dripped upon her best dress. She balled up her fists in
anger and stormed toward the garden's fountain, knowing that if she
hesitated too long, the ink would set and stain her skin and hair.
Furiously she washed her face and hair. As she did so, she became
determined to enlist the aid of a street thug to put her brother in his
place.
With dripping hair and soaked dress, she stormed into the house and up
to her bedchamber. Once inside, she tore her dress from her body and
hurled it into the corner of the great room. She crossed to her dresser
and picked up her looking-glass to see how much of the ink had stained
her skin. Thankfully, there were only a few areas where the ink had
darkened enough to remain. Those she expertly covered with pale facial
powders.
Her hair was another matter entirely, because it appeared that there
were several strands of hair that were almost white, intermixed with her
blonde. She tightened her jaw and fumed, as she looked upon the result
of her brother's anger. She groaned when she noticed that her newest
corset had also been stained.
She dropped the glass and pulled off her ink-stained corset and
undergarment. She walked naked to the closet where she kept her
belongings; there she paused before the reflective surface that covered
her doors. As she gazed upon her lovely body, a form she never tired of
looking at, she noticed a black dot of what appeared to be ink, on the
inside of her thigh.
She frowned, then stared at it. Under the vast amount of petticoats and
the thick material of the dress, there was no way that the ink could
have gotten past them. She ran her finger over the area.
What she thought had been ink, turned out to be a huge dark mole! She
shuddered, touching it from where it extended out from her soft thighs.
It must have been sticking out almost a quarter of an inch away from her
skin. Surely since it was as large as it was, it had been there for far
longer than she remembered. Somehow she had missed it during her recent
baths.
Constance immediately decided that she would meet with her father's
physician and schedule a removal of the hideous mole. As uncomfortable
as its presence was, she made an effort to put it from her mind. She
bent down to pull a clean corset from her drawer and was strangely taken
back by the odd way her breasts swung.
She stood and looked down at them. They both seemed to be elongated and
sagged uncharacteristically for her young age. She hefted them and then
released them. Both flopped down against her chest, like those of a
woman her mother's age.
She pushed the closet door closed and studied them in the reflective
surface of it, and then she noticed that a small flabby pouch seemed to
be collected behind her once flat stomach. "What is happening to me?"
Constance gasped with uncertain fear.
She quickly threw open the doors once again and pulled the clothing she
needed, trying to avoid seeing how her beauty seemed to be evaporating
before her eyes.
Dressing in a hurry, she flopped down upon the bed. The effort to get
dressed alone caused her breathing to become labored. It was as if she
had raced up a many flights of stairs. "What's wrong with me?" she said,
panting for air.
She suddenly remembered the words the old woman had said, and like a
bolt of lightning she raced toward her looking-glass. "No!" she cried at
her reflection, seeing darkened bags that lay beneath her tired eyes.
Closer inspection made her heart leap with fright! Gone was the crystal
blueness that had once been the admiration of many, replaced by a watery
gray color. It almost looked as though one eye was slightly clouded
over, as if it were the precursor of a serious eye ailment. "This isn't
possible!" she screamed, throwing herself upon her pillows.
Constance struggled upright, slowly working her way off the bed.
Grabbing her clutch, she headed for the door. "I have to find that old
witch before it's too late! I have to convince her to reverse these
changes!" she exclaimed to herself as she limped down the stairs.
-Five-
The day wore on, but Constance could find no trace of the old woman. Her
fears began to build as she remembered the thug whom she hired only a
day prior, perhaps he had already done his job and pushed her crippled
body into a bog just outside of town!
As darkness fell, she made her way home and found herself laboring as
she climbed the stairs toward the bedchambers. About half-way up, she
met her brother coming down.
"You look...awful!" he commented as he saw his sister. "Are you ill?"
"I...I'm...just tired," Constance gasped, worn out from her climb...and
only half way to the top.
"Let me go get Father. He will summon his physician!" Eric replied with
genuine concern.
"Don't you dare get Father! I'll be fine," she snapped back. "Just help
me to my room!"
He took hold of her arm, supporting her as they slowly made their way up
the steps to her chambers. Eric couldn't help but wonder at the
frailness of her grasp, almost as though she was years older than her
true age. There was also a strange odor, a pungent mix of sweat and
something he couldn't place his finger on...almost the heady smell of
decaying flesh. He scowled, trying to hide his reaction from his sister.
"How can she not smell it too?" he thought to himself as he assisted her
up to her room.
As they reached her chambers, she fell into bed without even removing
her garments. "Now go...and leave me so I may change!" A puzzled Eric
lit candles for her and exited his sister's room, hesitantly pulling her
door closed. In his heart, he was unsure if he should go and get their
father from his bed or do as his sister wished.
Once her breathing steadied Constance sat up, using the corner post to
assist her into a seated position. Her youthful hands were aching with
arthritis, as she fumbled with the dress, struggling to unbutton the
buttons which held the collar and chest closed. As they fell open, she
was taken back by the stretched skin that pulled down at her breasts. It
seemed that she somehow had aged at least 30 years since morning!
She stood and pushed her dress down, and gingerly stepped out of it. She
began to work at the strings of the corset, fumbling with the knot at
the top. As she dug with her pained fingertips she yanked against the
knot, her hand came free and struck her mouth hard.
She sat back upon the bed and waited for the room to stop spinning.
Slowly the knot gave way to her efforts and she was able to remove the
corset, throwing it down onto the floor. A drop of blood fell onto her
pale thigh; she wiped it with a finger and then touched her lip where
she had struck herself. There was no blood coming from her lip. "Where
then?" she wondered aloud.
Taking her finger, she traced along the inside of her mouth and felt a
strange chunk of something. Using her tongue, she worked it out and spit
it into her hand. It was a tooth!
She felt her body tremble as she sought out the gap with her tongue.
Another molar rolled forward, followed by yet another! She spit them
into her hand, which now contained three in total. Trembling, she raced
toward her looking-glass and looked inside of her mouth. A great gap was
in her mouth, almost an inch long from the third tooth on the
right...back toward her molars.
As she began crying, another tooth fell onto her dresser, this one had
been on the very front of the right side. This left only a two teeth on
the upper right side of her mouth, the second one from the middle, and
one at the very back.
Her crying became harder, and bloody drool fell onto the dresser, "Why?"
was all she could ask, and her voice sounded weakly hoarse. Yet
Constance knew the reason for all of these events. She then tried to
straighten up, but her back ached so much that it caused her to hunch in
pain, making it almost impossible to straighten up.
One by one, she removed the pins from her hair. Gone was the silky
feeling - it was replaced by a dry and brittle feel. With her trembling
hand, she picked up a brush and began to pull it through her hair. With
each stroke, more and more hair remained in the bristles of the brush.
As her arm moved, she noticed more of the little moles gathered under
her pits and on the side of her breast. A quick check revealed several
more on the other side. Each armpit had a thin long hairs growing
outward, oddly white and like that of an elderly person. "Nooo!" she
cried, throwing the brush across the room.
She spun away from the mirror and threw herself down upon her bed, the
effort knocking the wind from her body. Constance lay gasping for air,
and slowly her breathing returned to normal with the onset of sleep.
-Six-
Morning found Constance laying crossways in her bed; beneath her lay the
looking-glass. She struggled up into a seated position, and wiped the
drool from her cheek. She glanced downward at her naked flesh, breasts
now hanging almost flatly above her flabby waist Her breasts resembled
that of an eighty-year old woman! Her upper chest was covered in
wrinkles where her breasts pulled at the skin, dragging it down with
what looked like years of weight. Beside that, she found she was covered
with a mass of freckles and brown spots that made her begin crying once
more.
Her thighs had become very skinny, and appeared to be more bone than
flesh. The knobs of her knees made an obvious bulge in the middle of her
leg. Beneath them was spindly and bereft of muscle or mass. There were
several more protruding moles, seemingly coming up like mushrooms
between her thighs. She covered her face in terror, not understanding
the power of what was happening!
Constance drew her hands to her face, and through blurry tears she could
see that they were also now covered with the strange dark spots like
those upon her chest. Both had become gnarled and withered with painful
arthritis. One foot had become bent from the deformity of a great
bunion, pushing her toes out strangely and to the side. Constance knew
she had to find the old woman if she were still alive! Finding the old
hag was the only chance she had of reversing the powerful curse the
woman had placed upon her. As quickly as she could, she hobbled toward
her closet. Her knees and hips ached in sheer pain as she moved.
She grasped the edges of her large doors to her closet, and her loose
skin sagged down between her elbows and armpits. In her reflection from
the doors, she gazed upon a woman looking much older than she had been.
While she could still see a resemblance of herself, she appeared to look
more like her grandmother.
Her jaw was set, a slight indent was apparent where she had lost even
more teeth last night. Slowly she parted her lips to reveal the sight
that set her stomach to lurching. A ghastly amount of festering disease
covered areas of her gums, and what teeth did remain were dark and
decaying!
"Nooooo!" she hoarsely cried, and her knees gave out, causing her to
fall to the floor. The sound of her voice was lacking the youthful
timbre that she once had, making it sound like that of a ship straining
against its mooring!
"What has that old witch done to me!" The words were hard to
distinguish, sounding much like the toothless ranting of an old woman.
Constance knew what she had wanted to say, but what came out made her
sound almost deranged.
Constance tried to stand, using the door's knob, but instead, crawled to
the post of the bed where she was finally able to get to her feet. Once
standing in a semi-erect position, she picked up the hand-held looking-
glass and studied the wrinkles upon her face. It, too, was covered with
the brown spots of age - her nose and upper lip had grotesque moles
protruding outward. Sparse hairs grew from different areas of her upper
lip and chin, giving her the appearance similar to that of the old woman
she had pushed. Her ears too had become elongated at the lobe, about an
inch past where they once had been.
Using the post, she tried to straighten up further, yet her shoulders
slumped forward greatly, like that of an old woman. "That..that
witch...she's stolen my beauty! She's made me like her and...and her
sister...a...a hag!" she cried out in painful rage.
Forgoing the corset and countless petticoats, she dressed in what would
fit and limped down the stairs. In her hand was the looking-glass. She
was determined to locate the old hag, and beat her to death with it.
Thankfully she met no one as she limped out of the house and began to
hobble down the street.
-Seven-
Constance knew there would be no chance that anyone would recognize her
now. She kept to herself as she paused from time to time to catch her
wind! After several hours of searching, she found her way to the area
where the old woman had been killed. As she rested on a bench beside a
shop, she spied her reflection in a giant barrel of rain water.
Her hair was now almost entirely white, going in every direction but the
way intended, all splayed in a confused array. The very top was thin and
she could see through to the baldness of her scalp. No longer was she
able to remain with her head steady, now it shook slightly from a palsy-
like movement. Her jaw dropped at the appearance of her reflection, it
seemed that her very beauty had been sapped over the past several days.
A strange odor permeated the air around her, like that of something
rotting in the breeze. The ?once' beauty shuddered, because she knew the
smell was coming from her own body.
Tears begin to form in the vain woman's colorless eyes as another
blackened tooth dropped from her mouth and fell into the water, slowly
spiraling toward the bottom of the barrel. Great veins climbed along her
hands and neck as she sought to pull her gaze from her reflection. She
feared what each look was doing to her, knowing the prediction the old
woman had at their end result. The vain addiction she had to seeing her
own reflection, caused her to return again and again to its mirror-like
surface like some drug which supported an evil habit.
She finally forced herself away from her reflection before it was too
late and her very life was extinguished into the water. Once more, she
struggled to her feet, only to then fall back onto the bench again. It
was as though she were in her nineties, in her opinion she was acting
like a tottering old fool.
As she struggled with standing, it was as though her very thoughts were
being distracted...like a strange dementia was settling into her brain.
She suspected that complete senility would soon follow, rendering her a
mindless, withered shell as had been the woman she accidentally killed.
She had to hurry before there was nothing left to save!
A young man came over and helped her to her feet, the fact that he
helped without making a commotion over her smell, was a testament to his
intestinal fortitude.
With not so much as a thank-you, Constance limped toward the shop where
she had purchased the ill-fated looking-glass and met the old hag. Along
the river's edge the path took her, what she saw brought her ancient
feeling body to a complete stop. Only a hundred feet further stood the
old witch who caused all of this to happen. The toothless grin on the
old woman's face proved she knew what was happening to Constance.
Slowly the old woman made her way to Constance's side; the former beauty
was struggling to maintain her shaky balance. "How are we feeling today,
my dear?" she laughed and walked a slow circle around the transformed
girl, now ancient and hunched over with age.
"You! You did this to me..." she gasped out her hate, pointing a crooked
finger at the old witch. Constance was barely able to keep her thoughts
on track, so rapidly was the senility overtaking her mind.
Unfortunately, no one would have been able to understand the ranting of
the ancient toothless woman whom Constance now appeared to be. "I'm
intending on beating you to death with the very looking-glass you placed
your curse on!" the former beauty croaked. As she spoke, another tooth
fell from her lip and rattled onto the stones. Constance glanced down
with despair, as her once beautiful smile had been rendered to very few
teeth.
The once-girl shakily raised the looking glass over her head. Her
intention to strike the old hag dead with her own cursed looking-
glass...but, the much spryer hag grasped Constance's frail wrist, and
wrestled the glass from her weakened and withered hand.
Constance staggered through the grass toward the old witch from the
force of their struggle, her arms outstretched at neck level. Her
mumbling sounded like a lunatic as she staggered forward. The witch held
her at bay with her arm, pushing against Constance's chest. Slowly the
witch turned the looking-glass toward Constance, whose eyes became
unable to remove their clouded gaze from its polished surface.
Constance sank to her knees in the grass beside the water's edge. "Hold
this, you tottering old fool!" the witch cried. "Since you've enjoyed
your reflection for this long...you may as well enjoy it the rest of the
way to your death!"
Constance was unable to remove her gaze. She sank to her side in the
grass as more and more of her essence was ebbed from her body. Tears
rolled from her eyes as her nose elongated further and became more
bulbous, extending slightly past her lip. Her remaining teeth fell into
the grass...her chin closed upward until her toothless gums met,
distorting her face even more.
"I think you should live for awhile in the life you despised so much,
even if it will be such a short one...old woman!" The witch bent down
and took the glass from Constance. "Who's the ancient one now?" She
smiled. "How does it feel to be a toothless, hunched-over, old senile
hag...so precariously close to your own death! Embrace it now...hag,
live the life you loved to hate!" She began cackling as she walked down
to the water's edge, leaving the former beauty to lay in the grass.
Constance began struggling to her knees, the effort shown even more
painful than before. The old witch laughed at Constance's attempts, then
turned her back upon her and threw the looking-glass as far out into the
water as she could. Constance knew by now, that she could never return
to her former beauty, and her blood began boiling in her ancient veins.
By the time the witch turned back around, the formerly beautiful girl
was standing behind her. "Now, ancient hag...it's my turn!" Constance
mumbled in her now toothless way, but the old witch heard her clearly
enough to be very worried.
She grasped the witch by the arm and pushed as hard as she could. The
old one clutched out desperately, grabbing onto the white wispy tendrils
of Constance's hair, grasping them only as she fell backward into the
water. The momentum pulled Constance off her feet, causing her to fall
forward, following the hag into the water. As they both sank quickly
beneath the surface, the ripples in the water slowly calmed; after
several long seconds, they became less and less noticeable at all. By
the time a full minute had passed, no one would have been able to tell
there had been anyone standing along its bank at all.
-End of Part 1-
-Eight-
A young acne-laden teen sat beside his bike and watched the workers run
the slip scoop at the water's edge. At 14, he looked forward to the day
when he could get a job like the one he was watching. A local crew had
been contracted to dig out a portion of the river so a suitable
structure could be erected to span its width. The bridge was heralded to
become a gem for the city, grand and gleaming for all visitors to see.
Micah was well out of the way, positioned high above the working
machinery. He was seated on the edge of the sidewalk which actually
spanned the entire work site. He had always held a fascination with the
heavy equipment, but as yet, never dared to venture down near its
operation.
As the enormous scoop swung around and deposited the mud and river soil
at the edge, something caught Micah's eye. He stared for several
seconds, and saw a sparkling glint among many, many pounds of murky
slush. Gradually, almost secretly, he worked his way toward the pile.
Staying hidden, he kept himself out of sight when the slip-scoop came
back around, afraid that the operator might either see him or worse, hit
him.
Micah was thankful that the object had slid toward the bottom, for its
nearness made retrieving it and getting away that much more feasible. As
he worked closer, he noticed that the strange object had ridden down the
surface of the wet slurry further, and slid slightly out into the grass.
Keeping hidden, he stole his way to the bottom of the pile and quickly
grabbed the object. As soon as he had it in his hands, he raced out with
it and quickly returned to his bicycle.
He carefully examined the object. Filth-caked almost its entire surface,
making it resemble a giant, muddy chicken leg...although it was flat,
perhaps only an inch thick on its narrowest side. The slimy mud slid
down onto the youth's hand, dripping in great plops onto the sidewalk
beneath his feet. Micah carefully pushed his bike across the road to a
gas station where he snuck to the side of the building. He turned on
their garden hose, and began to carefully wash the grime from surface of
the object.
After closely inspecting it, the handle seemed to be made from some type
of wood. It was rotted from ages of resting beneath the water. As he
carefully sprayed the handle's porous surface, it became evident that
the object was crudely carved, but as yet he was unable to tell what it
was.
He rolled it over and began to spray one side, when more of the soft,
rotten wood was exposed, then he rotated it to the opposite side and
began to remove the grime he found there. As he worked back and forth on
each side, another boy rode up and stopped, staying just out of the
reach of the water's spray.
"Whatcha have?" he asked as he studied the object in Micah's hands.
"I don't know, I found it," he said as he continued spraying.
The other boy sat silently and continued to watch. Slowly, its surface
became exposed, yet it was still quite dirty.
"Looks like a chicken leg...run over by a dump truck," the boy laughed.
"Where is it from?"
Micah smiled, "A chicken leg...that's the same thing I was thinking."
Finally he dropped the hose and turned off the water. "I found it by
where they are building the new bridge."
"So...now what?" the boy asked.
"I guess I'll take it home and try to figure out what it is." Micah
tried to push it into his pocket, the strange object was too wide at the
top to go in one way, and too long to ride in his pocket the other way
comfortably on the bike. He ended up pushing it into his belt, leaving
it hang out of the bottom like a sword. "I guess that'll work," he said
to himself.
"You know..." the other boy said as they began to ride, "it looks sort
of like my mom's hand mirror, only it's a bunch bigger."
"It can't be, Eli, the glass isn't shiny enough! I think it's an old
hair brush with the bristles missing," Micah decided.
"Those old mirrors didn't use glass. I remember reading in a book once
that they used polished metals like silver or something for them. I'll
bet that's what it used to be," Eli said, sounding to Micah like he was
so sure of himself.
"Maybe. Can't silver be polished to a shine?" Micah asked as he slowed
his pedaling down so the other boy could catch up.
Eli looked at the dullness of the object, "I think it may be too far
gone. You may have to use one of those burnishes like we have in art
class. You know, the ones that those kids doing the jewelry have, that
they rub on the metal to shine it up."
Micah shrugged; whatever he decided to use, would have to wait until he
got home.
-Nine-
Micah entered the house and began to climb the stairs toward his bedroom
with Eli, when his mother stopped him. "What are you two up to this
time?"
"I found this at the construction site and wanted to clean it up." Micah
held out the object he found.
"What do you suppose it is, Mrs. Kennecott?" asked Eli, eager to be
proven right on his theory of it being an old mirror.
She took it from her son and turned it over and over in her hands. "I
haven't the foggiest idea, boys."
"I think it's a mirror," insisted Eli.
"I suppose it could be, but the glass isn't reflective at all," she
observed. "Although, I do remember the old ones...really old ones were
polished silver or some such thing. You might be able to clean it up
some."
Eli smugly grinned at Micah. "See...I told you so!"
While his mother handed the object back, Micah shrugged and grinned at
his friend. She started to turn then stopped herself, "Before I forget
again, Micah, your orthodontist called. Your appointment has been moved
to next Friday. Doctor Guzman had to juggle his schedule a bit because
of some personal matters."
"That's fine, I'm in no hurry anyway," he replied over his shoulder, as
Eli and he started up the steps again.
"So...you getting braces?" Eli asked as they pushed the door to Micah's
bedroom open.
"Have to. Besides having an overbite, I got these four teeth that need
straightening and one right here that's growing right over the other
one." Micah pointed toward his crooked teeth on the bottom and the one
strange dual growth on top.
"They'll have to pull that one like they did my sister's...man, that
sucks!"
Micah sighed. "Now you know why I'm not in any hurry to have them work
on it!"
They carried the strange item to Micah's desk. Micah handed it to Eli
while he cleared off the items to make suitable working space. Eli stood
quietly waiting and watching as Micah cleared the desk.
"Awww dude, are those your glasses?" he teased as Micah folded the ear
pieces over and pushed them into a glass-case. Micah scowled at his
friend and took his finding and laid it on the desk.
As soon as his hands were free, Eli retrieved the glasses from the case
and put them on. "You must be as blind as a bat!"
"I'm not blind...jerk!" Micah snapped defensively.
"They're as thick as a magnifying glass!" he laughed and held out his
hand before him, trying to touch objects nearby.
"I have an eye problem," Micah growled as he snatched them from Eli's
face.
"You don't seem to be having any problems now!" Eli laughed as he
watched his friend push them back into the case.
"I'm wearing contacts. When I get to be eighteen, my mother said that
dad and she will pay for me to have lasik surgery."
"Sucks to be you!" Eli kidded.
"At least I don't have any trouble seeing eye to eye with the girls!"
Micah had enough of Eli's teasing and decided to strike back where it
counted.
"Bite me!" Eli snapped. "Mom says I'm just a late bloomer."
"Your dad's what, like 5'9 if he's lucky...and your mom is something
like 5 foot nothing? Heck, your sisters only a tad shorter than you
are!" Micah was laughing at his friend, "Your chances of growing much
more aren't likely!"
"What the hell! You aren't any taller than I am, asshole!" Eli folded
his arms and glared. "Your mom is just as tall as you are now! And my
sister is almost THREE inches shorter than me right now...jerk!"
"But my dad is over six feet!" Micah reminded him. "The chances are that
I'll get a whole lot taller than you...when we're full grown!"
Eli continued glaring. "Butt face!"
"Asshole!" Micah shot back.
Finally after a giant moment of silence, Eli asked, "So what're you
going to use on that thing?"
Micah shrugged, "I'm not sure...I may try some silver polish on the
metal, to see if your theory is remotely correct."
"It is," Eli replied.
From down at the bottom of the stairs, Micah's mother called up. "Eli!
Your mother has supper ready. She says you need to head home now."
"That blows," Eli sighed. "Talk to you tomorrow?"
"That'll work," Micah answered, "I'll let you know if I had any success
with trying to clean this thing."
"Cool," Eli headed toward the door, "Tomorrow then?"
"After lunch," Micah replied without looking up from the object on the
desk, the only reason he knew Eli had left the room were the softening
steps going down the stairs.
From the kitchen he heard Eli say, "Smells good, Mrs. Kennecott!"
"Thank you, Eli."
"See ya later! Tell Mr. Kennecott I said hi!" His voice echoed as Micah
heard the door to the outside close.
-Ten-
After supper, Micah was helping put items away for his mom, as his
father was loading the dishwasher.
"I'm done," the boy announced.
"Thank you, Micah. You may be excused." His mother ruffled his dishwater
blonde hair and smiled. The boy began to walk away.
Micah paused, "Before I go...I was wondering if we had any chrome or
silver polish?" His eyes darted between his parents.
"I'm pretty sure we don't have silver polish, but I think I have chrome
polish in the garage...are you planning on cleaning up your bike?" his
father asked as he closed the door to the dishwasher.
"Micah found an old thing down at the construction site and wanted to
see if he could clean it up," his mother replied for her son.
"Oh? What type of old thing?" his father wondered aloud.
Micah replied, "It's like an old junky mirror or something. I just want
to see if it's possible to put the shine back into it. So, where did you
say that chrome polish was?"
"It's a small, white plastic jug on the second shelf of the cabinet,
just above the motor oil." He then added, "Make sure it finds its way
back there when you're done with it!"
Micah smiled, "I'll put it right back in the only clean spot on the
entire cabinet...the exact spot it was taken from." Without any more
words between them, the boy had disappeared behind the door to the
garage.
His father looked at his mother. "Is that son of ours trying to say that
my shelf is dusty?"
She snickered, "I do believe so, dear."
Finding the polish was no effort at all, and moments later Micah was
standing before the object in his bedroom. He quickly read the
directions on the polish, shook the plastic jug vigorously and then sat
it aside. After a few minutes of scrounging, he pulled a pair socks with
holes in the toes from his drawer.
Once again he returned to the table, shook the small jug and opened the
lid. The smell was pretty intense, and it forced him to open up a
window. With great gusto, he set all of his attention upon the item he
found.
After almost two minutes of scrubbing the polish into the dull metal, he
took the other end of the sock and began to wipe away the excess. The
remaining solution was allowed to dry into a dull sheen, effectively
clouding out any results. Impatiently, he waited the allotted time
before he could buff it.
Putting everything aside, he hurriedly ran down the hallway and used the
bathroom, figuring that would give him the time needed for the solution
to do its thing.
About three minutes later, he returned to his room and took up the
remaining clean sock. Putting it to the metal's surface, he began to
rapidly buff out the dull chemical. When he was confident that it was
gone, he removed the sock and studied its surface.
Unfortunately, he couldn't see any reflection. Before giving up, though,
he thought he'd try polishing it, at least one more time.
Again he tried the process. This time, though, instead of an ordinary
sock to wipe on the polish, he decided to use some very fine steel wool
with polish on it. After another quick trip to the garage, he returned
with a baggie full of the fibrous metal. Laying his find flat upon the
desk, he then scrubbed hard at the metal's surface.
Waiting again was agonizing! After several minutes he picked up his
wiping cloth and began to buff away the dried polish. He shuddered with
excitement as he could almost make out his own reflection in its cleaner
surface.
"Another treatment of that stuff, in combination with the steel
wool...and I think that'll do it!"
-Eleven-
The garbage truck outside awoke Micah from his sleep. It was okay
because the boy didn't sleep very well anyway. He sat up and ran his
fingers through his hair, yawned and glanced out the window. Near the
driveway was a large truck with a huge mechanical arm shaking out his
parents' trash bin.
His sleep wasn't anything special, but he had a weird dream. He thought
about it, trying to remember anything about it that he could.
He recalled an decrepit, old woman...a young and beautiful girl, and an
old hand mirror like the one he found. The girl was a real piece of work
- today many would just call her a bitch because that was exactly what
she seemed to be. She had involved herself in a murder, then played it
off as it was nothing!
He looked toward the old mirror while he thought about his dream. The
old woman had a sister who was a witch or something...and that witch put
a spell on the girl's mirror. The spell was designed to sap the girl's
youth and beauty and leave her hideously deformed. And it was came true
as the girl slowly became a gross hag. She became so enraged by what was
happening and ended up going after the witch, killing her, too, in the
process. Both ended up drowning...and then the dream was suddenly over.
Micah shrugged away the dream assuming it was brought on by finding the
mirror only the day before. He decided that the origins of the object
made him have a dream explaining how he came to find it...it seemed a
simple enough explanation, but it was highly unlikely.
Micah drew the curtain, then sat down on the bed and yawned. He
stretched and scratched his scalp, then decided to go take a quick
shower. With only a cursory glance toward the old mirror, he stepped
into the hallway in his boxers and headed toward the bathroom.
He heard his mother downstairs. His father had already left for work
long ago, so Micah was relatively sure that he'd be able to have a long,
hot shower. He tossed his clean boxers down and pulled out a towel once
he was inside the bathroom. He turned on the shower and waited for it to
grow warm.
Looking in the mirror, he was slightly but happily surprised that his
acne appeared to be clearing up. Micah grinned and deftly retrieved his
toothbrush and planted a small dollop of toothpaste upon the bristles,
and began to brush.
There is always a moment when you have finished brushing that you give
yourself an exaggerated smile in the mirror, which Micah did this to
himself. He leaned in closer to the mirror, and he noticed that his four
bottom teeth that had been so crooked, were now slightly straighter. The
two big teeth at the top were even less overlapping than they had only
been just yesterday.
"Cool!" Micah gasped as he studied his reflection. "If this keeps up and
I won't have to have anything pulled!"
Micah's voice sounded a bit odd to his ears, but not really enough to
concern him. He decided it must be from a combination of the powerful
chemicals in the polish and sleeping with his window open.
"Hello....hello?" he said aloud, deciding that if it was anything, it
may be only a tad higher.
"That's all I need..." he said to himself as he stuck his hand into the
shower to test the water. "Reverse puberty!"
The boy scrubbed himself with his body soap, starting at his head and
working his way downward. He quickly rinsed and gathered up the shampoo
- it had a clean apple scent which he enjoyed very much. Squirting it
into his hand, he flipped the cap closed and placed it onto the shelf
inside the shower. In only an instant, his hands were coursing through
the thick lather, building into a rapidly increasing helmet of foam.
He began to shiver, the water seemingly cool to him. Micah turned up the
heat and pushed his head beneath the spray, scrubbing and rinsing the
foam away as he did. As soon as he finished, he cranked the handles to
the off position and opened the door.
On the outside, the mirrors were covered with a vaporous fog, almost
impenetrable to see through. Using a hand towel, he cleaned away the
surface so he could see his reflection.
In the mirror, as he was combing out his hair he paused in mid stroke,
noticing something strange about his underarm. He leaned in and examined
the area thoroughly. His hair there was more sparse than he remembered,
and what was there had become lighter...almost blonde. A quick
examination of the other one proved to be similar.
"What's the deal here?" he asked aloud, ignoring the strange softness
evident in his voice.
Shaking his mind free from its newest puzzlement, he began to dry
himself off. When his towel arrived at his legs he again paused, what
met his eyes was also oddly different from the dark hair he remembered
prior to his shower. Now each follicle seemed thinner and more blonde.
His eyes quickly bolted into the mirror, toward the hair on the top of
his head. There was a strange wave to it, and it definitely was lighter!
Micah hurriedly drew his boxers up his legs and draped his towel around
his shoulders, and headed toward the bathroom door.
As he stepped out into the hall, his mother had been vacuuming and was
now unplugging the cord from the wall. Micah stopped in the hallway and
waited for her to coil up the cord. "Mom? Do I look any different to
you?"
She let her eyes drift over him, "Have you been getting into my hair
lighteners again? It looks nice, honey, but you should ask before you
use them the next time" She bent down and hung the cord from the handle.
"Now Micah dear, if you don't mind...I have to lug this back downstairs
and finish the living room."
"Sure Mom, okay." He sighed as he turned and walked toward his room in
confused silence. Behind him, his mother carried the cleaner down to the
first floor.
When he returned to his room, he stood before his mirror and sighed.
"What's happening? Maybe...I'm just imagining things. But...mom saw it
too!" He grabbed his cutoffs and quickly pulled them up his legs where
they just barely covered his boxers.
Micah walked over to his dresser and picked up the mirror, it seemed to
not be as damaged as it had appeared just yesterday. It actually looked
somewhat salvageable to the boy. Micah rotated it over and over in his
hands - the dried wood seemed to have become so rigid that almost seemed
like new. He rolled it back over and looked into the reflective surface.
He had really worked wonders on it last night, his image in it was much
clearer than he remembered.
He sat it back down and pulled a shirt from his dresser, which was
directly beside his desk. The tank top he chosed fit loose, the arm
holes extended almost to his waist.
He shook his head as he sat down at his desk, absently running a finger
over his lower lip while thinking. If he and his mother could perceive
the subtle changes, what would happen when Eli came? Would his best
friend give him grief about them?
He rolled his eyes and drummed his fingers against the desk, trying to
decide what he should do. Again, his eyes were drawn into the ancient
mirror. Micah picked it up and examined the edges where the reflective
surface was held into the handle's frame. As his gaze scoured the edging
of the mirror, he couldn't help but return again and again to his face's
reflection. Something about his eyes seemed different? But what was it?
Suddenly he knew, and his eyed widened in shock. "Oh, God!" he gasped.
"My eyes are blue now!" He quickly laid the looking-glass down and
pushed it away. "No way in hell do I have blue eyes!" Hesitantly he
returned his gaze into the big mirror upon his door; he needed to know
for sure. It was true, his once brown eyes were now a stunning blue!
Micah gripped the door and leaned inward, his blue eyes questioning and
troubled. "How is this possible?" he cried out softly, too shocked to
think!
He began to pace, from time to time returning his gaze into the mirror
on the door. "Shit! How can this be happening?" he squeaked, his voice
becoming frantic and shrill with fear. "It's freaking impossible!"
Micah leaned against the door's glass in frustration, his forehead
resting upon its reflective surface just below his arms. Looking back at
him was a pair of the clearest blue eyes he had ever seen, framed within
expressively long, curved dark eyelashes. The hair upon his brow had
equally lightened up to match that which made up, his now wavy hair.
He backed away, still leaning against the mirror but trying to take in
his entire face. "My...my hair looks longer yet!" It was true; his hair
was just beginning to touch his shoulders, curling slightly at the ends,
where it came into contact with his skin! "No freaking way!" He cried as
his gaze was drawn to his arms, most notably his underarms.
"Now I'm stinking bald in my pits!" he gasped, backing away further. He
held up an arm and looked into the mirror with panic, he had no hair
anywhere on his armpit. "Eli will think I've shaved!" he cried out once
again to his reflection.
Running his off hand over his smooth armpit, he felt his heart skip with
fear. Even his fingernails had changed, becoming more oval and sticking
out, just slightly past his fingertips.
"Okay...okay...okay..." he stammered, trying not to hyperventilate.
"I've got to calm down. There has to be some sort of logical
explanation...I just have to figure out what!"
From the stairwell, Micah heard his mother's voice calling, "Micah,
honey, Eli is here!"
The youth sighed deeply, "Maybe Eli will have an answer."
-Twelve-
"Hey dude, what's..." Eli stopped short, placing his book-bag filled
with video games on the floor as soon as he saw his friend sitting at
the end of his bed.
"Close the door, I don't want my mom to see..." Micah frowned and
pointed behind Eli, toward the open door.
Eli quickly pushed it shut and slowly walked toward the bed, "What the
hell is going on, Micah?"
Micah looked up at his friend, a sadness showing in his eyes that Eli
had never seen before. "I was hoping you could tell me..."
An enormous amount of time passed as Eli studied his friend. Finally the
boy spoke, "When did you start..."
"Changing?" finished Micah.
Eli's eyes drifted down his friend's smooth legs...then, quickly away
and toward the window. "Uh...yeah."
"I first noticed them this morning!" Micah frowned and stood, folding
his arms in frustration. "They've been coming on pretty regular!"
Eli didn't say anything. But inwardly, Eli believed that Micah's legs
resembled those of a girl! Even since he arrived, the muscle tone had
become more slender and feminine.
"What the hell am I going to do?" Micah cried and turned away from his
friend, so he wouldn't see him cry.
"We'll figure it out, Micah!" Eli responded, but he didn't believe it.
Even now, Micah's hair was even more blonde than it had been. His
complexion had completely cleared, making his skin smoother and more
radiant looking.
Eli realized that he had to get Micah out of the house, before any
further changes happened. He pushed the changing boy his sandals, "Put
these on. We've got to go over to my house!"
"I'd have to ask my mom first," Micah sighed again, looking toward his
door.
Eli couldn't help but notice how soft Micah's voice had become since
they'd last spoken yesterday. He realized that Micah couldn't face his
mother like he was, afraid that she'd rush him off to the hospital as
soon as she saw him.
"I'll go down and talk to your mom, and you grab your stuff and get
ready to go!" Eli started for the door and paused, "You work your way
outside...I'll see if I can get permission for you to spend the night!"
"What about YOUR parents and sister?" Eli asked.
?
"They left this morning for the lake. Dad wanted to get one last day of
fun in before he had to bring in our boat." Eli quickly stepped toward
the door and placed his hand on the knob and hesitated, looking back at
his friend caught somewhere in the middle of an unexplainable
transformation. He wanted to have the answers for his friend, but
nothing came to mind as he waited for Micah to leave with him.
?
Slowly turning to face the mirror, Micah sighed at his reflection. "God
help me..."
?
As Micah passed him and walked into the hall, Eli picked up the mirror
from where the overwhelmed boy had left it. For some reason, Eli thought
the answer to Micah's problem might just be the mirror...and if there
was any way for his friend to return to normal, they just might need it.
He quickly pushed it into his book-bag, zipped it shut and slung it over
his shoulder, following Micah down the stairs.
Micah's mother was busy vacuuming the floor. After very little begging,
Eli got the official 'okay' from Micah's mother to take him to his house
for an afternoon of gaming. After a quick kiss from her son while she
was still preoccupied with the chore, the two friends quickly left for
Eli's house.
-Thirteen-
While they rode their bikes toward Eli's, Micah shuddered at the
unfamiliar feeling of his hair blowing from the air caused by their
ride. He knew he had to figure out how to stop the strange changes from
happening to him!
Once inside the house, the boys headed toward Eli's bedroom. As soon as
the door closed, Eli turned to face his friend. "I know you don't want
to hear this, but we've got to see how far you've changed."
"I can tell you right now," Micah replied fearfully. "Too far!"
Eli pointed to the tank top that Micah was wearing, "Pull it up some."
Micah did, revealing his waist.
"Has it always been skinny?" Eli asked, pointing toward Micah's narrow
waist.
"Yeah, but not like this!" Micah was completely baffled. "What could be
causing it to happen?"
Eli studied his friend with extreme scrutiny, "You said that all of this
started this morning?"
"Yes."
"Maybe it has something to do with that old mirror?" Eli reasoned.
"I guess anything's possible...at least, I believe that now!" Micah ran
his hand through his hair in frustration, and walked toward Eli's
mirror.
Micah sighed and walked back to Eli's bed and sat down. To Eli, he
couldn't help but notice that Micah's legs were even more feminine, than
when they were back at the other house. His fingers too were seemingly
longer, with shapely oval nails extending past their respective tips.
"It's the mirror...I'm positive of it!" Eli spoke with certainty.
"It's just an old mirror!" Micah groaned.
"Maybe it had a curse on it?" suggested Eli.
Micah recalled his dream and the fact that in it, the old witch threw
the mirror into the lake. Could it be that it wasn't a dream, but rather
a retelling of the mirror's strange past?
"Do this...stand up facing me and wait for sixty seconds," Eli asked his
friend.
"Why?"
"Just do it - I want to test out a theory." Eli's voice was sure and
confident, so Micah stood up and moved to where Eli was pointing at the
floor.
"Face me." He reminded Micah. The boy turned to face his friend, there
he waited out the sixty seconds.
After the allotted time passed, Micah shrugged and sat back on the bed.
"Okay, what was that all about?"
"Okay, you just stood there and faced me for sixty seconds and nothing
happened. Now try facing the mirror for the same time...but keep your
eyes closed."
Micah gave Eli a strange look but moved in front of the mirror, then
closed his eyes. Again he waited the allotted time before sitting down.
"Satisfied?"
"Nothing happened, but hang on...we're not done." He again motioned for
Micah to stand where he was pointing. "This time for sixty seconds,
stand here again...but keep your eyes open."
As Micah stood before the mirror, he studied his overall image.
Reflected in the mirror was some sort of effeminate boy. As he focused,
he noticed the wall behind him moving slightly upward; each second that
passed it moved a fraction of an inch higher. The appearance of the
wall's movement would have been imperceptible to Micah normally.
However, when he fixed his eyes upon a specific area of the wall, he
could actually see its movement!
"The wall is moving!" he said aloud, to the reflection of Eli in the
mirror. Eli looked backward toward the wall behind Micah.
"It isn't moving..."
"Eli, I'm seeing it with my own eyes! It's moving!" Micah responded
sharply. "You have to be blind if you aren't seeing it!"
Eli turned back around and studied Micah's reflection; if it were
possible, it almost appeared that Micah was slightly shorter, by almost
an inch. Eli stepped up and glanced toward his clock. "How long has it
been?"
"Forty seconds," replied Micah.
From the position Eli was standing, he could see into the side of
Micah's tank top, right where the elongated arm-hole was located.
Impossibly to the boy's eyes, he could actually see the beginnings of a
girlish nipple expand! Behind it built a layer of fatty tissue! Together
neither would have been noticed, but it altered at the very moment that
Eli's eyes came into contact with it.
Eli quickly pushed his friend away from the mirror. "Dude, it's your
reflection! If you don't see it, nothing happens...when you see any part
of your reflection, you change! It's happening whether you are aware of
it or not...and only when you're facing your reflection with your eyes
open!"
"Like hell!" Micah snapped, hoping that what his friend suggested wasn't
possible! After several moments he pushed past Eli and purposefully
stood before his reflection.
Once again, his nipples started to expand further before Eli's eyes! He
pointed it out to Micah. "There!"
Micah froze in stunned silence, as before his very eyes, his nipples
began to gently push out his clothing! The longer he faced the mirror,
the more they made known their presence! By the time he collapsed onto
the bed, he was somewhat smaller than an 'A' cup, more like a
prepubescent girl!
"It's my reflection?" he cried into the covers. "Do you realize how
impossible it will be, to not look at my own reflection?"
"Pretty hard..." sighed Eli.
"Impossible!" he cried even louder.
Eli reached for the door, "Stay here...don't look at the mirror! I'm
going to cover all our mirrors in the house!"
Micah watched his friend exit the room. Sitting up he stared into the
mirror as it was reflecting back the closet doors, away from where he
was seated. Glancing down, he could tell that nothing was happening.
Slowly he stood up and inched his way toward the mirror, almost as if he
were sneaking up on a wild animal.
Nothing happened until just a slight sliver of his arm appeared
reflected in the mirror's surface. Once again his chest began to rise
slightly! He quickly retreated toward the back of the room, well out of
the way of the mirror's reflective reach.
Finally Eli returned, "There, I think I got them all."
"Not all..." Micah replied softly and somewhat sadly, pointing toward
the big one in the room.
Eli quickly removed a cover from the end of the bed and tossed it over
the mirror. He then turned again to face Micah. "I think you're safe..."
The words trailed away almost as if the volume was turned down on a
radio.
Before him sat Micah, with his longer wavy blonde hair almost reaching
his shoulder blades. His sleek legs were tucked under him, as though he
was trying to cram himself tighter into the corner for protection. Micah
slowly inched toward the edge of the bed, drawing himself closer with
hands resembling those of a female...each nail extending almost a full
eighth of an inch past the tip.
Micah stood up, and his cutoffs and boxers sliding to the apex of his
hip. He mumbled, "My shorts don't fit me anymore."
"Mine won't fit you any better." He glanced toward his door. "As I see
it, you need a bit smaller size. Mine or Dad's won't do..."
"Don't you dare say it!" Micah hissed.
"I have to, and you know it!" Eli snapped. "You have your choice of two,
my Mom's or my sister's..."
"No way!" Micah cried. "I'm not going to wear any girl's clothing!"
He tried to push past Eli, but the first step he took, his shorts fell
around his ankles and caused him to fall flat on his face. Eli said
nothing; he just helped his friend back to the bed and left the room.
In a couple of minutes, he returned. "Here, put these on."
Micah looked down, and saw that Eli held his sister's jean shorts and
underwear.
"No way!" he growled back.
"The only one who'll know is me...and I ain't telling!" Eli tried to
reassure his best friend.
Gingerly, Micah removed the items from Eli's hand. "I'll wait
downstairs. Come down when you're ready."
Micah slid the unfamiliar items up his legs, they settled upon his hips
like they were made for him. The only real difference they had was the
higher cut upon the leg. He briefly paused as they finished their climb,
even his own penis was hopelessly tiny in size, almost appearing like
that of a 4-year old boy. With a deep sigh, he slowly drew up the jeans,
"I'm turning into some sort of weakened freak!"
-Fourteen-
Eli sat at the end of the couch flipping through the television channels
with the remote, when he heard Micah coming down the steps. The flip,
flip sound of his sandals announced