  Magan knew deep in her heart that no one's beauty could compete with her flowing auburn hair, her perfect complexion and her big round, dark green eyes. She had always been beautiful. Even as a child, her long thick hair had tumbled around her shoulders in natural ringlets. Magan had spent her whole childhood hearing how beautiful she was. As she grew older she started experimenting with makeup and other beauty aids. After her initial toying with the products she found that she really didn't need much. Her skin was so flawless, she could do without foundation. Her cheeks were naturally rosy and when she was happy or excited, they glowed with even more color. Her eyes needed very little added. Just a touch to bring out their depth. Her lashes were full and dark. She was a very vain person, although she would not have admitted it. Her house was adorned with mirrors. You could see at least one in every room of the big victorian home that she and her husband had restored. The man had just delivered the antique floor mirror that she had bought at an auction yesterday. She stood before it, examining the intricate hand carvings in the old wooden frame. She ran her fingers over the delicate pattern. The wood was dull and the mirror itself was cloudy from years of storage and dust that hugged the mirror tenderly. She took out the wood polish and a rag and began rubbing the mirror back to life. The polish seemed to fill in the scratches and soon the mirror looked almost new. Magan stood in front of it and admired its elegance and beauty. The old fairy tale 'SNOW WHITE' came to mind, and Magan danced and twirled in front of the mirror as she chanted: As she sang she became slightly dizzy, so she grabbed onto the frame for support. Her eyes were drawn magnetically to her image in the mirror. Yes she thought, I AM the fairest! Imagine Phillip leaving her! The man must have been raving mad! She closed her eyes and recalled Phillip's face. She had chosen her husband carefully. She had been happy with her choice. Phillip was as handsome as she was beautiful. They looked extremely good together. But then Phillip began to get the silliest ideas in his head. He started talking about raising a family. He just would not accept the fact that babies were out of the question. A pregnancy would most assuredly leave stretch marks on her body! Just the thought of how ugly her body would look for nine whole months and then afterward too, made her cringe. But Phillip became more and more obsessed with the idea and finally left her. Before he left, he tried to convince her that a beautiful face or body just aren't that important in life. He said that outward beauty can fade away and become lost. Yet that was exactly what he was asking her to allow to happen! Magan opened her eyes and looked into the mirror. (Have you ever looked into a mirror for a length of time and found yourself forced to look away? Mirrors do not lie. They do not demand beauty. Anyone can be uncomfortable with a mirror. You see your reflection, but also something darker that threatens to choke you, or pull you in too far to ever come back. What is it in a mirror that is so incredibly frightening?) As Magan stared, a hundred bright slivers shot into her eyes burning into her beauty, into her soul. Yes, that was it! The mirror was going to show her what she really was. Magan felt fear. She was held helplessly in the mirror's surface and she could not glance away. She watched the look of bewilderment on her face turn into something smokey and changed. She began to sweat profusely and her whole body trembled. She began to see things about herself that she didn't want to. She stared and she knew... The mirror was showing her, her subconscious soul, the reeking lonliness, her desires and fears. She saw her memories drifting by and also her insanity which stayed. (The subconcious is there to protect you from knowing too much about yourself. A person cannot always handle the hidden realms of their personality and the mirror was exposing hers.) Her head pounded and felt as if it were on the verge of exploding. She felt a surge of blinding pain and screamed as her fingers dug into the flesh of her face. Her anguish was so great that she couldn't see. The doorbell rang and somewhat dragged her out of the state she was in. The face in the mirror watched as she stumbled blindly to the door, groaning from her throat. Clarisa screamed in terror when she looked into the room. Magan was clawing at the door, trying desperately to get out. It had to be Magan, but she was unrecognizable. There were no features on her face at all... It looked as if someone had grafted skin over her entire face! Clarisa looked around the room and her glance fell on the mirror... Just in time to see Magan's reflection disappear into the cloudy surface.  Site © 1998 - 2017 All Rights Reserved CHARLENE HANCZ |