James Crusion was an amateur antique dealer. What gave him that status was the fact that he bought items he liked instead of a professional antique dealer who bought an item because of its worth for selling on, regardless whether they liked it or not.

The house sale of Sir Arthur Dodds property had been well known by the antique trade for a few weeks now prior to auction going ahead today. The great and the good of the trade had flocked to Hersham Hall like a plague of locusts to see what was left over from the carcass after his family had taken what they wanted first. Sir Arthur Dodds was a well known collector of all things to do with the occult. Some of the pieces today would fetch a good price with the covens that practice their craft in this sleepy part of Wiltshire.

But the reversed prices on those items were well above the sort of money James was willing to spend. No, keeping true to his amateur status, he was after a piece a bit cheaper. Like the mirror he couldn't take his eyes off.

It was tucked away at the very back of the drawing room where the auction was taken place. Over seven foot tall, the tarnished mirror was framed by the most unsettling series of carvings. At the top of the mirror sat the most unpleasant looking creature. A sort of dragon with a long neck and huge front teeth. Down each side of mirror were carvings of smiling cats, men in large top hats and some bizarre looking kings and queens. The more James looked at these images, the more he thought he'd recognized them. But from where?

"You'll not thinking of buying that are you?" Said a voice behind James. James jumped, shocked back into the real world. He turned around to see a rather tall woman. She had straight black hair and wore a variety of cardigans and layers of multicolored skirts.

"I was thinking about it, yes." He held the price tag in his hand. "Not to bad a price."

The woman snorted. James was unsure if she had a cold or whether she just gave a laugh.

"You wouldn't find me having an uncovered mirror in my house. Particularly as that were in the bedroom where he died."

James knew he was about to go down a rabbit hole with this conversation but he had to ask.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand. An uncovered mirror and when who died?"

"Sorry love." Said the woman. "I thought you were in the trade."

James pitched his nose than rubbed his eyes. " I am, sort of."

The woman didn't seemed convinced. However, always the one to impart some of her knowledge, she began.

"It was an old English tradition that if there is a mirror in the room of a dying person. Someone must cover it before the dying person passes away otherwise their soul gets trapped inside the mirror."

James looked back at the mirror. But instead of seeing his own reflection he thought he saw that of someone else! But it's impossible, a trick of the light.

"You see, she didn't do it."

For a second, James forgot the woman was standing there. "Who didn't do what?"

"His granddaughter!" The woman was now getting rather irritable. "His granddaughter, Alice, was in Sir Arthur's bedroom with him when he died." Then coming closer to James she added. "Now, here is the strange thing, those outside the bedroom heard Alice scream. Thinking that she had come over emotional, the rest of the family went into the bedroom, only to find Sir Arthur dead in his bed, the shroud for the mirror on the floor, and wait for it. Alice went missing!" The woman stood up straight smiling with her arms folded across her chest.

James stood there starring at the woman. Then he burst out laughing. "You tell a good story lady. But I don't believe in ghosts."

Taking James by the arm, the woman concluded. "Buy that mirror and you will!"

In was late afternoon when James arrived home with the mirror. It didn't seem that big at the auction. But here, it took up most of the hallway. He managed to lean it up against the hallway wall and took a few steps backwards, bumping into the staircase. Looking at it again he had that feeling like he was being watched! James went close to the mirror but all he saw this time was his own reflection.

Outside in the street he heard a car door slam. Joanna, his partner was home from work.

"Hi, honey. Good day at work?" James stood between the mirror and Joanna. But he couldn't hide the thing that was dominating the hallway.

"What the bloody hell is that!" Exclaimed Joanna, pointing at the mirror.

James looked over his shoulder like he was seeing the mirror for the first time. "Oh that. Just something I picked up at the Dodds house sale. Great isn't it."

Joanna pushed James out of the way. "No it isn't. It's awful!" Looking at it, she couldn't take her eyes off the creatures carved around the frame, then she gave an involuntary shudder. "It gives me the creeps! This has got to stop James. Filling our house with junk. I mean it this time. Either that goes and the other stuff or I go!" Throwing her bag on the floor, she stormed off into the kitchen.

James sighed. Taking his cell from his pocket, he turned his back on the mirror and made a call. If he had still been looking at the mirror he might have seen the appearance of a girl's face smiling before it faded back into the mirror.

Joanna was having a restless night sleep. For some reason she kept dreaming about smiling cats with razor sharp teeth. She woke in the early hours of the morning. Looking at the time on her phone, she decided to get up and make some coffee. It was while she was in the kitchen that she heard her name being called. It was only a whisper, but she thought James had come downstairs. Turning to the kitchen door, she saw that he wasn't there.

"Joanna." Came the whisper again. Putting her cup down on the work top, she went back out into the hallway. "James, is that you? Look, I'm in no mood for silly jokes!" Then came the laugh. A dry cackle of a laugh.

"James?"

Joanna slowly walked further into the hallway. It's when she got level with the mirror that she knew the laughter was coming from inside the mirror! Now turning towards it she saw the face of a girl. Her skin was dry and wrinkled and her eyes were black as coal. Joanna screamed. Then a hand shot out from the mirror and latched onto Joanna's arm. Then with a force, the hand pulled Joanna into the mirror!

As soon as Joanna disappeared, the figure of a girl walked out. Now standing in the hallway in her stained blue gingham dress. She brushed her matted blonde hair away from her black eyes.

"Joanna! Is everything OK" James called down.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs. Alice Dodds, the missing granddaughter of Sir Arthur Dodds, who was the girl from inside the mirror. Laughed!
© Alice White