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The Secret Mirror
She pulled up at the property and looked at the house with intrepid delight. She had closed on the house as of last night with her husband Jake in tow. She had been dreaming of this day her whole life. Spending her whole life as a renter, she was anxious to begin this new chapter in her life as a homeowner.
"Did you give my Mom and Dad the new address," Jake asked. "Yes,"said Melissa. She had done that the previous night, making sure that they had the right address down to the last detail. She would never dream of leaving out Jake's parents in anything as she had lost her Mom and Dad a year ago to a horrible house fire.
"I can't believe this day is finally here, We have been waiting our whole life for this Jake,"said Melissa."Do you think we made the right decisions for our kids. I mean they are starting a whole new life in a whole new town. How do you think they will adjust?"
" I think they will do just fine," said Jake. " Kids are resilient. They are outgoing kids and they will make friends fast.
"Well let's go in and enjoy our first day," said Melissa.
"Okey-Dokey," said Jake
Melisssa went to the back of the green Yukon and grabbed the milk crate with all the photo frames and photos. She was looking forward to making new memories in this house. It had been a busy few years, as Jake was a contractor and flipped houses with Melissa. They had finally flipped enough houses to be able to pay off the majority of the house. They wanted to be expense free as they went into retirement. They wanted the house paid off so that if they wanted to, they could do more work to the this new house over time and increase the value of the house and property over time. Then they could work on their next dream, and that was landing two more houses for their kids, so that they would be taken care of if anything were to happen to her and Jake.
She needed this for her kids, because you can never guarantee life. That is the one thing she had learned since the house fire that consumed her parents house while they were sleeping. She missed them, and it hurt every day. She wished she could see them and just talk to them one more time. She did not get to say good bye, and that frustrated her immensely.
She walked up the driveway and approached the red oak door and fished the key out of her pocket. She put the key in the whole and turned as her fluttered. Finally she had made it and this would be embarking on a new journey for her. She hoped she could put her parents death behind her as she was still grieving. She knew she would never be done doing that, but she had to get to a point where it did not interfere in her and Jake's marriage.
Jake was an excellent husband, but he got things wrong like all husbands. He had never went through any death with any of his family, this was the first death Jake had dealt with from her family, since they had gotten together 15 years ago. He tried to console her. When she was crying, he would console her. He was always bringing them up and playing songs that reminded her of the death, and it triggered her all the more. Sometimes she wondered if he did on purpose, but surely he was not doing that. Why would he do that. She just did not want to be reminded of it. Sometimes she just wanted to not think about it, but she could not help it. It always creeped into her mind. Whether fast or slow, on purpose or accident, she would break down into erratic tears.
Jake tried to understand but he did not get it and would not understand until he had to deal with it. She hoped he did not have to do that anytime soon.
She entered the house and Jake followed up behind her. He walked up and wrapped his arm around her and kissed her.
" I love you, Melissa." said Jake. "I hope this makes you happy. Finally we are able to have something. I can't believe we are actually standing in our own house"
" Me neither,"said Melissa. "I've got to pee. Im going to the bathroom.
" Ok, I am going to put on a pot of coffee." said Jake. "My first pot in our new home.
He had carried the coffee pot in with him as he came in. Of course that was the first thing he grabbed, Melissa thought. Jake was an avid coffee drinker and hardly drank anything else. The occasional glass of water and soda was the only other things he drank.
She walked into the room and walked into the walk-in closet that led to the master bedroom. The closet was one of the things that attracted her to the house, as it had a built in vanity where she could sit and do her make up and hair. Who needs to stand up in the bathroom, if you could sit down.
She set the milk crate in the first shelf she got to and continued into the bathroom. She approached the toilet, pulled her pants down and sat down on the toilet. She did her business and pulled her pants back up and walked back through the closet and looked at the mirror that was built in to the vanity. She sat down on the stool and gazed into the mirror. She looked at her brown hair and was not happy with what she saw. It was thinning. She knew Jake did not care about it, but still to her it mattered. Her mother had a beautiful head of hair and she wished she could have one too.
Melissa had alopecia, and had had it since she was 13. She started brushing her hair one day after school, and it started falling out for no reasons. Even the doctors did not know why she had alopecia.
She looked into the mirror harder and she looked at her eyes. Jake said she had the most beautiful green eyes. She looked at her left eye. Her pupil had been damaged when she was a kid, so there was only a portion of her pupil. Her eye function was normal, but she had ran into a tree branch when she was nine. Her pupil was the shape of a oac man, like the old Atari games from the 80's. Jake loved gazing into her eyes and he always seemed to get lost when he did.
As she started to notice a stain on her blouse, she caught an image of somebody else in the mirror. It was as if they were sitting in the same chair she was. She quickly glanced up, and everything was normal. She sighed in relief. Surely she was just stressed from the buy and packing up all their belongings, that her brain made a mistake.
It was nothing, she thought. She glanced at her blouse again, and all of a sudden she noticed it again. This time when she looked up, she saw a woman with long brown hair. She had the most beautiful brown eyes and an olive complexion that she immediately recognized. It was her mother. Why was she seeing her. Surely this was a hallucination. She had never had any other mental health problem other than the occasional pms mood swing. Everyone prided her for her timid demeanor, and her ability to withstand the most egregious situations in her life, before the fire. She thought she did well handling the deaths on the outside, but she new it would be awhile before she would ever be ok. Inside, she was livid everyday, and wanted to scream at every moment.
She looked at her Mom's face, and it was a younger version of her mother. Melissa believed in heaven, and wondered if this is what people looked like in heaven. She looked at her Mom's mouth and she was mouthing something. She was not good at lip reading, so she struggled to make out what her mom was saying.
She sat there, and as she was sitting there, the woman in the mirror was getting animated. Her mom looked like she was getting upset. She kept mouthing something that seemed like two syllables. She was running over in her head what it could be when she suddenly had it.
"Jacob." she whispered silently to herself. Her mom started nodding and she was wondering what she meant. Her mom started acting like she was drinking coffee. She did not understand. But she knew Jake was starting a pot of coffee in the kitchen.
She ran out of the closet, through the bedroom, and out the door. She turned left and made her way to the kitchen at full speed. She got into the kitchen in just enough time to see Jake about to plug the coffee pot in. She did not know what to do, so she ran up to him and batted the plug out of his hand.
" What in the world?" cried Jake.
"I don't know," said Melissa. " I just had a premonition about you and I ran in here and all I know was to bat the cord out of your hand. What if you plugged it in and it shocked or electrocuted you."
"Ah, nothing is going to happen. Don't be so paranoid"
" I'm not being paranoid. Do you remember when my mom used to have premonitions and you would always trust them. What makes this any different?"
" I had not thought of that." said Jake."That kind of stuff runs in families."
Jake still looked skeptical, and had this look of dismay on her face. Melissa went and grabbed the coffee pot up and moved it to another out let and plugged it in. She did not know anything else, but why would she see a vision of her Mom saying Jake's name and acting like she was drinking coffee. She was racking her brain but plugged in the coffee pot.
" Did you bring in the sugar and creamer." asked Melissa.
"No,"said Jake
" I'll get it," said Melissa.
She walked to the front door and stepped outside when she looked in the pane of glass and she saw her reflection. She kept on walking outside and noticed that Jake had left the trunk open. There was a man standing by the car and he had red hair and a military uniform on. It looked like Army to her but she was not sure.
"Can I help you?" she yelled to the man. She kept walking out onto the porch and started to approach the man. He did not look threatening. Most men in Army outfits must either be a current servicemen or a veteran. The man did not answer.
"Excuse me, can I help you?
The man looked up, and finally spoke. "Yes, I noticed your trunk open and this glass by your tire wheel. You should be more careful driving over glass. It could flatten your tire."
" I must have ran over it when my husband and I pulled up. We are just moved in. May I ask which house you live in. He pointed to the house to the left and said, " I stay in number 613 over there."
"Are you military, sir?" asked Melissa.
" Yes,"said the man."I am former marine, 30 years. I worked in intelligence and even worked at the president's round table. I noticed your trunk open, so I walked up to check and was getting ready to let you know, when you stepped out."
Melissa was relieved. This guy seemed trustworthy. Jake had been in the Marines too, but for only 4 years. Long enough to get his pension. Fortunately, he was stationed in Afghanistan and worked on the tanks. He could fix any vehicle. He used to work on cars with her dad and they were an awesome team. Her Dad was a retired Marine, and she had the flag they presented to her at the funeral in the trunk.
" Ma'am, I can't help but notice the flag in your trunk. Did you lose someone?"
"Yes, my father. He was a retired Marine, 20 years. It's awfully funny, that you said you worked in intelligence, my dad did too."
" Where was he stationed at?" the the man asked.
She noticed his name tag, and it she could hardly make it out. But upon further inspection, she was pretty sure it said Jacobs.
" He was stationed in Korea, Germany, and Iraq. Fought in the Gulf War. He was never the same when he came home from Iraq. Just seemed like something was bothering him. I am pretty sure he had PTSD. He specialized in intelligence as well. It's funny your last name is the same as my husband's first name."
"Oh, is that so Ma'am?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Well, our worlds are a myriad of synchronicities," said the man. "If you need me I am in the house next door."
He started to walk towards his house. He said, " Nice to meet you."
"Same here," she replied.
She bent down over the trunk and grabbed the sugar and creamer and stuck it into another milk crate that had the flag. She walked up the sidewalk, up onto the porch, and was at the door when she glanced at the glass in the window beside the door, when she thought she saw her Dad standing at the car. She just stood there and looked at the reflection in dismay. Then it looked like her Dad started lifting his hands up to his mouth as if he was drinking something. She turned around quickly but nobody was standing there.
She sat down the crate and then sat down on the step. She could not understand what this meant. First her Mom, now her Dad. She could not grasp the concept of what they were trying to tell her. She wondered if she was going crazy and if she needed to go see a psychiatrist. This is the way it usually happens. She was at the right age. Schizophrenia can happen to anybody, and she knew she was not immune.
She wondered in her head if she should tell Jake. What did it mean? She had not the slightest clue. Could it be premonitions like her mom used to have. Her mom never actually said how she got her premonitions, but Jake and Melissa always heeded the warnings. It always played out in their favor.
As Jake came out of the front door, he said, " Is everything ok? What's the matter. You look rattled.
"Nothing," she said. " I just got light headed and sat down on the stoop. I met our neighbor."
" Oh, Did you?"
"Yes, funny thing is he served in the Marines like you and Dad, and his last name is Jacobs. Isn't that a coinky-dink?"
" Yes, but you know it's time to get Abby and Michelle from school,"asked Jake
" I did not know that, let's go get them. Can't be late picking them up. They would never forgive us."
Later, they arrived home and everybody walked inside. This was the second time the kids had seen the house and they were thrilled with the prospect of living in a two-story home with a pool. They were 15 and 13 and went to daycare in the middle of town. Melissa loved these beings more than she loved anyone and anything.
Melissa grabbed the crate that had the sugar and the flag in it and walked to the kitchen to put up the sugar and creamer. She left the kitchen and walked into her room and went into her closet. She kicked off her shoes and sat down on the stool. She pulled her hairbrush out of her pocketbook and ran it through her hair.This reminded her of her Dad because he would brush her hair everyday. It had to be brushed a hundred strokes or the whole world would fall apart. It was the secret to good hair he said.
She fell into a trance as she brushed her hair. She stared into the mirror and was deeply thinking about her mom and dad when all of a sudden, she noticed that the mirror changed like a television and all of a sudden her Mom and Dad were in her childhood house. Mom was pouring Dad coffee. She added cream and sugar to his. Then she sat down and they were at the dining room table. They both picked up their coffee cups and started drinking and then all of a sudden she was seeing herself again.
She did not know what this meant. Her mom just poured coffee, sat down, and drank. What was the message of all this. She did not know, and it was driving her crazy. Not that she was not acting crazy already. She had no idea what the visions meant. All she knew is that she is getting to see her mom and dad, posthumously, in an intimate way.
She found Jake in the kitchen filling the coffee pot with and attempting to make coffee. He poured the water in the back of the coffee pot. He added the coffee to the machine and attempted to turn it on but the machine did not turn on.
Melissa noticed this and said, "Let me help?" She did not know what to do anymore. She did not know if he was supposed to have coffee or not. He went into the bedroom to the closet to fix the breaker.
All of a sudden, at the outlet Melissa refused to let Jake plug up the coffee pot originally, there was a spark. She looked over and saw a cell phone plugged up over there and ran to check the phone. She picked up the phone and took it off the charger. She unlocked the phone and was looking through it to make sure the phone was not damaged when all of a sudden she noticed that the screen was changing slowly. She could see her parents once again and they were still at the table drinking coffee. She saw them and all of a sudden an outlet sparked and the room her mom and dad was in caught fire. She did not understand this. She knew that it was ruled as an electric fire, but why was she seeing the replay.
Her Mom and Dad jumped up and all of a sudden her father clutched his chest and fell over. Her mom fell to her knees as the flames were spreading fast. Her mom tried rolling over her Dad and giving mouth to mouth resuscitation. Then the flames took over the whole dining room and that is all she saw. Once again she was clueless as to why she was seeing this. It was surprising to see her Dad clutch his chest. He must have had a heart attack just as the fire began.
The coffee pot started working all of a sudden, and a few minutes later Jake returned from the bedroom happy that he could finally have some coffee. Melissa tried not to let her dismay show but Jake caught on quick.
"Are you thinking of your Mom or Dad?" asked Jake.
"Yes," replied Melissa.
"If you need to talk, I am here," consoled Jake.
"Thanks."
Melissa walked hurriedly out of the room and ran to her bedroom to the closet. She wanted to look in the mirror one more time to figure this out. She had to know more and if this related to anything she was going through. She sat on the stool and gazed in the mirror. At first, nothing happened. Then all of a sudden the mirror cracked. She jumped back in astonishment. She could not believe this. The sound was so loud.
Then all of a sudden the mirror was normal again. She sat there trying to figure out what that meant. A broken mirror was seven years bad luck. Could that be it. She did not know. All she knew was that she was so creeped out now that she was on the verge of talking to Jake about this. She did not want to appear crazy. She stepped out of the closet and left the room.
As she was coming out she ran into her daughter's. Abby, the oldest, said" There is a flat tire on the Yukon mom." Damn, thought Melissa. Now this after everything that I am dealing with and then it hit her. The broken glass is what the mirror was saying. She still had the phone in her hand she realized and looked at it to check the time. It was 8:55 pm.
She went to the kitchen to find Jake on the floor. She bent down and tried taking his pulse. There was not one. She pulled his body flush with the floor and did cpr. She was beginning to freak out. Realizing she still had the phone near her, she called 911. She told the dispatcher that it appeared her husband had a heart attack. She told them he had no pulse, and they said that they would get somebody there soon.
She ran out of the kitchen and called Abby and Michelle downstairs. She needed them to go get the neighbor to help her change her tire and maybe help her other ways. When they finally got downstairs she explained that their father collapsed and that she needed them to go get the neighbor in 613 to the left of the house. They ran out of the house frantically.
She went back into the kitchen to finding the outlet in the kitchen where the coffee pot was plugged in sparking. All of a sudden flames broke out. She ran to the front door and went out to find the girls coming back saying that 613 was an abandoned house boarded up, condemned.
© Stephen Jones
"Did you give my Mom and Dad the new address," Jake asked. "Yes,"said Melissa. She had done that the previous night, making sure that they had the right address down to the last detail. She would never dream of leaving out Jake's parents in anything as she had lost her Mom and Dad a year ago to a horrible house fire.
"I can't believe this day is finally here, We have been waiting our whole life for this Jake,"said Melissa."Do you think we made the right decisions for our kids. I mean they are starting a whole new life in a whole new town. How do you think they will adjust?"
" I think they will do just fine," said Jake. " Kids are resilient. They are outgoing kids and they will make friends fast.
"Well let's go in and enjoy our first day," said Melissa.
"Okey-Dokey," said Jake
Melisssa went to the back of the green Yukon and grabbed the milk crate with all the photo frames and photos. She was looking forward to making new memories in this house. It had been a busy few years, as Jake was a contractor and flipped houses with Melissa. They had finally flipped enough houses to be able to pay off the majority of the house. They wanted to be expense free as they went into retirement. They wanted the house paid off so that if they wanted to, they could do more work to the this new house over time and increase the value of the house and property over time. Then they could work on their next dream, and that was landing two more houses for their kids, so that they would be taken care of if anything were to happen to her and Jake.
She needed this for her kids, because you can never guarantee life. That is the one thing she had learned since the house fire that consumed her parents house while they were sleeping. She missed them, and it hurt every day. She wished she could see them and just talk to them one more time. She did not get to say good bye, and that frustrated her immensely.
She walked up the driveway and approached the red oak door and fished the key out of her pocket. She put the key in the whole and turned as her fluttered. Finally she had made it and this would be embarking on a new journey for her. She hoped she could put her parents death behind her as she was still grieving. She knew she would never be done doing that, but she had to get to a point where it did not interfere in her and Jake's marriage.
Jake was an excellent husband, but he got things wrong like all husbands. He had never went through any death with any of his family, this was the first death Jake had dealt with from her family, since they had gotten together 15 years ago. He tried to console her. When she was crying, he would console her. He was always bringing them up and playing songs that reminded her of the death, and it triggered her all the more. Sometimes she wondered if he did on purpose, but surely he was not doing that. Why would he do that. She just did not want to be reminded of it. Sometimes she just wanted to not think about it, but she could not help it. It always creeped into her mind. Whether fast or slow, on purpose or accident, she would break down into erratic tears.
Jake tried to understand but he did not get it and would not understand until he had to deal with it. She hoped he did not have to do that anytime soon.
She entered the house and Jake followed up behind her. He walked up and wrapped his arm around her and kissed her.
" I love you, Melissa." said Jake. "I hope this makes you happy. Finally we are able to have something. I can't believe we are actually standing in our own house"
" Me neither,"said Melissa. "I've got to pee. Im going to the bathroom.
" Ok, I am going to put on a pot of coffee." said Jake. "My first pot in our new home.
He had carried the coffee pot in with him as he came in. Of course that was the first thing he grabbed, Melissa thought. Jake was an avid coffee drinker and hardly drank anything else. The occasional glass of water and soda was the only other things he drank.
She walked into the room and walked into the walk-in closet that led to the master bedroom. The closet was one of the things that attracted her to the house, as it had a built in vanity where she could sit and do her make up and hair. Who needs to stand up in the bathroom, if you could sit down.
She set the milk crate in the first shelf she got to and continued into the bathroom. She approached the toilet, pulled her pants down and sat down on the toilet. She did her business and pulled her pants back up and walked back through the closet and looked at the mirror that was built in to the vanity. She sat down on the stool and gazed into the mirror. She looked at her brown hair and was not happy with what she saw. It was thinning. She knew Jake did not care about it, but still to her it mattered. Her mother had a beautiful head of hair and she wished she could have one too.
Melissa had alopecia, and had had it since she was 13. She started brushing her hair one day after school, and it started falling out for no reasons. Even the doctors did not know why she had alopecia.
She looked into the mirror harder and she looked at her eyes. Jake said she had the most beautiful green eyes. She looked at her left eye. Her pupil had been damaged when she was a kid, so there was only a portion of her pupil. Her eye function was normal, but she had ran into a tree branch when she was nine. Her pupil was the shape of a oac man, like the old Atari games from the 80's. Jake loved gazing into her eyes and he always seemed to get lost when he did.
As she started to notice a stain on her blouse, she caught an image of somebody else in the mirror. It was as if they were sitting in the same chair she was. She quickly glanced up, and everything was normal. She sighed in relief. Surely she was just stressed from the buy and packing up all their belongings, that her brain made a mistake.
It was nothing, she thought. She glanced at her blouse again, and all of a sudden she noticed it again. This time when she looked up, she saw a woman with long brown hair. She had the most beautiful brown eyes and an olive complexion that she immediately recognized. It was her mother. Why was she seeing her. Surely this was a hallucination. She had never had any other mental health problem other than the occasional pms mood swing. Everyone prided her for her timid demeanor, and her ability to withstand the most egregious situations in her life, before the fire. She thought she did well handling the deaths on the outside, but she new it would be awhile before she would ever be ok. Inside, she was livid everyday, and wanted to scream at every moment.
She looked at her Mom's face, and it was a younger version of her mother. Melissa believed in heaven, and wondered if this is what people looked like in heaven. She looked at her Mom's mouth and she was mouthing something. She was not good at lip reading, so she struggled to make out what her mom was saying.
She sat there, and as she was sitting there, the woman in the mirror was getting animated. Her mom looked like she was getting upset. She kept mouthing something that seemed like two syllables. She was running over in her head what it could be when she suddenly had it.
"Jacob." she whispered silently to herself. Her mom started nodding and she was wondering what she meant. Her mom started acting like she was drinking coffee. She did not understand. But she knew Jake was starting a pot of coffee in the kitchen.
She ran out of the closet, through the bedroom, and out the door. She turned left and made her way to the kitchen at full speed. She got into the kitchen in just enough time to see Jake about to plug the coffee pot in. She did not know what to do, so she ran up to him and batted the plug out of his hand.
" What in the world?" cried Jake.
"I don't know," said Melissa. " I just had a premonition about you and I ran in here and all I know was to bat the cord out of your hand. What if you plugged it in and it shocked or electrocuted you."
"Ah, nothing is going to happen. Don't be so paranoid"
" I'm not being paranoid. Do you remember when my mom used to have premonitions and you would always trust them. What makes this any different?"
" I had not thought of that." said Jake."That kind of stuff runs in families."
Jake still looked skeptical, and had this look of dismay on her face. Melissa went and grabbed the coffee pot up and moved it to another out let and plugged it in. She did not know anything else, but why would she see a vision of her Mom saying Jake's name and acting like she was drinking coffee. She was racking her brain but plugged in the coffee pot.
" Did you bring in the sugar and creamer." asked Melissa.
"No,"said Jake
" I'll get it," said Melissa.
She walked to the front door and stepped outside when she looked in the pane of glass and she saw her reflection. She kept on walking outside and noticed that Jake had left the trunk open. There was a man standing by the car and he had red hair and a military uniform on. It looked like Army to her but she was not sure.
"Can I help you?" she yelled to the man. She kept walking out onto the porch and started to approach the man. He did not look threatening. Most men in Army outfits must either be a current servicemen or a veteran. The man did not answer.
"Excuse me, can I help you?
The man looked up, and finally spoke. "Yes, I noticed your trunk open and this glass by your tire wheel. You should be more careful driving over glass. It could flatten your tire."
" I must have ran over it when my husband and I pulled up. We are just moved in. May I ask which house you live in. He pointed to the house to the left and said, " I stay in number 613 over there."
"Are you military, sir?" asked Melissa.
" Yes,"said the man."I am former marine, 30 years. I worked in intelligence and even worked at the president's round table. I noticed your trunk open, so I walked up to check and was getting ready to let you know, when you stepped out."
Melissa was relieved. This guy seemed trustworthy. Jake had been in the Marines too, but for only 4 years. Long enough to get his pension. Fortunately, he was stationed in Afghanistan and worked on the tanks. He could fix any vehicle. He used to work on cars with her dad and they were an awesome team. Her Dad was a retired Marine, and she had the flag they presented to her at the funeral in the trunk.
" Ma'am, I can't help but notice the flag in your trunk. Did you lose someone?"
"Yes, my father. He was a retired Marine, 20 years. It's awfully funny, that you said you worked in intelligence, my dad did too."
" Where was he stationed at?" the the man asked.
She noticed his name tag, and it she could hardly make it out. But upon further inspection, she was pretty sure it said Jacobs.
" He was stationed in Korea, Germany, and Iraq. Fought in the Gulf War. He was never the same when he came home from Iraq. Just seemed like something was bothering him. I am pretty sure he had PTSD. He specialized in intelligence as well. It's funny your last name is the same as my husband's first name."
"Oh, is that so Ma'am?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Well, our worlds are a myriad of synchronicities," said the man. "If you need me I am in the house next door."
He started to walk towards his house. He said, " Nice to meet you."
"Same here," she replied.
She bent down over the trunk and grabbed the sugar and creamer and stuck it into another milk crate that had the flag. She walked up the sidewalk, up onto the porch, and was at the door when she glanced at the glass in the window beside the door, when she thought she saw her Dad standing at the car. She just stood there and looked at the reflection in dismay. Then it looked like her Dad started lifting his hands up to his mouth as if he was drinking something. She turned around quickly but nobody was standing there.
She sat down the crate and then sat down on the step. She could not understand what this meant. First her Mom, now her Dad. She could not grasp the concept of what they were trying to tell her. She wondered if she was going crazy and if she needed to go see a psychiatrist. This is the way it usually happens. She was at the right age. Schizophrenia can happen to anybody, and she knew she was not immune.
She wondered in her head if she should tell Jake. What did it mean? She had not the slightest clue. Could it be premonitions like her mom used to have. Her mom never actually said how she got her premonitions, but Jake and Melissa always heeded the warnings. It always played out in their favor.
As Jake came out of the front door, he said, " Is everything ok? What's the matter. You look rattled.
"Nothing," she said. " I just got light headed and sat down on the stoop. I met our neighbor."
" Oh, Did you?"
"Yes, funny thing is he served in the Marines like you and Dad, and his last name is Jacobs. Isn't that a coinky-dink?"
" Yes, but you know it's time to get Abby and Michelle from school,"asked Jake
" I did not know that, let's go get them. Can't be late picking them up. They would never forgive us."
Later, they arrived home and everybody walked inside. This was the second time the kids had seen the house and they were thrilled with the prospect of living in a two-story home with a pool. They were 15 and 13 and went to daycare in the middle of town. Melissa loved these beings more than she loved anyone and anything.
Melissa grabbed the crate that had the sugar and the flag in it and walked to the kitchen to put up the sugar and creamer. She left the kitchen and walked into her room and went into her closet. She kicked off her shoes and sat down on the stool. She pulled her hairbrush out of her pocketbook and ran it through her hair.This reminded her of her Dad because he would brush her hair everyday. It had to be brushed a hundred strokes or the whole world would fall apart. It was the secret to good hair he said.
She fell into a trance as she brushed her hair. She stared into the mirror and was deeply thinking about her mom and dad when all of a sudden, she noticed that the mirror changed like a television and all of a sudden her Mom and Dad were in her childhood house. Mom was pouring Dad coffee. She added cream and sugar to his. Then she sat down and they were at the dining room table. They both picked up their coffee cups and started drinking and then all of a sudden she was seeing herself again.
She did not know what this meant. Her mom just poured coffee, sat down, and drank. What was the message of all this. She did not know, and it was driving her crazy. Not that she was not acting crazy already. She had no idea what the visions meant. All she knew is that she is getting to see her mom and dad, posthumously, in an intimate way.
She found Jake in the kitchen filling the coffee pot with and attempting to make coffee. He poured the water in the back of the coffee pot. He added the coffee to the machine and attempted to turn it on but the machine did not turn on.
Melissa noticed this and said, "Let me help?" She did not know what to do anymore. She did not know if he was supposed to have coffee or not. He went into the bedroom to the closet to fix the breaker.
All of a sudden, at the outlet Melissa refused to let Jake plug up the coffee pot originally, there was a spark. She looked over and saw a cell phone plugged up over there and ran to check the phone. She picked up the phone and took it off the charger. She unlocked the phone and was looking through it to make sure the phone was not damaged when all of a sudden she noticed that the screen was changing slowly. She could see her parents once again and they were still at the table drinking coffee. She saw them and all of a sudden an outlet sparked and the room her mom and dad was in caught fire. She did not understand this. She knew that it was ruled as an electric fire, but why was she seeing the replay.
Her Mom and Dad jumped up and all of a sudden her father clutched his chest and fell over. Her mom fell to her knees as the flames were spreading fast. Her mom tried rolling over her Dad and giving mouth to mouth resuscitation. Then the flames took over the whole dining room and that is all she saw. Once again she was clueless as to why she was seeing this. It was surprising to see her Dad clutch his chest. He must have had a heart attack just as the fire began.
The coffee pot started working all of a sudden, and a few minutes later Jake returned from the bedroom happy that he could finally have some coffee. Melissa tried not to let her dismay show but Jake caught on quick.
"Are you thinking of your Mom or Dad?" asked Jake.
"Yes," replied Melissa.
"If you need to talk, I am here," consoled Jake.
"Thanks."
Melissa walked hurriedly out of the room and ran to her bedroom to the closet. She wanted to look in the mirror one more time to figure this out. She had to know more and if this related to anything she was going through. She sat on the stool and gazed in the mirror. At first, nothing happened. Then all of a sudden the mirror cracked. She jumped back in astonishment. She could not believe this. The sound was so loud.
Then all of a sudden the mirror was normal again. She sat there trying to figure out what that meant. A broken mirror was seven years bad luck. Could that be it. She did not know. All she knew was that she was so creeped out now that she was on the verge of talking to Jake about this. She did not want to appear crazy. She stepped out of the closet and left the room.
As she was coming out she ran into her daughter's. Abby, the oldest, said" There is a flat tire on the Yukon mom." Damn, thought Melissa. Now this after everything that I am dealing with and then it hit her. The broken glass is what the mirror was saying. She still had the phone in her hand she realized and looked at it to check the time. It was 8:55 pm.
She went to the kitchen to find Jake on the floor. She bent down and tried taking his pulse. There was not one. She pulled his body flush with the floor and did cpr. She was beginning to freak out. Realizing she still had the phone near her, she called 911. She told the dispatcher that it appeared her husband had a heart attack. She told them he had no pulse, and they said that they would get somebody there soon.
She ran out of the kitchen and called Abby and Michelle downstairs. She needed them to go get the neighbor to help her change her tire and maybe help her other ways. When they finally got downstairs she explained that their father collapsed and that she needed them to go get the neighbor in 613 to the left of the house. They ran out of the house frantically.
She went back into the kitchen to finding the outlet in the kitchen where the coffee pot was plugged in sparking. All of a sudden flames broke out. She ran to the front door and went out to find the girls coming back saying that 613 was an abandoned house boarded up, condemned.
© Stephen Jones
