Magic Mirror on the Wall

 So I started writing short stories and poems on this really cool app called Daily Prompt. A really cool app to make you write every day. What I particularly like about it is that 99% of the case I'm just there feeling blocked and not knowing what to write about, but suddenly, ideas just start flowing. The below was a very short horror story I wrote earlier today, based on the image in the prompt which was a lady staring at her reflection in a mirror, where there was a devil staring straight back at her. It's a story about soul possession, vanity and death. A kind of mixture between Snow White and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. I could have done better but I think I like the outcome especially when I didn't even know how to start. Enjoy!

Magic Mirror on the Wall

“Magic mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?”

The lady in the mirror had always helped me keep my beauty. She always had told me what to do ever since I was a child and first laid my eyes on her on the other side of the mirror. I wanted to be no less than the most beautiful princess ever in the kingdom. All I had to do in return was to feed her. I would take her the blood of dead mice and frogs, nothing my adventurous and somewhat dark heart dreaded. That was our deal. I’d keep her fed, she’d keep me beautiful.

When I turned 16 we both became more demanding. I wanted to be the most beautiful princess in the world now. I was becoming a woman and I had many suitors. I knew my beauty startled them and there wasn’t a single young man in the kingdom who did not wish to marry me. But I rejected them all. I thought they were no match to me. The lady in the mirror kept telling me that if only I got even more beautiful, I could be even more demanding with my suitors. I could demand jewels, gold, dresses, accessories, all the finest things my heart desired. But she started asking me for more too. I saw myself sneaking into the kitchen when the servants weren’t around, to steal chunks of meat to feed her. The cook punished them for not taking proper care of the food. It was unfair but I was so obsessed with my looks that I didn’t care.

At the age of 18 she started asking for my own blood. The meat from the kitchen wasn’t enough. For the first time I was hesitant, I didn’t want to cut myself and let her drink from me. But she had her ways...

“What are a few drops of your blood compared to all the riches you will have one day? And in return for you feeding me, I’ll always make sure you are the most beautiful woman ever, no matter how old you are. No one will ever be as beautiful as you.”

I acquiesced. I cut my fist and took it to her. That night a young girl, also aged 18 was found dead. She was beautiful. Possibly more beautiful than I was. But I didn’t make any connections. Then, after I fed her a second time, I got suspicious. A 15 year old girl was also found dead. My heart skipped a few beats when I started thinking about it. Was it possible that she was killing all the beautiful girls in the kingdom so that I could still be the most beautiful?

“I killed them quickly, child. They didn’t feel any pain.” she said with a smiling dancing macabrely but also seductively on her beautiful full lips. “Now, how do you feel knowing that you have no rivals? How does it feel to be the fairest one of all?”

“But it’s wrong...” I muttered.

“Do not worry. Nobody will ever find out about us. Now, please. I am hungry, sweetheart.”

Tears came to my eyes but I couldn’t help but do what she wanted. By now I was aware of my horrible mistake. My vanity was costing the lives of these girls. She had possessed me, I could now feel it. And there was nothing I could do to stop it.

That night I met another suitor. He was handsome and courteous. He sincerely praised my looks and said he had never met such a beautiful young lady with such impeccable manners. For the first time, I liked one of my suitors. We spent time chatting and I knew he would be the one I would choose for husband.

“It really is my wish to marry you and make you happy.” he said a few evenings later. “Never have I met a lady with such beauty.”

I was very happy but the lady in the mirror kept drinking from me. Another girl killed. Every time she drank from me a poor girl would be found dead.

“Oh please, stop it, I beg you! I cannot take this anymore. I am beautiful enough.” I finally begged on my knees, tears rolling down my face. “I am going to marry this handsome gentleman. I can’t allow this to go on.”

She smiled. A smile of fake pity for I could see how evil she was. How evil I had been.

“Our deal cannot be broken. Unless...”

I stared at her, treachery and wickedness in her dark eyes.

“Unless?” I asked.

“Unless you bring me the heart of your suitor. Feed me his heart and our deal will end then.”

“Noooooo! I cannot. I will not. You are evil and you possessed me. I will not kill the man I love to feed you his heart.”

“Well, then I am afraid I will still demand your blood and the killings will go on.”

“There must be something else. Ask me for something else.”

She was silent for a moment, thinking. Then she looked at me with a wicked smile.

“Oh yes, there is something else.”

I was going to ask her what but I fainted on the floor. I don’t know how long I was left in that state but when I woke up I was locked in a kind of a box. I tried to break it but it was impossible. I shouted. Nothing happened, nobody came to help me. Then I saw her.

“You poor little fool.” she mocked me. “Did you really think you could end our deal like this? Nobody betrays me. Nobody.”

She was on the other side of the mirror. She looked like me, it was like staring at my own reflection. Only I was the reflection. I was trapped in the mirror. The mirror of my own selfish vanity. She laughed and I saw her walk away with my body, my looks. She would marry the man I loved and I would be stuck in that mirror forever.