The Face in the Mirror
- Posted by Laurie Ashton on December 6th, 2007 filed in Uncategorized
I wrote this for the AW Flash Fiction Carnival III, which has a theme of “transforms”.
—–
The Face in the Mirror
by L M Ashton
Marcy stared into the odd empty space, devoid of anything. She wondered why she wasn’t sucked in. She reached out her hand and tried to touch the void. Her fingertips brushed the edge and turned cold, freezing cold. She sucked on her fingertips, trying to ease the stinging pain. They were white now, frostbitten.
What was this void doing here, in her kitchen? How had it come here? There was no damage to her house, so how had it ended up here? She wasn’t even sure why she knew it was a void. Or is that just my imagination, too?
Marcy first noticed it when she came into the kitchen to get breakfast. It hung over the table, a dark blob of nothing. It didn’t move much at all. It just hung there.
She made herself breakfast a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and apricot jam and a glass of papaya juice while keeping an eye on the void. She wondered what would happen next. She ate, still watching the void, while standing at the kitchen counter. She washed up.
She needed to find out what this was, she decided. She walked over to the table and took another look at the void. She walked around the kitchen table, studying it from all sides.
Still the same void.
Nothing changed.
She thought about phoning her brother, the physicist, but would he listen to her? Would he believe her? Probably not, she decided. She’d also been the crackpot of the family. She believed in the power of crystals, healing energy, prayer, and herbal medicine. To them, that meant crackpot. No, best for her to deal with his herself.
She had an idea.
She quickly went to her office where she kept her wand and crystals. She thought she could use the wand, which had a large transparent yellow crystal at one end, to see if there was any energy in this void. But first, she’d create an energy pyramid with five other crystals around the void. She put four in a square on the table with the large purple translucent stone pointing towards the magnetic north pole, then put the fifth, attached with packing tape, on the light fixture above the table, forming the point of the pyramid.
Already, Marcy could see the void changing. It shimmered. Its black inky liquid roiled and boiled, becoming ever more active. Still it remained difficult to distinguish any detail. She hesitated on using her crystal wand, but decided she might as well. She had to do something.
She stood in front of the void, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and centered herself. “What I am about to do, make it for the greatest and highest good of you, me, and all concerned.” She opened her eyes and reached out to the void with her left hand, palm flat against the void, in an attempt to feel the contours and read the energy. She pointed at the void with the crystal wand in her right hand, and tried reading the energy with her left.
She felt Consciousness. Malevolence? Dissatisfaction. Anger. She frowned. What is this? I don’t want to release a malevolent spirit. Time to call Who? This was definitely not something her physicist brother could deal with. But who? Her mind was a blank.
She sat at the table, considering her options, and came up with nothing. Marcy closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted, and leaned back in the chair. She was so tired, too tired even to go back to bed. But I just woke up. I shouldn’t be tired, she thought, as she drifted off. Later, she realized, as she wiped the drool from the side of her mouth, she must have fallen asleep.
She looked at the space where the void had been, and was relieved to see it was gone. She reached out with her hand to feel the energy, and, happily, there was nothing left. No residual energy. It was completely gone. She breathed a sigh of relief.
She removed the crystals and put them and her crystal wand back in their place in her office, then, looking at a clock, she realized she’d be late for her book club meeting if she didn’t hurry. How long was I asleep for?
She dressed quickly, then went into the bathroom to brush her teeth, and, looking in the mirror, screamed.
Staring back at her was an ugly, old, misshapen face, the face of a hag. The woman, if she could call it a woman, had pale green skin and wrinkles as deep as crevasses. The woman’s pointy ears stuck out from underneath black matted hair. Her black hungry eyes stared back at Marcy.
“Who are you? Where are you?”
The woman in the mirror laughed. “You can call me Armageddon if you like. What a quaint story. And I’ve taken over your body. Thank you for inviting me in.” The hideous woman smiled, but Marcy was not warmed by it. She shuddered.
“Get out! Get out now!” She banged on the mirror, breaking glass. Suddenly, she felt powerless, as if she’d been shoved into a corner of her mind, and could do nothing more than watch Armageddon as the old hag took control of her body.
She then calmly washed her hands of the blood and watched as the cuts healed almost instantaneously, leaving no trace of the cuts behind. She looked in the fractured mirror, and spoke. “Now, now, you’ll just have to behave yourself, or I won’t let you watch.” In horror, Marcy screamed, but heard no sound coming from her mouth.
“That’s better.” The woman waltzed out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, opening Marcy’s purse and checking the contents. “Ah. Credit cards. And you pay off the balance every month. You do make it very easy for me. That’s so considerate.”
Marcy wondered how the woman knew that. Had the woman been watching her? Had she been targeted? “No, no, nothing like that. I have access to all your thoughts, memories, and knowledge. Thanks to you, and, what’s it called, the Internet, I’ll have everything I need in a matter of days. Oh, what an interesting world you have, and so efficient, too.” Why? What do you get out of this? The woman laughed as she walked into Marcy’s office and booting her computer. “I get life. I get to live. By sucking the life force out of every living thing on your world. It’s enough to keep me alive for a very long time.”
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December 9th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Hi Laurie
The apocalypse/armageddon is definitely my theme of the moment and it was good to find that theme here, as part of the Flash Fiction Carnival. And what an intriguing idea, to have the embodiment of Armageddon as a person. And yes, you really can get anything on the internet, can’t you…
I also thought parts of it quite humourous, and I don’t know why but the idea of the brother just happening to be a physicist made me laugh - I think I may have a weird sense of humour.
Cate
December 9th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Very disturbing. I mean that in a good way, of course.
I like how you’ve taken the theme too, it’s not just the transformation of the void, or of Marcy, but potentially the whole world.
December 9th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Laurie,
Very nicely done. I really enjoyed the beginning of the piece. I liked the descriptions, the confusion in the main character, and the matter-of-fact way that she dealt with things. She didn’t run screaming from the room just because some big void suddenly popped into her kitchen. LOL
This was a very enjoyable read. Great entry for the FFC III.
December 9th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
There’s an odd part of me that considers the idea of something terrible happening very exciting. I liked your descriptions… especially that of describing Marcy being “shoved into a corner of her mind.” Very nice.
If there was anything I struggled with, it would be that I sometimes had to slow down to keep track of who was speaking. Overall, a very nice story and appropriate submission to the FFC!
December 9th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Oh wow! Great piece! I really enjoyed it cause it kept me hooked to the very last line. I wwondered about the magic part, because she seemed scientific in her approach. But it all really worked for me. Very enjoyable.
December 9th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Nicely done. I liked that Marcy wasn’t freaked out by the void but was mostly curious about what it was and what to do about it. For me, the details of her spell slowed the action and might work better in longer fiction than flash. But that could just be my own opinion. Other than that, I thought this moved along nicely and had a great dark but unpanicked feel to it!
December 9th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
Interesting idea - and certainly a very obvious and extreme transformation, so your piece fits the theme very well.
One thing that did pop out at me was the number of times you used the word “void.” Maybe it was intentional, but to me it seems like it would be good to replace a few of those instances with synonyms of some sort.
Nice writing!
December 10th, 2007 at 6:42 am
Cate, weird senses of humours are always welcome here.
I may not have made it entirely clear in my story, but the hag came up with the name Armageddon out of Marcy’s thoughts, although the way you present it certainly makes it interesting, too. 
Cath, thank you. I’m glad you liked it.
Kathleen, I hadn’t thought of it that way - transformation of potentially the whole world. I mean, sure, I’d love to say that was intentional, but it wasn’t. Perhaps I can say my subconscious took care of that for me? Thank you.
Jared, thank you for the comments. I’ll see if I can make the dialog more clear on the next draft.
ello, thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
bunnygirl, thank you. I’m also glad you enjoyed it.
Serena, good point on void. I’ll improve that on the next draft. Thank you.
December 10th, 2007 at 7:46 am
A very interesting take on the topic for the carnival. I was wondering where the story was going with the void but I certainly like where you took it and the correlation of the end of the world in human form. Having your identity stolen can feel like the end of the world, can’t it? Great read!
December 10th, 2007 at 8:07 am
Kate, thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed reading it.
Whew! *wipes brow* With all the nice comments I’m getting, I might just get a swelled head or something.
December 10th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
I’ve always had this fear of having my identity or anything of value stolen. It certainly leaves a ‘void’ behind. I also love the sense of horror in the end. Well done!
December 10th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
On the first read, I thought you said sense of humour. Somehow, a sense of horror makes so much more sense.
Thanks for your comments, albino squid!
December 10th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
The ultimate identity theft case!
I know it’s just flash fiction, but I think you should go on… this is quite an interesting setup and I keep wanting to know what happens next (as in, is she going to be rescued?). Of course, if what happens next is that the world just ends, I guess we don’t need to know any more.
But not knowing is also nice… leave them wanting more.
December 11th, 2007 at 5:39 am
I like the slow transition from innocence to evil. It seems the way armageddon would emerge, interesting to deceptive to controlling. Letting us see the MC’s thought process was nicely done. The one question I had was why now? why today? Because of her mystical interests, it would be interesting to know or have a set up of why this happened today, to her.
Good work!
December 11th, 2007 at 5:43 am
This was really interesting! I enjoyed it very much.
I stumbled a few times when the POV went from ’she’ to ‘I’ but other than that, it fit the theme and was a great read!
December 11th, 2007 at 7:53 am
arachne, thanks for your comments. I have some ideas in mind of what happens next, but I won’t tell you that - I might just expand this later. On that, I definitely agree with you - the story has potential to be more.
You know, it’s funny, but the thought of this being an Identity Theft case never even occurred to me. I know it’s a fairly big meme in the US especially right now, and I’ve even been a victim of it myself in Canada, but that just didn’t even occur to me until it was mentioned here.
December 11th, 2007 at 7:55 am
WriterKat, you’re right - a set-up would be nice. If/when I expand this, I suspect that will find its way through. Can I admit that part of my inspiration for this is Stargate’s Linnea, Destroyer of Worlds? :p
Thank you for your comments.
December 11th, 2007 at 7:57 am
Chris, thanks for pointing out the she/I problem. You’re right, of course, and that needs cleaning up.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for your comments!
December 11th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Dude! That was intense. Very well written, very disturbing (in a good way). I like how the initial intangilbe void turns into a very real palpable horror. Vivid and captivating!
December 11th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Wordsmith, you know this dude is a girl, right?
Thank you for the compliments and your comments.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Wonderful! I will never touch one of those voids again. I like also how the story blends old magical elements with the very modern danger of the Internet and how much of we give ourselves away there/here.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Hey, thanks, Terrie. Glad you enjoyed it.
And, you know, the voids that bring money and prosperity are fine - it’s just these nasty ones you want to avoid. 
December 23rd, 2007 at 3:18 am
I was curious as to whether this was a chilling commentary of reaching into the void of cyberspace, relying on our wands (anti-virus software) and ending up the victems of identity theft. Either way, I liked the identity theft and the otherworldly entity’s ability to immediately adapt to the assimilated culture.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Very dark and twisty…even a tad creepy! Cool take on the transformation theme.
Good work!
January 1st, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Jay, thanks for the comment. I’m glad you liked it.
I think my flash fiction tends towards the creepy. Don’t know why… But it seems to be a bit of a recurring habit… 
Thanks, Crystal.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:27 am
It reminds me of the wraiths on Stargate Atlantis, but not quite as violent. So far . . .
One nit — “She wasn’t even sure why she knew it was a void. Or is that just my imagination, too?”
Your use of my in the second sentence doesn’t fit in with your other narrative pronouns. Her would fit better, IMO.
Thanks for writing with us, Laurie. I’m sorry I took so long to comment.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:41 am
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