The Night of the Broken Mirror
The October wind howled through the bare trees, stirring up blood-colored leaves around the old Delmare manor. No one had dared approach it since the family who lived there disappeared one Halloween night, fifty years earlier.
That night, however, three teenagersโLรฉa, Tom, and Hugoโdecided to go inside. "Just to see if there really is a ghost," Hugo said, laughing nervously.
As soon as they crossed the threshold, the cold fell upon them like an icy hand. The candles lit on the mantelpiece didn't seem to have aged a day. On the living room wall hung a huge, cracked mirror, blackened by time.
"It looks like it's moving," Lรฉa murmured. Indeed, behind their reflection, a shadow stood motionless.
Tom approached, his lamp trembling in his hand. The shadow mimicked his gesture. Then, suddenly, his reflection didn't lift the lampโhe let his head fall, slowly, as if it had just detached itself.
A crash. The mirror vibrated. A crack widened, and an icy blast filled the room.
"Get out of there!" Hugo shouted, but Lรฉa remained frozen. Her reflection, however, smiled.
The light went out. All that could be heard was the ticking of an old clock. When it came back on, there was only an intact mirror... reflecting three teenagers standing there, smiling.
In the morning, the manor seemed peaceful. On the wall, the mirror had cracked again. But those who approached it swore they saw, in the tarnished windowpane, three silhouettes knocking, soundless, on the other side of the glass.
And ever since that Halloween night, when the wind blows through the woods, we think we can hear their muffled laughter - as if they were inviting the living to come and play, too, in the mirror. ๐ป
fabienf