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The Stranger In The Mirror

by Eva B, Devon, England, Age 14

Victoria slipped in to the white lacy wedding dress and looked in to the mirror, she blinked as she thought that she saw a second reflection of a solemn girl about her age in the mirror, she seemed to be whispering something, Victoria span around but the reflection faded away. The mirror had been a wedding gift from her Grandma. It was gilt-frame with an inscription at the top.

For she who looks from the mirror
Can make all her dreams come true.

Victoria never understood this, but knew it was an antique and very expensive, beside she loved the mirror. She span around in her lace white dress for the last time and laid it over her chair. Quickly she dressed and ran out to meet her fiancé, Herbert, whom in a week she would be married to, so in love with him, was she that she didn't see the horse charging down the street.
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Vicky ripped open the gift, she knew what it was, her Mum always had it hanging her room, it was a family heirloom pasted down to the daughters a week before their wedding day or 21st birthday and now it was her. It was first given to Vicky's great-great-great-Grandma Victoria (who she was named after), but she tragically died in an accident knocked down by horse and cart, leaving behind a fiancé and 3-week-old daughter. Vicky's face lit up as she looked at the gold mirror with its strange inscription. She rushed to her room and hung it on the wall, just then the door bell rang, Vicky rush to the door and saw her best friend Kate standing there smiling, looking agitated.

" Hurry up! Aren't you ready yet? You didn't forget, did you, you know we're going to buy you birthday dress, I can't believe you left it this late, we've only week and we better start shopping," Vicky smiled as her friend rambled on.

"We've gotta get, new dress, new shoes, new jacket, new bag and we haven't even started on my clothes and that'll take hours!"

"No, I didn't forget and you know why I left it so late, it's tradition not to buy the dress before you get the mirror and its bad luck too!" said Vicky looking a little annoyed.

" Well, I'd dread to think what bad luck's like in your family, your Aunt's divorced, your Mum fell river and nearly drowned before her wedding, your Grandma was in a near fatal fire accident in her house just before her honeymoon, oh yeah and did I mention your sister..." Kate responded hotly.

" Okay! Okay! I get the idea maybe we do have more than our fair share of bad luck, just lets go get the dress" replied Vicky calmly

" ... And the shoes and the..."

"Just get in the car, Okay!" Vicky cut Kate off before she went in to another rampage.

By the time the shops had closed Vicky and Kate had bought all they had need and had spent all of their money. Vicky ran in to show her mum what she had bought; it was a long, low cut, ballroom dress in pale blue with cream edge on the top and the bottom with a cream bag and shoes to match. Kate had a very short and slinky dress in black, also with matching bag and shoes- totally inappropriate for Vicky's 21st birthday ball. Vicky's mum looked at Kate's dress and sighed,

"Oh, well! There's always tomorrow."

Vicky and Kate laughed and agreed to go shopping the next day. Vicky walked up to her room climbed into bed.
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Vicky woke up and saw the dress, she slipped in to the pale blue ballroom dress and looked in to the mirror, she blinked and thought that she saw a second reflection of a sad girl about her age in the golden mirror, she seemed to be whispering something, Vicky span around but the reflection faded away. Vicky twirled around in her dress for the last time until her birthday and laid it over her chair. Quickly she dressed and ran out to meet Kate.

"Where have been, we've gotta get, another new dress, bag and shoes we haven't even started and it's, oh, 9:30, I'd better get ready" panicked Kate as opened the door,

"Well, good morning to you, too." replied Kate sarcastically.

Four hours later Vicky and Kate arrived home, Vicky with a very short and slinky dress in red with matching bag and shoes for the after party disco and Kate with a low cut, ballroom dress in pale amber with matching bag and shoes for the ball. They said theirs goodbyes, after finally receiving Vicky's mums' approval of the dresses.
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Vicky couldn't wait for her birthday and slipped into the dress once again, she looked in to the mirror and saw the reflection once again, it was a young woman dressed in a white lacy wedding dress. Vicky closed her eyes and put her hands up to the mirror and felt a cold tingling feeling, as she was being pulled into the mirror. Vicky opened her eyes to find her-self in a church, at funeral she walked up to the coffin and peered in, she stepped back in shock it was her great-great-great-Grandma Victoria. Suddenly she felt a cold shiver down her spine and she was looking up at her-self and she couldn't move it was then she realised why.
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Victoria was in her body! Suddenly Vicky saw visions of this happening before, to her great-great-Grandma, to her great-Grandma, her Grandma, Aunties, other female members of her family- all of whom had inherited the mirror and then last of all she saw her mum, it was then she understood about her Aunt's divorce, her Mum's fall in the river, her Grandma's near fire in her house- all were engaged or married, could it be that Victoria was jealous and angry because she never got married or even reached her 21st birthday and now Vicky wouldn't either. She was stuck; she couldn't scream or call out, trapped in a silent world. Then she became aware of the fact that she could try and telepathically speak to Victoria- after all she was in her body and visa-versa, Vicky lay there thinking

' Stop! Why are you doing this? '

Over and over again until eventually she got the indignant reply of,

' Because I deserve to marry Herbert, not you! I deserve to live to my life with him and my daughter, if it wasn't for me you would never be born!'

'How can you marry Herbert now, he's been dead for years! He's probably waiting for you in heaven! It was you who broke up my Auntie and tried to drown my mum and tried to burn down my Gran's house! Why don't you stop cursing my family and leave us alone, you're dead now! Why do you have to torture this family any more?'

'If I can't marry happily why should you?'

'Because this family suffered enough! Just forget about it and go to heaven, where you belong with Herbert, because you don't belong here any more!'

And with that, Vicky found herself flung onto her bed back in her own body, she looked at the mirror, walked over, picked it up and flung it out of the window. Early the next morning she crept downstairs and picked up the broken pieces of the mirror, drove to the lake and threw them all into the river. She drove home and climbed back into bed. Later on she got up and went shopping with Kate, leaving behind a broken window "from where the burglar broke in and stole her mirror", she never told anyone about the 'curse' and when asked why she didn't tell the police she would say "it had a crack in it anyway". The family life carried on never having any more problems and Vicky celebrated her 21st birthday in style and Kate in a 'little black number'!
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The End