College students Anna and Ainsley have a final year project, an interview with twenty first century multi-billionaire businessman and entrepreneur Calvert Ghislain. An established Englishman who made his name in the top ten Forbes of America.
But w...
Ainsley gave an irritated sigh as he looked at the full-length mirrors that covered the three walls of the small structure called the elevator. He was used to seeing himself in the mirror, but this was beyond creepy. He had also observed, the whole building was decorated with mirrors, different shapes and sizes, some vintage and others new, even the floor was well polished, one could see their reflection on it.
The doors opened and we stepped out, we were on the forty second floor and it was not any different from the first floor. A woman stood by a mirror and adjusted her hair, she had a killer shape and her pencil skirt made it even more obvious. Her breasts pressed against her top, it was a size too small for her, she ignored us and stepped into the elevator. I rolled my eyes as she started adjusting her clothes as the door closed. I swallowed that was weird or was she just from- I did not allow my mind to wander through those thoughts, they were none of my business after all.
We approached the secretary and she looked up at us, we had some form of pass that had been handed to us by the receptionist at the first floor, I was worried, we had less than twenty minutes and I had already lost hope that we wouldn't get our project done. I had started conjuring up ways to sneak into his office and drop rounds of questions for him, but looking at the secretary's eyes, I felt relieved, we had hope. She directed us to his office even though it was the only one on the floor, but neither of us complained.
"He will be in shortly, please have your seats."
She closed the door behind her, and we were filled with silence. "Is it me or do you feel weird in this place?"
I looked around and nodded. "Trust me I feel something's off just like you."
He moved around the spacious room and stood before two tall mirrors, he moved back and forth and almost died from laughter, one was a sliming mirror while the other was the opposite of its partner. He brought out his phone and started taking pictures, there were more like them, and he tried each out. I ignored him and let him do his thing, one could grow, but the child in us never died.
Each mirror was lined according to production date or according to style, I also noticed that each was created by different persons, or with different titles, and each mirror had a specific name, who named a mirror Nina? It all felt weird, being in this room knowing that in every direction you turned you would see yourself. Probably the man was obsessed with himself, with looking at the mirror. But then I looked at Ainsley, he was not that into his personal appearance, as a matter of fact he only looked when he felt the need to.
Probably he collected them as a hobby.
I ran my hands along the black leather chair and took a seat in front of the long oak desk, did everything have to be dark and soulless? There was barely anything on the table, except a computer, a white sheet of paper a simple pen and a mirror that was turned upside down and faced towards the direction of his chair. Astonishingly, I got to my feet and walked the short distance towards the desk. Ainsley was by my side in that moment, we stared at the mirror for a few minutes, till he brought his phone to his face and stared scrolling through Instagram feeds.
The mirror was light in my hands, it barely had any life and there was nothing good about it, as a matter of fact it looked like some old used thing that had been thrown out and was declared useless. It was oval in shape and had some little designs around its body, the sliver of its pale form turning into rust. But again, it was the only one that sat at his table. I looked at its back and I didn't see any name, then I turned it and ran my eyes along the edges of its surface looking for nothing in particular, a name maybe but didn't see anything, which was strange. I observed the mirror in my hand, and I felt goosebumps ran along my arms.
I could not see my reflection, it was blank, nothing, not even the rest of the objects in the room could be seen.
"Ainsley?"
I called out to him. "Um, what?" He stood beside me when he noticed I didn't respond, he looked down at himself.
"Damn that little strand of hair, can't it go back?" He saw his reflection, but I could not, he moved aside and combed it through. I stared down at the object. I mean I was meant to see myself, but I saw nothing, I turned it to its left and still the same thing.
I could not see me, was I dead?
I had heard superstitions about not seeing yourself in the mirror, about vampires and ghosts. Was I dead? No, I could not, probably the mirror had some special effect, I could see myself in the other mirrors. With shaky hands I turned it to its right and it was still blank, it was a mirror alright, but showed nothing. It was upside down was it not? I turned it and faced it right.
A scream erupted from my mouth and I dropped it down, it hit the edge of the table and landed face first on the floor. There were footsteps that came through the hallway and I picked up the fallen object and paced it the way I had found it. I didn't even know if I had turned it in the right direction or not. The door opened and a man walked in, he was well built and looked like he never aged, not even one bit.
"Is everything alright? I heard a scream."
Ainsley looked at me to, was he going to sell me out? He cleaned his sweaty hand on his pants.
"I am sorry it was some scary reel. I am Ainsley and his is my partner Anna." They shook hands and the man's cool eyes watched me, I shook his hands, which were surprisingly cold, and his beady eyes were on me. He gestured towards the chairs, and we took our seats. I felt some unknown presence in the room, yet we were only three, he moved to his chair and stood for a few minutes. He looked down at the mirror that was an inch or two from its original position.
He pushed it to its rightfull position then sat down, but his eyes were still glued to it, a perplexed expression crossed his features, and he raised his brow. He turned the mirror upside down and faced it towards himself, I felt dread rush through me, on instant his eyes found mine and I moved even deeper into my seat. I felt my hands shaking, was he going to raise his voice at me for touching his personal belongings or not? Or worse did he know what I saw, did I even know what I saw?
Ainsley began, "Mr. Ghislain Calvert, may we start?"
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