Thirty years ago i visited my grandparents home off the old Alameda trail, near the river. My grandfather had built this house himself, strong foundation and brick walls with flag stone decor. In a guest room was a hard wood bed set with an ornate chest of drawers and a large, hand carved mirror. The furniture had been a gift from an older family member and my grandmother had owned it for longer than any of my family could recall.
My grandmother, Mary, walked me to the guest room, where i would be sleeping while i stayed with them. Grandma Mary was a stern woman with little patience for children, and people altogether, truth be told. Once in my new bedroom, hot and stuffy, my grandmother left me to unpack my bag of clothes and toys.
As soon as i was alone in the room, my breath left my chest, house bumps rose all over my skin, and from the edge of my vision i could make outa shadow slowly moving in the mirror. The shadow was the form of a thin person, being cast along the head board of the bed. I saw this in the mirror, but when i turned around and faced the window and wall to see Grandma Mary, the room was empty, and there was no longer a shadow across the bed.
For the next four days i was being followed by this shadow wherever i went on the house, always at the edge of my vision. I asked my Grandfather if the house was haunted, he laughed at this, but not cruelly. I did, however, did give his restless engineering mind terribly ideas. More on that later. I left my grandparents home the following weekend going back to my parents house up on the West Mesa.
Months passed, Christmas was here, and just as we had every year before, we packed up to visit my grandparents, and i was never the same again. My then nine year old mind was on edge, glancing here and there whenever a cousin of mine rounded a corner my heart was racing,my fears were taking control. The entire evening passed without incident, not a single sign of that thin shadow was present. Two of my closest cousins, as I was the youngest in my family, and I wondered off to the back bedrooms to play hide and seek. With nearly my whole family in line house, over twenty of us, i felt safe enough to play.
Though i hid from my cousins, i never went back into the guest room with the mirror. Though when it was my turn to seek, i had to check the guest rooms. My hand on the handle was trembling, tears began welling up in my eyes, as a primal fear gripped my entire body, preparing me for what i was about to witness. I opened the door to the bedroom, it was empty except for me, starting from the frame of the door, over the bed, across the room, into the mirror. Where my reflection should have stood, was a tall, thin, smiling shadow with dull, yellow eyes. A subdued quiet laugh came from the image.
After high school graduation, my grandparents gifted that same furniture set, included that evil mirror. Now thirty years later, military retirement, three children, two college degrees, and that mirror sits still, in my garage, wrapped in a blanket. Every so often, while working in the yard, or on my jeep, or just cleaning around the garage, a quiet laugh can be heard, subdued and muffled, like a child hiding under the blankets of their bed.
Posted by u/Deviant-MrED