Luxuria - Dar Reflections Ep. 03

Episode 3: Reflection

She saw her reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall opposite the entry.

But something was off. Her reflection seemed to flicker and distort as if the mirror was somehow warped. Her brow furrowed in confusion. She raised a hand to her face, and her reflection mimicked the movement, but with a grotesque, twisted quality.

The light should have eased her, but Emma's heart raced harder still as she stared at her distorted image. The reflection's eyes, which should have been her eyes, were dark and hollow. There was more. Its mouth, the reflection's mouth, her mouth, curled into a sinister grin. Her head again started to reel as she saw the reflection raise a hand. Emma glanced down at her hands, one bracing against the wall and the other by her side. Her eyes darted back up, waves of nausea rising within her as she saw herself, no not her, her dark reflection pointing a bony finger directly back at herself. That thing in the mirror leered at Emma and curled its finger back several times in silent summoning.

"What the...?" her voice trembled. She tried to take a step back, but her legs were too weak, her head still reeling in dizziness. But her eyes never left the mirror. The reflection's grin widened, its eyes seeming to bore into hers.

Suddenly, the lights flickered again, plunging the foyer back into darkness. Emma let out a startled cry, her heart nearly bursting out of her chest. She fumbled for the light switch. She thought she must have hit it with her hand. Blind again, she tried to look over at her hand on the wall but saw nothing. Her fingers trembled as she eventually found the light switch and flicked it on and off rapidly.

Nothing happened. The darkness remained, thick and suffocating. But now she knew which way she was facing and which way to go to get out of the house.

But as she turned to leave, she caught a glimpse of the mirror. It glowed with its own light as something within the mirror moved. It wasn't her reflection nor that horrid dark reflection of herself before. Her body froze, disoriented and weak. All she could do was stare at the mirror, eyes wide open.

In the flickering reflection, she saw a figure standing behind her. A dark, shadowy form. Glowing red eyes coalesced above a wicked grin just over the shoulder of her reflection. An enveloping heat built up against her back, as if a furnace door opened. She couldn't breathe, trying futilely to swallow air. She started to turn her head to see if it was just behind her but was stopped. The dark figure reached out a clawed hand.

Emma's eyes widened in horror. Palpable tendrils of heat encircled her as she watched the clawed hand wrap around her neck. She tried to scream but the hand squeezed and cut short any sound she would have been able to make. The figure behind her wrapped another arm around her waist. Searing heat, undulated against her back. The thing behind her pressed into her as she felt herself being pushed towards the mirror. She tried to plant her feet but was too weak. She tried to reach her arms out and find something she could grasp with her hands and pull herself away but found nothing. The dark figure was relentless, its claws digging into her flesh as it pushed her closer and closer to her frightened reflection in the glass.

"No, please!" Emma rasped weakly. "Let me go!"

Then it spoke. Its voice was deep, she heard and felt each syllable within her body. "We know what you want. We can make you feel...so good." Those last two words echoed within her head as the figure started to laugh, a cruel, mocking sound that sent shivers down her spine. Emma closed her eyes, bracing herself for the inevitable impact with the mirror's surface.

Then the lights flickered on. She found herself slumped against the wall in the foyer, alone. The mirror's surface clear and unblemished. She was no closer to the mirror than she was before the lights went out.

Her skin was pale and beaded with perspiration. She took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to calm her racing heart.

John hurried back into the foyer, his brows furrowed in concern. Emma was slumped against the wall, her face pale and her eyes wide with fright. He rushed to her side, knelt, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Emma? What happened? Are you all right?" he asked, his voice laced with worry.

Emma blinked, her eyes slowly focusing on his face. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She swallowed hard, trying to find her voice.

"I... I don't know," she finally managed to say, her voice trembling. "I felt dizzy, and then I saw something... in the mirror. I felt it..." She brought a shaking hand up to her throat.

John's brows furrowed further, a look of confusion crossing his face. "In the mirror? What do you mean? It was probably just your reflection that you saw."

Emma shook her head as if trying to clear the fog from her mind. "I saw... a figure. A dark figure with glowing red eyes. It grabbed me, and it was pulling me towards the mirror..."

She trailed off, her voice fading into a whisper. John's expression softened, and he gently squeezed her shoulder.

"Emma, honey, I shouldn't have left you. I just went to the breaker box. I just...Shit, I'm sorry, babe." He wiped a lock of her hair off her brow. "I know you get claustrophobic. And, well, you probably just had a panic attack here in the dark." He gestured around at the house. "Especially alone, in the dark, in an unknown house and unknown surroundings." He grasped her hand in his. "I'm sorry babe," and kissed her on the forehead. "The musty smell, the darkness, it all probably played tricks on your mind."

Emma wanted to argue, to insist that what she had seen and felt was real. "My throat! It grabbed me around my throat!" She tilted her chin up, exposing her neck, fingers feeling around trying to show John where that thing had grabbed ahold of her.

"Where? There is nothing on your neck, babe. No marks."

She looked into John's concerned eyes, she felt her resolve weakening. Maybe he was right. Maybe it had all been a hallucination, brought on by the stress, exhaustion, the disorienting darkness.

"I... I suppose you could be right," she said finally, her voice still shaky. "I just... I don't know what came over me. I've never experienced anything like that."

John helped Emma to her feet, wrapping an arm around her waist to steady her. "Let's get out of here for tonight," he suggested. "We can come back tomorrow, in the daylight, and start settling in. For now, let's just go back to the hotel and get some rest." Emma nodded, leaning into John's embrace. She searched within herself to try and rationalize everything that just happened. Shaking her head, Emma let John lead her out of the house. He turned off the lights, closed the door and they both walked out into the cool night air.