text: On the outside, Phillip was a completely ordinary man. He was married with a baby on the way. He owned an ordinary house in an ordinary neighborhood. He picked up the paper from his front stoop every morning, threw a ‘how do you do’ wave to the neighbors, and headed off to his ordinary job. He was respected in the neighborhood, even mowing his elderly neighbor’s lawn on the weekends. Inside however, Philip was anything but ordinary. Phillip was a tortured soul. Phillip was a victim of circumstance. As a young child, Phillip lived in a home not too far from where he lived now. They lived next door to an affluent business man. A man who also had a secret. Talk of corruption surrounded this man, and he had owed money to some rather questionable people. One night some men showed up to this businessman’s door, or rather they showed up to what they thought was his door. Young Phillip had hid in a low cupboard in the kitchen, one he often used when he played hide and seek with his twin brother, and witnessed the men brutally murder his parents and twin. Young Philip began suffering from nightmares. The events would often creep into his sleep, stealing away pleasant dreams, and replacing them with the ghastly images of his family’s murder. He often woke up screaming and noticing he had wet the bed. Phillip found no relief and the nightmares followed him into adulthood. Late one night, The phone rang, waking Phillip from yet another nightmare. He sat up, his tee shirt clinging to his sweaty skin. He walked to the phone and groggily answered. “Hello?” He yawned. “Meet me. I have something you may be interested in. Come to this address.” The mysterious voice whispered. Phillip sat up from bed, gasping. Was he sleeping? The phone wasn’t ringing. Had he dreamt that? Did someone give him an address? Did he just answer the phone in his sleep? It felt so real. After work, Phillip decided to make a detour. He remembered the address, but it was already getting late, and it was a long drive. He will just tell his wife he had to stay late at work. He had not been on the edge of town in years and a nice drive and a little fresh air may make him feel better anyway. It was a run down part of town. Many abandoned buildings, with faded business signs and boarded windows. Weeds grew from cracks in the sidewalk. Windows that were not broken were covered in a dust so thick that it was nearly impossible to see inside. Buildings from an era long gone by. An old rail yard lined the landscape on the other side of the street. Past that, a highway that faded into darkness. This was indeed the edge of town. Phillip slowed and read the faded addresses painted on the front of the buildings. On a corner lot stood a small one story building. It had the same address that he was given. Phillip pulled up along the curb and parked the car. This is strange, he thought. What would he even say? Would he tell them that he was given this address in his sleep? Would they chase him out of there, thinking he was a crazy person? The sun had set, and the store looked dark inside, but an open sign still hung on the door. Phillip grabbed the door handle, hesitated, then entered the building. An old man, perhaps in his eighties, stood behind the counter. Sunken, hollowed eyes stared back at Phillip. The old man’s lips formed a smile and Phillip noticed his yellowed teeth. The man looked like he had too many teeth in his mouth, Phillip thought. Maybe twice as many as he should have. That couldn’t be. He was tall, and very thin. Skeletal. Like a stiff breeze would knock him over. A filthy tee shirt hung like a clothesline over his collar bone. Slacks that were stained and dirty clung to his skinny legs. Thin, greasy hair laid loosely from the old man’s head. Phillip then noticed the man’s shoes. Two-toned, red and white wingtips. Those shoes had to be as old as the man was, maybe older, Phillip thought, but they looked brand new. Right off the shelf new. Peculiar. “I think I may have received a call from you, but I’m not sure”, Phillip told the man. “I have what you’re looking for.” The smiling man whispered. Phillip once again noticed the old man’s teeth. Narrow and long, like the teeth of a rodent. And so many. Way too many. The walls were stacked floor to ceiling with old boxes. Pictures and paintings in old dirty frames were piled in the corner. Antique furniture stood haphazardly around the store, many draped in dust-covered sheets. This store looks like it hasn’t been open in years, he thought. Phillip followed the old man behind the counter, then to a cellar door near the back wall. The old man bent over and grabbed the rusty latch. The wooden door looked heavy, but the old man’s sinewy arms lifted it with little effort. The flight of stairs were dark, with each step a different size. Years of replacing rotten steps, Phillip thought as he descended. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the old man searched for a string and pulled. A lightbulb flickered and came to life. In front of them stood an old swivel mirror. Nearly as tall as Phillip, the oval, double sided mirror swiveled on rusty metal latches. “This is what you came for. Take it home.” “What is it? What’s it for?” Phillip asked. “What am I supposed to do with a mirror?” The old man stayed silent, turned and walked up the stairs. Phillip looked at the old wooden mirror, picked it up and carried it up the stairs. When he reached the top, the old man was gone. “Hey, where are you? I’m not sure what to do with this mirror. Do I have to pay for it? Where’d you go?” Phillip sat on the foot of the bed. His wife was quietly sleeping. She hadn’t asked much about the mirror when he came home. He said he had found it standing on the side of the road. She said “ok, dear”, and went back to sleep. He stared at the mirror. His reflection stared back. He thought something looked a bit off. His reflection seemed to be swirling, like a ripple of water. He stood up and walked over to the mirror. It was indeed swirling. He jumped back, shocked at what he was seeing. Was this like one of those fun house mirrors? Should he wake his wife and show her? He hit the bottom of the mirror with his foot, flipping the back of the mirror around. What was on the other side took his breath away. His twin brother was looking back at him. He can see me, Phillip said out loud, and then covered his mouth with his hand as to not wake his wife. He thought it better than to scare her while she was pregnant. Phillip’s twin brother looked down towards the pile of wooden blocks he was playing with. Wait a minute, Philip thought. This is exactly what happened the night of the murder. His brother sat there giggling, unaware of what was about to happen. His twin brother turned his head and looked away, as three men entered the room behind him. “No!” Screamed Phillip. “Please, no!” He hit his knees. He looked back up at the mirror and saw his twin brother laying on the floor, lifeless. He hit the mirror in anger and it swung back around, once again showing his own reflection. He saw tears were pouring down his face. How was this supposed to help me, he cried, and he cursed the old man who had given him the mirror. He grabbed the mirror and swung it as hard as he could. Instead of swinging wildly, it abruptly stopped on his brother’s side of the mirror. This time his twin brother looked directly at Phillip, with a look of dread in his eyes. His eyes then turned dark black. The innocent little child opened his mouth, and let out a blood-curdling scream that was so loud it began to shake the mirror. Bright light pored out of the mirror in blinding rays, causing Phillip to cover his eyes. The scream filled Phillip’s head, and shook the bedroom windows. It was the loudest thing he had ever heard. His wife hadn’t moved. The child grew silent. He then just sat there quietly staring at his brother with dead black eyes. Philip couldn’t breathe. Panic had rendered him motionless. He just stared blankly at the mirror, his twin, for what felt like an eternity. Phillip noticed a corner of a piece of paper hanging out from the bottom of the mirror. He reached for it and pulled. A folded note had been taped to the bottom of the mirror and fell out, landing near his feet. He unwrapped the aged, yellowed paper and read the note. It read “To find peace, you must break the mirror, but you must lose someone you love”. Phillip looked at his brother. He whispered “I am so sorry. I wish I could have helped you. But I was young too. I wasn’t strong enough”. His brother stared back with a blank look in his black eyes. Philip wanted peace. He didn’t want to loose his wife or anyone else that he loved, but he couldn’t deal with the pain any longer. He stood up and struck the mirror with every ounce of energy he could muster. The mirror exploded into a thousand shards of glass. A million. The glass turned to dust in the air and swirled around him. Phillip closed his eyes and prayed that he wouldn’t lose his wife. When he opened his eyes, the mirror, his brother, the glass was gone. Phillip crawled into the bed next to his sleeping wife, exhausted. He had never felt so tired. He tried to replay what happened in his mind, but everything grew dark. Warmth surrounded him. Within seconds he fell asleep. He woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept so well. He turned over and looked towards his loving wife. She was gone. Memories of last night flooded back into his mind. He jumped out of bed, running downstairs to find his wife. She was standing in the kitchen, stirring a cup of coffee. Remnants of scrambled eggs lay on a plate on the counter beside her. “Oh thank God, she’s ok”, Phillip thought to himself. “I was wondering when you would wake up. You slept like a baby.” She said, tussling his hair. “Want some breakfast?” “Sounds good. I think I did get some sleep last night. Slept well actually. Amazingly well.” Phillip said. It felt like slow motion. The coffee cup slipping from her grasp. Crashing to the floor, exploding into shards of glass. Hundreds of shards. Millions. Dust covered the floor. She grabbed her stomach and let out a terrible scream. A blood-curdling scream. He reached for her, but couldn’t catch her before she fell to the floor. “The doctor will be right in” the nurse told them. “I hope there’s nothing wrong with the baby”, she cried. Phillip held her as the doctor entered the room. “It looks like you are ok, but I’m sorry to say that you have lost your baby.” The doctor said solemnly. “But they said everything was fine and the baby was healthy. Everything was going great.” Phillip replied. “I don’t think you understand. There is no baby. It’s gone. Disappeared. We can’t explain what happened. It’s like it’s never existed. It’s definitely a mystery.