Mirror Lights by Jamie Gogocha

The staccato of Nadine’s shoes on the rocks and the rising panic in her breathing created a jarring
combination of sounds. She hadn’t quite broken the tree line yet when the sky faded from a pale
blue to a deepening violet. The only thing worse to her than being outside after sunset was being in
the woods after sunset. That was unthinkable.

She took a moment to steady her breath appreciate the silhouettes of the house and trees against the
artistry in the sky. Her chest burned and her heart felt as though it would leap out toward the
horizon. Nadine started when a muted rustling caught her attention. She couldn’t place its source, so
she turned her head this way and that to try to pick it out. Quickly, she gave up looking and strode
toward the house. She noticed as she got closer to the ornate wooden door, the sound intensified. It
went from a soft rustle to the rush of static in her very soul like that of a record that spun long after
the orchestra had packed up and gone home.

The last sliver of sunlight sank into the horizon as Nadine drifted into the foyer and left the
darkness where it belonged. She brushed her hands across the polished wood of the entryway table
and noticed the absence of the static inside. Struck by curiosity, she wrapped her pale, slender
fingers around the silver handle and pulled the door open a crack. The sound hurled itself endlessly
against the house, the static vibrating on the stone and wood facade. Nadine’s chest clenched as she
slammed the door shut again and locked it.

Nadine approached the main staircase. From there, she could see that the upstairs maid left a lit
lantern on the table for her. Though she was late getting home—she preferred to be safely inside
before the sun fell—she was relieved to see the rest of her routine undisturbed.
Nadine climbed the stairs and held the lamp ahead of her to light the way to her bedroom. Once she
opened her door and saw four lit lamps set throughout her room, she extinguished the one in her
hand and hung it on the iron hook just outside.

She set about moving counterclockwise through the room extinguishing all but one lamp. When she
got to the one closest to the window, her focus was not on the lamp but on the crackling outside.
She didn’t notice that the lamp’s light didn’t quite reach the hat and satin slippers on the chair, nor
the soft glow radiating from them on the chair in the darkened corner.

Nadine froze, her hand halfway to the thick velvet curtain. Her ears strained as she searched for the
noise. Against her best judgment—it was dark after all— she cracked the window to try again to find
the source of the sound, but hoping not to let it in. The static was heavier and she could feel it
pressing in her chest. Goosebumps crept their way up her arms and she slammed the window shut.
She yanked the curtain closed and backed away from the window to sit on the bed. Though she shut
the sound out, the static permeated her mind and she could almost feel it surrounding her.
Apprehensively, Nadine set the one remaining lamp on her night table and slid under the blankets.
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She awoke a few hours later shivering in the dark and found the blankets in a heap at her feet. She
felt cold but relieved to find her mind quiet. She sat up, fixed the blankets, and turned to fluff her
pillows. As she turned, there was an orange-yellow flash creeping around the edge of the curtain.
Pillows forgotten, she rose and went to the window. Nadine inched her head behind the fabric until
she could see across the lawn in front of the house. Just before the tree line stood a blinking light
revolving like the signal atop a lighthouse. She squinted as though to sharpen her vision and looked
beyond the light. But there was nothing there. However, she heard shhshhshh trying to come in
through her window.
The tall black hat and slippers slid to the floor as Nadine yanked the chair over to pin the curtain to
the wall. She was unable to completely block the light, but it would have to do.
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In the morning, Nadine sat up with her head pounding and her eyes burning from a night of fitful
sleep. She crept to the window to move the chair aside and press her ear against the window.
Silence. “A nightmare?” she wondered.

As Nadine reached her family’s property that evening, the rising volume of the static overwhelmed
her and her hands flew up to cover her ears. She looked around desperately in search of the source,
but gave up and strode toward the house. As the night before, once she was inside, there’s no sound
to be heard.

She moved toward her room with her lantern. When she opened the door, she saw the customary
four lamps, but the found the light weakened. Rather than extinguish the lantern in her hand, she
brought it into the room. Five lamps seemed to suffice.

Nadine turned a deaf ear to the static outside as she pulled her curtains closed. “If I ignore it, it isn’t
there,” she said to herself as she settled into bed.

She woke again hours later and saw the flashing outside. Again, she arose and pinned the curtain to
the wall with her chair.
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Each of the next several nights, she brought an additional lamp to her room to accommodate for the
unsettling and impossibility of the failing of the light. It was as though the flame illuminated nothing.
Each night she heard the maddening static, and each night, she awoke to see the phantom light
flashing outside.

The night Nadine brought a ninth lamp to her room, she decided investigate. Her mind felt hazy
and broken, and her eyes sore from lack of sleep. She couldn’t remember the last time she was
outside after dark, but she needed some sort of resolution if she wanted to rest again.

Going out there could be a mistake. A trap.

Just like the forest—if the stories were true.

At midnight when the light appeared, Nadine took one of her lanterns in a cold, trembling hand and
crept down toward the door. Nadine dimmed the lamp as much as possible without extinguishing it
altogether and left it on the table so she wouldn’t be seen.

The first thing she noticed outside was the piercing crackle of the static. The sound reverberated off
the front of the house and shoved her ahead on its rebound.

As she approached the light, the sound invaded her body and mind until it’s all there was. An
intensifying warmth, initially pleasant against the chill of the night wind, radiated from the flame.
Behind a lamp that reminded her of a lighthouse, stood a thin woman in a form-fitting silk dress and
long coat, both appearing torn at the hem. Nadine noticed the woman was wearing a top hat.

A faint light caught her eye and she flinched and squeezed her eyes shut. When she reopened them,
she saw a soft reflection coming off the woman’s dress, hat, and shoes. As bright at is was, the light
from the lamp did not reach the woman’s face.

“Who are you?” Nadine asked, her voice only a whisper.

The woman did not answer. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked into the dark embrace of
the forest.

When her eyes readjust to the darkness, Nadine saw the light flashing in the woods. She shivered
and realized she left the house in only her night clothes—not even any shoes or slippers.

Though apprehensive, Nadine felt a twinge of responsibility for the strange woman. Surely, she
wouldn’t be strolling as coolly into the woods if she knew...
If the tales were true, something happens in the moonlight.

In daylight, the forest floor was safe and unassuming. At night, a silky fog drapes itself throughout
the trees which fall into a silence so oppressive one’s thoughts suffocate. The forest floor falls away
save for a narrow path that meanders solely by its own whims and machinations. The trees stretch
and huddle to hide the path from the moonlight.

The unaware nocturnal traveler may not make it to the other side of the forest. On either side of the
path is a bog made of tepid water and moss decayed into listlessly floating muck. Beneath the
surface wait dozens of pale hands, cold enough to burn one’s skin, waiting to grab one’s ankles and
pull them in.

Anyone caught becomes one of the sets of hands waiting to pull the next unsuspecting traveler
down to oblivion.

In the silvery white moonlight, Nadine saw the path and started her excursion into the woods after
the woman. She paused when the silence hit her and flailed to remember what she was doing out
there.

She made slow progress and willed the woman to stop. Her lean form and top hat continued
bobbing along coolly. Nadine followed the flashing light one step at a time in the last drops of
moonlight she could wring out of the trees.

The further she got into the forest, the moonlight and the night’s noises fell away, a sensory void.
The forest air stole everything, even the rhythmic breathing anchoring Nadine to herself.

When Nadine noticed the lantern stop moving, the ground in front of her simply ended. Her bare
foot dangled off the edge and the pads of her toes made contact with lukewarm liquid— water with
the smell and consistency of spoiled milk. Her heart pounded in her ears and she struggled to find
the forest floor. She pulled her foot back, but not soon enough. When she put her foot down, there
was a searing sting crawling across the top of her foot and around her ankle. The hands were
waiting.

She felt around gingerly with her foot and released a deep breath once she found the path again. The
woman wasn’t too far ahead now, and Nadine continued her slow progress.

Time was different there. She felt like she should be to the other side, but between her tentative
steps and the warped perception of time, there was no telling how long she’d been or how far she’d
gone in that tomb without walls.

The woman stood just in front of the trees with her back to Nadine and the lantern whirred
unconcernedly. When she stepped closer, she studied the woman’s back and noticed a faint glow in
the sky. She saw the smooth silk of her dress and coat and the detail in the swirling stitches on the
top hat she wore.

When Nadine stepped out of the forest, the woman turned to her. She approached like she was
floating and stopped inches in front of Nadine who narrowed her eyes and tried to force some
feature to emerge. The woman’s face was a shadow.

“Who are you?” she asked again, decidedly less commanding than she intended.

The woman said nothing. Nadine looked at the woman’s face and saw a silvery white smile spread
across her face like she’d stolen a piece of the moonlight. As the smile appeared, static rustled in
Nadine’s ears. Startled, she backed away until she realized she was inches away from stepping back
into the forest.

She looked at that peculiar light. That lantern should cast light far ahead, but there was nothing. It
was like a mirror reflecting sunlight instead of a lamp projecting brilliance—the scant light coming
from it unable to gather momentum and falling pathetically to the ground.

The woman bowed her head and that moonlight smile faded until it disappeared. The woman turned
to walk away indifferently. In the muted light Nadine saw that her silk dress was the color of wine,
and her hat was the black of a moonless night.

Nadine took a moment to check her foot before she followed the woman. An angry pink welt
spanned the top of her foot and around her ankle. The burn was visible under the mud and debris
gathered from walking through the forest. She brushed it off and winced.

She followed the woman walking toward the bridge. Except it wasn’t there. There was no sign of the
bridge or the stream under it. Instead, what she saw was what should be behind. Ahead of her sat
the familiar gravel walkway and sprawling lawn leading to her home. Except it wasn’t. Not quite.
The library window was on the other side of the front door. She looked up to see the curtain at her
bedroom window open on the opposite side. The woodshed was on the right side of the house
instead of the left. She stared at a reflection of the home in which she’d spent her life. Something
else was off. After a moment, it came to her.

The scene ahead was bathed in black and white.

“Wait!” Nadine shouted in a shrill tone that surprised her. The woman stopped and turned her head
as though looking back at her.

“What’s going on? Why did you come for me?” she whispered shakily. The woman’s head turned
back toward the house and she casually resumed her walk. She stopped just before the gravel
walkway and turned to face Nadine.

That moonlight smile reappeared on her face, still a shadow in the dawn light and accompanied by
static. Nadine shivered.

“Why won’t you answer?” Nadine asked.

The woman turned again to face the house and walked on. With each step, her wine-colored dress
transformed to charcoal and the small amount of skin exposed on her neck became a bright,
unsettling white against the black fabric of her hat. It was as though she stepped behind a gauzy veil.

As she stepped onto the walkway, Nadine expected to look down and see that she’d become part of
the black and white world. However, she was unchanged.

The woman strolled toward the house. The pain Nadine’s foot was temporarily forgotten and she
ran to catch up to her. The woman wouldn’t look at her. When they arrived at the front door, the
whirling light didn’t quite caress the wood.

The inside was also a reflection of what she knew. Nadine looked at the woman who didn’t look
back. Her gaze was on the stairs. Nadine walked up the first two steps and saw she was not with her.
She looked back at the woman who looked away. She wanted to demand answers, but didn’t want to
wake the rest of the house.

Drowsiness descended upon her as she looked toward her bedroom. She followed the hallway and
looked to the right instead of the left for her door and noticed the lantern hook outside the door
was not there.

Inside, every lamp was gone and the room was immaculately made up. She was certain she didn’t
make her bed before she left, and her mind raced with the improbability of it all. Her chest tightened
and the need to flee overcame her.

At the top of the stairs, she saw the woman standing at the bottom. She looked toward the floor and
the lantern was finally dark and still. Nadine descended the stairs and stopped in front of the
woman.

She raised her head, and Nadine immediately regretted ever leaving the safety of her bedroom. Her
face is the one Nadine saw whenever she looked in a mirror. She studied the woman from head to
toe. The top hat and slippers flashed in her mind as those she knocked to the floor to move the
chair. The dress and coat were hanging in her wardrobe—unworn since...

Nadine struggled to breathe as an avalanche of clarity overcame her. Her isolation, her fear of being
out at night, and the woods. Her hands flew to her mouth and she stared at her doppelganger with
wide, wet eyes.

“The woods... that’s how you knew... I knew,” Nadine stuttered and squeezed her eyes shut.

She opened her eyes again and there stood another Nadine. The woman stepped aside with her eerie
smile and Nadine rushed past her. Her battered feet hit the gravel walkway and she ran across it and
into the forest bathed in morning light. She ran hoping that when she got to the other side, she
would wake up. That it was all a nightmare. She whimpered when the manor came into view.

She didn’t stop until it dawned on her that while everything was on the correct side, everything was
still black and white—the world was faded like a photograph kept in a trunk for years.

Tentatively, she moved across the walkway and up the stone steps in front of the door. The hinges
groaned as it opened the door. She entered, unprepared for what she saw.

The furniture was under white sheets and everything was clothed in a thick layer of dust. Only her
lamp from the previous night was untouched, still dimly lit. Motes of dust drifted lazily in the light,
and her eyes went to the top of the stairs. Nadine climbed and saw the carpet was dingy and worn.
She drifted along the hallway. All the doors were open and empty and the furniture covered.

She backed away and gasped for breath. Her heart hammered and her vision faded into fog. The last
thing she remembered was the ceiling hurtling away.

When she woke sometime later, the light was gone. She walked back outside onto the unkempt
gravel, bewildered and exhausted. What now?

Disappearing into the trees, she spotted an orange yellow light flashing. Signaling.

Nadine followed.