Mirrors

                                                                        MIRRORS

        I can't even look in a mirror anymore. In fact, any reflective surface is completely unsafe. It all started when I was in college.

        My friends and I went out one night looking for something fun to do, you know, get into something. We hit up a few bars, but they were all boring. We decided to just walk down the street and see if anyone was having a party and just crash it. Good times, you know. 

        As we were walking, an old lady, dressed in rags stepped out from an alley. She asked us if we had any change for her. My friend, Nelly, said "why don't you get a job, you stinking bum" her dad is a republican, we all tend to overlook her rudeness. The old lady scowled. 

       She turned to my friend, Haley, with imploring eyes. Haley just frowned and scrunched her nose. The lady smelled pretty bad. Then the old lady turned to me. I started laughing and said, "I think you may want to take a bath or something, and threw a few pennies at her." I felt pretty bad inside, but I didn't want my friends thinking I approved of panhandlers. 

       That's when the old lady stood up straight and in a loud voice, cried "I curse you. Every one of you. You are all young and beautiful with full, happy, rich lives ahead of you. I take that away. You two will die young and alone," she said of my friends. "But, you," she turned towards me. " you will see your soul for what it is. You'll never see beauty again." 

       My friends laughed and we walked away. I had a strange feeling in my stomach. But, I followed them anyway. We couldn't find anything fun to do. So we just went home. 

       The next morning I got up to take a shower and when I looked in the mirror, I had no eyes. I jumped back, startled. I checked again and I still could not see my eyes in the mirror. And my skin looked like corpse skin, gray and splotchy. I was freaked out, naturally. I looked in my compact mirror and it was the same thing, except where my lips should have been, there was a jagged bleeding hole.

        I heard a knock at the door and I pulled on my hooded robe. And kept my face down. I answered the door. It was the police. They were there to tell me that Nelly and Haley were both found dead this morning on opposite ends of town. I told the officer what I knew, that as far as I knew they had gone to bed when I had last night. I didn't know anything else. He wouldn't tell me how they died. I found out later that they both had had massive strokes. I thanked the cop, crying, and closed the door. I saw my reflection in the window of the door. I looked like a gargoyle, crying tears of blood.

        To this day, 15 years later, I have no mirrors in my house. I have heavy curtains on all the windows. I walk everywhere I go, with my head down. I want to find this old lady to reverse this curse, but somehow I feel I deserve it. I can't stand to see my soul.but somehow I feel I deserve it. I can't stand to see my soul.

By Jessica M. Caldwell. (previously written for reddit r/nosleep)