All the Lovely Creatures

by B. C. Sirrom

  ****

  As the three of us made our way into what was named Bev’s Antiques, my nostrils were immediately filled by a strong smell; a combination of musty furniture and Swiffer Dust and Shine cleaner.

  “Is there something I can help you three young ladies with?” The woman behind the counter, in her late twenties, or early thirties, from my estimation didn't hesitate in asking.

  “You’re not going to believe this, I barely do myself, but I just had a voice enter my mind, telling me to come in here and buy it,” I said. “Kind of strange huh?”

  “Not necessarily,” she responded. “My family and I, going back generations, have been waiting for you to finally show up.”

  The next thing I knew, I was watching her come from around the counter, to approach the entrance. From there, she locked it, and turned the hour sign from open to close.

  “Come on in back, there’s something I want to show you,” she said.

  This led me to start following the woman, Angela and Bridget close behind, watching her stop in front of a life size mirror.

  “This mirror was what called out for you to come buy it,” the woman said.

  “What is it, like magic?”

  “No, it’s so much more than that. This mirror holds the spirit of my ancestor Mary Catherine Yearson. She was cursed into it by a witch, made a demon creature so she could save her younger sister from suffering the same fate.”

  “So, if this Mary Catherine is related to you and your family, how come she didn’t fill your mind with the buy me message?”

  “Because a true witch was the one who cursed her, only another true witch can use Mary Catherine and the power she has.” The woman answered. “And so far, you’re the first one ever since she was stuck in the mirror Mary Catherine has contacted. So, you’re interested in her? I’ll give it to you for just twenty-five dollars, since well, you’re the only one who can use it.”

  Heading to the mirror, and standing in front of it, I didn't expect to see the most beautiful, radiant woman in my life appear. She wasn’t much older than I, and she was dressed in a stunning white gown, her hair a perfect shade of navy, eyes icy blue. The only thing bothering me was the sadness on her face. She’s unhappy and alone, just like I’m feeling now with Julie gone. I understood then, it was my destiny to take ownership of this mirror.

  “That look tells me you’re interested in it,” the woman said. “Yeah, sure I’ll take it,” I replied.

  “Thanks for bringing the van on such short notice mom,” I said as Angela, Bridget and I were loading the mirror into it. In our family, she’s the most powerful witch of all, even stronger then Julie’s mom, and her younger sister Katharine.

  “I’m just happy you were able to find something that will take away your misery of Julie being gone.”

  “I just bet you’re glad you now have a mirror with aspirin held in it Sharon,” Bridget said as she and Angela helped me get it into my bedroom; placing it against wall to allow me to face it from my bed.

  “Yeah, I sure am.” Sitting down on my bed, I draped my legs against the side.

  “So, Bridget and I will let you spend some quality time with your new mirror,” Angela said, taking her sister by the hand, and leading her toward the door.

  “Just be sure to be ready to help us run the fortune teller table at the fair tonight.”

  Once Angela and Bridget were gone, I found myself wondering just how I was supposed to interact with Mary Catherine. Surprisingly, the answer to this came almost immediately, as she appeared in the mirror.

  “Hey, is this how we’re supposed to communicate, through mirror glass?”

  “No there’s also this way,” Mary Catherine said in her resonating tone, stepping from the mirror and into my bedroom. With her joining me on the bed, I was amazed, and at the same time relieved by this. Mary Catherine and I would be able to communicate face to face, and without a piece of glass stuck between us.

  “So, I can sense you’re sad about something,” Mary Catherine said. “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, it’s just my cousin Julie,” I replied. “She just moved to a town called Blue Winter so her mom, and my Aunt could take the job of running a branch of her job.”

  “Now that is sad,” Mary Catherine said. “I could take your cousin’s appearance if you want.”

  “You could do that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, since you said you’re not a witch, and you clearly not human, what are you defined as?”

  “Sharon, I was born in the tenth century. What you just bought, and where I live, it’s no ordinary mirror.

  It’s a portal to one of the most horrifying, most brutally cold demon dimensions ever. I just pray you, or anyone else never suffers the fate of seeing what it’s really like in there.”

  “Is there anything else I should know?”

  “Just a couple days ago, I had no choice but to send former employee of the antique store into the demon dimension held in my mirror."

  “Why was that?”

  “He was fired for robbing money from it. I didn’t want to do it, but didn’t know what else to do. Now I feel like nothing more than one of those sadistic, murdering demon creatures inhabiting my mirror.”

  “But you’re not Mary Catherine, I’m sure there wasn’t anything else you could have done.”

  “So, give me your opinion about what you think about me?”

  “Honestly I kind of enjoy having someone around to replace Julie. The only thing I don’t like about you is your name. You don’t mind if I change it, do you?”

  “No, I have no problem with you doing that. What do you have in mind?”

  Staring at Mary Catherine, for some unknown reason, the first thing to pop into my mind was Pixie Sticks. Now, why would I think of that? I wondered. Taking the word, and starting to play around with different variations of it; Dixie, Mixie, Bixie, Trixie…Trixie. Trixie. Yes, that would be the name I would call Mary Catherine from now on!

  “So, have you come up with something yet?”

  “I have.” From now on I’m calling you Trixie.”

  “Hmm, Trixie, that has a nice sound to it.”

  “I’m glad you approve of it. But now, if you’ll excuse me, Angela, Bridget, and I have to get over to a fair taking place in town. We have to go set up the fortuneteller booth.”

  “Okay, I guess I’ll see you when you get back.”

  Standing up, and returning to the mirror.

  “So, you enjoying your mirror so far Sharon?” Angela asked as the three of us were sitting behind the fortunate teller’s booth.

  “I am. As a matter of fact, I’ve renamed the spirit slash demon creature, Trixie.”

  “Trixie, it sounds pretty catchy,” Bridget said.

  “Yeah, you got that right,” Angela added.

  Just as I started to say something else, I saw her. The girl Angela, Bridget, and I hated the most, Tracy Sanders. Her boyfriend Jason Timbers standing to the right of her.

  “Why if it isn’t the three weird Elster’s sisters!”

  “What the heck do you want Tracy?”

  “What else, to have my fortune read.”

  An idea instantly came to me with Tracy saying this. Given Tracy had delighted in humiliating us countless times in the past, I thought I would return the favor.

  “Okay, give me your right hand.”

  Without delay, Tracy did as I requested, allowing met turn it palm side up, putting my plan into action.

  “Okay, so what’s in my future Sharon?”

  “Oh, this isn’t good,” I said, trying my best to keep from bursting out laughing. “What I see in your future, is in fact, you headed for a great, big downfall. One of monumental proportions.”

  As not to be unexpected, this sent both Angela and Bridget bursting into laughter.

  “She told you, Tracy,” Bridget said.

  “Stupid liar! Tomorrow morning I’m going to destroy you and your sisters’ reputations Sharon. Pa
thetic witch!” Tracy spat out.

  “Okay, now you’ve crossed the line with that Tracy. "The anger starting to build over her insulting my heritage as a true witch.

  “What’s that supposed to do, scare me or something?” Tracy asked.

  “You’ll find out,” Bridget replied. “And when you do, you'll wish you had kept your damn mouth shut.”

  “You think I crossed the line now? Just wait until tomorrow. Jason, let’s get the hell out of here, I can't stand the sight of these three bitches right now.”

  “But we just got here,” Jason whined.

  “Damn it Jason, I’m not about to take your whiny crap! You’ve been given the opportunity to date the most popular girl at Darkwood High, and bring her to the annual springtime festival! You’d better do as I've ordered!”

  “Fine all right, we’ll get the heck out of here!”

  “Can you believe the way Sharon and her two freak sisters treated me?” Tracy raged, once she and Jason were safely within the confines of his shiny black new pick-up truck. “I have half a mind to demand you run them over one by one!”

  “Now just calm down Tracy. Let me take you home so you can get a good night’s sleep.”

  “Fine whatever,” Tracy grumbled. Turning her head to stare out the passenger’s-side window.

  “You know Sharon,” Angela said as she was behind the wheel of her car, driving the three of them back home; “we should, well, not hurt Tracy for her evil comments, but scare her a little.”

  An overwhelming feeling of wanting to do this, started growing in me with Angela’s suggestion. What with the way Tracy had treated my sister’s and I, insulting witches like she did, she deserved to be taught a lesson to not do it again.

  “So what do you say Sharon?” Angela asked. “You up for it?”

  “Yeah, it’s what she deserves, with how she insulted us,” I said.

  “Welcome home Sharon,” Trixie, present in the mirror, said to me the moment I set foot back into my bedroom, and sat down on the bed.

  “Come on out Trixie, I need your help with something.”

  “What’s wrong?” She asked, emerging from the mirror glass and joining me on the bed.

  “Some girl named Tracy Sanders insulted Angela, Bridget, and I at the fair tonight, and threatened to humiliate us in some way at school tomorrow. If it’s no trouble, I’d like you to well, scare her a bit, to show herwhat a mistake it was for her to do such a cruel thing.”

  “Sure, I have no problem doing that Sharon.” Agenuine look of concern was on her face, her eyes turned a piercing shade of red.

  Sitting in the passenger’s seat of Jason’s truck, Tracyhappened to glance into the rearview mirror. What shecaught sight of was something that bestowed upon herone heck of a tremendous wave of bone chilling fright.

  What it was that came to fill Tracy’s sparkling hazel eyes, was her reflection, horribly distorted and out of focus. Even worse, her eyes were a piercing red. This caused Tracy’s face to rapidly contort into a look of unbridled horror, one which did not escape Jason’s notice. Were Sharon and her two sisters using their witch powers to try and strike back at her?

  “Hey what’s wrong?” Jason asked.

  Immediately Tracy was filled with a deep rootedsensation of pure dread. Should she reveal to him that she had just seen her own reflection to be horribly distorted and out of focus? Oh yeah sure, that’ll come off as me being totally sane and of sound mind, she quickly realized.

  “It’s nothing,” Tracy said. “I’m just pissed at howSharon, Angela and Bridget treated me that’s all.”

  “Well I wouldn’t continue to get yourself all workedup about it,” Jason answered in an amazingly calm, sure of himself tone of voice. “We’re no longer at the fair, andchances are extremely good we won’t be making a return trip there.”

  “Yeah you sure as hell got that right. Still, those three freak sister’s aren’t going to get away with what they did.

  Come school tomorrow, I’m going to humiliate them so bad, they won’t ever want to come back.”

  Once she got home, and into the safe, warm confines of her bed, it didn’t take Tracy long to fall into an uneasy slumber and dream. In it, Tracy found herself in a scenario involving her standing in front of the booth,Sharon, Angela, and Bridget across from her. Instantlyshe felt a combination of fear and anger start swirling upwithin her, striking her with unrelenting nausea.

  “I see you’ve come back for a second round you smartmouthed, witch hating bitch,” Sharon sneered, soundingas if she was suffering from blocked, snot filled nostrils.

  “Go ahead Sharon, insult me all you want,” Tracycountered. “It’s not going to change my mind abouthumiliating you and your two freak sister’s tomorrow.”

  “What Tracy?” Sharon replied in an easy going, calmvoice. “Look, I’ll tell you what, to show you there’s nohard feelings between us, I’ll give you a free palmreading!”

  “I’ll pass, thanks,” Tracy said, wanting nothing fromthis witch and her two pathetic siblings.

  “But it’s on the house!” Sharon answered, soundingmore and more like the antagonist of Tracy’s favoritemovie the Wizard of Oz as each moment passed.

  “Look I said no!” Tracy yelled. Her mind becamefervently filled with the thought to ask Sharon about what she had seen in the rearview mirror of Jason’s truck.

  “I know what you’re thinking Tracy,” Sharoncontinued. “You think what you saw in your date’s mirror was a figment of your pretty little imagination. Well guess again you smart mouthed, witch hating bitch! Your life is going to reach all new levels of pain and torment for your insulting tongue!”

  And then just like that, Tracy awoke with an abruptstart. Immense sweat completely lubricating her face, her mouth incredibly parched and cotton dry. Quickly leaping from her bed and out of her bedroom into the nearby bathroom, Tracy used her right hand, fingernails covered with day-old, cracked red nail polish to spin the cold water faucet far to the right so it was hitting the white porcelain sink full blast. Seconds later, sheer nervousness struck away at her heart. The light present above her head, burning with full illumination, now seemed to take on a life of its own, and started to flicker wildly, drilling Tracy with nervousness. Just what the heck did those wannabe fortune tellers Sharon and her siblings do to me? Tracy wondered as she made herself scarce from the bathroom.

  After getting a few more hours of sleep, she once again awoke from sleep to find the brightSeptember sun hitting her face full-blast. As she laid there in bed, she hoped what she had experienced during the past few hours was now at an end, and things were going to be all right.

  Setting foot back into the bathroom, what Tracy saw,her face starting to show signs of aging. Damn youSharon, this is all you’re doing witch!

  “What happened to you Tracy?” Her best friend Becca Coldman said as she pulled her car up to the front of the Sander’s house, and Tracy climbed in. “You look like you’re thirty!”

  “Don’t ask,” Tracy grumbled.

  “Whatever,” Becca said.

  By the time she and Becca arrived at school, Tracynoticed, by glancing into the rearview mirror, the age onher face had now advanced to the point she now lookedwell into her forties.

  “Oh crap, you look worse than ever!” Becca remarked,seeing this.

  “I can see that perfectly well,” Tracy said.

  “Okay, what the heck is going on?”

  “I insulted Sharon Elsters, and threatened to humiliate her sisters and here last night at the fair.” Tracy replied.

  “What, don’t tell me, the rumors of the Elsters sistersare true and Sharon, or all of them have put an agingcurse on you?"Becca asked.

  “It looks that way.”

  “Oh come on Tracy, that witch curse crap is only thestuff of movies and books!”

  “Then how do you explain what’s happening to me?”

  “You’re right. Come on, let’s go talk to them,” Beccasaid.