"The Museum of Mirrors and the (Mostly) Dead, Pt. 10" - A Surrealist Story in Serialized Form
Since I write so much fiction, I figured I'd try out a new piece on all you Steemers out there. It's dark (like nearly all of my stuff) and long (like a great deal of my stuff). It's one of six stories that will be included in my third collection coming out late next year. You can find my other (fully) posted non-fiction story "Colfax Place" on Steemit here:
https://steemit.com/nonfiction/@bucho/colfax-place-a-piece-of-non-fiction-about-the-midwest
I figure if the first couple of installments of this one pique some interest, I'll keep posting up new sections daily. Per usual, all critiques welcome as long as they're constructive. I'll also keep a running list of links at the bottom of each entry so you can play catch up a little easier.
Mirror #9
“The Two Faces of Terroir”
Created in 1996 by the American Standard Company
Found in 1996
Materials Used:
Bathroom Mirror
Type of Reflection:
Revealing
Normal Planar Reflective Surface
What You See:
You stepped over to the last wall connected to the hallway entrance. The light beamed down and surrounded the bathroom mirror like a halo. There was nothing special about the mirror from the outside. Since you didn’t seem to be allowed to touch the exhibits (you assumed; no signs were posted allowing or not allowing it), you wondered if a typical bathroom cabinet lay hidden behind it. If so, the large single mirror would be a single door as well. You wondered if it opened from the left or the right side.
Nothing seemed to happen as you stood there, staring into it, eyes darting around each stretch of surface to see if you were simply missing something. No shimmer of mirror surface; no strange effect revealed itself; no gnarled hands came reaching through trying to pull you over to the other side.
You rubbed your chin, confused. You began making faces in the mirror, stretching out your mouth in unnatural ways, raising your eyebrows, crossing your eyes, sticking out your tongue. For a brief moment, you were a child again, enjoying the brief respite of whimsy in the dark room. You could see half of the wall bisecting the room behind you in the reflection and wondered if the last mirror on its other side would be this disappointing.
And then your nose began to itch.
You closed your eyes and felt your fingernails scrape along the skin, alleviating the annoying feeling. You looked up into the mirror and saw what looked to be large swathes of skin bunched up beneath the reflections fingernails. The skin along your nose and cheek was red, blood blooming up, your nails having left deep marks.
You stared down at your own hands and saw nothing. No blood, no skin. You pressed your hand to your face, felt nothing but skin exactly where it was supposed to be. You looked at your fingers and again saw no blood while your reflection continued to tell a different story.
With your other hand, you ran a fingernail along the other side of your nose, watching as the skin bundled up along the reflections fingertip. Again you looked down and saw no such evidence on your own hands.
And with that, the light above blinked out as the bisecting wall behind you became illuminated from the other side, the last and final mirror exposing itself to be viewed. You turned towards it and walked back, counter-clockwise, through the room.
When you turned, you saw the long, ovular mirror taking up nearly the entire width of the bisecting wall.
Next time in part 11, the conclusion: https://steemit.com/fiction/@bucho/the-museum-of-mirrors-and-the-mostly-dead-pt-11-a-surrealist-story-in-serialized-form-conclusion
Previous Sections:
Part 1 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bucho/the-museum-of-mirrors-and-the-mostly-dead-pt-1-a-surrealist-story-in-serialized-form