"The Museum of Mirrors and the (Mostly) Dead, Pt. 4" - A Surrealist Story in Serialized Form
I thought I'd try something out. 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.
“The Proof That He Lived”
Date Created Unknown
(Estimated Early 14th Century)
Found in 1951
Materials Used:
Severed Human Fingers (Real), Epoxy, Silver Coating
Type of Reflection:
Truest Hunger
Silvered Mirror/Decorative
What You See:
The frame seemed dipped in silver, the bumpy edges appeared to be rough wood until a closer inspection revealed every tiny “limb” to be the bottom side of a human finger, print side facing the viewer. They were stacked and stuck together in such a way that you questioned whether or not they were moving several times. The detail on the fingers was immaculate; each swirl of print on the tips was easily visible, each knuckle divot expressive in its own way.
After examining the frame, you stared into the silver-coated surface. Deep in the middle, far off in some reflected horizon, a cloudy spot appeared and grew larger. In the swirling eddies of the spot, the image of a former lover appeared, one you hadn’t spoken to in years (though you both thought about each other often enough). As quickly as it appeared, the image was gone, left burning a copy of itself on your retina and your memory.
And then you read the placard. The fingers composing the frame weren’t carvings, but were instead actual fingers glued together by some monstrosity of a human being and then turned into…this, whatever this was. You couldn’t fathom the concept. Not only the amount of work, but the sheer number of fingers numbered at least ten missing hands (and who knew what they had done with the thumbs since none were found within the frame’s construction).
Below, another separate placard on the wall.
“Alain Silvanestri was as prone to following leads based in fact as he was to those based in pure folklore. This mirror, ‘The Proof That He Lived,’ is one that rides the fine line between both of those as the story attached to it has been considered English propaganda demonizing the Scottish during the time.
Alexander Beane, the supposed creator of the mirror and incestuous cannibal, left his home town with a woman. Together, they created a home in a coastal cave hidden away from the majority of society in a place called Bennane Head.
If one is to believe the stories, they raised a family within this coastal cave; 8 sons and 6 daughters. Those sons and daughters themselves had children together, giving Alexander Beane and his wife approximately 18 grandsons and 14 granddaughters.
To survive, the family would attack travelers that came anywhere near their stretch of the coast, robbing their victims before killing them outright. The bodies of the victims would then be dragged back to the cave where limbs and organs were eaten, pickled, or tossed into the ocean after dismemberment. Of course, as oceans do, the water brought the evidence back, washing it all up on shore.
Nearby coastal villages soon grew suspicious at the amount of mutilated body parts washing up in their hamlets. Their suspicions were founded when a man came running into the middle of town, screaming that his wife had been not only attacked, but disemboweled. He had even seen the attackers drinking her blood right where they’d been accosted.
Bloodhounds and teams of men hunted down the clan of inbred cannibals back to their cave. The men found every wall covered in flesh; some quite fresh, others dried out long ago. They also found barrels of body parts being pickled for eating later. The entire clan, all 48 members, were executed without a trial.
Later estimates put the clan’s number of victims around 1,000.”
A shiver went up your spine as you imagined what those villagers must have thought walking into that coastal cave – the skin of men and women and children hanging up like bad decoration throughout the subterranean dwelling; the smell of violence rotted through by time. Had a finger in the frame moved during your reverie? Readjusted itself among its colored and compacted brethren? Before you could get a closer look, the light above dimmed into darkness as the next mirror over revealed itself beneath its own luminescence.
Next time in part 5 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bucho/the-museum-of-mirrors-and-the-mostly-dead-pt-5-a-surrealist-story-in-serialized-form
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
I will read them all ! The photograph is gruesome !! Oy vey