"The Museum of Mirrors and the (Mostly) Dead, Pt. 5" - A Surrealist Story in Serialized Form

bucho (63)in #fiction • 7 years ago (edited)

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.

Mirror #4
“The Tragic Glammer of Robespierre”

Date Created Unknown
(Estimated Early to Middle 18th Century, French Origin)
Found in 1967

Materials Used:
Gold Gilding on Ornate, Rectangular Frame

Type of Reflection:
Decision Maker with Catastrophic Results
Normal Planar Reflective Surface

What You See:

The mirror is black and reflects no light, a perfect black diamond on the wall, as if it’s somehow been turned off, that it’s broken, out of order. The black feels thick and deep, impenetrable. What reflection there is (if it could be called such) is merely the hint of your outline. Your general shape exists, but your specific details do not. Then…

A separate placard on the wall.

“While the provenances of many of the mirrors in Silvanestri’s collection are difficult to divine in the best of circumstances, the collection is lucky to have a brief, if somewhat muddled, lineage for ‘The Tragic Glammer of Robespierre.’

Maximilien Robespierre became the de facto ruler of the country of France in 1793, but was then later executed for charges of tyranny and dictatorship, which he argued against vehemently.

The night they came for him, he attempted suicide with his pistol, but ended up only destroying most of his jaw. The day after his arrest, the executioner at the guillotine ripped the bandage off Robepierre’s healing face and allowed it to bleed while Robespierre screamed in pain before the guillotine’s blade severed his entire head.

While it remains a story wholly based in myth, some believe that Robespierre’s blood was drained at the execution site and then used to cover and splatter all of his earthly belongings before burning everything in a pyre. It’s said that only this mirror survived the blaze. Were it not for several light areas of charring on the frame, this story could be easily dismissed.

True story or not, the mirror exists and was passed down from French ruler to French ruler for generations, ending up in the possession of Emperor Napoleon III until his surrender to the Prussians in 1870 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War.

Here, much of the mirror’s history ends as not much is known about where it ended up in Prussian hands. No known historical records of it exist until its reappearance in India during the middle of World War II, where it became a kind of family heirloom passed down generation to generation because of its obvious worth in the frame alone.

One could posit that the nature of the mirror is that of an advisor to the ruler in possession of it, that the mirror somehow led these men to rule their people with tyrannical methods, but there are no evidentiary reports that back this claim up during its existence within India in the hands of a single family.”

You reached out a finger to touch the surface of the mirror and immediately drew it back. The surface was ice cold; colder, even. Cold enough to burn almost instantly. And like that, the overhead light diminished, bathing the frame and placard in dark shadow again while the lighting above the next mirror on the adjoining wall came into being, sparkled off strange edges and angles and caught your attention from the corner of your eye.

Next time in part 6: https://steemit.com/writing/@bucho/the-museum-of-mirrors-and-the-mostly-dead-pt-6-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

Part 2 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bucho/the-museum-of-mirrors-and-the-mostly-dead-pt-2-a-surrealist-story-in-serialized-form

Part 3 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bucho/the-museum-of-mirrors-and-the-mostly-dead-pt-3-a-surrealist-story-in-serialized-form

Part 4 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bucho/the-museum-of-mirrors-and-the-mostly-dead-pt-4-a-surrealist-story-in-serialized-form

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