Chapter Text
Jon walked up the large stone steps of the Magnus Institute. He always arrived earlier than everyone else. Getting a jumpstart on the statements was his priority every morning. He was even there before Elias on most days.
Tim always joked that he never went home, but Martin knew that wasn’t true. He and Jon had been dating for almost a year. It had been quite the long road to get here, but once Jon finally stopped fighting his feelings for Martin, they slipped into a comfortable relationship.
Jon unlocked the door to his office and went about setting his things down. He hung up his jacket on the rack, flicked on the small desk lamp, and unpacked his messenger bag. Martin had packed a thermos of tea for him this morning. Even though Martin hated how early his boyfriend left, he always made sure he at least had hot tea in the morning.
It was the little things that made Jon smile.
Jon’s final bit of routine was gathering the statements he planned on going over that day. He felt like he had barely even made a dent in all the boxes they had laying around. The current box he was working through was a mess of statements dating from the early 1900’s all the way to current day. Jon would never understand how Gertrude could function in this kind of mess, or how she was allowed to get away with leaving the Archives like this.
He sighed as he sat down with a thick stack of statements. Preparing the tape recorder, he cleared his throat and pushed record.
“Statement of Jane Lilly, regarding an old mirror she acquired at a boot sale.
Statement given 16/5/1996
Recorded by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.
Statement begins.
I don’t even know where to start. No one believes me when I tell them. Everyone just tells me that I watch too many horror movies, but that’s not the case. I know what I see…saw…still experience, and I don’t know what to do about it.
I bought this antique mirror at a boot sale a few months back. It’s gorgeous. Turn of the century, ornate gold frame with small jewels inset throughout. It’s absolutely breathtaking and I knew I had to have it. I’m sort of really into old antiques like that. The seller had no idea its history. The only thing they could tell me was that it had come from an abandoned house of an antiques dealer a few years earlier and had just sat in a storage unit. The seller had plans to open an antique shop, but never got around to it, and now needed to liquidate all the inventory they had accumulated over the years.
Said something along the lines of they were moving out of the country. Anyway, it doesn’t matter.
What mattered was how much they wanted. As soon as they said antique dealer, I was nervous they’d ask way too much for it. To my shock, they only wanted a couple pounds for it. I immediately said yes. I’d have been a fool not to.
Getting it home was a challenge. Carting it around on the tube was a process, but I was careful and managed quite easily. Once back at my flat, I took it to my bedroom and leaned it against the wall. I was going to have to run to the small shop on the corner and get some supplies to hang it in the morning. I was exhausted and fell asleep shortly after getting home.
That was the first weird dream I had. Well, what I had assumed was a dream, now I don’t even know.
I remember standing in front of the mirror and looking into it. I got down onto the floor so I could really get a good look at myself, but when I did, the person…creature looking back, wasn’t me.
They just looked…wrong. The cheek bones jutted out in an odd way. The eyes, well what I had assumed was where the eyes should be, were this pale blue color. The skin was swirling, like little spiral circles. The hair was black and was almost floating around the head. The body was dark, I couldn’t tell you what it looked like or if it was even wearing anything, the only thing drawing my eyes to it was the spirals. The hands, though…. they were long and the fingers were almost claw like. The nails were pointed and sharp.
This creature stared intensely at me, almost glaring. It reached out to me, and the hand breeched the mirror. I mean, it was properly outside of the mirror. I wanted so badly to reach back and grasp the hand. I don’t know why. I just felt like that was the right thing to do. The spirals moving about its body were so hypnotizing.
I came back to my senses, and I screamed and that’s when I woke up in my own bed. I was sweating profusely and breathing heavily. I looked over to the old mirror and there was nothing there. It was just as it was. No creature…nothing.
So, I brush it off as a nightmare, take a deep breath, and go about my day. But I couldn’t shake this feeling that something wasn’t right.
I had popped down to the shop and picked up a small kit to hang the mirror. Despite the weird dream, I still really liked the thing. I went back home and hung it in the perfect spot on the wall in my bedroom. Right above my vanity, so I could do my makeup, without having to use the small desk mirror I had.
The day wore on. I had a few friends come by for a game night, and I showed them the mirror. They all loved it. Asked me where I got it, and all that. I didn’t say anything about the dream I had. Didn’t want to sound crazy or anything, and besides, it was just a fluke.
After I sent my friends home for the evening, I settled down on the couch to unwind for the day with some reading. I was engrossed in my book when I started hearing the tapping. It was quiet at first, that I almost didn’t hear it. Then it got louder, and I thought maybe there was a faucet that wasn’t turned off all the way. I set my book down and go into the kitchen.
The faucet was off.
I went into the bathroom to check the sink and the same thing. It was off.
The tapping continued, louder this time. I checked every room until I realized it was coming from my bedroom. I froze in the doorway and called out, thinking maybe one of my friends hadn’t gone home for the evening and was playing a trick on me.
Even though I knew I had said goodbye to all of them just an hour earlier. I cautiously flicked on the light and called out again. Once the light was on the tapping stopped.
I crept into my bedroom and looked around. I approached the mirror, and my reflection was just me. Standing in my bedroom. I got the strangest feeling of being watched. Like that prickly sensation that someone’s behind you, but there wasn’t anyone in the mirror’s reflection.
I shook my head and told myself that I was still just freaked out by that dream. The tapping could have been my neighbors in the flat next door. The walls were thin, and you could hear everything through them.
I turned the light off, and retread back to my couch to finish reading my book. I must have fallen asleep there, because I woke up the next morning sprawled out on the couch with my book on the floor.
I gathered myself together and headed into my bedroom to get ready for the day. That was when I saw the smallest crack along the glass in the mirror.
I know this crack hadn’t been. I inspected the mirror before I bought it, and it had been in perfect condition. Maybe there had been a small hairline fracture I didn’t see, and the trip home had made it worse.
I wish now that’s all it had been.
I stared at it for a minute longer and brushed that feeling away. I began to gather my clothes and got myself ready for the day. One of my friends from the night before invited me out to breakfast, and I was running late. I skipped my usual makeup routine and jetted out the door as soon as I was dressed.
On the tube to the café, I kept getting that strange feeling of being watched. It’s not like that’s uncommon on the tube, you know, there’s lots of people around me, looking at me, but it was that same prickly feeling that someone was just behind me breathing down my neck.
Finally, I reached my stop and got off. As I exited the tube, though, there weren’t any other people around. I couldn’t have possibly been the only one getting off at this stop. So, I looked back, and the tube was gone. The tracks were gone. It was just an empty tunnel. I stood there for what felt like hours but could only have been a few seconds at most.
I yelled out then for anyone. There had to be someone that could tell me what was going on. This wasn’t right. I ran as fast as I could to where the stairs should have been, and the tunnel was so long. It was endless.
I…I started screaming. As loud as I could. But no one came.
The tunnel then began to curve as I reached what I knew was supposed to be the end, but it just kept turning and twisting and I kept running and screaming. Finally, I had to stop to calm myself down. I leaned against a wall and tried to rationalize what was going on. I had to be dreaming. Maybe I was still in my flat, asleep on the couch, and I’d wake up soon.
I looked up and there was a door that I know wasn’t there when I stopped. I grabbed the knob and turned. Once I was through the door, everything was back to normal I was back where I had just gotten off. Everyone around me was looking at me kind of funny. Probably because I began crying, relieved to be around people.
I made my way to the café, still shaken up by what had happened. I couldn’t explain it, not even to my friend who was very concerned by the way I looked. I just told her that I wasn’t feeling well. That something just came on suddenly on the tube.
She insisted on taking me back home, and I took the offer. I don’t think I could have done another tube ride at that point. Once back at my flat, she came up for a bit, and we chatted. After she left, though, things took another turn.
I went into my bedroom to try and take a nap. Just sleep off the weird thing that happened in the tube station. But once I passed through the doorway of my bedroom, I was back in those long tunnels. I backed up, trying to leave my bedroom, but my back hit a wall. I turned around and screamed out that this wasn’t right. I can’t be here. I was in my flat.
There was an echoing of laughter, and I ran. Whatever it was, the laughing sounded human, but just uncanny. Like, it was trying to mimic a human laugh, and it was all wrong. I just kept taking turns and twists, trying desperately to find my way. Eventually doors began popping up along the way, and I kept opening them. I didn’t care where they went, as long as it took me somewhere else.
Eventually there was a voice, taunting me to find the right door, or else I’d be left here forever.
I came upon a large yellow door, and when I went through, I didn’t just go through a doorway, I came out of the mirror and found myself standing in my bedroom. When I turned around to face the mirror, that creature was there, smiling at me with these horrid sharp teeth where I assumed a mouth should be. It faded away and I was just looking at my reflection then.
I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to destroy the mirror, I really liked it. I decided to take the mirror down and hide it in my closet. Maybe If I didn’t have to see the thing, everything would go away. I tried to rationalize with myself, that I was just sleep deprived and my tired mind is just making up scenarios with the mirror. If I put it away, then it’s out of sight, out of mind, right?
I was wrong. It didn’t stop anything. The dreams, or nightmares, or whatever was happening to me continued. Every day I would find myself wandering these long tunnels, each time got worse and worse. There was one time where I was gone for what felt like days, but it had only been a few hours.
My friends began to notice how withdrawn I was becoming. Losing track of time like that isn’t exactly good for your social life. I broke down one night and told them what was happening to me. I swore to them that I would be trapped in endless corridors, all while being taunted and chased by this…thing.
Of course they didn’t believe me. They thought I was making it up to get out of social obligations. I think Tina might have believed me a little. She offered me a spot at her place for a couple of nights. I said yes, but that didn’t stop it from happening. After falling asleep at her place, wandering the tunnels, and coming out of a door at my flat was about the last straw for me.
That’s when I decided to come to you. I brought the mirror. I was told to leave it with Artifact Storage when I came in. Maybe if it’s in your hands, and completely out of my life, everything can go back to normal. I don’t know how many more trips through those corridors I can do. Each time I’m gone for longer and longer periods of time, and I know that eventually I may not come back.
Statement Ends.”
Jon sighed as he sat back in his chair, “It seems as though follow up was done with Miss Lilly, however, she couldn’t be reached, and a missing person’s report had been filed for her. The mirror is indeed in Artifact Storage. Wrapped in cloth and stored in a large crate with a large warning about not gazing into it. I don’t know what to make of this. The missing person’s report is alarming, however even she herself states that she could have been sleep deprived and made up these tunnels. I may need Tim or Martin to look more into this. Given the age of this statement, it’s possible she was found alive and well.”
Jon clicked the tape off and moved to grab the thermos of tea. He poured a bit of it into the mug on his desk.
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
Sasha made her way in, “Morning, Jon. Sorry to bother you, I’m not interrupting a statement, am I?”
Jon looked up at her, “No, you’re quite alright. I just finished. What can I do for you? You’re here early.”
Sasha sat across from Jon and laid a statement down, “Yesterday, Tim and I were going over this one. It’s quite a disturbing one. A Mr. Sunders acquired a refurbished cell phone, however, he began receiving calls with the sounds of his death.”
Jon hummed, “That is certainly disturbing. What’s the problem?”
“Well, Tim and I wanted to cross check with Artifact Storage to see if the cell phone in question was turned in from Mr. Sunders, and it appears someone really dropped the ball. There was a cell phone in the inventory, but it’s come up missing. No one knows when it went missing, but it’s not there.”
Jon sighed and ran a hand down his face, “Christ. With the way Gertrude left this place, it’s not a surprise that something like that is missing. I’ll file this statement away here in my office. We should keep track of these in case there’s anything else that comes up.”
“Good idea. If we come across anything else, we’ll bring it to your attention.” Sasha stood and began leaving.
“Oh, wait.”
She turned back around, “Yes?”
“I need one of you to follow up with this statement.” He handed Sasha the statement from Jane, “There was a follow up done not too long after she gave this statement, but since it’s been over two decades, I’d like to see if she was found, and if she was, I’d like to get some more information from her about her experience.”
Sasha took the statement, “We’re on it. I’ll have Tim reach out. He’s got better contacts with the police than I do. I’ll have him do that as soon as he comes in.”
“Thank you. Let me know your findings as soon as you can.”
She nodded her head and walked out of Jon’s office.