Mirror in the Forest: Book One (38 page)

She felt like she was in a trance as everything around her went still, and a sudden thought entered her head.

Has all of this been worth it? The pain, the misery, other people’s lives in ruins because of my own greed. Was it all worth it?

Jessica slowly turned towards The Spirit. He continued to prod her silently. She could have sworn she heard a voice in the distance calling her name.

Jessica had a sudden realization hit her in the pit of her stomach. She figured out why this was happening to her. She wished she had seen it sooner, when it had been right in front of her face all along.

Jessica then leaned down to whisper in Tessa’s ear. “Do me a favor, and tell Mark I love him. Tell him he was the best thing to happen to me out of all of this. Tell my parents, I understand why.”  Her voice shook as she put a hand on Tessa’s shoulder. “I never wanted anyone to die because of me. I was there when Sara Miller was killed, and I never wanted that. It was an accident, I swear it.” Jessica felt the tears flow down her face. “Tell them, I’m sorry,” she sobbed next to Tessa’s shaking body. “I love you, Tessa.”

Tessa stiffened near Jessica, and then Tessa began to scream her name, though it was muffled, and what sounded like “no.”

Jessica dropped the knife and turned to The Spirit. “There has been enough death because of me,” she said quietly. “I will not give you this gift. Just promise me you’ll let her go.”

The Spirit looked at her stunned, and then smiled. “I have no use for her, she will be freed.”

This time Jessica knew who owned the voice, as he got closer to them. She knew he would come, but it was too late. Jessica smiled, before everything went dark.

Mark drove back to the Sheriff’s office knowing he had a ton of filing that would need to be done. He wasn’t too concerned about Tessa right now. He figured she probably just did not want to speak with Jessica, and would appear somewhere later. He knew he should just forget about Jessica Winters, and let life take its course, but it was impossible. He had to do something to stop that mirror or whatever that thing was from taking more lives.

Mark had to come up with a plan to help Jessica get away from that thing, whether she liked it or not.

He walked in to Marge getting ready to finally leave for the night.

“Mark,” she said in greeting.

He wasn’t in the mood for her bellyaching, but knew he couldn’t say much.

“Yes, Marge?”

“There was a young girl here looking for you, not too long ago,” Marge said, pushing her glasses up on her nose, and grabbing her jacket.

“Really? Who was it?” He asked, desperate to know if it was Jessica. Had she finally come to her senses?

Marge shook her head as she put her purse over her shoulder. “Not the young girl you're seeing, her friend I think. She was a small, sickly girl with dark hair, really pale. She left some old newspaper on your desk.”

Mark didn’t say another word to Marge. He walked into his office, searching his desk for the newspaper.

There sat a newspaper clipping from with a note that read:

You might want to read this. Someone needs to stop this thing.

Mark picked up the newspaper clipping with shaky hands, and began reading the article. He hadn’t noticed that Marge was standing in the doorway.

“I remember that accident. Damn shame about those kids that night, just like today,” Marge said shaking her head in remorse.

Mark made note of the date…..November 28, 1961. Then he made note of who was involved in the accident. He had to clear his throat a couple of times as his mouth became dry, and his breathing began to quicken. The names of the survivors were all too familiar.

Mark dropped the clipping on his desk, and rushed past a confused Marge.

He had no time to call for back up. He didn’t know if he would even get there in time, but he knew what Tessa was doing. He had to stop her before it was too late.

He flicked his sirens on and raced through the streets of Leon’s Crossing, cursing any car that didn’t get out of his way fast enough.

He reached over as he drove to make sure his gun was fully loaded while he tried to drive at the same time.

Now, he knew why Tessa hadn’t been seen since the bus accident earlier today. She went to confront the mirror. He cursed her silently wondering why she would do something so stupid, knowing how dangerous this thing was.

Mark made a sharp turn to where he had first seen Jessica run into the street many months ago. He would approach from the other side of the forest, hoping to surprise the mirror, and help Tessa.

He slammed on the brakes, and skidded over the wet street. He suddenly heard Hal come through the radio asking if he was all right, but Mark didn’t answer him.

Mark opened his glove compartment, grabbing his flashlight. He made sure it worked, before he exited the cruiser.

He shined the flashlight into the forest, and cocked his gun, holding both in front of him.

He tried to calm his breathing, and his racing heartbeat, but it was impossible. Sweat began to form on his brow as he took the first steps into the thick forest.

The smell of pine needles, wet grass, and wood permeated Mark’s nostrils. Every sound almost made him jump out of his skin. He had no idea what this mirror thing was, or what he was up against.

Mark shined the flashlight more towards the ground to find the path from Jessica’s house to the area where Rick Tanner was found hanging.

He tensed when the path came into view, and he made a right. Everything was silent around him now as if the forest was holding its breath to see what would happen.

He turned right, and knew he had to call out for Tessa.

“Tessa! Can you hear me?”

A light began to shine through the trees in the distance.

“Jessica? Are you here?”

He stopped for a minute listening for something, anything to give him a clue to what was happening.

He perked his ears, when he thought he heard a voice.

He pointed the gun at the sound, but everything was silent once again.

He moved closer, and jumped when static came from his portable radio. Shaking his head, Mark ignored Hal’s calls, and began approaching the white light again.

Then his head shot up when he heard a scream, and the light began to dim.

In his short time as Sheriff, Mark had seen a lot, but never had he anticipated something like this. Never.

Inhaling sharply, he ran the rest of the way, calling both girls’ names.

“Tessa! Jessica!”

He ran until he was out of breath, and finally came into the small clearing readying his gun.

The mirror spirit was standing in the middle of the clearing was shining a light from his eyes around the area. He could only stop and stare at the object in front of him. His gun lowered for a second from the shock until he was able to gather his thoughts again. He was able to recover quickly, and raised the gun, pointing it directly at the figure’s head.

“Where are they?” He demanded.

He heard a deep laugh come from The Spirit that shook him to his core.

“Where are they?” He demanded again. He tried to sound brave, but the image in front of him had him terrified.

“Sheriff?” A voice whimpered from his left.

Mark looked down to a hysterical Tessa holding the body of Jessica in her arms.

Jessica lay on the ground very still, her eyes were staring into space as Tessa tried to shake her awake.

Another deep, musical laugh came from The Spirit.

He had no idea what to do now. Mark had been trained for many unexpected situations, but nothing like this.

“What….how?” Those were the only words that he could come up with.

He looked down at Jessica again, and thought she was dead. Tears began to well in his eyes, a rage rose inside of him that he never felt before.

He raised his gun, and put his finger on the trigger. That was the only thing he knew.

“Go ahead, Sheriff. That thing does nothing to me,” The Spirit suggested.

Mark moaned as an image appeared inside of the mirror.  Jessica was on the other side of the glass. He looked down and could still see her physical body on the ground, but her transparent image was inside of the mirror.

She screamed and cried for help, with her hands against the glass.

“Jessica!” He cried out moving closer.

She seemed to see him, and screamed, “Mark!” Her voice nothing but an echo coming through the glass as she pounded on it from the other side.

“Let her go!” Mark ordered, ready to take a shot.

Another laugh. “No, Sheriff. She’s mine for eternity. She made her choice.”

The mirrored figure disappeared before his very eyes, making Mark frantically look around, trying to figure out where the spirit went.

He gazed at the mirror again, this time the figure was standing behind a screaming Jessica.

Mark began to scream furiously, firing the gun at the mirror quickly emptying the magazine, forcing Tessa to throw herself close to the ground.  Glass began to shatter everywhere as each bullet pierced the mirror. Jessica’s image began to fade with each shot fired. He knew he was putting himself and Tessa in danger if one of the bullets ricocheted off of the mirror, but he didn’t care. He had to get Jessica out of it somehow.

Mark had emptied the gun, and looked down as the light from the mirror began to fade from sight.

The Spirit sneered at him one last time. “Emptying your firearm did nothing! Jessica’s soul still belongs to me.”

He ran to the mirror trying to grab it, but his hand went right through. The last image he could see was Jessica still trying to pound on the shattered glass.

Mark stepped back in astonishment, when he realized the mirror and Jessica were gone. Just vanished into thin air.

“Jessica!” He screamed.

Angrily, he punched the tree not caring about the pain or the blood from the scrapes on his knuckles.

Jessica Winters’ soul was now lost to The Spirit of the Mirror.

In his life, Mark never felt such grief and despair, and he had witnessed death many times. It was not even a year ago, he had lost his beloved mother, but nothing compared to what he just witnessed. He bent over while his stomach heaved, and tears ran down his cheeks. He felt like such a failure. He wasn’t able to save Jessica, and now her soul was lost, possibly forever.

He turned to stare at her physical form. He didn’t know if The Spirit of the Mirror taking her soul meant he killed her or not.

“Is she…”

Tessa could only shake her head. Mark finally bent down, and gently took Jessica from her. He checked her pulse, and found it to be normal, and her breathing was fine. She was alive and well, but when he waved a hand in front of her eyes, there was no reaction.

“He took her soul,” Tessa said, looking at him through tear filled eyes. “She did it to save me.”

Mark held Jessica’s face to his. His grief over not being able to save her overwhelmed him as he cried into her hair.

“I swear, no matter how long it takes, I will find you,” he whispered against her face.

Something caught on his eye, and he looked over to his left still holding Jessica in his arms.

In the dirt next to Jessica’s body lay a dagger; Mark realized it was Sara Miller’s dagger, then there was a necklace, and a half dozen fresh roses.

Mark took a deep breath and wiped his eyes with his free hand. “We need to get out of here, and get our stories straight, alright?”

Not saying anything, Tessa nodded in agreement.

“Come on, we have to get out of here.”

Mark had no idea how he was going to explain this away. He had no idea what to do next to find Jessica and bring her soul back to her body. He would have to deal with it later, for right now he had to get Jessica to a hospital, even though he knew nothing could help her.

He handed Jessica back to Tessa for a moment. He stood and picked up the dagger, the necklace, and the roses. He stared at them for a quick second, feeling fresh tears well in his eyes. If only she had told him the truth. I could have helped her, he thought sadly. Scowling in grief, he quickly placed them under a nearby bush. He would come back for them later.  

Gently, he took Jessica’s body back from Tessa’s hold, and picked her up from the ground, and started carrying her down the path towards her house.

Tessa sobbed the whole time holding Jessica’s head, while they walked, both feeling defeated. Mark looked up when a flashlight shined on them, and three figures appeared on the path.

             Hal could only stand there shining the flashlight on them in shock. Mary began to collapse screaming in anguish when she saw Mark carrying Jessica, with Don trying to prevent Mary from falling to the ground.

“Mark….what the hell happened here?” Hal asked.