Mirror, Mirror - by Hajjar. S

The village of Blackwood had long been a place of bitter poverty for Maeve, a young woman consumed by envy. She spent her days scrubbing stone floors and watching the wealthy merchants' daughters ride past her window in carriages of polished oak. She hated her coarse wool dresses, her rough hands, and the constant, gnawing lack of coin.One rainy afternoon, while rummaging through the clutter of an abandoned manor at the edge of town, Maeve found something unusual buried beneath a rotting canvas. It was a hand mirror. Its frame was made of a dark, heavy iron that felt freezing to the touch, and the glass was completely black, like the surface of a stagnant pool at midnight. When she wiped away the centuries of dust, the dark surface did not reflect her face. Instead, it rippled like water."I wish I had a chest of gold," Maeve muttered carelessly, scoffing at her own foolishness.A sudden, sharp crack echoed through the empty room. Maeve jumped back, dropping the mirror onto the dusty floorboards. When the dust settled, she gasped. Resting right where the mirror had fallen was a heavy wooden chest, its lid slightly ajar to reveal hundreds of gleaming gold coins. Trembling, she picked up the mirror again. The glass was no longer black; it was clear, and swirling deep within it was the faint, ghostly silhouette of a woman.Maeve’s heart pounded with a mixture of terror and intoxicating greed. The mirror granted wishes. It didn't take her long to test the boundaries of this newfound power. The very next morning, standing in her cramped bedroom, she gripped the iron frame tightly and stared into the glass."I wish for the finest clothes in the kingdom," Maeve demanded, her voice filled with a desperate hunger. "Silk gowns, velvet capes, and shoes soft as down."Instantly, the scent of lavender and expensive dye filled the room. Her ragged tunic vanished, replaced by a gown of shimmering crimson silk, stitched with delicate gold thread. Wardrobes appeared against her peeling walls, bursting with fabrics so luxurious that even the queen would envy them. Maeve laughed out loud, running her fingers over the smooth textiles. She was no longer a beggar. She was powerful.But greed is an unquenchable fire. Within days, the gold and the gowns were not enough. Maeve wanted a grand estate, servants to bow to her, and a carriage drawn by white horses. She picked up the mirror a third time, pressing her face close to the cold glass."I wish—""No," a voice hissed from the depths of the mirror.Maeve froze. The ghostly silhouette inside the glass rushed forward, slamming against the inside of the pane as if trying to break through. The clear glass instantly turned a smoky, suffocating grey. The figure belonged to a woman with hollow eyes and a face twisted by centuries of confinement."I will grant you no more wishes, greedy girl," the woman in the mirror spoke, her voice sounding like dry autumn leaves scraping against stone. "You have taken my gold. You have taken my silk. If you want a third wish, you must pay the true price of the glass.""What price?" Maeve whispered, clutching the iron frame so tightly her knuckles turned white."Wish me out," the woman demanded, her eyes burning with a desperate, malicious light. "Give me your voice to break this seal. Wish for my freedom, or I will strip away everything I have given you, leaving you to rot in your poverty."Maeve looked around her room. She looked at the chest of gold and the beautiful silk gowns. The thought of losing them, of going back to the dirt and the mocking stares of the village, was worse than death. She didn't care who the woman was or why she was trapped. She only cared about keeping her wealth."I wish for you to be set free," Maeve said clearly.The moment the words left her lips, a cold wind swept through the room, extinguishing the candles. The crimson silk gown on Maeve’s back dissolved into mist, and the heavy gold coins turned to dry leaves. The iron frame of the mirror grew intensely cold, and Maeve felt herself pulled toward the silver surface as if by an invisible tide.Maeve tried to pull away, but her physical form was fading. She watched in silence as her hands became translucent, merging with the ripples of the glass. The magic was a cycle that demanded a soul to maintain its power.From the center of the mirror, the smoky surface rippled like a pond. A pale hand reached through the glass, followed by the rest of the woman. She stepped onto the wooden floorboards, standing tall for the first time in centuries. She looked around the modest cottage with a look of triumph, her hollow features finally catching the light of the sun.Maeve felt a final, sharp tug, and suddenly she was looking out at the room from the other side. She pressed her hands against the cold, hard barrier of the glass, but the woman on the outside only smiled. Maeve was now the occupant of the mirror, the new bearer of wishes, bound by the iron frame.The freed woman picked up the mirror and looked at Maeve’s silhouette."The bargain is struck," the woman said, her voice now resonant and clear. "I was trapped by greed, and now I am freed by it. I will ensure this cycle ends here."With a sudden movement, the woman threw the mirror against the stone hearth. The glass shattered into numerous fragments, each one reflecting a tiny, silent image of the girl inside. The connection to the world was severed; Maeve was no longer a single girl, but a fragmented memory held within the broken shards.The woman gathered every piece of the glass and the dark iron frame into a heavy cloth bag. She carried it far from the village, deep into the heart of an ancient, trackless forest. In a clearing where the trees grew thick and the air was still, she dug a deep hole beneath the roots of an old oak.She placed the bag into the earth and covered it with stones and soil, ensuring the ground appeared as though it had never been disturbed. The mirror was gone, and Maeve’s reflection was lost to the darkness of the earth, hidden where no one would ever find it again.

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