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Then I peered beyond my reflection, behind it. I guess I was trying to look deep into the glass. I
don’t really know what I was doing or why I was up there.
I was so tired and pumped up at the same time, so curious and confused, sleepy and nervous.
I ran a hand along the glass, surprised again at how cool it felt in the hot, nearly airless little
room. I pushed my open hand against the glass, then pulled it away. It left no handprint.
I moved my hand to the wooden frame, once again rubbing the smooth wood. I stood up and
slowly walked around to the back of the mirror. It was too dark back here to really examine it
carefully. But there wasn’t anything to examine. The back of the frame was smooth, plain, and
uninteresting.
I came back around to the front and gazed up at the light. It looked like an ordinary lamp. Nothing
at all special about it. The bulb was an odd shape, long and very thin. But it looked like an ordinary
light bulb.
Sitting back down on the carton, I rested my head in my hands and stared drowsily into the
mirror. I yawned silently.
I knew I should go back downstairs and go to sleep. Mom and Dad were going to wake us up
early the next morning to drive to Springfield.
But something was holding me there.
My curiosity, I guess.
I don’t know how long I sat there, still as a statue, watching my own unmoving reflection. It may
have been just a minute or two. Or it might have been half an hour.
But after a while, as I stared into the mirror, the reflection seemed to lose its sharpness. Now I
found myself staring at vague shapes, blurred colors, deepening shadows.
And then I heard the soft whisper.
“Maaaaaaaax.”
Like the wind through the trees. The hushed shaking of leaves.
Not a voice at all. Not even a whisper.
Just the hint of a whisper.
“Maaaaaaaaax.”
At first, I thought it was inside my own head.
So faint. So soft. But so near.
I held my breath, listened hard.
Silence now.
So it was inside my head, I told myself. I was imagining it.
I took a deep breath, let it out slowly.
“Maaaaax.”
Again, the whisper.
Louder this time. Sad, somehow. Almost a plea. A call for help. From far, far away.
“Maaaaaaaax.”
I raised my hands to my ears. Was I trying to shut it out? To see if I could make it go away?
Inside the mirror, the dark reflected shapes shifted slowly. I stared back at myself, my expression
tense, frightened. I realized I was chilled from head to foot. My whole body shivered from the cold.