Bitesize 3.3

Bitesize 3.3

He saw nothing else that night. Or the night after. The mirror remained just that, a mirror. By the third night Ed was beginning to wonder whether his mind had been playing tricks on him, or whether he should try focusing on one of the other mirrors in the house. For whatever reason, he decided to stick with the one in the hall and as night began to fall he took up position on the chair opposite and waited.
Only two hours passed before he finally saw something. The mirror's surface rippled again like it had that first night, become opaque and shimmering like a lake of liquid silver and into its centre floated a face. It was her again, the blonde girl, Alice only this time there was something different about her. Ed felt himself leaning closer as the girl once again pressed a finger to the inner surface of the mirror. She moved the finger around, tracing a furrow through the silvery liquid that was quickly filled again behind it. It reminded Ed of writing his name with a sparkler as a child but he couldn't see if it was a letter or a symbol she drew. He edged off his chair and took a couple of steps toward the mirror. The girl watched him and Ed found himself staring into her eyes. There was something about the eyes, something that drew him in. He hadn't realised he'd been walking forward the whole time until his leg nudged into the drawers. He felt the impact on his knee and as he glanced downward the girl's arm suddenly shot out from the mirror, clutching his shirt tightly, trying to pull him even closer. Fear filling him Ed looked down at the solid arm, a pale silvery colour itself, the fingers locked into his shirt with a vice-like grip. He grasped it and wedged a foot against the drawers, trying to gain some leverage but the girl kept pulling, trying to draw him to the mirror's surface. And the surface now was roiling, bubbling like boiling water, no longer flat against the glass but almost erupting as the girl pulled harder. Ed dug his nails into the girl's arm, tried to pry her fingers apart. Silvered liquid from the mirror's surface splashed onto his shirt and solidified. With one last bid for freedom Ed planted his foot against the drawers and let himself give, just a little before pushing back with all the strength he could muster. His face came within an inch of the glass and then, as he forced himself backwards he twisted and bent the girl's arm, throwing all his body weight to one side. He felt her grip on his shirt loosen, felt himself fall heavily to the floor of the hall. His head struck the skirting board on the way down and he passed out.

When Ed came to, the mirror was placid and mundane once more. He groaned and felt his head. There was a lump but no blood, no broken skin. He pulled himself to his feet and staggered back to his room. He flicked the light on inside and looked down at himself. His shirt still had splodges of dried silver where the mirror's surface had spat at him. At least now he knew he wasn't imagining things. He went over to the bed, sat down and nursed his aching skull. Why had she tried to pull him in? was it even her? He thought back to the Onigawa book and how it had mentioned such things. Demons taking the forms of others. People being pulled through the mirror into...? Into what he had no idea. Is that how it had happened to Alice? Probably. If only he could find some way to communicate with her. The first time she'd tried to speak, but in the tumultuous surface of the mirror he couldn't follow her lips. The second time she'd tried to draw something. It wasn't a letter, he was almost sure of that. A symbol, some form of triangle based symbol... The memory eluded him. Which meant at least one more night staking out the mirror. If he could just find out what the symbol was maybe it could go some way to explaining...