Mirror Avenue

I live in a pretty small, relatively unknown town. This is the internet, so I won’t divulge too much information but I will tell you it’s in southern Wisconsin. I live on the corner of Lawn and Elm Street, and pretty near to my house is a stretch of road that most people called “Mirror Avenue”. Of course it’s not really technically an avenue, just an extension of Lawn Street, and it’s not the whole road, just a short stretch within the block adjacent to the one my house is on. I’ve lived here my whole life and everyone I know has referred to it as Mirror Avenue at some point, but many of them couldn’t give me an explanation as to why it was called that. The stories I got were mostly always different, usually something about a mirror maker (or whatever you call people who made mirrors) back when the town was founded who got caught up in some kind of cult, and the street being cursed. Of course the exact accounts varied, one told to me by a friend in Middle School included the street being split down the middle by a very long, man-sized mirror. People would look into this mirror and the reflection would be doing something different, usually mischievous and if there was more than one person in the mirror at a time the reflections would try to hurt each other, and it was said that the people could feel pain inflicted by the reflections. This was just the ramblings of a middle schooler, and tonight on my way home I found out EXACTLY why they call it Mirror Avenue.

I worked relatively late today, until 8 o’clock, and this being December it got dark pretty early. I got off at 8 and decided to walk home instead of calling one of my parents; despite being 18, I never learned to drive for financial reasons and the fact that I lived in a town small enough that there was very little that wasn’t in walking distance. I walk to and from work all the time, but I usually take Elm Street instead of Lawn, it’s faster but tonight I thought since I didn’t really have to be home at any specific time I would take the longer way. This route would take me right down Lawn Street to Mirror Avenue, where I had the single most terrifying experience of my life.

The walk home was pretty normal, until I reached the point by the park where I would have normally diverged onto Elm Street. I turned onto Lawn Street, without even thinking about the whole mirror thing; any time I had ever walked this way before was in the daytime, so I was never really afraid, and therefore it wasn’t anywhere near the front of my mind. I was only walking for about a minute before I noticed, but there was someone walking on the other side of the street. I looked over as soon as I noticed and they did the same. I couldn’t tell for sure but they were wearing the same coat that I had on, only I couldn’t see a face because they had their hood up. I walked for a few more seconds and almost tripped on the edge of an uneven piece of sidewalk. It was then that I noticed something strange; I guess had I thought more about the mirror thing before I would have expected it, but the guy on the other side of the street stumbled at the same time. I stood there for a second and then started to walk again, thinking maybe it was a fluke, but to test it I stopped abruptly, and watched to see what he did. Of course he stopped, watching me the whole time I was watching him.

Now I was certain something was off. I yelled across the street at the guy, but I didn’t hear anything from him, even though he seemed to be making the same motion I was as if he was yelling too. I stood there for about five minutes, waving my arms around and things like that, watching the man on the other side of the street as he mimicked me perfectly. Eventually I decided to see what happened if I got closer, and so I stepped out onto the street, and he did the same. I stopped, scared for a moment. I couldn’t tell who it was because of the hood and I wasn’t sure what would happen if I got any closer, and the whole time he was silently copying me, every aspect of my movement synced perfectly as if he was my reflection. Now I was thinking about the mirror thing, and based on the stories I had heard growing up I expected that nothing good could come of this. My curiosity got the better of me though, and I got closer until I was just about in the very center of the road, with my “reflection” just on the other side of the lane divider. I almost reached out and tried to touch it, but I was too afraid, and at the last minute pulled my hand back. It was then that I heard a sort of growling from the “reflection”. Apparently it had wanted me to touch it, as it made this clear by the mumbling from underneath its hood. I thought for a moment, and I wanted to see if this was some sort of reflection, so I figured maybe if I put my hood up, he would end up putting his down. And so I stepped back to the sidewalk because I was uncertain as to what would happen next, and I prepared myself. I was shaking, partially in anticipation and partially because I was terrified of what might happen to me. I was obviously in some deep shit here, as I knew now that this had to have something to do with the old legends. I stood there, my hands just above my shoulders, ready to put my hood up, with my “reflection” doing the same.

I counted down from ten, whispering to myself and praying that this was just some kid messing with me or that it was all somehow in my head. As I got closer to one I shook more violently, so much so that it had become apparent that my “reflection” was also shaking. As I finally hit one and put my hood up, my suspicions were confirmed as I saw the guy on the other side put his hood down. I have no way to accurately describe what I saw, the only thing I can say is that it had my same basic features, but they were contorted and twisted in a hideous and disgusting way that left me staring at it in a horrified daze. It was smiling at me, and that’s when I realized that it was no longer doing exactly as I was. I stood there on the sidewalk in shock as it stepped off the curb and began walking towards me. I panicked and ran down the street, and my “reflection” followed. Only now it was staring at me the whole time, not just when I was looking at it. It was faster than me, and the closer I got to the edge of the block the closer it got to me. I was certain for a moment that I could hear it saying something, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

Just as I was about to reach the corner it reached out and grabbed my hood, tearing it off as I forced myself forward. I thought it had me, I thought I was dead, another victim of Mirror Avenue, but when I heard that coat rip it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard, and I ran like hell until I got right in front of my house, and it was only then that I realized that it was no longer chasing me. I assume it must have stopped when I got passed the edge of the block, when I exited the stretch of Lawn Street that was Mirror Avenue. I looked back at Mirror Avenue, expecting to see it standing there on the corner or something, but I couldn’t see my “reflection” anywhere. This worried me, and I got inside as quickly as I could. My family wasn’t home, they left a note saying that they had gone Christmas shopping and to call when I got home. The first thing I did was lock all the doors and windows and close the curtains, and then I fetched my brother’s old sword that he had bought at renaissance fair, just in case. I called and didn’t mention anything about what had happened. Later when they finally got home I told them that I had run into a dog, and that’s why my coat was ripped. I wasn’t sure if I should say anything to anyone about what really happened or not; I was afraid that they might think I was crazy or on drugs or something. I might tell some friends at school, and there’s anyone who reads this, but one thing is for certain; I’m never taking the long way home again.