Robert’s Mirror, Chapter 29, by J.M. Stevenson, www.jeannesbottle.com

Shannon Mertz stood at the doorway, her face wedged between the rustic oak door and the surrounding frame. Her body convulsed as she breathed deep then exhaled in several repetitions. Everything about her stance reflected anxiety as if the air from outdoors contained toxic pollutants.

For the most part, Shannon lived a quiet life. There was the occasional interruption between mail being hand delivered and the weekly arrival of the grocery boy.

I had been a fixture within her household for several weeks observing Shannon’s life and the solitary plight she faced. One of the few visitors was her physician who made an occasional visit to check on how the thirty nine year old was faring.

Shannon Mertz was a prisoner, not the typical prisoner confined because of a crime against society, but she remained locked up because the world surrounding her appeared too overwhelming to deal with. Shannon Mertz suffered from some sort of phobia and from what I gathered from her conversation with the doctor, had not ventured an inch outside of her home in over eight years.

Shannon's daily routine never varied. From the hand mirror attached to a hook on the exterior of the bathroom door, I had a bird's eye view of the entire layout around me. Each and every morning, Shannon shuffled from her bedroom and checked the perimeter of windows, followed by the dead bolt locks on both exterior doors. She somehow had the need to be certain she was safe and secure within. If she altered the sequence in any way, she felt compelled to repeat the entire security check starting from the first window bolted in the front room.

At seven fifteen and not a second later, she made a bowl of oatmeal with walnuts crushed in a uniform pattern on top; a half of glass of milk of which she measured with a ruler to make certain the level of liquid was exactly three and a half inches, a cup of coffee and a whole grain muffin.

After breakfast, she worked with precision to be certain everything was washed and replaced into the cabinets in the exact order from which they were taken. The Formica table was then sprayed with a three percent bleach solution to ensure all germs were properly killed.

At eight, Shannon watched an exercise show in the front room, but never participated. As eight thirty chimed on the wall clock, she stood by the front door waiting. A single tap became audible each day as Shannon quickly opened the door and a newspaper was miraculously placed into her grip. After checking then rechecking the lock on the front door, she preferred a reclining chair by the window taking great pains at maneuvering the footrest in order to settle on an approximate position. Then and only then did she read the paper from front to back, word for word.

Shannon kept a red pen handy and made circles throughout the paper highlighting typographical and grammatical errors. A phone call then proceeded her daily read as she complained to the editor pointing out each and every flaw of the local "rag" as she constantly insulted the inferior quality of the newspaper's editing.

At ten thirty Shannon vacuumed the house from top to bottom working each room in a clockwise rotation. In the living room, each cushion had to be turned and all table surfaces dusted until every single dust fiber no longer remained. The rooms were then sprayed with some sort of an aerosol mist leaving an aroma reminding me of stale peaches.

All attention focused on the mid morning news on the television at eleven thirty. With each horrific story the newscaster presented, Shannon released a deep wrenching gasp. "Huh!" She said inhaling story after story. A fire at the apartment complex, a robbery at the convenience store, an altercation at the local bar...."huh, huh, huh...."

If Shannon wasn't so pitiful, I would have become annoyed with this habit after the second day of my arrival. In truth, the woman was not right and I realized sympathy was needed in this case.

After trying countless times to call her attention to the mirror, I finally realized that there was nothing I could do to help this poor soul and so I concentrated on, surf, sand and beach except for some reason I remained fixed, not leaping to the after world for much needed advice.

I attempted imposing my will on detaching from the mirror, but my spirit was being held as if the most powerful glue was keeping me transfixed.

So without choice, I waited and watched.

After many weeks of being a spectator, the telephone finally rang. "Hello." Shannon spat as if her voice were a balloon popping with fear.

"Thomas, how are you?" She said with syrup as she squatted down into a kitchen chair.

"It's been six months at least...no; I haven't made it outside yet." Shannon announced with regret. "When will you be back into town?"

"Oh." She whispered her voice reflecting a cloud of disappointment.

"How are your wife and the kids?"

"Well, maybe before school starts you could fly out here. I'll pay for your ticket.... I miss my big brother, please Thomas."

A single tear began to fall down her cheek. "I understand. No, maybe at Christmas... I'll need a list of everyone's sizes so that I can order presents from the catalog."

"Please Tom; the holidays are so lonely. I don't mind if you come a week before or after, as long as we celebrate together.... Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without you."

"I understand... it's too much of a trip anymore with the children...." "Yeah, I can see how you'd want to start your own traditions at home. No, I'm not mad at you bro, just disappointed."

"Yes, the doctor's been coming on a regular basis. I've tried all of the new medications and nothing has helped. No need to worry. No. I'll be okay."

"All right Thomas, sure."

There was a pause in the conversation. "I'm glad work is going so well for you. London sounds wonderful.... Relocating you there permanently?"

Shannon's voice became a dull whisper as if she were failing to thwart her obvious distress. "No really, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks for calling. Yeah, me too…bye."

"Dear Lord." Shannon sobbed sliding to the floor distraught.

She balled her fist then slammed the wall. "My only family has abandoned me!"

After wearing herself out from hours of crying, Shannon finally curled up into a fetal position and drifted off into a much needed slumber remaining on the kitchen floor.

Again I attempted to dismount myself from the mirror without success. No matter how hard I concentrated, I remained trapped within the reflective plate. I found it ironic that Shannon was not the only spirit confined to her residence.

What is really going on here? I wondered to myself.

Determined, I utilized everything I held dear and closed myself away from outside distractions. Plunging deep within my thoughts, a set of eyes became my focal point. Green eyes, the mirror to her human soul...Lizzy. Shifting from that fateful meeting on the beach to the picnic on the dune, I took the power from Lizzy; the intense strength a man feels when his heart realizes love.

The mirror shifted from the hook, shifted and arose. The unit was solid, this melding of spirit and reflective glass.

I tuned all else out. Elizabeth Fenmore was now descending the stairway. It was her wedding day once again at the grand cottage near Three Corner's on Lake Michigan. She appeared as if a visual slice of heaven. The remarkable thing was not in that particular day itself, the amazing thing was how I could remember! As if gazing through a magical looking glass, I had the vision of her approaching...that tense expression clouding her face. She was giving into her parents, giving up on any chance of happiness!

"What happened to canceling the wedding?" I asked her.

"I need to do this for them." Lizzy responded referring to her parents.

Somehow I couldn't allow her to marry such an idiot and doom herself to such a grim existence. She was better than that and deserved more from life. I noticed the trio of violins as I carried her away, I lifted her from her feet and bolted through the door into the storm... and oh how it was storming that day. I never stopped to consider if the weather was a foreshadowing of events that were sure to follow.

The mirror was floating now, floating into the kitchen. Shannon was asleep with drool trickling from the edge of her mouth. I hovered above, hovered above gazing at her with concern.

The rain pelted us and Lizzy began to kick and struggle.

I stole Lizzy away from her wedding, stole her away and didn't once consider the repercussions for my selfish actions. The thing of it was, I was head over heels in love with her and nothing else mattered. I took what wasn't mine, snatched her away and at what a cost.

The storm from within my thoughts penetrated the room. An unusual cloudburst began to spray in Shannon Mertz's kitchen. The floor became slick as a shower of water pelted everywhere.

I drove off in Elizabeth Fenmore's car. Not much of a car by late nineteen eighties standards, but sufficient for the time. I threw all caution to the wind in our escape. The tires were poorly constructed and they twirled in the mud with every rotation. We nearly made it to the main road except the car slid loosing traction. On the last curve before the bridge away from Three Corners, the front end became wedged within a sand bank.

The mirror began to spin, rotating over and over again. I was casting intense beams of light as the base reflected light from overhead.

"I'll try to push it, get behind the wheel." I said to Lizzy.

I warned her about the dangers of towering above the ravine and how to ease on the pedal. We were higher than the trees, stuck above a valley on the ledge of a sand hill.

Lizzy thanked me for saving her. In that moment I believed we had a future, a bright future unlike the horrendous downpour crashing around us. I should have understood the dark clouds were a sign, a warning that I was going against what was intended.

"...and if I had married him and moved to England?" She had asked.

"I would have followed you regardless. In fact, I would follow you just about anywhere...that's how strongly I feel for you Lizzy."

The roars from a convoy of car-engines could be heard. Elizabeth wanting nothing more than a clean escape gunned the engine. She accelerated too fast and the car lunged forward.

...and follow her I did. Attaching myself to the bumper of that old automobile, I followed her into her last seconds of life. I was with her in the end. She didn't scream like many would during that instant before crossing over. My spirit mingled with her and we entered the room of the great beyond, hand in hand. We were finally married in a sense, united in that final instant where breath is absent and eternity begins.

"What is happening?" Shannon asked shielding her eyes from the spinning mirror above.

Shannon released a tortured scream as she edged her body across the floor and into the cabinet beneath her sink. I could hear gasps of panic from within the doors and she began to whimper. Overcome by unbelievable fear, she fell silent within the enclosure. A few hours passed and I wondered if she had fallen asleep.

"It's okay." I repeated over and over again from the twirling mirror just outside the cabinet door.

As if indicating her awakening, Shannon began to gasp in hysterics not managing to form specific words.

"I am the mirror man Robert. I'm here to grant you a single wish... what would you prefer?" I said trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Not again." She whimpered. "Just leave me alone!"

"I'm here to help you....please."

"Just go!" She demanded sobbing.

"I don't understand." I said.

"YOU'RE EVIL and I won't fall for any more of your tricks! I'm ready for you this time."

In a blink, Shannon was standing outside her cabinet with some sort of sponge wand within her grip. She began batting at the mirror in uncoordinated sweeps.

"You won't take me alive!" She exclaimed with a wild look about her face.

Taking a direct hit, the mirror flew across the room and ricocheted off the refrigerator.

Again I lifted into the air and hurried to Shannon. Instead of her gazing at me with wonderment, she began to scream as if I were a monster.

The mirror had shifted and began a rotation with my view angled to the floor. I had no idea that the circular hand mirror now resembled something from an old science fiction movie. In the eyes of the modern human world, I was a flying saucer.

"UFO!" Shannon screamed running for the door. Without a second thought she was sprinting outside, frightened for her life.

"The aliens are attacking!" Shannon screamed as I chased her down the street. Because she was in such a state of fear, she didn't realize how her feet were now moving, how her face was now directed towards the evening sun, how her skin was actually feeling the open breeze...these were all freedoms, freedoms she had not been privileged to enjoy for over eight long years.

Many people gazed with shock at the strange woman being tailed by a rotating mirror.

"HELP!" Shannon pleaded on several tries, but the truth of it was the only person capable of helping Shannon, was Shannon herself. It was time for her to face her problems, time for her to look fear in the eye and rise above. She needed to put a face on her anxiety and slay it once and for all.

Shannon hurried through an open delivery bay at the local hardware store. I was relentless in my attack, swooping in and brushing the top of her hair.

We were in the store now, headed for the large collection of garden tools. In an instant, Shannon took hold of a flat tipped shovel and took careful aim at me. As if I were the birdie in a game of badminton, I hurled across the store in an opposite direction.

Shannon did not let up. She followed me across the store pelting the mirror over and over again. "Break ya darned thing!" She screamed.

Several customers as well as store employees rushed over to witness the commotion. Not wanting her to be viewed as insane, I made it clear that she was being attacked by a mutant hand mirror.

One of the customers yelled, "Someone help that poor woman!"

"It won't break!" Shannon declared during her battle with the mirror.

Imagine my surprise when I was suddenly trapped within the weave of a fishing net.

"We got ya now!" A man in a red jacket exclaimed.

The store full of humans circled around the mirror and every face reflected a sort of outrageous shock.

Shannon stood gasping for air, as she grinned sheepishly in my direction. "I don't know who you are, but you'll never terrorize me again!"

In that instant, I catapulted from the mirror and stood in full form before her.

The spectators edged their way back as if I truly were an alien being.

I smiled with warmth at Shannon.

"So glad to see you out of that house....it was about time." I said through a chuckle.

Shannon gazed about finally realizing that she was no longer a prisoner within her home.

"You're okay, and you will be okay from this point forward. Why don't you take a trip to visit your brother and his family? I'm sure he'd be delighted to see you."

"I am okay." Shannon announced revealing a genuine smile.

"I have to go now. My work here is done."

"Who are you?" Shannon asked.

"Robert, the mirror man… Remember, you did it yourself! You are stronger than you realize. Have a happy life Ms. Mertz."

As I collapsed into a bug sized dot, Shannon reached downward and retrieved her hand held mirror. There were whispers throughout the store as Shannon directed her attention to the object within her grip.

"Anyone want an alien mirror?" She asked in a humorous tone.

The store full of people meandered away realizing the unbelievable show was over.

As for me, I buzzed through the front door and felt the dimension of pressure shift and disintegrate. Onward I buzzed, onward to the beginning of the next assignment or was it the end of the tunnel for me?