Mirror, Mirror

When the discovery of a secret room is found in the attic, the Venturi-McDonald household is thrilled... until unimaginable horrors start happening to Casey due to an ancient mirror. [Dasey + Lizwin

Since the Venturi's had lived in the house much longer than the McDonald's, it seemed odd that it had been Lizzy who stumbled upon a falt up in the attic, in Edwin's room.

The day had been a Saturday. Nora and George once more planned a trip to a retreat somewhere in Newfoundland and left Derek and Casey in charge for the weekend with one simple warning: "no party's." It was a surprise to everyone that Derek had followed this rule throughout Friday, but Saturday night had yet to dawn on them.

Lizzy and Edwin were playing hide-and-seek in Edwin's attic room, trying to escape Casey -- who was studying like crazy for an upcoming test -- and Derek -- who was watching a hockey game on T.V., and since his team was loosing, if you got in the way of the T.V. and him, you'd most likely get pelted with pieces of bread, cheese and tomato from his sandwich.

Since Edwin's room was such a small room, Lizzy had insisted they change it up. The seeker had to have his eyes closed and the hider could move around, so long as they didn't cheat and run out of the room.

Edwin was the seeker, and Lizzy was playing a pretty tough game with him. She had expertly dodged his hands and silently crept around his room for at least twenty minutes, when Edwin, fed up, opened his eyes to find her.

"You cheater! You peeked!" Lizzy raged, chucking a pillow at Edwin's head. He dodged it and jumped on his bed, a safe place from Lizzy's storming form.

"No I didn't! You were imagining things!" Edwin had chastised back. Lizzy than proceeded to shove at Edwin with all her might. The Venturi tripped off the side of his bed and impacted with the wall with a crack.

Lizzy stood, poised in a stature of shock and regret, as Edwin began rubbing the back of his head carefully with his legs sprawled out in front of him, his other hand limply falling in his lap.

"Edwin!" Lizzy called, running to her step-brothers side and patting his shoulder reassuringly to make sure he wasn't dead.

"Why'd you do that for?" Edwin mumbled, slowly gathering his legs and picking himself off the floor.

"Well, you cheated," Lizzy put in for emphasis, furrowing brows.

"Yeah, well, you didn't have to murder me, I mean it's only a game. Now you probably bruised my..." Edwin's voice faded from her senses as her eyes boggled out of her head.

"Look, Edwin!" Lizzy yelled, pointing a shaky finger at his wall.

"Aw, look what you'd done! You put a hole in my wall! Thanks, Lizzy!"

Lizzy shot him a dirty look, and immediatly he stepped back. "No, you dork, it's... it's another room."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now Casey McDonald found herself standing between Lizzy and Edwin, staring at the crack that had formed between two wooden boards in Edwin's room. Indeed, there was a room behind there. But... it could be infested with mold and rats. Casey shivered.

"Where's Derek?" Lizzy asked in a dazed tone. All of them seemed mezmerized by the crack in Edwin's wall. Even Edwin had switched his anger to curiosity.

"He's... he's uh, talking to some girl on the phone," Edwin's said slowly, his voice faltered slightly, as if it was troubling to remember what he had done moments prior.

"Figures," Casey mumbled as she leaned her head towards the crack to peer in. Her blue eyes took in the forms of a few objects, but other than that it was a relatively empty room.

"Edwin..." Casey began, putting her hands up to the wall of his room as she tried to steady the vibrating boards, "stop kicking the wall. I know you're angry, but--"

"Dude, that's not me." Casey's head shot away from the crack and she looked at Lizzy's feet. She couldn't have done that, as she was standing a good five feet away from her. Edwin's feet weren't even near the wall, but the vibrating continued. Casey's body shivered unexpectantly and she thrusted her face away from the crack.

"Great, we have rats," Casey muttered, stepping away from the wall and rubbing her hands on her jeans to rid them of grime.

"Don't let George kill them!" Lizzy called out, yanking on Casey's wrist.

"Okay Ed, what do you need my flashlight for?" Derek asked, announcing his presence to the others. Marti trailed after him wearing a pink boa and a purple sparkly tiara.

Edwin hurriedly pointed the crack in his wall, his eyes never leaving it as if this secret room had some pull to him.

Derek brushed passed Casey and leaned toward the crack, clicking his flashlight on and peering into the room. After a few moments, he whistled under his breath.

"What?" Lizzy demanded.

"It's--"

"I'm leaving! You all are boring!" Marti shouted, storming out of Edwin's room and huffing down the stairs. Until than, Casey hadn't even noticed her to the point of comprehension.

Derek's eyes followed Marti's form as he continued, "It's empty, but there's a few items in there covered with sheets."

"Cliché much?" Casey muttered.

Derek casted her a dirty glare before Casey grabbed the flashlight from his hand and peered into the crack for herself. Her eyes barely had time to sweep over the white forms before a shadow passed in the view of the light. She jumped back, muttered "rats", and peered in.

Her observations could only conclude the room was small, maybe nine feet by five feet, before the wall shuddered under her touch, as if someone had flung themself full force at it...

But from the other side...

Casey jumped back and dropped the flashlight, her breathing heightening.

Derek smirked as he bent to pick up the flashlight. "Scared of a wittle wroom, Casey?" he mocked as he tucked the light into his jean pocket and dug his fingers into the crack before applying force to it, trying to rip of the boards.

"Dude! I don't want a gaping hole in my room!" Edwin shouted. Derek paused to give his brother an annoyed look before he continued.

"Wait!" Casey called, putting a hand up to Derek's face. "There's something..." she paused and took in the incredulous looks she was getting from her step-siblings and Lizzy before stepping back.

It took one hour for the four teens to rip open a hole large enough for them to fit through. Derek paused and leaned into the room, causing Casey to take a sharp inhale of breath.

Derek grabbed the lamp from Edwin's dresser, flicked it on, than put it on the floor by the entrance to the room so it lit up. Unearthly shadows spread across the wall as Derek stepped in, followed by Edwin and Lizzy, than Casey.

Each occupant spread out to different corners of the room. Lizzy found a trunk full of old clothes, probably worn in the 1920's, and a yellowed newspaper that just stated the marriage of a couple.

Edwin and Derek started peeling off a covering from an old loveseat before both of them stood over it with an observing look on their faces.

"Imagine all the butt mileage someone put in there," Edwin announced, the corners of his mouth twitching up into a smile.

"And all the babes that have sat on it," Derek added. The brothers high-fived before plopping down on the couch, getting cozy on a couch much, much older than the one downstairs.

Casey, however, wandered over to the farthest corner of the room. She looked up into the rafters, and realized the roof was only a foot above her head. She also noticed a smudge looking glass, about two feet by two feet, attached to the roof. She wiped at it, and while doing so, it popped inward. Casey stepped back from the window, glad with her work. Now there was a bit of sunlight coming into this corner of the room.

She walked farther into the room, to the end, and stared at an oval-looking piece of furniture that was covered in a white sheet. Her hand reached out and her fingers gripped at the sheet.

As the sheet flew off the furniture, Casey stared back at her reflection. The glass was smooth and clear, with not a mark on it, and the brass frame around it was gorgeous. It was a floor-length mirror on a brass stand. It was beautiful.

As Casey stepped toward her reflection, the light coming from the window disappeared, probably from a cloud passing over the sun, and she was left in darnkess for a few seconds.

When light returned to her vision, she gasped. Another face was in the mirror along with hers, but it took her less than a millisecond to realize it was Derek.

"You jerk!" she howled, turning around and shoving him in the chest.

"What?" Derek laughed. Casey was about to tell him off, when another cloud passed over the sun and, at the same moment, the light the lamp gave off died.

They were left in complete darkness.

On instinct, Casey's hand shot out and gripped onto the sleeve of Derek's tee shirt, yanking on it slightly.

Casey...

"Did you hear that?" Casey howled in Derek's face.

"Hear what?" came his reply. Casey backed away from his face, mainly because his breath smelt like cheese, but didn't let go of his sleeve.

Casey...