So here we are, wanting some closure after that psychological "purple-nurple" that made some sense but left us with the inevitable end that I am pretty sure no one liked. I'm not sure if there is an Oculus sequel out there, but I don't think my fragile mind could take another mind bending, heart wrenching, gut twisting disappointment so I will probably not watch it. So, for any of you who were like me and wanted them to blow up the place from the get-go, sit back and enjoy my solution to where Oculus left us.
I hate that mirror. I hate that day. I hate those lights. Flashing blue and red. I can't believe that no one is even willing to view the tapes my sister was willing to die for. Why couldn't she have set the anchor and left before it grew too powerful. But no, she needed her proof. Needed it like a whole in the head. Too bad she only got one of those things. I hate her too... who am I kidding, it's my fault she died. I could have… done something. That stupid mirror and its stupid tricks. Stupid cowardly mirror.
"Prisoner 1008, step away from the broken glass, if you fail to comply we will have to tase you." A guard barked at me. I looked down at the broken glass of the mirror I just smashed. Too bad it wasn't the one I wanted it to be. I raised my hands slowly and stepped away from the glass and into the hands of the guards that bound my arms behind my back.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to." I meekly apologized.
"As sorry as you were the last 20 mirrors, I'll bet." The guard behind me muttered sarcastically, earning a few titters from the other two guards.
"Exactly." I replied and received a smack upside my head.
"Just take him to solitary." Sighed one of the guards.
"But that's full of the prisoners who got into a block fight yesterday. They haven't cooled down yet." The other one protested.
"Fine, take him to his cell and shut the door." The commanding officer relented.
"Sir." Was the last thing spoken for the twenty minutes it took to reach my cell on the first floor.
I saw some of the guys who hang out with me in the cafeteria at meal time. They gave me a wave and with a twinge of guilt I nodded at them. Those guys were scumbags. Admiring me for killing my family. As they put it, 'having the guts to do something they've wanted to do for years'. Idiots.
The guard shooed me into my cell and had it closed with a quick word on his radio before he went on about his day.
My so called friends showed up moments later with words of praise for not taking "the mans'" bull and living my life "how I want to". What I "want to" do is go back to the day I was released from that psychological institute and was blissfully unaware of the monster in that Godforsaken mirror. I didn't let them know how I felt about them, and instead smiled and nodded at their foolishness.
"-and he's got an idea on how to get out, but he refuses to use them!" one of them exclaimed, the tall one with the multiple piercings on one ear, Eddy, Freddy? I startled out of my quiet rage.
"And why? Because he doesn't have anything to live for out there if he were to break out, he says. Dude killed his entire family and botched his suicide so when a neighbor found him they called the police and found his DNA everywhere. It's so sick, man!"
"Would he be willing to share for someone who does?" I asked. Feeling a spark of hope.
"I dunno, maybe. He's pretty reclusive."
"I'll talk to him then. Alone thank you." I added the last part as they began to look excited. Like I was taking them… then again, there were enough that I could easily leave allow them to be captured and get a better head start.
The next time I was allowed out of my cell I tracked down the man by the rumors my friends gave me. They could actually be pretty competent sometimes. I came to this conclusion when I found the guy exactly as they said I would.
He was sitting alone and staring at the wall and his hands interchangeably with a faraway look in his eyes.
"So I hear you have a way to get out of here?" I asked as I sat next to him, leaving a little distance between us.
"And I hear you committed the same crimes I did, so why do you even care about getting out?" he didn't even turn his head to look at me.
"I didn't want to kill anyone. The first was something forced on me, and the last…was a terrible mistake." He snorted a laugh at that.
"Yeah, sounds about right." He replied sarcastically.
"The others were ones I didn't even do. It was that…thing. That monster in the mirror."
"Whoa man, I don't need none of that crazy psycho shit on my plate right now. Just take your schizo-ass outta my sight and pretend your stupid lackeys never heard about me." He started to stand up but I gripped his arm tightly and pulled him down closer to me.
"If you only knew what that thing was capable of, you would gladly help me. I only have one thing to do and I can be at peace" I hissed, "…then maybe my sister can forgive me for what I've done." I ended with a whisper.
The guy froze before he pulled his arm out of my grip roughly and turned to face me.
"You're telling me that all you want to do is destroy a mirror and you'll be able to forgive yourself?" he asked incredulously. I nodded in reply. Then we just stared at each other until a few of the other inmates started catcalling and whispering before he rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.
"Fine, but I'll tell you later. Not here. Might as well get your goons to be there too. I'll be there in an hour."
I headed back to my cell and waited a few minutes before my friends showed up.
"So, what did he say?" the short one with the tattoo of a poorly drawn Ace of Spades on his arm asked.
"He agreed to help us and that you should be here so he can tell you the plan as well." I replied calmly and suffered for the next hour as they proceeded to talk about how excited they were to get out and take revenge or some other nonsense.
It was a little after an hour when he made his appearance. His face freshly washed he looked more alert than he was earlier that day.
"Okay, here's what I got. I just made sure that there was still a crack in the wall on the far side of the bathroom. The bathroom's never fully guarded, maybe one or two guards at most. I suggest that you make the hole bigger when you are in the showers… alone, anymore and you risk the guards calling for back up right away. Then call one of the guards in to check it and make sure that a prisoner wasn't trying to escape.
"When the guard comes in, I suggest that one of you takes him out and all except one of you is to stand around and cheer on the fight."
"What about the other one?" the one with slouched stature asked.
"He's going to get any other guards to come, within the area, and let them in. When you have them out for the count you are to call for help on one of their radios and hide in another room while the guards come and put the block on lockdown.
"There's an unguarded stairwell that, I think, leads to the roof of the cell block. If you can jump off and land safely, there's a fence on the far side, close to the woods, about a few yards from this building that is faulty. If you can time it right you can avoid the sniper and escape through the fence with a mild jolt for your trouble and run into the woods. From there, you're on your own."
With that, he walked away. Leaving all of us a little overwhelmed. The plan sounded relatively easy, in theory. But a number of things could go wrong, and if we failed, that would be the end for me. Looking at my friends, we went over the plan quietly again and filled in some blanks on who would do what and when we were going to enact this plan.
The perfect day turned out to be a week after the plan's date. It was too good an opportunity to pass up. The showers were empty and with that being the trickiest variable, we just couldn't pass it up.
The plan was going great until we got to the end of the stairway. There was a bolted door between us and freedom. We could kick it down, but then every guard would know where we were and what we were doing. I looked at the men around me. We paused and caught our breaths before some of us kicked the door down and everyone sprinted for the edge and jumped. Some of us rolling and continuing to run and others falling and crying out in pain as they curled in pain and could no longer stand. A few were limping but were shot down. I knew it was harder to hit a moving target and spared no thought to the small shock my system had as I scaled the fence as quickly as I could and leaped to the other side, rolling again. Then I and two others darted off into the woods. I managed to lose them in the panic and I slowed down enough to find a way to cover my tracks.
I found a stream and let it carry me as far as the overhanging trees would allow, but as soon as they started thinning out I climbed out and made the trek back to civilization.
It was a year later and I had a new identity that I miraculously stumbled upon. There was something to do with a man who knew a guy that knew some guy's cousin that made convincing IDs for cheap. Cheap being $80 and a good reason. Both of which I easily provided, lying through my teeth about why. I think I said something about needing to run from the police for killing my family's murderer.
It was another thing entirely to track down that mirror. I had to reinvent myself as an aspiring artist that was fixated on the mirror as the perfect piece for my foyer. I finally found that it was currently in the possession of a nice family in Vermont that had found the mirror for a few thousand dollars and took to it like a fish to water. Little did they know it was sewer water.
When I found them it was too late. The father had killed the mother and the child he had was slowly dying of starvation. The mirror was sucking them both dry.
It only took a week for the mirror to finish its evil deed and then it was out in the world searching for new unsuspecting victims.
This time, the mirror was sold for a few hundred dollars, people starting to feel uneasy with the mirror in their auction houses. They had more than likely heard the history of its previous owners and their grisly demises. It was sold into a house not too far from the prior one and I marveled at the lack of communication between the neighbors about who owned what. Of course there was always the possibility that they did know it belonged to a neighbor and that was the reason why they bought the mirror in the first place.
It was about a month before I could finally act on my thoughts. When the mother suspected her husband of cheating, she wisely grabbed her children and left to, I think she claimed the store. But those packed suitcases and hushed whispers between her and the children spoke of leaving and never returning.
Deeming it too late for the husband, I set into motion my plans. Swallowing thickly, in the dark of night, I crept to the side of the house furthest from the mirror and started a small fire.
I watched as it followed the gasoline trail I had set up moments ago, and in minutes, the entire house was on fire. I ran away and hid in the car I had been stalking this oblivious family in for
months, and readied a previously bought rifle. There was no escape for that mirror tonight.
As I predicted, the mirror urged the husband to grab it before he made his escape, and as they got within my sights, I shut my eyes and fired blindly.
The sound of a shriek of pain was drowned out by the beautiful melody of the glass shattering into tens of pieces. I took no chances however and gladly emptied my front seat of rifle ammunition firing at the pieces and shattering those even further. Letting the smallest pieces be carried by the wind I shoved the rest into the dead husband's body.
Let it rot inside of him forever. The gunshot wound would hopefully be obvious enough, and the medical examiner, lazy enough, that they wouldn't notice the small shards of glass in his throat.
With the last piece of glass I looked into it and saw my haggard, gaunt face twisted in relief.
"There sis, I did it. I kept our promise." With that I kept the single shard in my hand.
I broke a window and after the fire lashed out and calmed, I called the police, who happened to be on their way along with the fire department.
When the police got there I confessed to killing the man and setting the house on fire. They continued to yell and shout at me about how they would shoot me with any sudden moves, and with a final smile I raised the glass and slit my throat right as the bullets jolted my body what felt like millions of times. It helped, I guess. The pain wasn't concentrated, but it was all over.
Hopefully now I could be with my family since part of the mirror killed me as well…or was it the bullets that left my organs tattered things inside of me. This could ruin everything…damn.
So? Much better right? Right? Well I thought so. It isn't very long because this shouldn't have had to happen. The end of the original work should not have been so bad, in my opinion. I know this isn't all that much better but, hey. If you want to read this and get something from it, congratulations. I know I feel better.