Adapted from the TV series "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction" Season 1, Episode 1, Segment 1 "The Apparition."

So, um, once there was a woman. And she and her husband-slash- employer lived in a castle, k? Yeah, they lived there together happily. Except then her job got real stressful for a while. And then she started seeing something very scary, but only in the vanity mirror of the second-floor hallway…

Even though it was late, Nastasia was still in her office. She was just pulling together the last of the day's paperwork. Once that was finished, she could set out what needed to be completed tomorrow, but it couldn't actually be completed until tomorrow's events actually transpired. After that, though, there wasn't anything else she could do to put off the inevitable.

Naturally, a woman in her position was under a lot of stress. She handled all of the business of Count Bleck's affairs, and even under ordinary circumstances, it was a lot of work. Castle Bleck was hard to run, though, and his missions were difficult to coordinate. Lately every mission seemed to be going wrong, and she was working harder than ever to make sure that the upcoming missions were successful.

She did not want to go to bed.

But, once work was over, it couldn't be avoided. She would cross the east wing alone. It was dark and empty, but being her home, it wasn't normally spooky. She would go up the stairs to the second floor. Step, step, step… echoing through the stairwell, her own footsteps. Nothing scary about that, as long as your imagination wasn't the type to play tricks on you. But after that…

No avoiding it. Nastasia tapped her papers one final time, straightened her glasses, and started on the long walk to her bedroom. She took the candle off her desk to light her way to bed.

Nastasia headed down the corridor, where shadows darted around on the walls by the light of her candle. She considered snuffing it out, but the light brought more comfort than dampened shadows.

She squared her shoulders when she got to the stairwell door, and slowly pushed it open. Nothing was behind it. No footsteps sounded save her own.

Then she started down the last hallway of her journey. It was a long hallway, and at the end on the left was the only door to the master bedroom. Hanging on the wall at the end of the hallway was a mirror, just above an end table. There were inviting pink flowers arranged in a bowl on the table, to hide the terror that met her on this walk of dread.

She held her head high. Sometimes it wasn't there. Tonight she may be lucky, and only face it in her nightmares. It was impossible not to look, and she found herself staring straight ahead into her own reflection.

And the monster.

Behind her reflection, suddenly appeared the mangled image of a Boo. Its face was horribly twisted and distorted, tongue out, eyes empty. It was clearly a lady, with bows and frills, but it was also a monster.

It let out a horrifying, guttural scream. "BLAAAAUUUGH!"

Nastasia cried out and turned around. There was nothing behind her.

She turned back to the mirror. Her reflection stood alone.

Count Bleck appeared next to her. "Nastasia!" he said with concern. "What has happened?"

She was so visibly shaken that she couldn't answer. Count Bleck took her in his arms and comforted her as she worked out all of her fright.

"I saw her," she managed to say at last. She could barely get the words out over the lump in her throat. "Th-that Bo in the mirror!"

"Shhh…" he whispered gently. "It's all right, don't be afraid. It can't hurt you."

"It just appears and disappears," she said, as she regained composure. "I don't know if it's a real Boo or just some horrible dream can't wake up from. It looks so frightening. Why is it tormenting me like this?"

Count Bleck shook his head. "I don't know how a Boo could get into this castle. I wish I did. But I don't. The dimensional openings are locked to everyone but the most powerful masters of dimensions."

"I want her to go away." Nastasia said. "Yeah, why don't we just go ahead and get rid of that mirror so I don't have to see her anymore?"

"I would in a heartbeat if I thought it was the mirror," said Count Bleck, "but I don't think that would solve your problem. It may make it worse. It might start showing up somewhere else."

"I just want that monster gone."

"I know, I know…" He held her for a little longer, and then let her out of his grip. He still kept his hands on her shoulders, holding her at arms length. "Come on. Let's go to bed, and we'll worry about this in the morning." He lifted her chin up with his finger. "These things always look better in the daytime."

Despite the fact that there was no difference between night and day in Dimension Bleck, she smiled. She rested her right hand on top of his, on her shoulder, and then he removed it and they went to bed.

It did look better that morning, but morning can't last forever. Inevitably it turns into afternoon, which can only lead to evening, which in reality is basically night junior. As soon as it got late, and going upstairs became more and more unavoidable, Nastasia's anxious feelings grew inside her chest until the weight was too much to bear.

Count Bleck had gone out that day to a village in another dimension to solve some of their problems. She wasn't even sure which ones he was solving- she had been so preoccupied by the fact that she would be alone in the castle to even wonder about where he was going. On the edge of her mind, Nastasia was aware of preparing an itinerary for him, but the thought could barely get through the maelstrom of anxiety.

She had seen the Boo, every night this week. Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw the face hovering behind hers. What did it want? Why did it keep coming? Nastasia was aware that it wasn't hurting her, it was just startling her. But the dread of not knowing when it was coming, even if she knew where to find it, was the part that was eating away at her inside.

So she stayed in the sitting room, waiting for Count Bleck to come home so she wouldn't have to face the upstairs hallway alone.

As she sat, Nastasia felt her Cell Phone SP buzzing in her pocket. She was so wound up that every muscle in her body jerked at the surprise, and it almost made her cry. She answered the phone. "Count Bleck's office, Nastasia speaking."

"Hello, Nastasia, it's Count Bleck."

"Oh, hey, Count. Yeah, so, what's up?"

"Bad news. The problems here are worse than we anticipated. I'm at critical juncture here, but if I don't keep the situation under control it will get away from me and it could mean disaster for the village. I won't be back anytime soon.."

"Oh… oh, I see. But, you'll be home tonight, right?"

"We'll see."

"Uh… well, try your best, 'K?"

"I promise I'll try," said Count Bleck. "I will do my best. But I don't know how soon that'll be."

They said goodbye and hung up. Nastasia looked at her watch. No doubt about it- she'd be going to bed alone.

The Boo wasn't in the mirror when she went to bed, and for that Nastasia was grateful. Still, she felt anxious when she dressed in her white nightgown and settled into bed. Like a child, she hid her head under the covers, creating a monster-proof barrier between herself and the outside world.

Then she heard something.

At first she sat up and looked out from the covers. Then she realized she'd broken her imaginary barrier and went back under the covers. Then she peered out just a bit, so that she could return to hiding if anything scary should appear.

What was that noise, she wondered. It was dull, like a door slamming from far away or a drawer closing nearby. A clank of glass, coming from the Count's study.

Good, she thought. The Count's back. He'll come in any minute to tell me he's home.

She checked the bedside clock. It was late, so maybe he would assume she was asleep.

She waited a bit longer before she had the unpleasant thought that it wasn't the Count at all.

Nastasia got out of bed and padded quietly to the door. Yes, there was someone in the Count's study. That was definitely where the sound was coming from. She was so preoccupied with that thought that for the first time in weeks, she didn't see the mirror. Carefully, she snuck along the wall until she got to the next door and saw the door to the Count's study open.

In a flash, something came out, grabbed her on the chest, and pinned her against the wall. It was Dimentio. He'd snuck into their dimension, broke into the castle, and started ransacking the study. Of all the nights for Count Bleck to be away! Though Dimentio had probably chosen this night because he knew the Count would be away.

"I know you still have it," Dimentio said, "and I'm not leaving until I get it."

Nastasia struggled. "I'll never let you get your hands on that dark book again!"

She broke loose, and he cut her off and blasted her into the end of the hall, where she landed against the end table. Desperately, she tried to lift her glasses and hypnotize him.

"Your silly powers don't work against me," said Dimentio, "for they are as useless as a manufacturer's coupon past it's expiration date."

He clicked his fingers and drew a box around her. "I was hoping to take the book and leave, and simply let you be erased with the rest of the world, but oh well."

Nastasia fell to her knees, and for the first time Dimentio saw the mirror behind it.

The horrible Boo was staring out at him.

He looked behind himself, and then back at the mirror. "Oh, hello. Go away, Boo, I don't want to play."

The Boo hid its face and disappeared.

"Very well, then. Now—"

He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, and the Boo was behind him, still hiding it's face.

"BLAARRAAARRRGGG!"

Such a noise and face! It was more frightening than anything either of them had seen. Dimentio looke,d at the very least, very startled.

Nastasia hugged herself. Now that the ghost had shown it could be out of the mirror, there was no telling how it would torment her.

An instant after it had blarged, the Boo grabbed Dimentio. In an instant, it was sucked back into the mirror. Dimentio struggled, but it was all over in a second. They both disappeared into the mirror and were gone.

With Dimentio no longer around, the box imprisoning Nastasia disappeared. Nastasia stood up and turned to face the mirror. She reached out very slowly and touched it. Only her own reflection stared back at her.

When the Count returned Nastasia told him of the encounter, and he moved the book to a safer location. They sold the mirror so the Boo couldn't return, but more than likely it was already playing a new game somewhere else. Nastasia never saw it again after that night.