The party was the most tedious affair I have ever attended in my life. It was just a room full of fancy people talking and drinking. Every once in a while, one of my mother's shrill giggles broke the dull buzzing of chatter. I sat at the dinning table for the whole time, taking little nibbles as I pleased. My mind was always elsewhere. It was like that mirror was calling out for me, crazy as it sounds. My dream was starting to affect me even in my hours when I was awake. I heard the noise that was like the bleating of a lamb. Ringing inside my head like a large brass bell. I excuse myself and quietly sneak up the staircase and into my room. I close the door and sigh heavily. I take off my fancy outer clothes and sit on the floor in front of the mirror in my undershirt and pants. It was like I was seeing myself for the first time. I looked different then last time it appeared.

The sobbing continues.

"Who's there?" I ask automatically as I flinch and turn to look around my room. There was nobody there. I hit myself on the head. "Pull yourself together, Ash. That dream is getting to your head too much."
More crying and dirges.

I hate talking to myself, but I have no choice. "This is stupid. Why am I hearing things? If everyone found out that the Earl was mentally insane…oh, that wouldn't be good."

Weeping followed by a few hic-ups.

"Despair, mystery, incarceration." I repeat Jonathan's words. "Misery, unclear, imprisonment."

I recall the man in my dream, holding out the club for me to take. I look around the room for something that would resemble such a thing. I take one of the silver candlesticks that sat on my nightstand. I remove the wax pillar and hit the silver part against my palm. The crying stops shortly.  I walk around my room, tapping the candlestick against my hand. The crying didn't continue, so I put the silver candlestick down on my bed. I smile to myself, thinking I had stopped my crazy idea. Then, I clamp my hand over my mouth…there was someone else breathing, and quite profoundly at that. Feeling completely brainless, I pick up the candlestick again and walk around the room.

"Show yourself," I say softly. "Stop playing with my mind."

To my great surprise and fear, there was an answer. An extremely supple reply comes in a small voice. "I try not to."

My ears strain to hear what the voice said. I make it out barely. "Why do you cry? Why are you here?"

"Why must I answer?" Came the tiny voice.

"You talk to me like that? I am the son of the Earl…where is your respect towards the royals?" I spit out without thinking. I don't really care about respect towards the higher people.

"I don't care who you are." The answer, followed by a sniff.

"Why do you cry?" I ask again.

"Why do you cry?" The voice mimics.

"I do not cry…Why are you haunting me like this?"

The tiny voice laughs a little. "I do not haunt. I am not here on my own will."

"Who brought you here, then?" I say as I try to figure out where the voice is coming from.

"You did."

"I did not!" I yell.

"Are you so sure?" The diminutive voice replies.

            I stop to think. A tiny glint catches my eye and my head turns towards the mirror. My mouth hangs open. I go and sit on the floor in front of it once more, the candlestick in my lap. I reach out and run my finger down the fine glass. To my great shock, disclosure and horror, my reflection melts away and is replaced by one of another. I quickly look behind myself but there is no one standing there. In the mirror was the body of a girl. Wearing a dress of mauve with dingy red hair upon her head, she is sitting down, leaning against the frame of the mirror. She turns her head and looks at me with these deep aqua eyes and a pale face, pink cheeks. I reach out my hand once more and lay it flat on the surface of the glass. She does the same, putting hers on top of mine. I still feel only cold glass, not flesh. She pulls her hand away and so do I. All I can do is stare in astonishment. This was so amazing, so ridiculous. The crying was coming from the mirror. My dream was unfolding right in front of my eyes. Despair, mystery, and incarceration. She's in anguish, you could tell by the look on her face. It's a complete mystery how she got into this mirror in the first place. All the same, being in the mirror is her incarceration. Her imprisonment. Was my dream all about this one moment? A signal towards the future.

I finally find my voice. "Why do you cry?" I ask again.

The girl swallows hard. "Why do you think?"

"You're sad." I say.

She gives me a thumbs-up. "Congratulations, bimbo. You get the prize."

"Bimbo?" I repeat with slight disgust.

"Are you too proper to know what that means? Do I need to help you out?" The girl taunts.

"I know what a bimbo is." I said. "Stop mocking me."

She laughs. "I try not to."
I grit my teeth from sudden furry, but calm myself down. "How…how did you get in there?"
The girl in the mirror resituates herself and faces me. "I believe the answer should come to you quite easily. You're a royal, as you say, you should be able to use your head. Or is that only reserved for your crown?"
This girl had an attitude! Sheesh! "I bet you only say that because you're a peasant."

"I grew up in the country side. A few miles west of Sarna." The girl replies.

"Sarna? Where is that?" I ask.

"A town in Sweden, about 100 kilometers east of the border with Norway. I'm just guessing, but around 500 kilometers north of the Baltic Sea."

"You're pretty smart for a reflection." I spit.

"You think I'm actually supposed to be in here, Bimbo!?" The girl flares.

"I asked you how you got in there, you could have just answered me then." I say.

"You're aberrant."

"I'd have to say that you are as well." I reply.

"You are even more strange. Look at yourself. You're talking to a girl in a mirror." The girl laughs.

"You laugh at your situation?" I ask. That stops her.

"See here, prissy boy,"

"Ash,"

"Whatever!" The girl shouts at me. "If you're not going to even ask how to help me, I'll just…" She lets out a huge moan and starts to fade in the mirror.

"Hey, wait!" I  yell, but she had already vanished completely from the mirror. The sobbing started up again for a few minutes then slowly dimmed into the darkness of the night.