"What do you mean you just got here? You guys have been here for a while now; we were kicking the mirror just a second ago!" Tim exclaimed. He felt dazed and confused, like waking up from a dream you were certain was real.
"No, we weren't, Tim. You left the door open, so we walked inside and found you sitting on the floor," Patrick explained. "What were you doing?"
"I... I wasn't sitting on the floor... at least, I didn't think I was. We were all kicking the mirror... it was all so real," Tim said, running his hand through his hair. "The mirror. It's already playing tricks on me."
"We need to get out of here," Luke said fearfully, already heading for the door.
"No!" Tim called after him. "I'm keeping my promise."
"You're a stubborn mule!" Luke shouted. "If we stay here, we're only going to get killed!"
"We won't get killed. Not if we destroy that thing right now!" Tim yelled back. "Take your anger out on the mirror, not me!"
"Fine, I'll go destroy it right now!" Luke shouted and stormed into theroom with the mirror. Tim walked in behind him, his arms crossed.
Patrick and Luke both stared into the mirror.
"Well, kick it in!" Tim urged his friends. He knew Luke wouldn't be able to strike a blow on the mirror, but he wanted to see what would happen instead.
Luke shook himself, like he had been in a trance, and stared back at Tim.
"Watch me," Luke said as he aimed a kick. He kicked with all his force, but was surprised when he kicked off to the side.
"Wha-?" Luke exclaimed as he lined up for another blow. "Patrick, move."
"Huh? Oh, sorry," Patrick mumbled like he, too, had been in a trance. Luke kicked again, this time hitting the wall directly under the mirror.
"Why can't I kick it?!" Luke exclaimed again.
"You can't destroy it," Patrick said in a voice that was raspy and not his own. "The one person who tried to destroy it died. So why kill yourself?" Patrick's eyes were glazed over, it looked as though he was looking straight through Tim.
"Patrick! Snap out of it!" Tim shouted as he snapped his fingers in front of Patrick's face.
"Dude, what's happening here?" Luke asked as he walked up beside Tim.
"The mirror got in his head. Whatever he is seeing isn't real. Help me snap him out of it!" Tim said.
"Patrick! Come on, man!" Luke yelled, shaking Patrick. Patrick's eyes returned to normal as he sank down to the floor.
"Guys... where were you?" Patrick asked.
"We've been right here, man," Luke said. He opened his mouth to say more, probably to tell Patrick how stupid he had been acting, but Tim interrupted him.
"What did you see?" Tim asked. Last time the mirror got in his own head, he had relived his childhood horrors; he wondered if Patrick saw the same tragic past that resided at this house, or if he saw something else.
"I was walking around the house alone. I tried to find you guys, but I couldn't, you were nowhere," Patrick started. "But the mirror, it calmed me when I was so anxious that I wouldn't find you all. It made me feel safe."
"No, no, no. The mirror can't make anyone feel safe. What you saw was deception; it wasn't real. Trust me, I've been through this twice, I know that you can't trust anything you see. We'll all see different things throughout the night, but you must understand that none of it is real. The mirror has a radius of influence, and that area grows as the mirror grows stronger," Tim explained. "Kaylie proved that," he added softly.
"We need to get out of here," Luke said. "At least out of this room."
"I agree," Patrick said, still groggy and unfocused. "How do we know what's deception and what's not?"
"Take out your phones. Use the cameras on them, what you see through the camera is real, and what you see beyond the camera isn't," Tim told his friends. It was a valuable trick he had learned from his sister.
The trio walked out of the office and into the main room. They each had their phones at the ready, in case the mirror decided to act up again. Tim noticed that all of Kaylie's lamps still stood where she had placed them years ago. They had been battery operated, so Tim pulled at one to see if it would turn on. The lamp stayed dark; the batteries had stopped working years ago.
"If the electricity goes out, we won't have anything to make light," Tim told the other two. They were wandering around the floor, pointing things out to one another.
"So then let's destroy it before then," Luke suggested.
"You already tried that, and guess what? It didn't work," Tim said sarcastically.
"So, let's try again," Luke said. "I don't want to be in here any longer than I have to. I'm already creeped out."
"How do we kill it?" Patrick asked.
"Well, we tried kicking, and that didn't work. So, plan B..." Tim trailed off as he tried to think of another plan, but none came to mind. "I don't know."
"C'mon, man. You're the one who wanted us to come here, and you don't have a plan?" Luke asked.
"I can't think of anything!" Tim exclaimed as anger bubbled up inside him. "You try to think of something!"
"What caused the crack in the bottom right corner?" Patrick asked.
"My dad. When he fell against it the mirror cracked," Tim sighed. He never liked talking about his father, or about how he died.
"Then let one of us ram into it. If that's what caused the crack, why wouldn't it work?" Luke suggested, already walking back towards the room.
"I guess it's worth a try," Patrick said, following him. Tim sighed and brought up the rear.
"Who wants to go first?" Luke asked. When no one volunteered, he backed up a few steps and ran full force at the mirror. Tim got excited as Luke lined up perfectly, but then at the last second he swerved off to the side.
"Ergh! I thought I had it that time!" Luke said. "Why can't we do it?"
Tim was so disappointed he didn't answer. He knew the mirror was capable of defending itself, but he had hoped it had grown weak while he was locked up in the mental institution. It would take commitment to break the Lesser Glass, and they just didn't have it yet.
"You didn't run into it," Patrick pointed out to Luke.
"It's not mine to destroy," Luke said, obviously irritated. Tim realized those were the exact same thing he had said ten years ago when he had tried to break the mirror with a stool. "Why didn't you destroy it yourself, Tim? It belonged to your family after all."
"The mirror stopped you from running into it, Luke. It's not that it's your job or my job… the mirror won't let any of us near it."
"Tim, you're crazy! A stupid mirror doesn't have power over our bodies!" Luke exclaimed.
"Yes, it can! It's doing it right now!" Tim yelled. "It's making you think it's my job, so that's why you didn't kick or run into it!"
"I need to get out of this room!" Luke shouted, hands over ears, and stormed out toward the kitchen.
Patrick looked at Tim and took a deep breath.
"What now?" Patrick asked.
"We get out of the room too," Tim said. "Staying in this room too long can't be good for anybody."
As the other two men walked out of the room, the lights went out.
"Great. No more light," Tim sighed.
Tim heard someone coming down the stairs and assumed it was Luke. It was dark though, and the figure shadowy.
"Luke?" Tim called out. "What were you doing upstairs?".
"Timbo," a woman's voice answered. Tim went cold all over. That wasn't Luke. There were only two people in his life that had called him "Timbo"… his mother and his sister.