Man In The Mirror
Sometimes your mind plays tricks on you, and sometimes it tells the truth
"It's booked, get ready, we leave at 4pm" Kurt smiled at the faces glaring back at him on his phone
"We never actually agreed it did we?" Mercy asked
"It's not a question" Tina looked at her "We didn't agree it"
"Come on ladies" Kurt moaned "We always say we're going to do something like this, and it never happens, I say put your heart where your mouth is, and lets do this"
"I go to church" Mercy told him
"And I go to the pictures, so what?" Kurt asked "There are other beings outside of the father, son and holy ghost"
"There might be, but do we really have to go to a real life haunted house to find out about them, isn't there a book?" Tina asked
"A book, that sounds good" Mercy's eyes lit up at the thought of the alternative "We could ease ourselves in by reading a book first"
"It's booked, and we're going" Kurt snapped "And I've booked us in at Breadsticks afterwards" he laughed before closing the call
4 pm
Ready?" Kurt leaned on his car asking his friends looking out the window of Mercy's parents' house at him
"If you think I'm carrying your stuff out, mistake Mr, get yourself in here" Mercy opened the window wider to shout to him
"It's my birthday" Kurt shouted back
"Which is why we've actually packed the stuff"
"It's a three slice cake, how heavy can it be?" he shouted back
"Mercy's mom prepared it" Tina shouted back
"Do I need my dad's car?" he laughed
"You better get in here and grab this lovingly prepared box Mr Hummell" Mercy's mom shouted at him; Kurt nearly chocked on his own saliva
"Why didn't you tell me?" he hissed at Mercy and Tina laughing as they watched him walk towards the house "I'll get you back for this" he plastered a smile on his face and went into the house
It was his 25th birthday three weeks ago, they'd all just arrived back home for NYADA last night and ready to celebrate every event they'd missed over the past two years. They weren't the popular kids so having a party really wasn't an option unless it was to remind them how small their social circle was, instead they'd find quirky things to do.
Mercy's parent had brought her a new car, for both finishing NYADA and her 25th birthday, so they'd taken a drive in her new soft top along the main strip one evening, windows down, music blasting, smiling at everyone noticing them, all that just to grab snacks from the minute mart and head back to their shared student digs, to finish packing and watch a movie.
Unfortunately for Tina her 25th birthday fell during study time so her family came to New York in a bus, they'd ended up having a cookout on the small patio, with exotic foods, and soft beverages, the worse was when they announced they were staying over and they were all banished from their beds resorted to sleeping bags on the floor, another great night to remember.
Kurt was determined his was not going to be in the house, he'd actually banned his parents from doing anything for him, he was fed up of the cake getting bigger, and relatives getting fewer. He finally took charge and booked the haunted house experience for the three of them, followed by eats at breadsticks.
They grabbed the cake, a bag with a change of clothes just in case things got messy, and made their way to the car "Everyone got everything?" Kurt asked as he started up the engine
"I forgot my coffin" Tina frowned "I feel like I'm purposely driving to my own death"
"Don't worry" Mercy tapped her shoulder from the back seat "In all horror movies the black person always dies first"
"Nice knowing you" Kurt laughed
"Actually, in most movies the black person isn't stupid enough to get into the situation in the first place" Mercy told him "Maybe I should take my queue from that" she went to get out the car
"No way Miss Jones" Kurt locked the doors "We'll never get out of there alive without your determination to live, don't be so dramatic"
"So" Tina looked at Mercy and then back at Kurt "I don't need the coffin then"
"Just stay with me" Mercy laughed "You all know I don't believe in his shit right?"
"Drive the car" Tina pointed to the road ahead "The first one to piss their pants loses"
"Here we go" Kurt put his foot on the gas, and they were off
"Seriously?" Tina asked at the music coming out of his speaker "Why are you always playing these sad sack songs?"
"It's not sad sack it's…"
I actually like this one" Mercy butted in "Turn it up" she smiled at Kurt in his rear mirror and sat listening to him singing along
Kurt: ...It used to burn, every insult, every word, but it helped me learn (yeah), self-worth I had to earn
So, I tried every night, to sit with sorrow, and eventually, it set me free
Kurt with Mercy: Have you ever felt like being somebody else?, feeling like the mirror isn't good for your health?
Every day I'm trying not to hate myself, but lately, it's not hurting like it did before, maybe I am learning how to love me more
Kurt with Tina & Mercy: Just a little bit love me more, just a little bit love me more oh, no love me more, just a little bit love me more
'Love Me More' by Sam Smith
"Okay" Tina laughed "I stand or sit corrected, it's a good song"
"T" Kurt turned to her knowing he couldn't keep his secret that only he and Mercy knew for much longer "I have something to tell you" he looked in the mirror at Mercy encouraging him to go ahead "It's really hard for me to say this out loud" he looked at her before looking back at the road "And I run the risk of you jumping out of a moving car" he looked back at her "I like boys"
"Me too" she smiled at him "Who didn't know that Kurt" she laughed "Floral print shirts, sweaters with rainbows and cats, dead giveaway" she smiled at him "I'm not friends with you because of who you sleep with, I'm your friend because you have a great car and your parents let you go anywhere you want in it"
"Snap that" Mercy laughed
"You two are fowl" he laughed putting his foot on the gas
"We love you Kurt" Mercy hugged him from behind
"Well after tonight, one, two, or all of us, might not be here to love anyone" Kurt reminded them all where they were going.
They drove out of the city they expected that, but it was about two hours into the drive they realised there were no lights, even in the distance, trees lined the roads, sticks were snapping under the weight of the wheels, and when Kurt turned the music off there was an eery silence
"Is this it?" Tina asked feeling the car slow down
"This is it" Kurt announced cranking the hand break on "Come on" he opened his car door and stepped out, smiling at the girls hesitating "Come on"
The House
"We're not staying here are we?" Mercy asked looking at the dilapidated house in the middle of the woods, it's presence creating the perfect last time you'll ever be seen movie vibe. All they were waiting for right now was the scream coming from the woods
"It will be fun, its meant to be authentic" Kurt told her, ringing the bell that made them all jump when it screamed at them, and sprung open
"I'm just glad we're not sleeping here" Tina grabbed hold of Mercy
"There's authentic and then there's rubble" Mercy followed Kurt in clinging to Tina "There's nothing here"
"Except ghosts" Kurt laughed "I guess we need to find our room" he walked further in with the girls following his steps
"What you booked a room in this dump?" Tina laughed
"Hummell" Mercy read "Here it is" she grabbed the envelop of the door "History" she took the A4 paper out, they all stood listening to her read the few words on the note "Welcome to your haunted house experience, enjoy"
"At least it's a dining room" Mercy stepped into the room
"Where they feast on our boiled bodies after they kill us" Kurt hissed
"Really getting into character aren't you?" Tina laughed
"Kurt?" Mercy walked towards the table "What the hell is this?"
"A Ouija board, I thought we could…"
"I don't mess with this shit you know that" Mercy snapped
"It's a game"
"Nothing in here looks like part of a damn game" Mercy snapped looking around the room, dominated by a mirror fronted wardrobe, the old dark brown, chipped, furniture has seen better days, the, what looked like a rug on the table with a small vase of plastic flowers and two candles in the middle of it was more than part worn. The fireplace blocked out; with a mirror above it that only a giant could see into, dirty net curtains at the dirty window blocking out the tiny bit of moonlight that was visible, and a bowl on a chair in the corner of the room with plasters and other first aid things in it.
The wallpaper looked like if you stared at it long enough the pattern would start swirling and send you to another dimension, in contrast to that the squares of dirty white and muddy black tiles on the floor probably housed all the wild insects of the forest at some point. The spider webs hanging from the deer head on the wall glistened in the partial moonlight, and a picture of a man sitting on some sort of stool with wolves snapping around him, all looking thirsty for blood, on the far wall, made the houses history feel unpleasant, "This is filthy" Tina snarled
"It's character" Kurt laughed "Talking about that, let's get into character"
"Which means I'm making an exit" Mercy told him
"Name me one film where an Asian person finds themselves in a situation like this?" Tina asked Kurt
"The Wailing" Kurt told her "And Get Out" he looked at Mercy "People survived, now come on" he sat at the table
"I'm not doing that" Mercy looked at the Ouija board in the middle of the table
"Come on, we made a deal, my birthday, my rules, remember?"
"So now we're pulling cards" she sat down remembering the pact "I want it noted that this is against my better judgement"
"Noted" Kurt snapped lighting the candles before turning the light off "Hands on everyone" he smiled with excitement "Is anyone here?" he asked
"See" Mercy snapped "Bull shit"
"Give it a chance" Kurt whispered, "Is anybody there?" he looked around the room again, everyone gasping when the pointer made it's jerk "It's not supposed to work the first time" his eyes wide with shock
"You're moving it" Mercy laughed watching the pointer move away from him
"I'm not" the blood drained from Kurt's face "Seriously, this isn't me"
"Who is it then?" Tina asked "Ask a Question"
"You ask a question" Kurt told her
"Are we going to get what we want this year?" Tina asked, they sat watching the pointer move "Y" she read the letter the pointer stopped at "Y is for yes right?"
"Let it finished" Kurt told her, Mercy sat frozen, trying to make herself believe this was all a prank, the pointer stopped moving and they looked at each other "Will we all get out of here alive?" he asked they all gasped when the thing started moving again "Y….E….S"
"Now we're…" Tina started to talk
"Shut up T" Kurt snapped "Yes again"
"This is stupid" Mercy finally pulled her hand way
"You broke the chain" Tina snapped at her
"It's stupid" everyone's attention quickly drawn to the sound of footsteps and inaudible chatting coming towards the door "Someone's coming, do you think you've woken something up?" Mercy asked wide eyed
"We, we woke something up" Kurt corrected her
"Did they just lock the door?" Tina got up to check "They've locked us in" she gasped at the handle not moving "We're dead"
"Because you decided to touch the freaking board" Mercy shouted at Kurt
"Calm down it's all for effect" Kurt laughed "Half an hour and we'll be free"
"Can you smell that?" Mercy sniffed the air "It smells like cigarettes; can you smell it?"
"Yeah" Kurt sniffed "Have they set up on fire?"
"Don't" Tina ran back to the table
"It's the smell of evil spirits, this was their smoke room before they killed their entire family and ate them in this room" Kurt told them
"I'm so cold" Tina shivered
"The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up" Mercy added
"That means there's definitely a ghost in the place" Kurt told them
"You're scared of birds; how do you know so much about ghosts?" Tina asked him
"I did my homework before we booked it"
"We booked?" Mercy asked
"You mean you booked" Tina laughed
"Can you see that smoke?" Mercy looked at the door, gasping at smoke rising from under it "They're burning us alive"
"It's actually the smoke that gets you first" Kurt told them
"It's barely a decent pull from a cigarette" Tina rolled her eyes at the amount of smoke
"We need a third wish" Kurt looked at Mercy "We've got to go back"
"It's a fix" she laughed "I'm…"
"If it's a fix there's nothing to worry about is there?" Tina told her
"Twenty minutes" Kurt smiled putting his hand back on the pointer "Come on" he looked at Mercy "Make your wish"
"I don't believe in this, you know that"
"Make your wish" Tina told her
"Are you there?" Kurt asked looking in the air "Is anybody there?" he asked watching the pointer make a move "Mercy" he looked at her
"Will I…" she looked at Tina "Will we ever fall in love?" she smiled at finally asking the question they'd talked about so many times
"It's on the move" Kurt sat a bit comfier than before letting the pointer move "Y" he smiled "E" he looked at Mercy "S" he grinned "Yes" he laughed letting go of the pointer, just as the candles started flickering
"Get another candle" Tina looked around the room
"Just turn the light back on" Mercy got up to turn it on "There's no electric" she flipped the switch on and off waiting for something to happen "This stupid game needs to stop" a gust of wind passed through the room blowing out the candle "Classic horror movie shit" she hissed going back to the chair "What do we do now?"
"I think the brief said something about the task having to come true before the door opens" Tina told them
"So, you read up on it too?" Mercy asked her
"So, who's stupid idea was it to ask about things we have no damn control over" Kurt laughed ignoring Mercy's question
"I guess we love each other, otherwise we wouldn't do stupid shit like this" Mercy giggled at Kurt
"So, that's one" Tina smiled
"And we've wished to get out of here alive, I guess that one has to come true, doesn't it?" Kurt asked
"Does…..it" they all turned at the noise coming for the large wardrobe in the room "They're messing with us now" Mercy's eyes widened as the three mirrored doors opened
"I guess they want us to look in" Kurt laughed "This is so cool" he got up "Come on, it's just a game"
Mercy and Tina looked at each other before getting up to follow him, determined not to go out without a fight, grabbing hands ready for whatever was behind the door "Did you see that?" Mercy jumped at the shadow moving under the door "Someone's coming" she pulled Tina closer
Suddenly Kurt screamed at something jumping out at him, Mercy and Tina didn't see anything, but Kurt's reaction got them going, they were screaming louder than him "It's a piece of cloth" he felt around and picked it up "It's just a piece of cloth" he waved it at them
"Let's get out of here" Tina grabbed him "We've done what we said we were going to do" they all moved back screaming at the wardrobe doors slowly closing again
"Did you see that?" Kurt asked looking behind him "There was a man in the mirror"
"Someone or something came in?" Tina looked around
"I didn't see anything" Mercy told him
"I saw something" Kurt confirmed "But I was too scared to look"
"This isn't fun anymore" Tina stood holding her chest and Mercy's arm, a few minutes later the lights flickered and came back on, at the same time as the door unlocked "Come on" she grabbed Kurt's sleeve and pulled him with them
"Cross that off the bucket list, it's never happening again" Mercy told him grabbing the door handle to open the door
"It wasn't even that scary" Kurt laughed leading them back across the hall towards the front door
"Says the one that was screaming like a banshee a few minutes ago" Tina laughed
"A whole half hour of my life I'll never get back" Mercy huffed
"Come on it was fun admit it" Kurt laughed opening the front door for them to get out
"Open the damn car" Mercy rushed in front of him
The drive back through the dark, treelined roads, didn't seem so spooky now that part of the night was over, they were more preoccupied with laughing at their reactions to the situations they'd found themselves in, trying to make sense of the questions they'd asked the Ouija board
"But seriously" Kurt stopped the conversation "Did anyone else see that man in the mirror?"
"I saw something" Mercy nodded "But it might have just been our shadow in the window or something, we were screaming like… I don't even know what to call what we were doing" she laughed "Turn this up" she reached across to turn the stereo up "Come on We're going to…"
"Breadsticks" they all shouted ready for the rest of the night
Breadsticks
"It's at times like these I miss them" Kurt sulked as they got out the car
"Me too" Mercy smiled at him
"Me three" Tina rubbed his back
"We should surprise them, go watch their last performance" Mercy linked arms with Tina and Kurt
"Sam and surprises?" Kurt asked "I don't think so"
"He likes to give them though" Tina laughed
"Leave him alone" Mercy snapped at them "He likes my surprises"
"I bet he does"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mercy stopped walking to ask
"Guys" Tina turned to face them "It's our first night home, let's just enjoy it"
"Are we going in here or what?" Mercy pushed her out the way to get into Breadsticks
"Hey" Rachel waved at them as they walked in
"Shit" Kurt hissed "She's back" his false smile spread across his face "Hey"
"Smile" Tina tapped Mercy reminding her to be nice
"Rachel" Mercy stepped forward, being so false it was hard for them not to laugh "What are you doing back already?" as far as they knew they were the only ones back, everyone else was at least two weeks behind them
"Finn's" all three rolled their eyes at her, the girl had given up her spot at NYADA to be with the man, granted they'd got married straight out of school, but they just couldn't get the whole giving up your life thing "Got a job interview in the morning, he's hopeful, we both are, maybe we can stop moving around for a while"
"Finn's home?" Kurt smiled
"Fresh in this evening" she told him hugging her brother-in-law
"Bitches" Quinn came running towards them, they were all excited to see her, she'd been the fourth string in their violin before she went off to England to do marvellous things, she'd done some acting and written a fantastic book, and all that while managing to keep a relationship with Puck and their daughter Beth going
"Q" Mercy hugged her tight "Where's my god baby?"
"Grandparents" Quinn laughed "I missed you guys" she hugged them all giggling
"The gangs back" Kurt stood holding her hand "Where's Finn?" he asked Rachel
"Speak of the devil" she smiled at the music starting "Surprise" she pointed at the small stage before turning to sit in the booth, which had enough space for all of them
"Hey" Kurt looked up at the guys coming on stage "That's the man I the mirror" he pointed at one of the guys with a mask on
"That part of the night is well and truly over" Tina told him, sharing a smile with Mercy
"No seriously" Kurt looked at them "That was what I saw in the mirror"
"I told you it was all a damn scam" Mercy laughed, smiling at Finn appearing on the stage "Still the joker" she clapped at him being silly "Is that…" she stopped clapping at the voice coming over the mic
Sam: Oh, Oh,
Finn: Oh, babe, like a cold, cold hand on a stove, babe, my heart and my mind on a stroll, babe
Artie: Tripped and fell on down the stairs, don't know if I'll find them things again
"That's Artie" Tina stood up looking at the performing masked crew
Puck: Slid in my life like a thief in the night, and you stole my common sense
Blaine: The sun will never shine, and the wolves will never cry, till I'm holding you again
"I know that was Blaine" Kurt stood up "What the hell are they doing here?"
Chorus: All
Love how you kiss every tattoo on my face, yeah, it's the time and place, to do what the doctor say, a dose of you a day
Pop more than what I need, the perks of being a fiend, is that I get to take a dose of you a day, ayy-ayy… ayy-ayy…
Sam: Each night, I stay up like a high note, thinking about the way you say my name
"That's definitely Sam" Mercy smiled at them all taking their masks off
Finn: When's the last time I slept, I can't get a blink, I'm stressed out
Puck: Really need to this bed rock, baby, you know my sweet spot
They left the seats and went to stand up front rocking away to the song, grinning with heir partners, it had been nearly four months since they'd seen them in the flesh. They usually made the trip every break, but hadn't lasty month because of finals, exams, and the like, so them arriving home three weeks early was bonus time.
Chorus: All
Blaine: Slid in my life like a thief in the night, and you stole my common sense
Sam: The sun will never shine, and the wolves will never cry, till I'm holding you again
Chorus: All (Sam)
Love how you kiss every tattoo on my face, yeah, it's the time and place, to do what the doctor say, a dose of you a day
Pop more than what I need, the perks of being a fiend, is that I get to take a dose of you a day
Ayy-ayy… a dose of you a day ayy-ayy… a dose of you a day 'Dose' by Teddy Swims
"Surprise" Blaine giggled when they finished, jumping off stage to kiss his boyfriend
"How did you get home three weeks early?" Mercy asked Sam, he pulled her to him before answering, taking the long awaited kiss
"We've been good" Artie told them "I mean really good"
"Seriously though, how did you get home early?" Tina asked
"We told a small lie" Sam confessed "Because we wanted to surprise you"
"You were at the house weren't you?" Kurt asked Blaine
"We just wanted to see how you were getting on" Sam laughed "But then this tool" he pushed Blaine "Decides he wants a front row seat and has to look in the window"
"We were supposed to just wait outside and surprise you when you came out" Blaine confessed
"But when we saw how scared you were, we decided that wouldn't be the right time and we scarpered" Artie laughed
"I knew it was you" Kurt tapped Blaine's chest likely "Scared the living shit out of me"
"Out of us" Mercy laughed
"That was so funny" Sam laughed
"You looked in the window too?" Tina asked him
"We all did" Sam told her, watching Artie mimic their actions
"Stop laughing" Mercy slapped Sam playfully "We were freaking scared"
"I know baby, I'm sorry" he hugged her
"How did you do the Ouija thing?" Mercy asked him
"Nothing to do with us" Sam smiled
"But you did all get out of there live didn't you?" Blaine asked Kurt
"Yeah" he laughed
"And the future's set, we're all going to be whatever we want to be, by the end of the year" Artie kissed Tina laughing
"You better be right" she kissed him back
"You know I've loved you from day one, right?" Sam looked into Mercy's eyes "And that this is real?"
"I know now" she giggled pulling him down to kiss him "I love you back, real"