Jennifer had born witness to what could only be an impossibility. She had seen a most terrifying apparition, dressed in white with the palest, somewhat clammy skin, those pale blue eyes that held a terrifying pulse. She had been so frightened of the apparition that the man with a gun was something she only noticed after he had dropped the gun and tried to fight the thing that had been grabbing him. As she looked at those blue eyes she recognized it, she had seen it on prior occasion in her uncle's car as her aunt was applying make up. Those blue eyes lingered on her as she froze up after a short scream. It mouthed something to her soundlessly before turning and dragging the man in her grip into the foggy mirror. She slowly approached the mirror as the cold receded and the fog slowly cleared and the only thing she saw in it was her own reflection. She moved forward to touch it when the man suddenly shot up and hit the mirror, she quickly wheeled her head around looking behind her, somewhat hoping for it to be a reflection but no the man had indeed somehow been dragged into the mirror. There was panic on his face as he tapped the glass screaming soundlessly. She quickly backed off taking quick breaths.
"How?" she asked herself.
The man was pushed down again by the familiar apparition of a ghastly and yet beautiful woman, it looked all so contradictory. As soon as Jennifer saw that, she quickly backed off.
"Little Jenny?" the woman spoke in a quiet voice and Jennifer froze.
"Wh-what?" she croaked out.
"You-you're little Jenny," the apparition spoke again, her blue lips warping around those words.
Screaming for help and running away had suddenly become a second option for her.
"Wh-why did you c-call me that?" Jennifer asked, it was something her dad used to call her and before that from the short memories of her mother, her mother called her that as well.
"I don't remember," the apparition said. "Are you not called little Jenny."
Jennifer pulled herself together. "My name is Jennifer."
"I know," said the apparition. "My name is Celine."
"What are you?" asked Jennifer.
"I…don't know," said Celine with a thoughtful look as she paused on her answer.
Jennifer too frowned, she had the distinct impression that this woman was a ghost, a ridiculous concept by today's standards because no one believed in the existence of ghosts, even those that believed in the afterlife and yet what other way was there to explain what had just happened to her, the man that was pulled into the mirror…right the man that was pulled into the mirror.
"What about that man?" Jennifer asked. "You pulled him into the mirror."
"He is still here," said Celine, her stiff face giving her an uncaring and cold look, the words she spoke making it more distinctive.
"Why did you do that?" asked Jennifer, the question she really wanted to ask was 'how she did that.'
"He was trying to kill you," Celine spoke and as soon as she spoke the words 'kill' the mirror fogged up slightly as Jennifer for a moment felt the temperature drop.
Jennifer's eyes widened as she came closer to the mirror, she saw a hand reach up, the man's hand from beneath the walls of the mirror and touch the mirror like it was a window but soon it slid down again.
"What are you doing to him?" asked Jennifer a little alarmed.
"Keeping him here imprisoned," said Celine. "So he doesn't kill you like he did to Francis Hailing."
Jennifer's eyes widened as she did a double take at the final sentence.
"He did what?" she asked quietly.
"He murdered Francis Hailing," said Celine. "Five days ago."
"My father…murdered?" said Jennifer with wide eyes and a quiet voice.
She looked at the apparition trying to gauge her expressions but nothing betrayed that pale face. She clenched her fist as she gnashed her teeth.
"He murdered my father?" she asked again.
"I am the witness," said Celine. "He wanted to protect little Jenny…he said so before he went away."
Jennifer's eyes teared up as Celine recounted her father's murder.
"Why?" she asked. "Why did he kill my father, why did he try to kill me?"
Celine however simply gazed at her without answering her questions and she fell to her knees.
"Why did you protect me?" asked Jennifer between her sobs.
"For my peace," said Celine quietly. "I have wandered this earth for a time seeking my peace, helping you may finally allow me attain it."
"Peace?" asked Jennifer as if she was unfamiliar with the very common term. "For your peace you will help me?"
"Yes," Celine answered.
Jennifer slowly stood up from her knees her eyes still red, a rage now evident on her face.
"Ask him," said Jennifer. "Ask him why?"
"Why…?" Celine tilted her head questioningly.
"Why, he killed my father," said Jennifer.
"If that is what you require," said Celine and she disappeared from the mirror and swiftly reappeared holding the killer by his hair.
The cap the killer wore had fallen off and his scruffy brown hair was out in the open as Jennifer looked over him she noted his undertaker clothing, she was familiar with it because she had seen men with this clothing coming and going from her house for the past several days. Celine's long silvery hair waved around in a non-existent wind.
"Little Jenny wants to know," said Celine looking at the man she had held by the hair as he tried to fight back. "Why did you kill her father?"
He let out a snarl at Celine's question as he tried to punch her, a punch that was quickly caught by Celine and she flung his hand away.
"Why did you do it?" asked Jennifer getting closer to the mirror and it appeared he had heard her and turned to look at her.
The man despite looking a horrified, managed a shaky smile as he said something that Jennifer couldn't hear.
"He says it was for money," said Celine translating what the man had said.
"Money?" Jennifer grit her teeth in rage. "My father could have paid you more."
"You had no right take his life!" Jennifer said and her voice got louder. "He was my father…MINE!"
The man's smile slipped a little as he stared at the fourteen year old girl's very enraged face. He then looked at the otherworldly woman that held him. He struggled a bit more, a struggle that was quickly put down by the woman that held him.
"THEN YOU COME TO HIS FUNERAL!?" she screamed.
She punched the glass putting a small crack in it and quickly recoiled at the hurt she felt. Her rage however had not dissipated as she stood there with a bleeding fist. As soon as Celine saw the blood her eyes widened and she dropped the man she held.
"Are you alright?" she asked the calmness in her voice slipping a little.
"Fine," Jennifer said with paling red face as she took great heavy breaths.
"You are bleeding," said Celine.
"I know," said Jennifer uncaringly. "He is still there isn't he."
"Indeed, he lies on this floor," said Celine.
"Can you…kill him?" asked Jennifer abruptly.
Celine's face twisted in a frown. "Kill?"
"Yes, murder the man that you have in there," said Jennifer.
"Why?" asked Celine.
Jennifer glared at her with blazing eyes, "He killed my father, I have no family...not anymore."
"Your aunt and your uncle," said Celine. "I saw them."
Jennifer snorted, "You know about them too?"
"Yes," Celine replied.
"They've never even so much as looked at me until five days ago," said Jennifer. "Suddenly after my father dies they come for me, I might be fourteen but I'm not an idiot."
"I do not understand," said Celine.
"You don't need to," Jennifer said with another snort. "Kill the man you have in there with you."
Celine frowned again but she did not move much to Jennifer's chagrin. She went to punch the mirror again but this time a hand came out of the mirror and caught it. Scowling and feeling surprised at the cold she quickly pulled it back.
"Please, you will hurt yourself," said Celine.
"You said you were going to help me," said Jennifer with a grimace. "So help me…kill him."
"Is this truly the help you wish from me?" asked Celine, a sense of disappointment apparent on her face, something which Jennifer cared very little about.
"Yes," she said. "This is what I want."
Her night blue eyes attained a tinge of red as red vein like tendrils popped around her eyes, Jennifer's eyes widened as she clambered back in terror. The mirror started fogging up again as the cold seeped, frosting the edges. She saw Celine disappear again from the mirror view and reappeared holding the man whose face had now blanched into unbridled terror. Celine turned to look at Jennifer once more as her heart jumped into her throat.
"Turn around," she hissed, her voice no longer sounding ethereal or cold, but one that reeked of malice and brutality.
Jennifer obeyed the apparition's words and quickly turned on her heels, looking into one of the stalls.
***
Celine looked at the man that she was tasked to kill, feeling nothing particular from him she thought back to her memories as she first appeared. She had several years worth of her memories, time spent inside the mirror, time assisting people and there were more than enough people that requested her for revenge, requested her to kill a certain someone. She would do it, she felt nothing from it but she had hoped that Little Jenny would be different but it was not so. The man was muttering 'no…no…no…' as if it was a mantra that would stop the swing of the reaper's scythe. Celine's fingers extended into long bony knife like claws and his eyes widened.
"No…don-" he didn't have the time to finish the sentence before she sliced through his skin, leaving marks across his stomach all the way up to his forehead with her five fingers, his eyes immediately glazed over and she dropped him to the floor. She looked through the mirror at Little Jenny that had her back turned to the mirror.
"It's done," said Celine.
The blood seeped through the edges of the mirror falling into a pool in the real world as it looked like the mirror itself was bleeding. Celine watched as Jennifer slowly turned her around and she gulped, the fear apparent on her face. Celine was disappointed, very disappointed, her gaze lingered on Little Jenny's frightful eyes for moments longer before she turned back into her usual self, the vein like features and the red glint in her eyes disappearing. Her hand turned back to normal and she walked away.