“Mirror, Mirror, on the wall…”
A cold draft of air trickled underneath the door as the woman pounded on it. Each heavy thud against the thick metal sheet before her resonated around the entire room.
“Penny, there’s no point…”
The woman, Penny, kept banging on the door. Her hair was dishevelled as it flew around almost as frantically as her persistent banging on the door. She had a thick cotton robe on, with the string loosening slowly as she continued her assault on the door.
“You should listen to your friend, Penny... The only way out is to play my little game.” The voice was a distorted ambiguous sound that melded age and gender to its will. There was no way to discern anything about its owner.
The second girl, a little older than Penny, stepped towards the girl at the door. She wrapped her hands around her waist, pulling the girl away by the loosening string of her robe. Fastening it tightly around her, she forced Penny to turn towards her. Penny stared back at her with a fury that was tainted by fear.
“Rachel… I’m not doing this. The door will give eventually.”
Rachel gave a wry smile towards the younger girl. “Your body will give before that door, Penny.”
“So what? We just play this guy's twisted game?”
“Why’d you assume I was a man?” The voice called out, this time from their left. It was tuned to sound like a young girl, clear and vibrant in its tone. It sounded so real that the pair paused at the words.
Rachel caught herself first. Letting her eyes shift back to the girl still in her arms, she shook her head gently. “We win it.”
Penny sighed before a guttural laughter resounded around them. The laugh was once more an amalgamation of pitches. “That’s the spirit, girls! If only the fellas in the other room were as clever as you!”
A heavy clunk was heard, followed by the sound of gears turning. A blinding beam of light pierced through the gaps of the metal door as it screeched open. The girls looked at each other, grimacing as the sound and light continued to disorient them.
“Come now, don’t tease me by just standing there! Come on in!”
Taking Penny’s hand, Rachel led the girl into the blinding room. The pair took a few moments to let their eyes adjust to the room they found themselves in.
In every direction they looked, they saw themselves. Every surface, every edge, every crook and cranny held a mirror. It was so meticulously crafted, even in its crude nature.
“Ah, the look of shock on your faces makes me feel so overjoyed. It took me a long time to make this a reality. It took me an even longer time to get you here to be able to witness it in all of its glory. For the joy you’ve given me, I’ll give you an extra ten minutes to escape the house. There is a single panel of glass somewhere in the house that hides a door. The only rule is that you can’t break a single glass. Good luck… I’ll be watching you.”
The mic cut off abruptly with an irritating squeal. There was silence for all but a second before music from a carnival began playing. Very quietly in the soundtrack, a clown could be heard muttering numbers.
“That’s the countdown. We need to start looking.” Rachel tried to move, but Penny held her in place. The younger girl shook her head at her.
“They said they were going to be watching us… There is no way that there are cameras lodged into the mirrors. It would ruin the effect they were going for… Does that mean that the mirrors are one-sided glass?”
Rachel paused for a moment, staring at Penny with a sense of appreciation and awe.
“That would make sense, but how does that help us?”
“Those glass panes are built with some metal. Sound doesn’t usually pass through the glass but it would pass through the metal. If the next room is connected to wherever the sound is coming from, the mirror with the door behind it would sound different than the others.”
Rachel smiled at Penny, “Since when are you so up for playing along?”
“I’m not playing along. I’m winning.” Penny’s soft voice was accompanied by the first smile Rachel had seen from the girl.
“As much as I love that attitude, we can’t just press our ears to every glass. If they notice, they might cut the music off.”
Penny shrugged. “The sound will be different no matter what. We’ll just have to find a spot that sounds different than everywhere else.”
Rachel stared at her pointedly. “And I suppose your super hearing will be coming in handy then?”
“I’m a theatre kid. I have a very keen ear.”
Rachel sighed as Penny took the lead and began walking slowly with her eyes closed and her hands extended in front of her. “I suppose that makes sense. Just knowing about the glass off rip like that…”
Penny groaned at the older girl’s sarcastic comment. “My dad’s a detective. I’ve sat in on a few interrogations because I’m also studying to become a detective.”
“Well, Miss Detective sure lost her cool in the other room, didn’t she?”
“If you knew the statistics about women being trapped, you would’ve freaked out too…”
Rachel bit her tongue as she looked around. The sounds of the music suddenly felt more menacing. “I was just trying to lighten the mood.” She whispered after some time.
“And I’m trying to make amends for losing my cool,” Penny replied quietly after some time. “We’re close. I can hear a difference in this room. And… there’s a draft.”
Rachel raised an eyebrow as she used the mirrors to stare at Penny’s face. Her eyes were closed and her face was scrunched up in concentration.
“Are all of your senses just amped up? Are you actually like a superhero or something?”
Penny chuckled as she opened her eyes. The action caught Rachel off-guard as they locked with hers through the mirror instantly. “I was blind for the first five years of my life. I’m actually more comfortable with my eyes closed.”
“Is there anything else to you or is that all of the secrets that you come with?”
Penny laughed as she slid her hand along a mirror. Her hand caught on a ledge and she yanked upward. The raised easily and, as she pulled, it opened to reveal a passageway. “Those were just the tip of the iceberg.” She winked as she walked through the door. Rachel stared after her with a look of amazement.
“I guess she was serious about winning.”