Imonstri

The night was alive with the sounds of the festivities soon to be going on in the Di Rossi Manor. Tonight was All Hollow’s Eve, an important date on the social calendar for the people of importance because of the Di Rossi’s legendary Halloween ball that was held every year.

The manor itself had been decorated extravagantly for Halloween. Large fake cobwebs stretched from the high vaulted stone ceilings to the staircase banisters. From the banisters’ supporting bars hung various Halloween related decorations such as spiders, shrunken heads and even a mummified finger or two. On the tables in the corridors were gothic candle holders that looked creepily reminiscent of bones and a bronze baby head statue.

The outside decorations, however, was what woke me up from my peaceful sleep. My room’s window faced the eastern part of the grounds, where the garden and hedge maze were located. This meant when the string lights, fake fire in the giant cauldron and the torches and candles were all lit, it was an artificial sun streaming through my curtains. That one stream of light was just so inconveniently placed so that it was shining in my eyes and I couldn’t avoid it in my state of suspended living: I needed to wake up.

To be honest with myself, I should have been up hours ago and should have been getting ready with the help of Renée, my lady-in-waiting, for the ball. It was a full costume event and those sorts of thing took time.

All of a sudden, my door opened to a very slight crack and through that crack slid Renée like her ears had just been burning as her name had only just crossed my mind.

“You’re awake, Miss Contessa?” she asked hopefully, biting her lip and looking generally anxious. I took a deep breath before exhaling loudly, nodding and sitting up.

“Yes, yes. I’m awake,” I mumbled airily. “Is it time to get ready?”

“Been time for nearly an hour, miss. You’re running late,” she told me. “Your mother is furious.” She shifted from foot to foot as she watched me throw the covers off of myself and climb out of bed. I stretched out, cracking a couple of my backbones before I headed for the dress that was hanging on hook across the room from where I was. Renée scurried towards it too, helping me bring down the dress.

“Your bath is ready, Miss Contessa,” she told me hurriedly, “Just go, I’ll get this all ready for you.” She ran her hand along the dress, which was made of blood red crushed velvet with the gold embroidering on the corset like outside.

“Alright,” I yawned, heading for my bathroom. I really just wanted to go back to sleep. This All Hollow’s Eve ball hadn’t been fun since I was eleven. The year my uncle, who was dressed in a werewolf costume, had scared me into a coat room I refused to come out of for two days after. I wish I could just sleep through it.
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“Come now Contessa,” My father said excitedly, “I have something splendid to show you; bought just for this occasion. It just got here.”

The All Hollow’s Eve Ball was my father’s social crown jewel. He loved Halloween more than any other day of the year. It was his one real chance to be crazy, as he said. He loved ghost stories and horror films. This was his one chance to truly indulge in his love and trust me when I say that he totally went overboard. He’d make sure it was decorated to the nines, he’d buy things that were supposedly from random places from stories and he’d hire people to hang out in random locations and pop out and scare people as they passed.

“What is it, Father?” I asked with a hint of exasperation in my voice. I followed him briskly through the hedge maze. My velvet dress dragged on the ground slightly, just enough to drag some dried leaves with me as I walked. I followed him through the turns of the maze, a path I knew very well since I had run around this maze since I was a child. We headed through the middle of the maze, which was a little courtyard with a fountain, and towards the end to one of the dead ends.

“See?” he asked excitedly as we turned a corner. I stopped, staring at it. In front of me, was a full length mirror whose frame was made of what seemed to be iron or silver. On the sides were very intricate carvings of vines and even a bushel of grapes on the left hand side. On the top was inscribed the words, “Caveo speculum. Imonstri specto temerarius.”

“It’s…a mirror,” I stated plainly, “So, what?”

“So, what?” he scoffed incredulously. “Contessa, the mirror says ‘Beware the mirror, Imonstri awaits the heedless.’ Doesn’t that seem just eerie and ominous?” I shrugged nonchalantly, looking from the mirror, which showed nothing more than our reflections, to my father.

“It’s a mirror,” I repeated. “Nothing more.” He sighed, shaking his head at me.

“Contessa, dear. You have no imagination,” my father said in a very serious tone. “Just, stand here and let it sink in.” He took a few strides to walk away before turning back to face me. “And come back only when you have an imagination. I don’t understand how any child of mine could be such a stick in the mud.”

I opened my mouth to retort, mostly because I did have an imagination but I just didn’t share his love for Halloween, but he walked swiftly away, back through the maze to begin greeting guests that would be arriving soon. I shook my head, staring at the mirror. I took a couple steps toward it, looking behind me before beginning to really inspect the mirror.

“It’s just a mirror,” I repeated under my breath as I studied the carvings. I ran my finger along the side, feeling for anything out of the ordinary, but really. It was just a mirror. Other than the fact it was extremely detailed, it was really just a mirror. I took a step back, looking up at the inscription.

“Caveo…speculum. Imonstri specto tem-temerarius,” I repeated. I stared at my own quizzical reflection.

All of a sudden, it began to get colder, too cold even for October and the gentle breeze that had been playing with my hair kicked up. I gave myself a look of being slightly freaked in the mirror, suddenly noticing a spot of light right above me in the mirror. Or did it suddenly appear? As the light got brighter, it got cooler and windier until the light was blinding me and all I could even see was whiteness. The wind seemed to push me forward and instead of slamming against the mirror, I was falling and screaming into a black pit.

And then I was falling.

And falling.

And falling.