Mirror in the Forest: Book One

by B. Groves

  Jessica shook in her head while the thoughts continued to plague her mind. Maybe she should be less cynical and more open to social circles. It was her last year in high school; maybe she should try to enjoy it like her mother insisted.

  Maybe she should try to go to most of the school socials before she left for college to make both of her parents happy.

  However, Jessica knew deep down that wouldn’t happen, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself.

  She wasn’t the popular girl. She was a bit curvy for her age. She had been teased relentlessly because of her shape for years.

  Her eyes were not the usual blue, because most people who lived here were from California, and they brought their looks with them, and passed them onto their offspring.

  She had clear skin, but a knobby nose. At least, she thought her nose was knobby.

  Her hair was always frizzy, thick, and would poof out when the weather changed. She was always frustrated because she could never control it.

  Most of the time, Jessica kept her hair in a ponytail to keep it under control. It was just easier that way.

  She was awkward socially. Jessica had never been one to easily make friends. She had been teased by a group of girls most of her life, and anytime she could keep out of their line of sight she would, so it had turned her into something of a loner when Tessa wasn’t around.

  Coming out of her thoughts Jessica looked up and realized it was getting dark outside. The sun wasn’t even shining through the trees anymore.

  Jessica wiped off her feet the best she could and put on her socks and her sneakers. She stood up and went to grab her book when the loudest bang suddenly rocked the world around her, almost made her fall to the ground.

  She cried out in shock from the noise, looking around frantically trying to find the source of the bang.

  They hadn’t had an earthquake here in years, but Jessica knew it wasn’t that. Her instincts told her there had just been an explosion in the area. An explosion? Mining had stopped here years ago, when the mines were sealed off from the public, and curious kids.

  Finally, she looked up and to her left surprised to see smoke billowing towards the sky on the other side of the lake.

  She knew that area and it was even more secluded than where she was now. The area was mostly used as dumping grounds for junk, and hunters when the seasons changed.

  Looking around, she wondered what her next move should be.

  She realized that birds began chirping in a panic at the sudden noise, and she could hear the leaves rustling as small animals were still running away from the source of the bang.

  Jessica debated what she should do. Should she go see what it was? Should she go back to her house and call the sheriff and the fire department? Should she get her dad?

  Did someone need help?

  Her mother had made her join the Girl Scouts when she was younger, so she did know some first aid.

  She looked around again, but not another soul was in sight.

  Despite her misgivings, curiosity got the better of her, and she walked fast towards the smoke. For some reason, her shoes crunching against the leaves, and the occasional stick snapping under the pressure of her weight seemed louder than normal today.

  She looked up the whole time trying to follow the source of the smoke, trying not to trip overgrown roots along the path. She would check first to see if anyone needed any help, but she knew she needed to alert the authorities as soon as possible when she discovered what happened. Wildfires in this area have always been a problem, and one never knew when they could start.

  She hurriedly walked the path around the lake and found the other path that looked like it led to the source of the smoke. This path was also close to another neighborhood in the area.

  She began to wonder if someone was camping out for the night, and started doubting the intelligence of finding a campsite.

  But that didn’t explain the huge bang either. Camper usually didn’t cause small explosions.

  What if it was some serial killer waiting for her? What if it was some fugitive on the run from authorities? What if they had seen her and were trying luring her over to them? Her imagination was running wild with strange thoughts.

  Heart pounding, and breathing rapidly as she picked up the pace, she turned down the path despite her better judgment about checking out the smoke.

  She pushed through the brush, the smell of smoke started to make her eyes water, and the smell was almost overwhelming. She tried to turn and run the other way to get help, but she felt like she was being pulled now, and couldn’t explain it.

  She could feel the slight heat starting to hit her skin, as she got closer to the source.

  Carefully, she stepped forward and could hear the familiar crackling of flames just ahead of her. The smell of wood burning made her cough, while her eyes began to water.

  The fire was small, but the flames were burning ferns around the area. There were small flames on the bark of the evergreen trees surrounding the area, but didn’t appear to be spreading.

  What caught Jessica’s attention wasn’t the fire, but what was sitting in the middle of the fire.

  A mirror.

  A mirror? She thought with a frown. She had been here plenty of times and had never seen the mirror before.

  It was almost as tall as her, with an oval shape, and decorated in an antique gold frame with carvings inside the old wooden frame.

  Jessica pushed the brush out of the way to gaze upon the mysterious mirror that sat before her deep inside of the forest.

  What was a mirror doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? And why was there a fire surrounding it?

  She took another step closer, and something strange happened.

  The fire began to extinguish itself.

  Her mouth dropped in shock, and she looked around again for another human or animal, but spotted nothing.

  There had to have been someone out here that did this, she thought peering around the area for any signs of life.

  She coughed again when the residual smoke began to blow her way now that the fire was extinguished.

  The trees were singed and blackened from the flames, and most of the brush around the mirror was completely gone, leaving it sitting peacefully against a tree with open space surrounding it.

  Jessica glanced around again trying to find a logical explanation, but she found nothing out of the ordinary that could’ve started the fire in the first place.

  “What is this?” She whispered.

  She jumped a little at the sound of her voice. It may have been a whisper, but she could have sworn she had yelled.

  Cautiously, she approached it. But, before she could see her own reflection in it, the mirror did something unexpected.

  A crack ran across the length of the mirror making Jessica cry out in disbelief.

  Taking deep breaths, she took a step back from it.

  Suddenly, to Jessica’s horror and shock, the mirror began to speak to her. At least she thought that’s where the voice was coming from.

  A voice echoed in her ears. It was a deep, musical male voice. She couldn’t even describe the how undeniably beautiful it sounded in her head as her brain processed the sound.

  “Hello Jessica,” it said.

  Jessica jumped back in alarm. She turned and looked around frantically wondering what this thing was, and how it knew her name. She tried to tell herself that she imagined it, but she knew she heard it.

  “Do not fear me, child,” it implored.

  She didn’t care what happened or where she went. She had to get away from this thing.

  For a moment her mind did not want to work. She tried with all of her might to move her feet, but they were not listening.

  She gulped hard, frantically shaking her head until her feet finally decided to work again.

  She turned to run off into the forest without looking back at the mirror. She didn’t realize she wasn’t following the right path back
to her house until she came out to a street with a few houses dotted around it.

  She was so panicked that she didn’t know where she was at first. She was trying to gather her thoughts and calm down, when she jumped at the sudden noise behind her. Realizing it was a siren, she turned to see a Sheriff’s car drive up beside her.

  Chapter 3

  Sheriff Mark McKenzie driving around, making his usual rounds for the night shift.

  He was already bored out of his mind, and actually hoped some teenagers were making some trouble to give him something to do. Nevertheless, the radio had been quiet since he started his shift not even two hours ago.

  He was hoping he would get out of this small town soon, move to Seattle, and join the Seattle Police Department. He had put his time in for his hometown, but he was anxious to move on and up. He thought he would spend a couple of years in Seattle before he started training for the FBI.

  The only reason he stayed a Sheriff in his hometown right now, was because his mother had been ill with cancer. He was able to have time to care for her as she had become increasingly sick, and now that she passed six months ago, he was anxious to get through his election years, and then get out.

  He was only twenty-five, but had been elected Sheriff right after becoming a deputy, because his uncle was Sheriff here before him. He was one of the youngest ever elected in Washington State’s history.

  He knew once he was able to move to Seattle he would never be bored, and could learn a lot more about law enforcement out there instead of in this small mountain town.

  Mark sighed when radio suddenly made some static noise, and he heard a bit of his dispatcher’s voice.

  Ahhh old Marge. She had been with the department forever. Hell, she had been old when he was young. He really thought the woman was over a hundred years old, and too stubborn to retire.

  “Mark?” Her raspy voice came through the radio again. She always used his first name on the radio. Well…..they all went by first names. There were only four of them who patrolled the town; the rest of the deputies ran the county jail or were assigned the courthouse.

  Mark picked up the receiver and pressed the button. “Yes?”

  “There’s been a report of a possible fire over by the old park near that resort that used to be by Mona Lake,” she said.

  Mark had to laugh at the directions. The woman knew her way around town, but never said streets, and sometimes gave the wrong directions. Luckily, Mark had learned to decipher her radio transmissions, though the other deputies would curse her out.

  “Do you remember the street Marge?” He asked patiently.

  He knew she was probably sitting there huffing in frustration at him. Since she knew where everything was she expected all of the deputies and him to know as well. Mark grew up here, but that didn’t mean he knew every street.

  Mark felt a smile tug at his lips as he pictured her pouting at her desk.

  “By 96th Street,” she answered obviously annoyed.

  “The fire department are on their way,” she added.

  “Ten-four,” he answered.

  He hoped it wasn’t the start of a major wildfire. They had one a few years back, and practically wiped out the whole west side of town.

  He flicked on the lights and sirens, taking off down the road to the reported fire.

  Mark pulled up to 96th street and looked around. The firefighters in this town were volunteers, so it took them a little longer than most other towns. There was talk about putting in firefighters from the state if the slow response time became an issue.

  Mark looked around, but didn’t see any smoke rising towards the sky anywhere in the area.

  Confused, he drove the cruiser around a few blocks, but still did not spot any smoke rising from the forest.

  The surroundings were quiet, and he didn’t see anyone around to ask about it.

  There were a few houses scattered around the wooded road, but nothing seemed out of place. The lights were on in most of the houses, and cars in the driveway. People were home for the night with their families.

  He still could not see anything as he drove around the old ski resort parking lot. He returned to the street, still peering into the sky.

  Then something caught his eye from the woods. A figure was moving fast through the woods. Was that a person in there?

  He squinted trying to focus on the figure moving from the deep forest.

  He put his hand on his gun, and readied it just in case.

  Mark was surprised when a young girl emerged from the forest.

  The girl did not see him sitting in the street, when she came out. Instead, she hunched over for a moment looking like she was trying to catch her breath.

  He sat there for a minute, waiting for her to acknowledge him, except her back was facing him. She never even looked his way after she recovered, and then started walking really fast in the other direction.

  Mark wanted to know why she came running out of the woods, and if this was some teenager having fun. He thought maybe things might have gotten out of hand. He could tell by her body language that she looked upset about something.

  Mark lightly pressed on the gas of the cruiser slowly creeping forwards towards the girl. He was finally close enough to her, and flicked the siren for just a second.

  The loud shrill sound of the siren made her jump, and then turn around really fast to face him.

  Her eyes widened with a mixture of surprise, and fear. She looked awful guilty of something, and Mark was going to find out what it was.

  She just stood there and peered at him, and he could tell she was wondering what she should do next.

  He pulled up beside her, and noticed she was having a hard time catching her breath still. Almost as if she had been running from something. Sweat covered her brow and her thick hair was coming out of what was once a ponytail.

  “Everything alright?” He asked, watching her carefully.

  The girl nodded a little too fast for Mark’s taste.

  Finally, the girl spoke and said, “Yeah, I was just walking around the lake and thought I spotted a bear.”

  What was this girl doing walking around the lake this late in the day?

  “Are you sure? I just had a report of possible smoke in the area. Do you know anything about that?” He asked.

  The girl blinked a few times, and Mark knew she was debating on what to tell him. Yep, he thought, teenagers.

  “No….no..I don’t know anything about a fire,” she finally answered stammering a little.

  She’s lying about what she saw out there, he thought.

  “Really? Because it was reported in the area where you came from,” he said, prodding her a little.

  The girl shook her head, and he could tell she was still thinking about what to do and what to say.

  “You didn’t see anyone or anything on your little walk?” He asked with sarcasm, obviously not trusting her answers.

  “No, nothing,” she answered with doubt in her voice.

  The girl looked up as she noticed something down the street, and Mark looked in his rearview mirror. One of the volunteer fire trucks was approaching them.

  The truck stopped, and one of the firefighters leaned out of the window acknowledging Mark, but glowering at the girl.

  “What’s up Sheriff?” He asked.

  “Nothing much. Anything on that smoke?”

  “I was coming to find you and tell you that nothing has been spotted, but we’ll keep an eye out the rest of the night,” he answered, but kept a suspicious eye on the girl standing with Mark.

  “Alright, I will patrol around here for a while,” Mark answered.

  “Sure thing,” the firefighter answered, putting the fire truck in gear, and then driving away.

  “See? I told you I didn’t see anything. May I go now?” She pleaded.

  It was obvious she was grateful the fireman showed up. She obviously didn’t want to say anything more to him.

  Mark sat back in his seat, a
nd thought for a moment. He didn’t see anyone else, and this girl didn’t seem to be in any danger, so he knew he had to let it go. She seemed innocent enough. She didn’t look like the type to start fires.

  “What’s your name?” He asked, giving her a slight smile to relax her a little.

  “Jessica Winters,” she answered.

  She still looked disturbed, her brown eyes kept darting back and forth between the street and the forest, but Mark figured she wasn’t going to tattle on her friends, if that what this was all about. Unless something happened, he couldn’t do much.