Frost

by Elise Faber

  “Oh my! What a beautiful mirror!”

  Tensing upon hearing the word, I waited patiently for her to approach me. Goose-bumps raised all over my body when she looked straight at me while those same hands caressed the full-length ornate mirror affixed at the joint corners of the wall where I was held prisoner. Holding her gaze, I moved closer to the glass, willing her to see me rather than her own reflection but Floriza called her attention away by urging her to follow her out onto the veranda.

  Intrigued by how a simple touch could stimulate a reaction from me, I leaned against the doorway to my prison and strained to hear what the two women were discussing. Floriza was talking about the local amenities near the hotel but I couldn’t hear what my visitor said in return.

  A few minutes later, they came back in. Floriza glanced in my direction, prompting me to move away from the mirror when she and the girl walked around the huge bed, chatting as they made their way back to the door leading to the hallway. I lost sight of them from my place in the corner; however, it didn’t take long before I heard the door close and my visitor appeared into view.

  That was when things got weirder and weirder.

  My guest was a slight little thing who looked more like a teenager than a grown woman. With a beaded hat covering her head and keeping her hair from view, her face looked gaunt underneath the head gear. The trench coat and dark denims she was wearing did her no favors at all. When the dreadful coat fell off her, it revealed a thin frame in purple jumper with sleeves that reached all the way to her delicate fingers. Her dark jeans didn’t improve matters by shaping how thin she was under the material. The only thing going for her was those big brown eyes which were full of wonder as they surveyed the room I’ve been kept a prisoner in for a hundred years.

  But once the marvel over the place was over, she strapped on a face mask and went to work. For someone who looked like she was at the brink of death with exhaustion, she went and cleaned the room, spraying and wiping down every surface she could get to with an industrial looking canister she took out of her suitcase. Even though she looked hesitant to do it, she stripped down the bed and covered it with a plain bedsheet she brought with her. Then finally, she plugged a small machine in at the corner of the room which emitted a soft humming sound in the background a normal person wouldn’t be able to hear.

  After deciding she’d done enough, she disappeared into the bathroom for several minutes, came out wrapped in a bundle of blue towel and bathrobe, then disappeared under the covers.

  Hours and hours later, she hadn’t moved, making me wonder if she was still among the living. The sun came up, the sun went down, and she remained prone on the bed. Occasionally, she moved this way and that, shifting to a better position every few hours but that was the only indication I had to assure me that she was still alive.

  Just when I was getting fed up watching her inert form, she sat up and blinked straight at me. Or the mirror I was held in anyway. After blinking a few more times, she gave a huge yawn, drawing my eyes to her rose-bud lips.

  Huh. Cute little thing.

  She stretched her arms out making the cloth covering her head fall off, revealing her hair or for that matter… lack of. A bald-headed cute little teenager. Displeasure swayed my interest. I knew the type: rebellious teen escaping from either over-protective or under protective parents to frolic in the streets of New Orleans. She’d probably be covered in tattoos under that robe and suffering from anorexia, hence why she was that thin.

  No hope here. Might as well go into hibernation and pray Floriza will find me another visitor when this one died of hunger or committed suicide, I thought in dismissal.

  Feeling deflated, I gathered my blond hair into a pony-tail, twisting the permanently shoulder-length locks at the base of my neck, and stretched my body on my make-shift bed as I settled in for another long wait. How many years would it take this time before Floriza sent another visitor to me? The last one had been two years ago; a young couple on a honeymoon. They had been too busy with one another to take notice of my mirror and left without discovering I had been an unwilling voyeur during their stay. Watching them had been painful to see. But it was the only way I could have a glimpse of the outside world if my visitors failed to find me and release me from my prison even just for a few hours.

  Enjoying a few days of freedom, I found, were better than years and years of wallowing in anger and hatred, hoping desperately to be set free.

  A hundred years ago, I was once a visitor. I had booked myself into this very room as a young man full of dreams and ambition. I remember that day like it was yesterday.

  Year 1912, I was a young man of twenty years. The second son of a rich French merchant who traveled from Paris to the promising land of New Orleans, which had dangled the enticing words “New World” to my enterprising father.

  One would say I was a difficult son, suffering with ‘middle child syndrome’ and from where I was standing now, I would say: That’s absolutely right. But I would have beaten anyone to a pulp if they’d uttered those words to me back then. I had an older brother being groomed to take over my father’s growing empire and a younger brother who was everyone’s favorite son. My parents didn’t have enough attention to spare for me – or so I thought back then.

  In my young, selfish mind, all the efforts they made and attention they gave me weren’t enough. I wanted them all. I was lavished with money and given no restrictions. At my young age, I was already on my way to becoming an alcoholic.

  Following another mid-day argument with my old man after he’d rudely woken me up after partying hard the night before, I’d grabbed my stuff and walked out the door, swearing on my wake that I was never coming back. I had taken myself to Bourbon Street and strolled aimlessly about, congratulating myself for finally having the balls to stand up to my father. I was a grown man. Nobody, I say, NO. BODY. Spoke to me like that.

  To date, I still didn’t know how I ended up in front of this godforsaken hotel, because on a normal day, the hotel was nowhere to be found along Bourbon Street nor was it listed as an establishment anywhere.

  It found me… same way it found those who came before and after me.

  Long story short, I checked in with Floriza, got into my room, accidentally set loose the resident Jinn, and struck a deal with him. Three wishes. Three-fateful-wishes. Had I kept my end of the bargain, I wouldn’t have ended up here trapped forever.

  “You promised to release me on your third wish!” the Jinn yelled at me, anger making him look like he was growing in size.

  Smirking, I flicked the ash of my tobacco to his direction. “Sorry, bud, I changed my mind. Better luck next time.”

  “We had a deal!”

  I snorted in reply, “I am only twenty years old. Practically a minor. Didn’t you know you can’t make deals with minors? It’s against the law! Go find yourself another victim.” Shaking my head at him in dismissal, I turned away and started packing my bags thinking I was leaving the hotel as well as the city now that I had what I’ve always wanted in life. Had I not turned away, I would have seen the Jinn’s next move and maybe I would have avoided what happened next.

  A searing pain erupted on my back as the Jinn set my clothes on fire. Yelping, I jumped on the floor and started rolling on my back in an attempt to put the fire out. But it was no ordinary flame. It was fire borne from magic and only by magic could it be doused.

  Still, I kept rolling hoping to stop the excruciating pain caused by the flames licking at my flesh. “You cannot harm humans! You told me so before!” I shouted at him.

  The Jinn just stood there and picked his nails clean. “You broke the deal first. That freed me up from all restrictions.” He informed me calmly then with a flick of his hand he set my trousers on fire.

  Screaming, I twisted around hopelessly, trying to get the fire out but the pain I was in was making it hard for me to think straight. The smell of my flesh burning filled the air. Still, the fire raged turning my body crimson then into
charcoal in its path of destruction. As my senses diminished, I noticed I was the only thing burning in the room. The carpet underneath me was untouched by the flames as well as the bed and furniture I had been trashing on and off with my feeble attempts to stop the fire.

  Just before I lost consciousness, a deafening crack exploded next to me. Lightning flashed into the room. Somebody else screamed, emitting the most horrifying sound I had ever heard.

  I didn’t hear anything after that.

  The fire died. The pain vanished. Sound disappeared. Even the very air I breathed seemed to have stopped. But I could still see.

  It was then that I saw the sight which was imbedded into my mind forever: Floriza standing over the Jinn whose body looked contorted and very much in pain. Only she didn’t appear like Floriza anymore. Her hair was flying in the air. Her skin was as black as night. Fire burned in place of her eyes. Blood oozed from her lips. Her body was floating in the air, suspended above the floor, but without any strings or wires to hold her up. Her clothes were made of the darkest smoke which faded away to reveal talons in place of her fingers.

  She was speaking words I couldn’t hear. But she wasn’t talking to me. It was to the Jinn she uttered soundless words to. Words that made him writhe in obvious pain. Then before my very eyes, his head and extremities stretched out and snapped off his torso in opposite directions, spraying blood across the floor and on the wall of the room. A horrified scream was trapped inside of me as my mind tried to process the unbelievable sight it just witnessed. A few seconds later the Jinn stopped moving… and those evil eyes turned towards me.

  Sound came back. Words were uttered. My sentence was sealed.

  “In prison you shall stay

  Until the day one finds your way

  Three wishes you shall gift

  Three wishes you must complete

  The cycle will keep rolling

  Strangers will keep coming

  Until one would come calling

  With a wish that sets you free.

  A wish freely given

  Is the key to your salvation.

  Yet the curse will pass on to other

  For the cycle has to circle

  Unless we find the chosen one

  Who’ll break the curse’s circle”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “OH. MY. GOD!”

  A feminine shriek cut through my mushy thoughts and I turned my head towards the sound just in time to catch the girl doing a double-take comparing my prison, which was a mirror image of the actual reality of the bed behind her, minus me sprawled on the bed. A reluctant smile eased on my lips as I saw her industrial-type spray in one hand and a dry cloth in the other.

  She must have rubbed the mirror clean hence why she could see me now.

  That was the only way to activate the enchantment: rub the mirror several times, finally see the Jinn trapped behind it, get your wishes, then throw the Jinn back in his prison for another decade or so, I thought to myself in derision. Oh well, better make the most of it since this girl got the ball rolling.

  Right now my visitor had turned into a statue. Shock made her eyes look even bigger on her face. Boy was she a cute little thing even minus the lack of hair. Still, this meant I had to do my job. With a weary sigh, I sat up and faced her. Hoping not to spook her too much, I raised my hand in a wave and said, “Hi.”

  Well, didn’t that send her screaming?

  Casually, I stood and walked up to the glass separating us and watched as the girl ran around the room in her attempt to get away from me. I had seen this before. People usually took a good few minutes to freak out, doubt their sanity, and freak out some more before coming to terms that I was real. After all, one of the main reasons they found me in the first place was because they were looking for mystics. That’s why they found the hotel… or the hotel found them.

  Leaning against the wall dividing us, I flicked my head up to toss my hair off my shoulders and managed to look up in time to see the legs of a chair coming down to crash on the mirror.

  “Hey!” I shouted moving quickly to catch the chair before it made contact with my prison. “What are you doing?!” Effortlessly, I tugged the chair away from her, crossed into the real world, something I could do now that the girl released me, and sat down in front of the mirror, keeping it protectively behind me.

  Looking scared, the girl grabbed the lapels of her robe closer to her neck and backed away. “Who are you? What are you doing in my room?” she demanded.

  “I’m your – HEY!” With a wave of my hand I sealed the door leading to the veranda shut when she dived to it, barefoot and all, determined in escaping from my presence. With a sigh, I sealed the doors to the bathroom and the hallway door as well as the windows when she tried to open them. What was she going to do? Jump out and risk falling three floors down?

  Bounding over the bed and making a run for the hallway door, she banged her puny fists on it shouting, “Help! Somebody help me!”

  I shook my head in disbelief. Seriously, was I that scary? “Nobody can hear you.” I told her. Patiently, I crossed my arms over my chest, tossed one ankle over my other knee and settled in the chair to wait.

  She grabbed the bedside lamp, probably intending to use it as a weapon, but found it was plugged to the wall and she wasn’t strong enough to grab it, tug it and everything would come loose just like in the movies. Silently laughing, I enjoyed a few minutes watching her struggle with the lamp until she gave up and grabbed the next best thing: a fluffy pillow. I couldn’t stop a laugh that erupted from my lips on that one.

  Then I quickly sobered up when she fell on the floor like a wilted flower and started crying, hugging the pillow against herself. The sight made me stand up and moved closer but I stopped myself halfway, somehow knowing it would spook her even more if I came too close.

  “Oh, sweetheart,” I whispered, watching her appear even smaller huddled on the carpet. Leaning against a bedpost, I left her to cry for a few minutes deciding she needed to have that moment to herself. When her cries turned to sniffles, I noticed something on the base of her neck. She did have a tattoo… or from the look of it, a stick-on one.

  Acting on impulse, I flicked my fingers and a puff of smoke formed next to her that slowly shaped into a puppy. A brown Labrador the color of her eyes started yipping at her.

  Initially, she appeared frightened looking down at the adorable dog which was rolling on the floor begging to be petted by her. But who can resist a puppy, eh? As predicted, her face softened, a smile formed on her lips, and she offered a hand for the puppy to sniff.

  “Hi, boy, aren’t you sweet?” she cooed at it.

  The dog replied by jumping on her lap and showering her with wet kisses. The girl laughed and hugged the brown fluff against her chest. True love was right there on that floor, I thought in amusement. I gave her a few moments with the dog before waving my hand again. The brown puppy dissolved into smoke and swirled around her in circles.

  “What in the –?” Her big brown eyes widened in amazement and she looked up to me. Silently, I tipped my imaginary hat her way then pointed a finger to the swirling smoke.

  It circled her once more before it started to take form and morphed into a unicorn the size of the brown puppy. The wings of the magical horse stretched up high before they folded neatly to its sides. Then after a neigh and a huff, the horse touched the girls hand with the tip of its horn.

  “Oh my gosh! How –? Are you –?” she stuttered seeming more hesitant to touch the horse than when it was a puppy. The magical unicorn gave a snort, trotting away before stretching its wings and taking flight in the air. I watched her stare at the unicorn as it flew in a circle above her head a few times before diving straight for her neck.

  She managed a yelp of surprise before the unicorn disappeared where her stick-on tattoo was, replacing the peeling sticker on her skin. Moving in a flash, the girl ran around me to stand in front of the full-length mirror and tried to look at my artwork. The mass
ive bathrobe covered it, only showing her the tip of the horn. Impatiently, she tugged the robe loose keeping the front lapels closed but exposing almost her entire back in plain view to the mirror.

  She saw a beautiful unicorn tattoo with impossible details and colors inked forever into her skin.

  I saw skin and bones.

  Her skin was so pale it was almost like paper. The tattoo was like a blinding splash of color in comparison. And her bones… what was she doing to herself? I noticed now that she wasn’t bald, she shaved her head. There was a faint imprint of where her hair used to be just under her scalp. I shook my head and sighed inwardly. This is one messed up kid. But she’s not my problem. I had enough problems as it were.

  With another shrug, she moved her robe back in place and turned her head to look at me. “Thank you. It’s beautiful!” she gushed out.

  Tipping my imaginary hat at her, I gave her one of my most charming smiles making a blush appear on her cheeks much to my amusement.

  “Who are you? Where did you come from? What are you doing here? How did you do that?” she asked in rapid-fire questions.

  I held my hand up to stop her tirade. “One: I am a Jinn. Two: I came from that mirror behind you. I’m a prisoner here in this room and you managed to let me loose when you wiped the mirror… and three as I’ve said, I’m a Jinn so, I have powers.”

  “Like magic?” she gushed out.

  I gave a snort at that, “Yes, like magic.”

  “Wow… a genie!”

  Rolling my eyes at her, I walked over to the mirror and tapped the glass. “This is NOT a lamp. I am a Jinn, not a genie in a lamp.” I corrected.

  The pupils of her eyes dilated as she stared up to me. “You are so beautiful!” she all but breathed out.

  “What?” I barked out a laugh in surprise.