7.

A carnival has come to town. Madam Russo, within that fortune telling tent of hers, has been blessed with longevity of life just as she has been cursed with a foretelling of what is to be. No matter what the intended use of her skills so happens to be, and so long as she exists, an element of displeasure and fear will always exist and could always come without a moment's notice. Something, someone, however, is on the way bringing an end with it, Madam Russo's own end.

With that gift of hers too she knows something is coming and she has known for some time. Not wanting to be a part of what is coming will not make any difference. She could run, she could hide but there is no point, delaying the inevitable won't be much of a delay and of course, she knows this.

On this October night in 2013 she doesn't hang around in her tent. She closes her services for the evening, for good in fact, and fears every step she may or may not take outside of her area. A usual carnival atmosphere is in full effect with plenty of locals having come looking for a good evening out. It is a fun for all kind of evening, for all indeed apart from Madam Russo who feels that darkness coming, and the evening time sky reflects this despite being enhanced by spaced lighting.

Whatever feeling or power in existence it is that is guiding her, it tells her that her end will come in the funhouse or more specifically within the carnival house of mirrors so avoiding that area will do nothing other than once again delay the inevitable. Despite being open to the public, the house of fun is relatively quiet in the moment she comes to be within it.

She has lived her life well, indeed longer than most and longer than she would have expected. There was a time she expected this to come sooner and if a way out were to be chosen or could be chosen for her or by her then what is about to come would not be it. Yeah, drawn to the house of fun and the room of mirrors where in which Madam Russo sees reflections of ten individual girls, each standing perfectly still and each with an individual mirror, all of whom so happen to be thirteen years of age or close to thirteen.

One of these reflections belongs to the granddaughter of Heather Grace, a young lady who visited Madam Russo way back in 1978. Another reflection is that of a girl encased by light, she is set apart from all the others with the exception of one, and that reflected exception is that of a girl who belongs to one world and lives within another. Only one of these reflections belongs to someone within the room and she is here under instruction from Darkness himself.

Madam Russo begins to make her way through a maze of mirrors sure that she will not make it all the way through alive. She cannot simply walk away and hide for that would surely bring her a darker fate. Live in hope and hope to live right through. This is her life test, life trial.

Ten reflections turn into one, one that turns from stillness into motion, moving from one mirror to the next and becoming disproportionally distorted with each varying mirror and as the fortune teller moves through, her own reflection distorts differently from one mirror to the next until one mirror reflects Madam Russo's death despite the fact it has yet to occur.

Seeing a foretelling in one of those mirrors ensures that the blood in her still living face drains and that the beat of her still beating heart quickens. The vision of her own body laying still in a bloody mess is not an easy thing to look at.

Echoing giggling laughter makes this moment all the more disconcerting. Then everything stops. Lighting goes out and the end rightly begins here. Light returns but only in flashes and there is only one person other than Madam Russo being reflected in the mirrors, a girl, a girl who had been given instruction to end the life of another.

The flashes of light allow Madam Russo to get an extended look at the reflection of that girl and when she attempts to find where this girl might actually be standing, an impossibility hits. The young teenage girl is nowhere close to where she should be standing in order to have a reflection. A single crack appears within that mirror, then another crack appears and another and all of a sudden, the whole mirror cracks and the reflection of a girl who isn't there, runs away.

A brief echo of laughter returns. More mirrors begin to crack, some shatter completely. Shards of glass rise up into the air and hover. This is it; an end is seconds away. One shard of glass propels itself into a torso then another does the same and then another. Madam Russo begins to bleed, and she cannot even begin to apply pressure to stop any of the bleeding. Attempting to remove the shards only cuts her hands and when one shard is removed, if it can be removed, then another enters.

Her cries of pain would be difficult to listen to if there were others around to hear them. The pain becomes intolerable and blood loss is becoming great and before long Madam Russo finds it all too difficult to remain standing then it is only a matter of moments before she is struggling with consciousness.

The girl, she is no longer reflected; she momentarily stands dithering over a dying woman, and proud in her accomplishment, then she dithers no more. She is gone though she soon is replaced by someone else, a young woman.

'Who did this to you?' this young woman asks of Madam Russo. When no response comes, the young woman crouches down, 'who did this? Can you tell me?'

Madam Russo struggles through her pain, 'a girl ... twelve ... maybe ... thirteen years old ...' she struggles some more then neither speaks nor struggles again.

The young woman returns to a standing position and speaks the name Anna Mitchell then begins to walk away before vanishing.

***

July 14th, 2020

Away from darkness and away from shadow, Lexi Hansen confronts Anna Mitchell though how far away can anyone be from any kind of darkness and shadow.

'You murdered a woman ...'

'I've murdered many women, men too and hurt many others ... so have you ...'

'There is one woman in particular, back in October of 2013, a woman within a room of mirrors ...'

'That was under father's instruction ...'

'You followed the instruction and you enjoyed it too ...'

'Of course, ... I always enjoy my work ... don't you?'

'That woman did not deserve what she got. There is history there with my grandmother. I would like for father to explain to me why the fortune teller got what she did.'