Antique Mirror

The Midnight Article "Reflect on Your Sin" was written by u/YourLichKing and posted to r/MidnightPaper

The text of the Article was as follows:

REFLECT ON YOUR SIN Gaze into a mirror and you are likely to see yourself. Do you ever wonder, while looking, if you need a haircut; a shave; to call your parents; to brush your teeth? Perhaps what wonders through your mind is, “Who is that?” Which is exactly what two young house flipping entrepreneurs asked after installing an antique mirror.

“It was a great find, at the time, and we were tight on the budget so I found this mirror in some old antique shop downtown. It has this frosted border around the mirror’s edge with some interesting designs. I didn’t much like how it looked, but it was a fantastic deal that we couldn’t pass up! So I purchased it, adhered a screen protector on the face of the mirror, packed it up and took it to work.”  Miss [redacted], the friend and business partner of the victim, had to say when the police were questioning her.

When she arrived at the house “[redacted] was doing his usual thing, taking pictures of random spots around the house. I figured he was just planning on the next project for the place. I asked for his help to install the mirror since he was the muscles of this operation.”  After having it installed and the protective film removed they took a step back to admire their work, noticing something very odd about the mirror. “He was standing next to me in front of the mirror, I saw myself just fine. Him though, It was like someone was standing right there in front of him, with their backside towards the mirror! It had this long dark hair, torn clothing, and this skin that turned that rotten color. You know, the kinda tone they show in the movies! I’ve never seen a dead body before, but I can tell you for a fact, whoever was in front of [redacted] was dead! We both freaked out and [redacted] turned to run, but when he did, this dead girl's reflection turned along with him facing the mirror now. Terrified, I fell to the floor, pushing myself as far away from the mirror as I could.”  Miss [redacted] described the woman in the mirror in further detail, stating the image of the woman in the mirror had cuts and bruises all along her face, her teeth missing and eyes scooped out. “That’s when [redacted] tried to leave, but he couldn’t. He was stuck there! Then he started to walk awkwardly backwards towards the mirror like the woman was in full control and he, he, ... WELL YOU ******* SAW HIM!” cried Miss [redacted] before shutting down and refusing the answer anymore questions the officers had for her

The hospital staff had informed the police that Mr. [redacted] had suffered a dislocated joint in his right shoulder, a compound fracture to the right ulna, and lacerations on the index finger of his right hand. When investigators arrived they noticed blood smeared on the mirror, possibly  belonging to the victim, spelt out “1Se3You!”. An arrow was drawn from the writing pointing to the reflected image of Mr. [redacted]’s laptop, lying near a toolbox outside the bathroom doorway. The Chief Investigator had only this to say about what was on the laptop,  “I’ve been doing this job for 22 years now and I’ve seen some things in my day. This though, this was just inhumane.”  Located on the desktop was a folder labeled ‘I see you’, inside were dozens of pictures of young women abused; beheaded; burned; tortured. All while Mr. [redacted] stood behind them taking pictures and recordings with his cellphone.

The police are reopening cold cases that were linked to various websites on the Dark Web with the new evidence. Mr. [redacted] is being looked at as a suspect in these murders.

As for the Mirror my dear readers, when the investigation moved on so did the location of the mirror. So be wary of your past sins, for your reflection might become them.

Description:

The Antique Mirror is an Object-Type Oddity, that appears to contain an Entity-Type Oddity within its glass. The mirror was found in an unnamed antique shop in the unnamed town where the events in the Article took place.

The Mirror itself has a frosted border around its edge with "some interesting designs," what kind of designs these might be is unknown, as the witness did not describe them in any more detail.

The Mirror was encountered by two young "house flippers," who were remodeling a house they had just purchased. One of them, an unnamed male, stood in front of the Mirror while working...a mistake that would cost him his life. Immediately, upon standing in front of the Mirror, the young man's reflection was altered. What was reflected in front of him was a person standing in front of him, with their back to the young couple. This mysterious person in the reflection appeared to be female, with skin that appeared to be heavily decomposed, with long dark hair and tattered clothing.

Upon seeing this reflection, the male house flipper turned around to run, but the reflection turned with him. Now that the person in the mirror was facing her head-on, the witness was able to see the figure in the Mirror...and immediately wished she hadn't. The woman in the Mirror was covered in cuts and bruises, and had no eyes, as they appeared to have been "scooped out."

It appears that, once a person stands in front of the Antique Mirror, the Entity within it is able to control their movements. It's an inverted reflection in that way, instead of mirroring the movements of whoever stands in front of it, it forces whoever stands in front of it to mirror its movements.

The Entity in the Mirror forced the young man to walk toward it...and then proceeded to attack and kill him, leaving his arm mangled and broken. The Entity in the reflection had apparently forced him to write "1Se3You" on the Mirror's glass, and made him point at his own laptop.

On the laptop, responding officers found dozens of digital images of women being tortured and abused, with the young man in each photo, taking photos and videos with his cellphone. These women were the subjects of unsolved cased linked to the Dark Web.

The Entity:

The Entity housed in the mirror shared many similarities with the victims found on the young man's computer. She was described as being covered in cuts and bruises and appeared to have had her eyes removed...all this points to the fact that the Entity in the Mirror was the restless spirit of a torture victim.

The entity's motives are not explicitly stated in the Article, but it can be inferred that it targeted the young house flipper specifically.

If the evidence found on his computer is anything to go by, the man in question was a serial killer involved in the recording and sale of snuff films on the Dark Web.

The entity, then, could be one of his victims. The Article described that the women in the photos were "abused, beheaded, burned, tortured." The Entity was beaten, cut up, and had her eyes gouged out. She fits into the man's M.O as a sadistic serial killer.

The message that the Entity forced the man to write on the mirror was "I see you," possibly referring to the fact that she was able to see through his false persona and see his twisted deeds.

What is not known, however, is if this same Entity is always present in the Mirror, of if the Mirror is simply a conduit through which the ghosts of a person's own ill deeds are able to come through and punish them.

What is almost a certainty, however, is that if an innocent person were to stand in front of the Mirror, they would be unharmed. The witness, countless law enforcement and forensic personnel, and other patrons of the mysterious antique shop all walked in front of the Mirror, and were thus reflected on it, and were unharmed.

The Mirror itself disappeared after the investigation, possibly to seek out other perpetrators of violence (possibly specifically violence against women) and punish them.

Origins:

The maker of the Mirror is unknown. The Article makes no mention of any labels or indications that may suggest at a manufacturer. It's possible that the Mirror simply came into existence on its own, possibly with the explicit purpose to punish those who harm others.