The Reflection - A Short Story

It was a dark and stormy night.  Lightning struck somewhere in the near distance, followed by a crash of thunder that Vivian felt in her bones.  The bullfrogs bellowing beneath the wooden porch silenced, leaving only the sound of hissing rain.  Sighing, she stood up and walked inside to the bedroom, stopping in front of her floor-length mirror to admire her figure. “Yes, this body will do nicely,” she said, smirking.  

She opened the closet and stepped inside.  It was as if she was transported into another world – a world where the sky was red and the air was thick with burning sulphur.  She bent down to look at a terrified woman bound inside a large metal cage.  “Aww,” she cooed at the woman who shrank away from her.  “Looks like I don’t have a need for you after all.”  Vivian unlocked the cage and grabbed the woman by the hair.  Lifting her up, Vivian silenced the woman’s screams by ripping her throat out with her teeth.  Tossing the body to the side like trash, she stepped back through the closet doors into her bedroom, the scenery returning to normal.  

Stepping in front of the mirror once again, the woman reflecting at her was now horrifying to look at: crimson skin with long, dark, talon-like nails, bright yellow eyes with slit pupils like a cat, and a mouthful of, now bloody, sharp teeth.  Another crack of thunder filled the air as she spun around and laughed.   Now that she had a human body, on to her true mission:  to find and reign in Cerberus, Hades’ favorite Hell-Hound.