All Sales Are Final

A Story by Ilanna

Hiya! I'm not going to tell you what my story is about because it will ruin the surprise haha :)- have a beautiful day

All Sales Are Final

By Ilanna

I had felt a refreshing gust of wind as I entered the market. I scanned my surroundings while trying to take in the overwhelming sight of tables and food trucks lined up and down the markets parking lot. Two men were trying to convince passersby that they were selling a genuine hat of Abe Lincolns for 20$. I looked to my left and saw a woman shouting “two pretzels for a dollar get 'em here!” I had only come to get some apples from one of the many produce stands but was easily distracted by the bright colors and cheery sounds of the tents and stands that surrounded me like a sort of warm hug. I spent what felt like forever browsing the aisles, sampling the food, tossing change in performers hats to get a song request in, and staring into the pen in the center of the market that was filled with guinea-pigs. I had always wanted to buy one but never did. I had just finished paying for my fruit, fuji apples to be more specific when something caught my eye, what looked to be a large silver platter was leaning up against a card table.

I made my way over to the table to get a better look at the platter. Upon further inspection I realized that the “platter” was actually a beautiful mirror, its frame was covered in intricate floral patterns and gold leaves stemmed out from the corners. I traced over the pattern with my finger, trying to memorize every indent. I turned the mirror on its back trying to see if there was a price tag. I heard a voice from behind me say “pretty ain’t it?” I turned around and was faced with a woman who could not have been taller than four eleven, she must have thought I had not heard her because she repeated herself but this time much louder “PRETTY AINT IT?” People around us turned to face her, I nodded my head in agreement. After all, she was right, the mirror was stunning.

The mirror was now in the woman’s hands, I suppose she must have noticed I was interested in buying it because she was shouting prices at me. She started saying the price was 120$ but after a lot of arguing I got her to drop the price to 85$. I opened up my wallet and handed her four twenties and one five-dollar bill, as I handed her the money she began to snigger, not like a joyful laugh but more like an evil cackle. And through her laughter, she said “All sales are final.” Although I was a bit disturbed by her laughing fit I doubted that I would have a reason to return the mirror.

I lugged the mirror and my apples back to my car and put them both in my trunk. As I drove back to my apartment I wondered why the woman had been laughing, I thought she may have had some kind of condition that makes it hard for her to control her laughter or something. I pulled into my parking space, popped the trunk, and carefully carried the mirror up the stairs to my apartment. When I got inside I laid the mirror down on my bed and sat down next to it. I had not noticed until then how dirty the mirror was, so I used my hand and wiped off some of the dust so that I could see my reflection. But I noticed immediately something was off. As I stared into the mirror grinning my reflection glared back at me, scowling, arms crossed with a look in her eyes that I can not describe as anything other than petrifying. I leaped back knocking the mirror off my bed, it fell to the ground and shattered into a thousand pieces. And from the shards emerged a shadow and for a moment the world stood still and neither of us moved. But the shadow lunged at me, grabbing at my legs, pulling me off the bed, dragging me through the broken glass as my white carpet became stained with red. My shrieks filled the air as I pleaded with the dark figure but the shadow did not want to listen. And as she pulled me through the frame of the mirror into her shadow realm she whispered to me “All sales are final.”