The Mirror

    The film began to play on the projector in the small library room. The scene was in an attic, a vanity mirror was on a table, a woman to the right of it and two men to the left. By their clothes, it was sometime in the 20s. The lighting was poor, but there was enough to make out what was going on. The table was cluttered with candles and carved with symbols and a large circle. The only out of place object was the mirror. It seemed frosted over, with no reflection on it. One of the men, a crow sat down at the table. The women, a fox with light fur already had her hands extended. The crow took her hand and invited the other man to the table. He was a human, he looked young just a little older than the group watching him. The film had no sound to it, so the occupants in the small library room could only watch the silent film play out, imagining what the three were saying to each other.
    “This is the part where they talk about who they are trying to contact.” A young woman's voice called out.
    “That's the guy, right?” Another voice said
    “Yeah.” The woman said, “James McCracken. The guy in that old photo at school.”
    “Sh!” Another voice whispered, “Pay attention.”
    The room fell quiet a gain, with only the old projector's whirring filling the room. They continued watching the small group on the screen begin to chant something. The candles took on a new color. It was hard to tell what, with the whole film being black and white. However the shift  in shade was noticeable. The woman glanced at the candles with a worried expression on her face. The crow and the human didn't seem to mind and said something to her to reassure her. The foggy look the mirror had began clearing up.
    “Look! The mirror!” A voice said, excited.
    The mirror cleared up, but there was no reflection of the camera, or anything but the flames on the table. The fox stared at the mirror and said something. The crow and human began speaking. This went on for a few minutes before the table shook, the flames on the candles on the table grew in intensity. The crow acted first, waving his feathered hand over the candles, snuffing them out.
    Just as the crow sat back in his chair, the flames on the candles were lit again. The three looked at the candles before the camera shook violently. The three all stood up, trying to do something with the mirror that was hard to make out. There were a few moments of movement before the screen went blank.
    With a click the lights returned to the small study room. The four teens shielded their eyes from the sudden introduction of light back into their vision. The small room was decorated in there college LGBT+ club's usual hastily slapped together flags that were taped to the walls.
    Bella was at the light switch, the wolf looked pleased with herself as she sat back down beside her girlfriend on the small couch. Her girlfriend, a red panda, went right back into a cuddle.
    “So, we don't even get to see James?” An alligator said as he pointed towards a picture of a young mouse on the wall.
    The old picture was there to celebrate their small towns first known gay man. A man beaten to death by a mob back in the 1800s for holding the hand of the mayor at the time's son. For his troubles, a small plaque was put up in his honor at the library, where he worked. This made the small study room the obvious choice for there little college club.
    “Wait a second? Can we rewind it?” Steven leaned forward, the bat looking intensely at the screen.
    “Yeah, see something?” The red panda said, fiddling with the old machine.
    The frames ran backwards, replaying the video in reverse. The shaking, the flames went back again until the bat pointed at the screen.
    “Stop there!” Steven said
    Clara, the red panda, stopped the projector, “What is it?”
    “Look close, don't miss it. A window, I think.” Steven said
    On the screen, was just fuzz from the harsh movements. Steven asked to go back a few frames. Eventually leading to a window up on the screen.
    “That's my window.” Steven said.
    “Your window?” Bella asked.
    Steven nodded, “I live in the old house on Baker. I moved up into the attic for more space. That's my window.”
    “Wait, keep going back.” Bella said to her girlfriend.
    Clara went through the film going backwards frame by frame, watching the three mediums deal with the séance going awry.
    “Stop!” Steven yelled, pointing at the screen
    “I don't see anything.”
    “In the mirror, turn the lights off.” Steven said, jumping off the couch to turn the lights out. As the lights dimmed, the group saw what the bat was talking about. It was a feint glow in the mirror.
    “What is it?” The alligator said
    “It's him!” the small group said all at once as they saw the ghostly figure of a mouse around their age.
    “You know what this means, right?” Bella said, getting up to turn the lights back on.
    “We gotta go to your house.” Clara grinned.
    Steven nodded, “Yeah, lemme just see if that mirror is anywhere, first, okay?”
    “I dunno if I like that idea.” The alligator stood up, “I'm not gonna fuck around with ghosts, guys.”
    “Alright, maybe not as a club activity.” Bella crossed her arms, “That'll conclude today's meeting, I guess.”
    “We got some research to do, anyway.” Clara said, taking the film off the projector.
    “You guys have fun.” The gator said, heading out of the room.
    Steven headed towards the door, “I'll let you two know if I find anything, alright?”
    The wolf and panda nodded in unison.
    “Oh!” Bella mentioned as her girlfriend packed the tech, “Also look for stuff that might have belonged to him.”
    “Yeah, I'll check the basement, too. Gonna look up how to contact him?” Steven asked, grabbing his bag.
    She nodded, “Yup.”
    “Good luck.” Steven smiled, heading out the door. He walked through the library, an energy coursing through him. It was only as he left the library that he realized that he lived in the attic of a haunted house. He had never had an experience that would suggest paranormal activity. In a way, he didn't believe it. The film was probably a hoax, anyway. But there was a thrill in finding out that presented itself to him. If this was real, what exactly would they even do?