Before the Mirror

Joseph wiped his trembling palms against his trousers three times in a rhythmic, nervous twitch before pressing the record button. 'I’ve done it, Caleb. The package is in the wooden box beneath the third marble slab. Do not open it until dawn.' He tossed the phone onto the sofa as if it were a live coal, retreating two steps. In the shadowed corner of the room, the full-length mirror was no mere piece of furniture; it was a void, a gravitational sink devouring the light and the certainty in his heart. He approached it slowly, his shoes groaning against the rotted floorboards, the ragged cadenc...