It was on a cold and festive night in the City of London, on December 31st 1995.

A girl, named Oriana was preparing herself for a New Year’s Party, in front her dressing table, she looked right at her reflection in the mirror but she was looking lost, she was thinking of a little girl in a room full of books and pictures of fantastic landscapes.

When she came back to reality, still in  front her dressing table, she continued to put on some make up while hearing the music downstairs and the first guests arriving . Then she heard a voice calling her, she looked around, but saw nobody. She started to be scared but she took courage and rose from her chair. The voice was still calling her name and each time the voice pronouncd her name it was with more intensity.

Oriana, in spite of her fear, decided to get closer to the place from where she could hear the voice. She arrived in front of a psyche and what a surprise when the person in the mirror was not exactly the same Oriana! What she saw was an evil version of Oriana, in dark surroundings, a blank look and a cruel smile on her face.

Oriana began to recoil and scream from fear and at that moment her dark reflection started to speak out "Oh, don’t be scared, Oriana, I’m you, I’m the part of you that you are scared to show to people".
"What? I don’t understand what’s going on here! Am I going crazy or what ? Oh my god!" Oriana stammered, her voice trembling with terror. "God? Hahaha, nobody even God can make you escape from me, I’m your dark side..." and all of a sudden the reflection sprang from the mirror and grabbed Oriana’s arm and took her right into the mirror.
Then they both fell into a kind of dark hole with no light.
"Where are you taking me?" Oriana asked while screaming. "Let me go, you are hurting me". "I can’t hurt you, you are doing this by yourself" the dark side replied.

When suddenly Oriana and her dark side landed, they found themselves in a room. Oriana recognized that room, it was her childhood room where all her childhood dreams were, her fantastic landscapes, her books and her memories.
"Why did you bring me here?" Oriana asked. "This little girl you were thinking about before I came to you, that’s us, that’s you. You were this little girl who believed in fairy tales and legends like Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny and even the Sandman" said the dark side.  Oriana looked at her dark side and said, "Yeah, like every other kid, right ? and so what? I don’t understand why I am here, why you are here". "No, you weren’t like other kids, you were special, you believed in them with all your heart, you loved them as much you as you hate them now, am I wrong? " Oriana remained silent. The dark side continued telling her story; "But one day, your family died in a tragic car accident and then by the time, you grew up slowly you became a sad teenager who hated all celebrations featured with a magic spirit. A girl who believed in nothing but what she saw and became a mean girl who wanted popularity and admiration from others to fill up this emotional lack that had smoothed the loss of hier family and the destruction of her childhood dreams".

Oriana started crying, "No, that’s not true!". The dark side screamed with anger "Yes, it is, and now you have to pay for all your actions."

 Then she opened the door and the evil version of all her childhood legends started to run to her, with anger in their eyes and blood on their clothes, one of them, Santa Claus started to scream while running after Oriana all over the house "Oriana, your family died, it’s your turn, that’s the present for naughty kids", after him the Tooth Fairy said "I'm going to pull out all your teeth so you never lose any more and never grow up again".

Oriana during her escape found a place to hide where she waited until she heard no more of these legends of horror. While waiting she heard something, no, that was not something but someone, a familiar voice, was laughing, a laugh that reassured her... then a voice called "Oriana?".

Oriana woke up in front of the mirror where she had seen her dark side. Her friend was coming upstairs, she walked into the room and said "Oriana, you are taking too long, there are guests downstairs waiting for the party to begin". Oriana started laughing and crying and jumped into her arms, "I’m so happy to see you, thank you, I love you, I think I dozed off and had a terrifying nightmare, I'm going to the bathroom to finish getting ready, can you wait for me?" Oriana said. Her friend smiled and nodded.

As Oriana walked to the bathroom, she stepped over something. When she looked down at her feet she could see a box that she had never seen before. She opened the box and found a tooth, a Christmas bell and an Easter egg and sand...

by ChaÏma, Fanny & Sofia