Chapter 3: Oddity

His mind is getting nervous, he doesn’t know what to do. He can scream, but Caden will mock him and say Bradley is very cowardly. Bradley pats his head repeatedly, trying to think calmly. He closes his eyes,  ears and slowly walks through the source of the sound.

“Bradley, you have to calm down. It's just a sound, nothing strange will happen.”

The sound is getting louder when Bradley walks. He tries to ignore it and just walks past it. After a few steps, the voice is slowly fading.

“Well. It seems safe now.”

Bradley stops his move and opens his eyes. He immediately looks for the book and tries to ignore it. Yet, he doesn’t find it. He keeps looking all and hopes to find it. His eyes move slowly and watch everything around him as he continues walking and doesn’t realize he hit something.

“Auh.”

He falls on the floor and sees something twice bigger as his size in the shape of a long oval in front of him. All surfaces are tightly covered with a large piece of brown cloth. The cloth also looks quite dusty and dirty.

“What is that? Maybe I should check it.”

At first, Bradley has no intention of checking it out and turns around. However, his curiosity grows in his chest. He decides to turn back and check it out. He steps slowly approaches with his heart beating fast. His eyes look around and he wants to make sure no one else watching it from afar.

His hand slowly pulls the cloth and starts to see the full shape of the mirror. However, it seems dust and cobwebs fall on his hair.

“Argh, dammit!” Bradley mumbles and sneezes.

It turns out to be a large mirror with a fine line along the side. Bradley tries to see his reflection in the mirror, but the glass surface is quite dusty and opaque. He takes a small white cloth not far from his position, then rubs the surface of the mirror.

"Wow, this mirror is gorgeous." Bradley's eyes lit up when he sees the carvings in the form of thin yellow gold-plated strokes. “Weird, why is the mirror placed inside here?"

He can see his whole reflection in the mirror. Bradley occasionally poses in the mirror and imitates Madam Theresa's voice again.

"I feel like you should learn a little lesson from what you have done," he said with a mocking tone.

He laughs seeing his silly face in the mirror. However, his reflection suddenly vanishes. His face pales, and his eyes gaze at the mirror without blinking. A few minutes later, the reflection of the mirror moves. It shows a man running with a pale face into the dark forest. He has been chased by some kind of monster.

"Wait. What is that?"

It has a black body with red eyes. Bradley furrows his eyebrows, he wants to see clearly what the monster looks like. Yet, the forest is too dark.  Bradley walks closer to the mirror and tries to get a better look at it.

A monster finally captures the man, it splits the man's body into two parts. Bradley screams so hard. His eyes widened and his heart stop for a moment. The horrific sight makes him speechless.

“What just happen!”

The monster inside the mirror slowly turns around and looks exactly at his position. It looks at Bradley with a scary look. Bradley slowly walks away from the mirror, his heart beats so fast and his gaze never stops looking at the mirror. The monster walks closer and closer to him.

Suddenly the light in the room lights out and the atmosphere becomes silent and dark. Bradley's heart beat faster and faster. His breath starts panting. He couldn't see what is around him right now.

His hand tries to touch something but there is nothing there. He keeps moving backward, but something makes him fall. His hands directly touch the rough and dusty surface. A puff of dust flows upwards, causing him to cough.

“Damn! I must find Caden. Now!”

However, there is a knocking sound in front of her. It grows louder. He’s getting frustrated with his mind and still remembers how the poor man dies. Bradley shakes his head, trying to forget all the scenes inside his mind. He stands up quickly, wipes the sweat from his face, and starts running.

Suddenly, the light is back on. Bradley runs away from the place. His gaze keeps looking back. He is just curious about the monster and doesn’t realize that he accidentally bumped someone in front of her.

"Auh!"

"Cad?" asked Bradley seeing Caden in front of him. “Thank God, you are okay.” Bradley helps Caden with stand-up.

"Geez, slow down." Caden furrows his eyebrows. "Argh! This dust is making me sick!” he continues complaining and coughing.

“Cad, we have to get out of here,” said Bradley panicked. “Now!”

"Hey, what are you talking about?" Caden furrowed his brows. "Why’s your face so pale?"

"Cad, I don’t have time to explain it. Come on, let's get out of here." Bradley's eyes are wide. Cold sweat continues to flow non-stop.

Suddenly, a weird sound starts to hear from the same direction. The voice sounded similar to the voice Bradley had heard earlier. Caden is getting curious, he walks closer to the source of the sound.

“Cad, what are you doing?” Bradley furrowed his brows when he sees his friend walking closer.

"Brad, I'm curious about that sound." Cad turns his head. “If you want to go, you can wait here. I will check it first.”

"Cad, but-"

Caden continues walking without noticing Bradley's words. Bradley keeps warning him, but Caden’s footsteps keep getting closer to the source of the sound.

"Brad, it looks like the sound comes from here." Caden pointed to a box and covered it with a cloth.

"Cad, don’t you dare open that thing." Bradley widens his eyes and glares at him.

"Brad, you sound scared. Don’t you?" Caden said mockingly. "You're too much imagining anyway."

“Cad, I warn you not -”

Caden without hesitating opened the cloth. Bradley quickly closes his eyes, he doesn't dare look at it. However, a few minutes later Caden laughs at him.

"Brad, it's just a rat." Caden's finger pointed at the bunch of black rats inside. "That's you afraid of?” He shakes his head. “You’re too cowardly.”

“Thank God, it’s just a rat.” Bradley strokes his chest and laughs.

"Brad, have you got the book?" Caden asked curiously. "I've been around this place, but haven't found it yet."

Suddenly, there is another sound of something. It sounds like something falling not far from their position. They immediately walk toward the source of the sound, it turns out near the mirror. Bradley stops moving his feet.

"Brad, what happened?"

“Cad, you better not go there.” Bradley tries to give a warning. "The mirror is weird, Cad."

"Heh?"

Caden laughs and ignores Bradley's words again. They keep walking and soon they see the book. The position is right in front of the mirror. Caden walks over to the book and picks it up.

“I think you should check your eye, mate.” Caden taps Bradley’s shoulder. “This is the book we have looking for.”

“Wait, I don’t see this book earlier. Geez, I swear.” Bradley sighs.

Caden tries to open the book, but it doesn't open at all, but there is a small padlock beside it. They leave the horrible room and walk toward Madam Nigera’ room located on the first floor.

Bradley tells Caden what happened downstairs. Caden shakes his head. He thinks Bradley is mostly delusional. They stopped in front of Madam Nigera's room.

"Cad, I'm serious. I see something odd down there.” He holds the doorknob and tries to convince Caden.

“Brad, I feel like your brain is starting to go wrong.” He pushes Bradley’s body and opens the door.

Bradley's face immediately turns red., Caden laughs looking at Bradley's face. Suddenly they hear footsteps behind them. They both look back without hesitation.

"Have you found the book?" She asks with a flat expression.