She looked over at him, trying to bring back her warm and happy smile. Luke was able to tell she was forcing it on though. “It’s ok Jami, I know it’s tough what you’re going through. But, just to let you know, I’m there for you. I always will be.” He then kissed her on the forehead. She smiled, this one genuine. “Thank you, thank you so much,” She basically leapt on Luke as she strongly embraced him in a hug, “For a long time I thought men were dirt bags but you’ve proved me wrong. I-I have never felt this secure in my life.”

She pressed her head against his neck and closed her eyes and smiled. She wondered how this trip would’ve been without Luke. She didn’t think too hard about it though, the answer was simple. She would’ve had a horrible time.

Luke also smiled as Jami held onto him. He was glad that he meant so much to her because she meant so much more to him. Luke warmly reminisced on the past few days. He never regretted anything that happened, he would relive it all if he could.

What Luke and Jami didn’t know was that there was a chill that came across the room. A face appeared in the window next to them. The face looked up, it then moved up to the ceiling where it became no other than a dark spirit. The shadowy figure descended from the ceiling and entered Luke’s body. Luke’s features brightened up giving his this glow as the spirit possessed him. It then quickly left him and continued on through the halls.

“Hey Jami?” He asked rather mischievously, “Follow me, I wanna show you something.”


Jami held onto Luke’s hand as they walked through the dreary halls. Somehow this hall looked familiar. She couldn’t place how though. She smiled at Luke’s excitement. But inside she felt more of a frown. Where was Luke taking her? He’s been everywhere she has. She shrugged. It didn’t matter; the only thing that did was that she was with Luke.

They paused as they passed several large mirrors. Jami stared at it, looking at their reflection. “Wow!” She said quietly, “It looks almost like it goes on forever!” Luke nodded with a smile, “Yea, amazing what mirrors can show.” He then brought his hand up to the cold smooth surface. They moved on.

Walking through the hall they came upon another mirror. Or so it seemed. She looked over at the corner at the bucket and mop resting on the stonewalls. Surely this was another mirror. She looked over at Luke, “Is it real?” Luke brought his hand up to the illusion and watched it pass through. “Nah,” he smiled. They jumped through each fake mirror. Jami looked back at the mops. “Whoever did this must’ve put some thought into it to buy all those mops and place them like that.”

Luke looked back too, “Yeah. I tell ya, this place is full of surprises.” He then looked up at the large doors in front of their path. He hesitated at pushing through and entering the room. Something wasn’t right about what was in there. It felt like he was endangering Jami. He didn’t know why, but he did.

He didn’t even understand why he brought her to this place. He’d never been here. Why’d he want to show it to her? But he felt his conscience urging him to move in, to see what’s inside. He looked over at Jami undecided. She looked into his blue eyes, “Well? Are we gonna open it or not?”

Luke looked up at the ceiling trying to decide. “I-I don’t know. What do you think?”

“Let’s do. Besides, what harm ever came from opening a door?”

“You’re right,” Luke smiled at her curiosity. Besides, if there’s any danger we can leave as quickly as we entered, he told himself. With that both of them pushed on each of the double doors. The clanking and shifting of gears was heard as the doors opened and carnival music began to drown out any other sound. “A carousel!” Jami laughed looking down at the slowly spinning floor. Luke laughed also; his worries were for no reason! What harm could be done in a carousel?

They carefully stepped on the decorated circular floor. Both stumbling for a moment at the awkwardness of a moving ground. The regained their balanced shortly though. Jami stared incredulously at the beautiful design under her feet and the sculpture in the center. She began to spin around with her arms outspread moving around the room taking in the childish and joyful atmosphere.

“This is so cool!” she exclaimed to Luke. He smiled at his praise. But he remained still watching the one he loved reaching more of a childish state. Jami gave a questioning look at Luke as he stood rather awkwardly in the rotating room. She came over and grabbed his hands. “Don’t be a stiff!” She told him moving them close to the center of the room, “C’mon! Loosen up!”

With that she began to make them both spin. Luke laughed and forgot about the strangeness he felt in this room. The world became a blur as they continued their rotation.

The bright yet eerie carousel music rung in their ears as they forgot about everything around them. The problem was, they were so absorbed in each other that they didn’t notice the doors, their only exit, had closed and blended in with the other surrounding mirrors.

They broke free from their spin and Luke grabbed onto the head of the sculpture in the middle of the room. He leaned over and gave a breathless laugh waiting for the room to stop spinning. He shook his head and laughed, it’d be a while before this room stops spinning!

He looked over at Jami who also felt dizziness overcome her. She leaned up against one of the slender golden pillars and also laughed quietly to herself. Luke walked over to her and bowed offering her his hand, “May I have this dance?” Jami looked down at his unsure, “But I don’t really know how to.” Luke took her hand anyway and pulled her close to him, flashing her a charming smile. “Me neither.”

They pranced clumsily around the carousel, unaware of the horror that was happening outside of their fantasyland. Luke smiled and laughed with Jami as they attempted to waltz. She was so relaxing, so comforting. It amazed him that she could love such a practical guy like him. He found himself bringing their dance to an end. His face came towards hers and he began to kiss her passionately on the lips. Jami brought her hands up and began to caress his face and lazily run her fingers through his hair.

They slowly pulled away but Luke firmly still held her close to him. She slowly opened her eyes and gave a dreamy smile. She then spoke with a soft and relaxing voice, “How’d you know about this place?”

Luke had pondered this question also. He then realized his answer, “I don’t know. I just had a feeling to come here.”

Jami smiled again and placed her hand on the back of Luke’s neck and pulled him forward. They kissed again, this time it was shorter. Jami absorbed every moment of it; this would be most likely the last hours she would spend with Luke. It was defiantly going to be a great lasting memory. “I’m glad you did,” She told him, “If there was anything that I wanted to be a lasting memory this would be it.”

“There can be far better memories.”

“Not right now.” She caressed his face again, savoring the feel of his skin. She began to lean toward him when she felt a chill run through her bones. She looked around the room, but found nothing. Then, she looked over at her reflection. It was normal, for the moment. She watched the mirror intently, waiting for something to happen.

Then her reflection looked to the left. Screams were heard, Nell’s screams. There was a pounding, like the walls would cave in. Her reflection began to run to the right when screams came from there too. These belonged to Dr. Marrow and Theo. An evil sound erupted from behind the mirrors, almost like laughter, “You’re trapped, no way to your friends. I am their owner now.”

Jami’s eyes grew big and searched frantically into the mirror for some sign, some vision, that everything would be all right. She then felt the weight of Luke’s hand on her left shoulder. She looked at his reflection in the mirror for a moment, and then turned to him.

“Is everything ok?” Luke’s concerned eyes penetrated her. Jami looked down to the floor, unsure how she should answer the question. The distant demonic voice came again, “You will not stop the haunting.” She looked up again at then mirror; she looked over at her reflection, now following her motion. She next looked over at Luke’s reflection, his hand still resting on her shoulder, her eyes followed up to Luke’s face-

Only his head wasn’t there for her to see his face. Just that of a neck, revealing his insides. Jami quickly pulled away from Luke and stumbled as the rotating floor caught her off balance. Too off balance; she fell to the floor with a hard thud. It felt like she had hit her head. Luke rushed down to her. “Jami! Jami! What’s the matter?” He rolled her over and held her tightly by the shoulders. He began to shake her, “Jami! Wake up! What’s the matter with you?”

Her head lolled from side to side but she didn’t show signs of waking up. Luke’s voice cracked as he continued to shake her, “Jami? Honey, wake up! Please! Tell me what happened!” He began to feel it was useless. She wasn’t dead, he thanked God for that, she was just unconscious. He rested her back on the ground and stood up.

They were trapped he realized, he wasn’t able to tell which door would open up to the outside. He began feeling each mirror, pushing and pulling, but there was no way out. The only way for it to be opened was from the outside. Luke leaned his back against one of the pillars; he ran his fingers through his blonde hair. He couldn’t do anything, he was helpless. They’d just have to wait out their escape. He looked over at his lover, her eyes shut and her skin pale.

No! He told himself, there’s got to be a way out! I will not let Jami stay like this! He began to feel rage toward Hugh Kraine; he wanted to tear down this house. He wanted to hurt the deceased man in the most effective and painful way he could. It was a stupid thought, he knew that, but his imagination accomplished the thought that he could hurt Kraine someway or another.

Luke stood up again and looked at the mirrors, at his reflection, the now haunting carousel music playing in his head and ringing in his ears. He then let out a cry of anger and charged the mirror. He rammed his body against the hard surface, it hurt but just maybe it could open the doors somewhere. He continued his cry, ramming his body against each wall. He didn’t realize it but it felt as though he was on the verge of becoming insane.

He began to run into the mirrors again, he stared at his reflection, watching it also come toward him. Then, there was a noise, his reflection’s head was swiped clean off his shoulders, and laid on the ground to the right of his feet. Luke stopped abruptly and bewilderedly stared at his decapitated body. He gulped and rubbed his neck, feeling his jawbone and the back of his head. Yep, it was still there.

Luke looked away from his reflection, feeling as though he could throw up. Then he heard a voice, it was muffled from the walls but it was a voice. “Hello?” It said, “Is there anyone here?” Luke looked in the direction the voice was coming from. He began to run over and beat on the mirror. “Yes! I’m in here! I’m in here! Open the door! I’m trapped!” He yelled while furiously beating on the mirrors.

“Hello?” The voice began to sound more distant. It hadn’t heard him! It was moving on! “I’m right here! Can’t you hear me? I’m here! Please! Let us out!!!” He frantically banged on the mirrors. There was no reply. Whoever it was hadn’t heard them. Luke stopped banging on the cold surface. He rested his hands on the mirror and pressed his forehead against the glass.

It truly was hopeless; there was no way to get out. Then, as if God had answered his prayers, he heard the creak of an old door opening. He looked around-

And saw Theo peering in from the outside with one of the doors completely open. He smiled and looked up toward the ceiling and mouthed out, “Thank you.” Theo squinted her eyes and questioned, “Luke?” He nodded. Then began to walk over to Jami’s limp body. “What are you doing here?” She inquired.

“I truly do not know,” He replied. She looked down at Jami’s body in his arms. Concern began to shine in her eyes, “What happened to her?”

“She fell and is now unconscious. We need to lay her down somewhere,” He told her. Theo caressed Jami’s face. “C’mon, I know where we can put her. And after that, will you help me find Nell? I don’t see her anywhere!”

“Alright.” Luke agreed.