The Woman in the Mirror
One dark night at around 1 am, Anna wakes up from a bad dream. She looks up at her Rainbow Bright canopy above her and tries to smile away the lingering thoughts of the nightmare. The day before, at school, some girls were talking in the bathroom and kept putting their faces up to the mirrors covering them.
When she asked what they were doing, one of the girls responded, “trying to call Black Aggie.” Black Aggie is a local urban legend in Baltimore. The story goes that a statue of a young woman sits in a Cemetery somewhere in Baltimore.
The legend tells of this woman being abused by her husband but the real mystery begins with her statue. They say if you sit on her lap, death will come soon after. But to a group of 4th-grade girls, the more interesting part of the legend is that supposedly if you say “I hate you Black Aggie” 5 times in a mirror, she will appear with an axe in her hand and kill you.
Anna was both terrified and amused by this tale. It drew her in. Of course, there are rules to this little legend. You must be in complete darkness. That’s why the girls were putting their hands and faces up to the mirror to try to block out any light.
So at 1am when Anna wakes from a bad dream, she remembers the legend of Black Aggie. Anna looks over at her ceramic unicorn sitting on her nightstand. Thinking the horn can be used as a possible weapon, she grabs her unicorn and walks over to her mirror hanging on the wall at the foot of her bed.
Armed and ready, Anna looks in the mirror at her reflection. She doesn’t give much thought to the girl staring back at her. Anna remembers that the room has to be completely dark in order for this to work, so she reaches down to the night light below the mirror and turns it off.
Anna is a little scared now. The dark has never really hurt her. In fact, it has been a friend when she needed to hide from adults trying to hurt her. But tonight, the darkness is scary.
Tonight the darkness is not a welcome friend but rather a taunting menace. Nonetheless, Anna sums up her courage and looks into her mirror.
She says the words,
“I hate you, Black Aggie.
I hate you, Black Aggie.
I hate you, Black Aggie.”
Anna’s pulse quickens as she says it a 4th time,
“I hate you, Black Aggie.”
Anna's palms start to sweat as she grips her unicorn tightly and takes a gulp,
“I hate you, Black Aggie.”
After a moment, Anna watches her reflection in the mirror change. Her blond hair turns black and her unicorn morphs into an axe. The girl in the mirror changes into a woman with black eyes and an evil smile.
Anna’s heart starts beating faster as she grips her unicorn even harder. The axe begins to move and at that moment, Anna instinctively reaches downs and turns on her night light.
Black Aggie is still there! The light has only illuminated her angular face and cruel expression more. Anna jumps into her bed, covers herself with her blanket, and holds onto her unicorn while laying as flat as she can under the blanket, covered head to toe.
Anna stays completely still. She doesn’t even breathe. After a few moments, she lifts her blanket ever-so-slightly to take a peek at her nightstand. A shadowy movement freezes Anna in place.
Then she hears footsteps. The floorboards creek with each step. Her closet door opens. The footsteps get closer and closer to her. The blanket is lifted quickly and its her aunt.
The closet in Anna’s room connects to her aunt’s room. She must have walked through to come to check on her.
“What are you doing up, young lady?” Her aunt asks with a look so stern that even Black Aggie would be scared. Anna responds quickly, “I had a bad dream.”
Her aunt’s voice softens, “oh. Well, okay but you need to get some sleep.” Noticing Anna clutching her ceramic unicorn, she says no more and leaves the room.
Anna stays in that frozen position, clutching her unicorn until morning.
Thanks so much for reading!
