Hall Of Mirrors

Opening intro--A woman named Alice Walter is constantly ill and on the verge of dying every minute; a hypochondriac one might say. Alice has psychic powers when knowing diseases and illnesses of her friends and family and even knows when they are going to die, but as far as herself is concerned she is cursed and her own psychic powers wane. Until one night she gets an epiphany and sees her own death and is sure of it this time. The date of her death reads Friday the 13th and the hour is unknown. Her friends and family laugh at her games and don't take her seriously. Alice can't make them believe her or understand that this is the moment where she will indeed die and plans for her own death accordingly in…The Twilight Zone.


Alice looks in her medical book when her mother walks in.

“Oh no, reading that book again Alice? How many times have I told you not to obsess about your health so much?”

“I’m not obsessing, I’m just looking up something important.”

“What is it this time Alice….you have a fatal disease?….I know!…I know!…gallbladder disease!…or is it your kidneys this time?” Her mother looks at her quizzically. "Don’t tell me, don’t tell me, your heart is failing! That’s it, you have heart failure now, I’m sure of it!” Mrs. Walter says while pointing her finger directly at her daughter.

Alice sighs, “No mother, for your information I’m not looking in this book for myself, I’m looking in it for Aunt Sarah. She’s been complaining of severe headaches lately and I want to make sure it’s nothing serious. This has been going on for quite awhile now you know.”

“Serious like what?” Her mother asks dumbfoundedly.

“Well," Alice says nervously. "Well…maybe…a brain tumor perhaps?”

“Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha!" Mrs. Walter laughs hysterically. "That’s a good one! Very clever dear. You thought uncle Joe was having a heart attack last week and he didn’t. He only turned out to have a moderate case of indigestion. And that night the sky was falling! Why, you’ve told me I’ve had every disease in that book practically!” Her mother says mocking her.

“Yeah but mother, I diagnosed 3 people successfully so far. You are forgetting Mrs. Murphy, she had throat cancer and I spotted her symptoms right away. Remember she couldn’t talk for weeks she was so hoarse and I told her to see a doctor. I was sure something was wrong. And what about that nice man Al Thomas who had liver problems and I diagnosed him! Why I even knew when a few people were going to die and they did! Only I wished I would have gotten to them sooner so I could have saved them," Alice says with a few glassy tears streaming down her face.

“Now honey, there was nothing you could do about that. They were already too far along with their diseases. Even if you could have warned them a little sooner, it would have been too late!”

“I know mother, I know, it just hurts that’s all. Sometimes this little inner voice of mine cuts through my heart like a sharp dagger. I can see into the future at what’s going to happen to some people or sense that they have a serious disease. I know you don’t believe me most of the time when I complain of all of my illnesses, but they are real. I can’t help it if I’ve always been a sickly child. I just get scared that’s all, that I’m going to get some dreadful disease and fall off the face of the earth!”

Alice turns to look at her mother straight in the eye. “I’m afraid mother, I’m afraid of dying!”

“Well we all are, now dear."

Alice and her mother embrace tightly while Alice’s tears keep streaming down her cheeks into tiny droplets falling down off her face.

Mr. Walter walks in. “Did somebody die? Why are you crying my dear?”

“Oh she’s just talking about death again. You know how obsessed she is with dying Frederick.”

“Just calm down darling and take a deep breath."

Alice inhales deeply and then holds her breath for a brief second. Then she lets out a big gust of air.

“You will be okay honey. You know, we all are going to die someday. There is no sense in fearing the reaper I’m afraid." Frederick gives Alice a smile while mixing his scotch and soda. Alice turns to look at the pretty little, square shaped ice cubes dancing around in his glass.

“But father I fear something bad is going to happen soon. Call me crazy, but I feel something. I don’t know what it is yet and maybe I don’t want to know…but I…”

“Maybe you need to go lie down on the bed. You haven’t been getting much sleep lately dear, you should take a nap. It will make you feel better.”

“Yeah, I suppose so." Alice sulks and walks away. “ I guess I’ll see you in a little bit.”

And her mother turns to give her a tiny peck on the cheek. Alice climbs up the long flight of stairs up to her bedroom then closes the old wooden, squeaky door behind her.

Alice yawns and turns down the covers. She looks at her clock and sees that it’s 4:00 in the late afternoon. She lies on her comfortable silken sheets and puts her head down on her nice fluffy pillow. She feels as if she is floating on a cloud.

“Ahhhh," Alice says. "This feels nice.”

Alice starts to drift off to sleep. She falls deeper into a trance when all of a sudden she wakes up with a start and then begins to panic. Her heart starts to beat feverishly.

“Oh I must have drifted off for a while…I remember I saw a date in my dream," Alice says while rubbing her eyes. "The date read Friday the 13th. Yes I’m sure of it, it was on a black sign with white lettering.”

Alice is worried and terrified. Her inner voice starts to bother her and tells her that this is the day when she will indeed die.

“Am I going to die on this day?" Alice says bewildered. "That’s why I’ve been feeling like something horrible was going to happen, it’s because I’m going to die myself! I know it, I just know it and my inner voice just told me so.”

Alice throws the sheets off of her in a hurry and starts to head down the stairs almost tripping on her own feet. And there she sees the Maid Francine dusting the glass tables off with her black feather duster.

“Francine, Francine!” Alice yells.

Francine turns around. “What is it Alice?”

“You have to believe me, but I just had an epiphany! And I saw it in my dream; the date that I’m going to die. I’m sure of it this time!”

“There, there, calm down, this is crazy talk child," Francine says while shaking her head. “I know it seems ridiculous. I know it seems rather absurd even, but that little voice of mine told me I was going to die when I woke up just now. I even saw the date of my death in a dream, and it’s Friday the 13th.”

Mr. And Mrs. Walter come running in the room.

“What is all the hysteria about?”

“Mother, father, I have something very important to tell you. Now I don’t want you to laugh at me, I want you to take me seriously.” Alice starts to get a lump in her throat from being so nervous. “I’m going to die on Friday the 13th!”

Alice’s mother and father turn to look at each other with dismay and then try to hold back from laughing out loud.

“Dear, when your father and I suggested you take a nap, we didn’t suggest that you think up crazy ideas like this one!”

“But it isn’t a crazy idea mother. I saw the date in my dream, and then I woke up and my little voice told me the significance of that date.” “You have to believe me, I know it this time. I know I’m going to die!”

“She’s hysterical Frederick, do something.”

Alice continues to cry and tries to convince anyone who will listen to her.

“I don’t care if you all think I’m crazy. I know I’m going to die and I’m going to plan for it, I will!”

“Honey please, no more talk about death. We are getting pretty tired of this subject now, it’s old news.”

“You believe me don’t you Francine?” Alice asks quizzically. Francine gives Alice a frozen, blank stare. “Well, do you?”

“Well, I have to say….um…I tend to agree with your parents, we’ve all have had enough of this death nonsense.”

“I can’t believe this, this is unreal, this is a nightmare, and I can’t get through to any one of you!” Alice screams while giving a wild-eyed look to everyone standing before her. “I give up, I give up, go ahead and think what you want to think, but I’m still going to plan for my demise!” And Alice storms away and heads out for the garden doors.

Later that evening Alice makes some plans. She writes down which of her personal items will go to whom and so forth. She makes out some lists and she also plans to see some of her old friends before her fate. If only her parents would listen to her, Alice thought.

“They just think of me as a child," Alice spurts out. "I just can’t make them understand. I don’t want to die, I’m not ready to go yet. I’m so young and I’m... so afraid.”

Alice can’t help but to sit there and feel sorry for herself. She starts to cry while looking at old photo albums of her past childhood memories.

“It’s been one long dream, my whole life now, and that dream has to end I guess.” She turns the light off and tries to go to sleep.

Alice wakes up to a sunny and bright morning with the birds chirping merrily in the trees. She calls up her friend Margaret and plans to see her that morning. Friday the 13th is now approaching in just a matter of a few days. Alice wonders how she will die or at which exact time and starts to obsess over it again.

“Oh I can’t think of that now," she mutters to herself. "I’ve obsessed long enough.” She continues to get dressed and then heads down the stairs for her early morning breakfast.

Francine asks, “What will it be today Alice, eggs and bacon, hot cereal or pancakes?”

“I’ll just have something quick and easy. Maybe some cold cereal today, I’m in a hurry.”

“Oh, have plans today, have you?”

“Yes, I’ve planned to see my friend Margaret today since my days are now numbered,” Alice says sullenly. Francine rolls her eyes behind Alice’s back while gathering dishes.

The rest of the morning was quiet, too quiet in fact. Everybody was afraid to speak or say anything to Alice for fear of her talking about death again. After her breakfast Alice leaves the table to say goodbye to her mother and father before seeing Margaret.

“Hi Margaret, so nice to see you again!”

Alice runs to give her a great big hug.

“Hello, my friend so nice to see you too!"

"I can’t help but to wonder what you wanted to talk to me about today since you said it was urgent.”

“Well I am hesitant to say this, since nobody believes me, but here goes. I had a dream that I saw a date that said Friday the 13th. I woke up and panicked and then my inner voice told me that this was the day I was going to die. I’m sure of it Margaret, I have no doubts this time.”

Margaret looks worried and in her eyes is complete fear.

“Oh really Alice? I believe you, I do….I am in shock…I don’t want my best friend to die.”

“I know you don’t, I don’t want to die either.”
“Let’s you and I make a pact huh? We will make a pact to see each other in Heaven someday okay?”

“Okay!”

“Besides, we are blood sisters you know?”

“Yeah I remembered that day, I hated sticking myself with needles,” Margaret chuckles.

“Yeah I wasn’t too fond of it myself," Alice chimes in.

“I never was good with needles," Margaret says.

“Yeah isn’t that the truth!”

They both laugh and snicker as they walk toward a nearby park bench.


Friday the 13th approaches and Alice is fidgety all day and night. She drops things on the floor; she’s even tripped a few times. All she can do is sit there and wait, but wait for what she wonders?

“Could I just be paranoid about my death today?” She now has some doubts. “I haven’t died yet and it’s already 8:00 at night. Maybe I’m just being delusional…my inner voice has been wrong before. Maybe by some chance this time it will be wrong again!”

Alice walks downstairs to have some dessert with the rest of her family. The dessert is her favorite, neapolitan ice cream. But Alice isn’t interested and just stares at a pile of cream in her bowl.

“Eat your ice cream dear, it’s melting already," Alice’s mother says. “See now honey, you aren’t going to die today. You are still alive and with us.”

“Yes mother, I know, I can’t help but to doubt myself. I am still unsure though.”

“I don’t see why you would die, you are in perfectly good health. You have good color and aren’t pale. You have no fever. You aren’t in any pain of any sort.”

“Yeah I guess I’m just being silly huh?” Alice smiles.

“I’m glad you see it that way, and now you can enjoy your dessert and your life again.”

After several hours of talking to her family and the maid Francine, Alice walks up to her room to get ready for bed. She brushes her teeth and puts on her nightgown and climbs into her warm bed. She does some light reading and her mother comes in to say goodnight to her. Still, a cold chill runs through her soul like this will be the last time she will ever see her mother again, but she tries to ignore such nonsense.

Alice turns off her little pink shaded light and tries to fall asleep. She tosses and turns for a couple hours. She keeps turning the light back on to read some more and to exhaust her eyes.

“Oh this is impossible, I can’t sleep!” Alice shouts.

Francine hears a noise coming from Alice’s bedroom and gets up to see what’s the matter.

“Alice what is it? I heard you shouting. Who are you talking to, yourself?”

“Yes, I’m just so frustrated. I’m sorry if I woke you up, but I’m finding it hard to sleep tonight.”

“I have something that will help you. I have this wonderful sleeping pill that I use occasionally when I have sleeping problems. It’s only about fifty milligrams so it should be okay for you to take.”

"Thank you Francine, you are a godsend!”

Alice swallows her pill with a little water and turns off her light. She starts to feel waves rush over her after about 20 minutes and gets very groggy. Her heart starts to slow down and so does her breathing. She then is drawn into a deep sleep.


When Alice goes into REM sleep she dreams a colorful vivid dream. She heads up to the top floor of a huge mansion that she’s never seen before. She gets off the elevator with caution and walks slowly through a family-sitting parlor inside. She is barefoot in her dream and feels the black, plush carpeting on the bottom of her feet. It feels very soft and luxurious. She notices fancy, gold, ornate mirrors lining all the rooms and hallways. The room looks very beautiful, but very mysterious with its little lights flickering all around in the darkness of night.

Curious, she heads down the parlor and comes to a hallway and there are different shaped mirrors lining both sides of the walls. She comes to the end of the hallway and stops with a jolt. She looks straight ahead and death is staring at her with a black robe and a scythe in hand. She runs away and heads in the other direction. She goes down the other side of the room and tries to get on the elevator, but it won’t open for her; it seems to be stuck. She looks up at the elevator floor buttons and sees that the button on the top floor is lighted. She gets up to it a little closer and is in shock to find out that she’s on the 13th floor!

She runs and heads down the other hallway to find a way out. She looks around frantically, trying to find her way through a door, any door. She looks in the semi-darkness and sees a figure standing there. When she approaches him a little closer, his face comes into focus. A white, skeleton-like face with dark glowing eyes peer out before her. It’s death again, staring right at her!

She runs back to the elevator while pushing the buttons feverishly. She waits for the elevator to open and just stands there briefly. Her blood is pulsing through her veins and the pain in her heart is unbearable. She tries to calm down. She then notices a huge beautiful mirror to her left and turns to look in it and is horrified! Her once lovely face is just a skeleton. No more fancy dress, only a black robe. She notices that she is the figure of death herself and screams. The mirror shatters and Alice dies at once.

The next day Francine notices that Alice isn’t awake yet and went to look in on her. When she opened the door, she noticed that Alice had disappeared and wasn’t in her bed. She yelled for Mr. And Mrs. Walter.

“Come in here quick, your daughter is missing, she’s not here!”

They run for the door and look down at her empty bed. Only a black robe was draped along the mattress and no sign of Alice. They notice her dresser vanity mirror was shattered as well. They look up at the clock and they notice that it has stopped. It reads 3:13 AM, the exact timing of her death. The family is bewildered.

“Alice was right all along. She was telling us the truth about her death and we didn’t believe her," her father says while shaking his head.

“Poor child,” Francine says. “Poor, poor child.”


Closing---We've all heard the saying “crying wolf”, but in Alice's case it wasn't some figment of her imagination. No crying wolves, no paranoid delusions. Maybe this will be a lesson learned that you may never know what is fact from fiction. That you should always take such threats seriously because you just never know the timing of death in....The Twilight Zone...