VANITY
You hold your breath as you approach the vanity. Despite being one antique among many, this piece was obviously a work of art in its own time, delicately and carefully handcrafted and painted. Despite no visible power source, the globe bulbs around the mirror glow, refracting off the mirror dizzyingly. A lone perfume bottle sits upright on the surface, but its contents have likely long since evaporated. There’s a locked drawer with no visible keyhole, instead there’s an odd set of typewriter keys set below it.
You gently lift the beautiful glass bottle, feeling for a moment like a thief in a jewelry shop. You glance around, unable to shake the feeling someone is watching you handling things you shouldn’t. Even though it’s obvious the vial is empty you know you have to try it. You agitate the bottle before lifting the stopper. Surprisingly, for a brief moment you’re surrounded by a soft, floral scent.
“I do wish you’d respect my belongings.”
Your mouth goes dry as you meet the dark, cool gaze of Vera McDermott herself. She sits before her vanity mirror, the soft lights somehow both shining through her shadowy form and highlighting her glossy hair. She tilts her head, and though her expression is neutral, you can’t help but feel reprimanded.
“Oh for the days when people knew common decency, instead of barging into one’s home and manhandling their private property. Well, you’re here now, what did you want to ask?”
“I want to know about that day.”
“Goodness. Straight to the personal topics. What specifically did you want to know?”
“It really did seem like a normal day. A lovely side table I had ordered arrived in town, but there was no way I was allowing the brutes at the post office to deliver it whenever they got around to it. I brought our lodger along to do the actual lifting, so I had to bring Jane as well for security’s sake, you see. Virgil had been holed up in his room for too long, so I insisted he come too. We hadn’t even made it to town, before that awful car broke down, and just as a storm had begun to roll in. We were given a lift back home by a passerby, that salesman fellow. He was a bit talkative, but pleasant nonetheless, and I invited him in with the hope that the storm would pass shortly and he could return us to pick up our vehicle. Once inside, well… there were refreshments to be made. That awful neighbor was there, who knows why, and that’s where things get rather blurry for me. I’d rather not discuss this anymore right now.”
“My darling Charles was away on business, in a completely different time zone in fact, three hours behind. He didn’t get back home until several days after… after it all happened. I would have given anything for anyone else to be the one to discover that gruesome scene. To have to watch him find us there… What a clever man though. He dedicated himself to finding a way to speaking with us. Well, not us, but with Elsie. Charles wouldn’t speak to anyone else. It seems he suspected one of us of committing a heinous murder and subsequent suicide. I thought watching him discover our bodies was awful, but worse still was watching the obsession with this crime eat him alive. Then, when finally he closed his eyes for that last time, I thought I would at last be reunited with him but… he simply ceased to be.”
“Good gracious. You are a nosy one aren’t you? I can not see how it would matter, unless you thought his ghost had come back to do us all in. Though I guess I don’t quite have the right to scoff at that idea. If you must know, my first husband was an unkind man. Though he died young, I cannot bring myself to be sad about it, especially after meeting Charles. To think ours was a chance meeting while he was on a business trip. It was love at first sight. He was my heaven. Until that night, of course, when I was torn away from him and trapped in this purgatory.“
You gently lift the beautiful glass bottle, feeling for a moment like a thief in a jewelry shop. You glance around, unable to shake the feeling someone is watching you handling things you shouldn’t. Even though it’s obvious the vial is empty you know you have to try it. You agitate the bottle before lifting the stopper. Surprisingly, for a brief moment you’re surrounded by a soft, floral scent.
“I do wish you’d respect my belongings.”
Your mouth goes dry as you meet the dark, cool gaze of Vera McDermott herself. She sits before her vanity mirror, the soft lights somehow both shining through her shadowy form and highlighting her glossy hair. She tilts her head, and though her expression is neutral, you can’t help but feel reprimanded.
“Oh for the days when people knew common decency, instead of barging into one’s home and manhandling their private property. Well, you’re here now, what did you want to ask?”
“I want to know about that day.”
“Goodness. Straight to the personal topics. What specifically did you want to know?”
“I want to know about that day.”
“Goodness. Straight to the personal topics. What specifically did you want to know?”
“It really did seem like a normal day. A lovely side table I had ordered arrived in town, but there was no way I was allowing the brutes at the post office to deliver it whenever they got around to it. I brought our lodger along to do the actual lifting, so I had to bring Jane as well for security’s sake, you see. Virgil had been holed up in his room for too long, so I insisted he come too. We hadn’t even made it to town, before that awful car broke down, and just as a storm had begun to roll in. We were given a lift back home by a passerby, that salesman fellow. He was a bit talkative, but pleasant nonetheless, and I invited him in with the hope that the storm would pass shortly and he could return us to pick up our vehicle. Once inside, well… there were refreshments to be made. That awful neighbor was there, who knows why, and that’s where things get rather blurry for me. I’d rather not discuss this anymore right now.”
“My darling Charles was away on business, in a completely different time zone in fact, three hours behind. He didn’t get back home until several days after… after it all happened. I would have given anything for anyone else to be the one to discover that gruesome scene. To have to watch him find us there… What a clever man though. He dedicated himself to finding a way to speaking with us. Well, not us, but with Elsie. Charles wouldn’t speak to anyone else. It seems he suspected one of us of committing a heinous murder and subsequent suicide. I thought watching him discover our bodies was awful, but worse still was watching the obsession with this crime eat him alive. Then, when finally he closed his eyes for that last time, I thought I would at last be reunited with him but… he simply ceased to be.”
“Good gracious. You are a nosy one aren’t you? I can not see how it would matter, unless you thought his ghost had come back to do us all in. Though I guess I don’t quite have the right to scoff at that idea. If you must know, my first husband was an unkind man. Though he died young, I cannot bring myself to be sad about it, especially after meeting Charles. To think ours was a chance meeting while he was on a business trip. It was love at first sight. He was my heaven. Until that night, of course, when I was torn away from him and trapped in this purgatory.“