Antique

The shop was old and didn't really fit well into the surrounding, but it had been recommended to me as the best antique shop in the area, maybe it was the best, I mean the shop itself was antique. I reached for the door and pushed in, a tiny bell above the door jingled alerting the shop owner that someone had just entered. The old man looked up from the glass ware he was cleaning behind the counter and smiled at me, I smiled back and closed the door, making my way to the counter, he put down the glass ware and gave me his full attention.

"Hello sir." I greeted.

"Hello young man," he coughed, "how may I help you?"

"Ah...I heard this was the best antique shop in the area?" The old man smiled. "I would just like to look around and maybe find something of interest, I love antiques."

"Yes, yes." He rounded the corner and came to stand in front of me. "you're new here?"

"Yes I am. I just got a house down the road, the one on sixth street."

"Ohh..! Haha.. that old one? You have quite the eyes young man, haha, quite the eyes. Let me show you round!"

"Thank you sir." I beamed at him, yes I did make a wise choice, I didn't go to business school for nothing. I laughed and followed behind, looking round at the wonderful display.

He showed me an old grandfather clock that was huge and would surely weigh more than a ton, an old and well polished oak wood table and a lamp made of Carmel bones - ok no, that one was creepy. As we walked round the store, I saw some of the most bizarre looking objects, some were exceptionally beautiful as they were weird and some I would never want to have in my possession as they looked haunting.

"So which side did you come from?" The old man engaged me as we walked.

"North Carolina, I moved here for my sick mother and to resume at my new job."

"Impressive! You're young and industrious." He praised, I remained silent and smiled at the man, he wasn't bad after all. "You know, I have a few things that used to belong inside that house you bought, wanna see?"

"Really??" That was good. "Yes please."

He took me to a corner, deep inside the store and showed me a very large crimson chandelier, golden metal bars twisted and turned around the antique object, giving beauty to it. My eyes caught a seven foot mirror and I drew the old man's attention to it, the mirror was embedded into a darkly polished wood with intricate designs going round it, three round studs held it upright and in place, the mirror was indeed beautiful.

"That was also from the house, seems it caught your fancy." The man beemed. I nodded.

"Indeed it did."

"You would like this, yes?" He asked. I moved closer to the mirror and held the wooded frame, it was very thick and really smooth. "I would give you for half the price, since it's going back to it's original home."

"Hmm..." I replied and touched the mirror, the image was crystal clear and...

I suddenly felt light headed and my vision slowly began to fade, I grabbed my head as I swayed but I didn't fall, then it stopped and I tried to calm myself. I heard the old man still speaking and someone was replying him, the voice was so familiar. I opened my eyes and saw the old man talking to... me? I looked at me and I was replying him, grinning and admiring myself in the mirror and I was... where was I?

"Ohh my!" I had said. "That took a while."

"A really long while master, I was afraid you would be there for too long." The old man replied me. "How do you feel in your new body sir?"

"Err....well... It's not as I expected but not bad, not bad at all, I can't complain, after a hundred years it feels good to be out."

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, someone else was in my body and he was a hundred years old, I looked on in bewilderment and it suddenly struck me that I was also staring at the mirror but from the opposite side, I looked around me, I was in the shop, yes but I was alone. I watched the two men like they were in the mirror and then the place I was in began to shrink as one by one the objects around me disappeared.

"I'm going to move into my old house again, what luck I have." I heard myself say and laugh heartily then the two men moved away from the mirror. The place around me continued to shrink until I was squashed to the mirror and I felt suffocated.

"Well, my dear friend," the person said, "I'll be leaving now, need to feel the sun again, and eat and you know, do all the things I've missed. You know what to do with the mirror."

"Yes sir." The old man replied. "I will handle that."

Then I watched as the hundred year old man walked out of the store in my body, then the old man then turned towards the mirror, facing me and brought out a large hammer from behind, I watched as a grin formed on his face before he struck the mirror.