3:15 pm on the 15th of July  -

The sun was shining, the sky was a beautiful baby blue, and there was not a cloud in sight. Nothing could go wrong, right?

***

Delilah Wilson was driving. She was 17, a short brunette blue-eyed senior in high school Her sister Valerie was in the passenger seat. She was 20, a brunette green-eyed junior in college, a bit taller than her little sister. The two sisters pulled up to a house in their 2014  white Honda Civic.

“De, are you sure you have the right address? There isn’t any sign and there’s nobody here. This isn’t the best neighborhood either, I hate open houses, I think we should just go home. And do mom and dad even approve of this? Call them”

Delilah had seen a flyer in her local pharmacy about a garage sale/open house with the most beautiful vanity she had ever seen. She had contacted the owner of the house, Mr. Hayes, about purchasing it. He said she could come by and he would help her move it into her car. It just so happened to be the weekend her parents were out of town on a trip in Nashville.

“Yes, this is the right address! 132 North Aspen Boulevard, let’s just give it a try. How bad can it be?”

Hesitating, Valerie opened her car door and took small steps towards the broken-down ranch in front of them. The place was filthy, brown liquid spilled on the steps, the front screen had a hole in it and there was some red spray paint on the faded garage doors. Delilah strolled up and knocked three times on the door, her favorite moon and star necklace shaking as she did so. A disheveled man wearing a blue t shirt and ripped khaki came to the door.

“Oh, hello. What can I do for you ladies?”

Delilah smiled, despite her older sister’s nervous glance and small cough to signal they should leave while they still could.

“Hi Mr. Hayes, I’m Delilah Wilson, we spoke on the phone about buying your wonderful vanity?”

“Oh, uhhh yes! Delilah, I have the vanity right here, if you’d just step inside and wait here.”

So the two waited as the man scrambled into the room at the end of the hall. Valerie, completely freaked out, nudged Delilah with her elbow.

“Are you kidding me? We have to go. This is’t the right address, he is obviously some sort of crazy person, look at this house! Let’s get out of here, now! I’m the adult here, you should listen to me!”

“Valerie, stop! You have terrible judgement. I’m 17 and I can make decisions for myself. If he comes back and the vanity is complete crap, we’ll leave! Anyway, you’re the one who insisted on going with me.”

The two stopped their conversation at the sound of soft grunting. They looks down the hall to see the man, pushing a large oak wood vanity down the narrow hallway. He didn’t even seem to care about the deep indented scratches it was making in his cheap floor.

“Here’s your vanity girls! Do you have the money?”

Delilah looked awkwardly happy and handed over $350 cash. She turned around to her sister who was nowhere to be found. She peered out the screen and saw Valerie waiting by the car, with the trunk open and backseat pushed down.

“I can't believe you gave that man your money. This vanity is trash, I don’t know what you were thinking! I should’ve ve forced you to leave before we even knocked on the door.”

Delilah was mad, but somewhat pleased that she finally got the vanity. Her vanity, her overpriced, beat down vanity that looked nothing like the picture. Oh well.

5:00 pm on the 15th of July -

“There! Finally!”

After an hour in the half, the two sisters had moved the vanity into the house and to Delilah’s pastel purple bedroom. Valerie turned to Delilah, with a relieved look on her face.

“It’s done! Okay, I’m going to go pick up the pizza. I ordered it while we were in the car. If it’s cold I’m blaming it on you.”

Delilah watched her sister tread out of the room, brown ponytail swinging from side to side. She collapsed on her bed, exhausted, but sat up sharply a minute after. Her new vanity, right in front of her. She squinted and then opened her eyes wide, angry at what she saw

“Are you serious? He sold me this thing with a scratch on it!”

She stood, black striped socks on her sherpa rug and walked up to the vanity. Delilah rubbed her fingers on the mirror, smudging and making even more of a mess. She sighed and looked into the mirror, but something was wrong.

The face she saw was not her own. It was pale and very thin with stringy white hair down to it’s hips and black eyes. She thought she was seeing things, so she took her sleeve and rubbed it over the mirror, but the face didn’t go away. Then everything went black

5:30 pm on the 15th of July -

“I got the pizza!”

Valerie entered Delilah’s room and instantly dropped the box.

“Delilah?”

She was gone and the room was dim. The shades were closed and all the lightbulbs were shattered on the floor. The only light source, a flickering yellow light on the right side of the vanity. Valerie slowly walked over to it and gasped. She fell to the floor, and stayed there, convinced it was some sort of nightmare.

On the vanity desk, her sister’s favorite moon and star necklace, and in the mirror, her sister’s face peering back at her.

3:15 pm on the 15th of July -

Mr. Hayes waited patiently at his high ranch on 132 South Aspen Boulevard. He sat on the front steps, waiting for the arrival of Delilah Wilson to pick up her vanity. But she never showed up.