The door clicked shut.
I was trapped, swallowed by a vast ocean, lost to the ripples that danced in the mirrors all around me. Darkness crawled over my bare skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake.
It was worse than the linen cupboard, for when my eyes adjusted to the cruel darkness, I saw my own reflection all around me, the Devil wearing my face.
I closed my eyes.
My mother and Joe wanted to draw the Devil out, but I was too scared to face him. Hearing his voice was one thing, seeing him another.
Don’t be a coward, Augustus, open your eyes.
My eyes remained shut.
What are you so afraid of? Yourself?
I did not answer.
I just had to endure him until God saved me, releasing me from this nightmare. He would come. He would free me from these chains.
Do you really think He is coming to save you? Hehas abandoned you. You are mine.
I had to pray. God would hear my prayers this time. He had to. He was the only one who could tear me from the Devil’s grasp.
“Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name,” I whispered.
Laughter echoed all around me, but I dared not open my eyes. The Devil would not steal my soul. I would not let him.
“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is Heaven.”
The laughter grew louder. My body trembled like a leaf hanging from a branch, desperate to fend off the wind.
“Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses…”
A loud splash resounded to my left, as if the Devil had jumped into the water with me. My heart thundered wildly. I wanted to run, but the chains kept me in place. My only defence was prayer.
“...as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen,” I finished.
The laughter ceased.
I exhaled. The Devil had his eyes on me, but he would not devour my soul. God was here. And I was saved.
My eyelids cracked open and the Devil’s face hovered inches from mine, black eyes bleeding red, tongue dangling from his dislocated jaw. His skin was peeling, fungi sprouting from his flesh, spiders pouring from his ears. It was a nightmarish reconstruction of what I had seen in the mirror all those years ago. Me and the Devil. The Devil and me. One face. One horror.
I screamed, and screamed, and screamed. The Devil laughed, and laughed, and laughed.
God had forsaken me. I could not be saved.
***
I was a shaken shell of a boy when I emerged from that room. I did not speak, I did not eat.
I refused to look in the mirror when I brushed my teeth. The mirror was my enemy, I never knew who would be staring back. Would it be my own hazel eyes, or the Devil’s black pits?
Without a mirror, I had neglected to notice the bruises littering my cheeks. I could see the torn skin around my wrists, but my face was a mystery only solved when my father applied cream or when my mother scowled with disgust.
I wore a long-sleeved sweater to school to hide my bruised arms. My face, however, was difficult to shield from unwanted attention. Despite the curls that had grown down my neck and over my forehead, the school had noticed the state I was in. They called my parents who told them I had been getting into fights with the neighbour’s children.
Lying was a sin, and yet my parents lied with ease, scolding me for doing the same.
