Mark very gently laid all thirteen pieces of the broken mirror out on his battered-up worktable to see what he had to create with. His artistic mind had already started creating images as he listened to Jacob talk about his life with Katie. But he already knew Katie's life belonged to him now. Katie belonged to the magnificent man trapped in the mirror. Mark felt the warmth and love emanated from the mirror the moment Jacob opened the lid of the box, it had spoken to him immediately.

"It's our time now. You and me will create beautiful pieces of art together and make the world fall in love with life again. " This had been Marks dream since he was a child playing with sidewalk chalk. Somehow this man felt it too.

How did Jacob not hear or see him? At first Mark felt like he was hearing and seeing things. How could such an intelligent and unique individual become trapped in a thing?

Marks internal monolog argued back and forth regrading the realities and the active imagination. Surely the man in the mirror was just a figment of his imagination.

With a red wax crayon Mark carefully drew out a triangle approximately one foot in height, rounded out the two sides but left the tip top pointed and the bottom flat. This would leave a large section available to design another piece with. He used the smaller pieces to trace out different parts of the mirror he would fashion together for Katie... for Him and Katie. Just the mental vision of the finished piece filled him with pride. He could see the masterpiece in front of him as clear as the day is bright. He would be pleased.

Mark smiled feeling the mid afternoon sun stream in from the back windows hit his face. There were only about two hours during the day when the sun could find it's way through the alley into his shop, this was his favorite time to work. At that moment the man in black reached out his hand to Mark, Mark touched the mirror to make the connection with him.

"Alexander, you may call me by my given name. Together we will create many pieces that will allow me to spread out to meet others. Together we will make a great mark on the world"

Mark felt only love and light eminate from the broken section of mirror. With a feeling of relief and relaxation he continued his work.

Just as Mark finished sketching out all the parts of Katies elegant masterpiece the bells of the shop door jingle, alerting him to customers in his shop. Mark had hated that bell from the very start. To him it was it was worse then nails on a chalk board. It had been given to him by his older, and admitedly financially smarter, sister because she knew he would be too wrapped up in his work to hear people in the shop and without the sales he wouldn't be able to keep the doors open. On top of the fact that he didn't make enough sales to actually hire someone to man the shop while he worked.

"Welcome in," he stated to the young lady as he stepped out from behind the studio door into the shop. Mark let out a small grasp as the sun lit up her raven black hair.

The young woman looked up from her browsing and offered a small soft shy smiled. She couldn't have been more than twenty-five with long raven locks that fell in soft waves around her perfect ivory face. Her bright ruby lips curled up in a smile that radiated up to her bright green eyes. This was a woman he could fall for. Mark could already tell she had a sweet, understated manner about her, unlike most women her age who tended to be overbearing and boorish.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Thank you, you have some beautiful pieces here," she continued to smile.

"Are you looking for something in particular?"

"My sister's wedding is next week. I'm looking for something like an elegant glass vase in her wedding colors. Blue and gold, those are her wedding colors."

"I have several completed vases on the wall over here. Let me help you," Mark guided the young woman to the other side of the small shop where he displayed his glass work. They spent almost twenty minutes looking at each vase as he listened to what she was looking for.

"You know, I think I have a vase that I've been working on in the back. It's the right colors, more gold than blue. And the glass can still be blown to change the shape at this point in the process. Would you like to take a look?" Mark smiled knowing what was coming next and how pleased He would be.

"That would be great. I only have two more weeks until the wedding. I know I shouldn't have waited this long to find a gift, but I just couldn't think of anything fitting," she softly smiled as she turned towards the back studio. "Until I saw your shop."

Mark placed his hand in the small of his back as he gently guided her towards her bloody fate. Three steps through the doorway Mark slipped a long sharp shard of Katies mirror into his left hand, stepped behind his raven beauty and tightly gripped her head. In one fell swoop Mark opened her carotid artery sending bright red blood spurting across the small sunlit room. He smiled as droplets rained down on the work surface containing the mirror pieces. The Raven-haired woman struggled to breathe and release herself from his grip but within a few seconds her body fell limp to the floor.

"Hmmm," Mark said out loud to no one in particular. "That was easier than I thought it would be."

Mark surveyed the room. The far wall was lined with dark red lines of dripping blood from the initial gush from the carotid artery. The worktable and the floor around it were splattered with small circles where the same blood rained down on all the surfaces. It was a beautiful display of death. Then his eyes came to rest on the body laying limp on the floor in front of him. Her raven hair laid in a pool of blood around her face exposing her perfectly clean small ear adorned in perfectly round emerald earrings.

Those perfect emeralds where the only jewelry she wore. Mark wondered whether she had any significant others in her life. She clearly wasn't married; she didn't have the ring that would imply that. He could look in her purse for details, but to Mark that seemed like an unnecessary violation to her privacy.

With a sudden jerk Marks gazed went to the mirror cut to be Katies base. He was hopping for some sign from Him that he was pleased. Relief flood Mark when he saw Him smiling at him from his prison. He was please, but he needed more. This is what he needed to free himself from his endless and timeless prison. The only way to get enough was to spread out to others and allow them to feel his love.

It had been a busy day, so Mark decided to carry the raven-haired women down the stairs into the basement. He had gotten lucky with this property; it had come with a basement complete with a bathroom and shower. He had brought in a small camping cot and often found himself sleeping there much too often. Much to the dismay of Mister, his thick grey cat who got very cranky when left to his own devices overnight and had to wait to be fed.

Mister had been a stray who had adopted him the night he moved into the apartment. He often wondered if he had been abandoned by the previous renters since Mister acted like he felt right at home in the dwelling. Mark hadn't even felt at home there, yet. Of course, Mark never felt at home anywhere. He wasn't even sure what the at home feeling was supposed to be like.

After a quick hot shower to clean the smell of blood off his tired body and actually blood out of his hair and a change into fresh clean clothes Mark decided it was time to go home for the day. Mister would be expecting dinner soon, and he didn't relish the thought of having to spend the rest of the night soothing over the hurt feelings of a feline.