My Witch From The Past

As a witch, I should’ve paid attention to the signs. The first one was the weird sensation I felt every time I passed the old mirror in the Hawthorne Hall dorm hallway. Like someone was watching me. Like my reflection took half a second too long to mimic me. But I was way too busy trying to survive my first semester at Salem University to care about silly paranoid thoughts. “Maya, you’re gonna be late for Witch History again!” my roommate Jess shouted from the other side of the bathroom door. “Just one more minute!” I called back, applying gloss in front of the mirror in our tiny shared bathroom. My reflection stared back—messy brown hair, tired green eyes, and the face of someone who definitely hadn’t slept well. The nightmares had come back last night. Always the same thing: fire, screams, and a man’s voice calling my name as flames swallowed us whole. I woke up with the taste of smoke in my mouth and my heart racing. I shook my head, trying to shake off the bad thoughts. Just first-year stress. Nothing more. But when I looked back up at the mirror, my blood turned to ice. My reflection was smiling. I wasn’t. For a split second, the image in the mirror stared back with an expression that wasn’t mine—a soft, melancholic smile, like it knew a secret I didn’t. I blinked hard, and everything was normal again. “What the hell…” I whispered, touching the glass with my fingertips. Cold. Normal. Just an old, ordinary mirror. “MAYA!” “I’m coming!” I grabbed my backpack and ran out, but I couldn’t shake that image. My reflection, smiling on its own. Impossible. American Witch History was held in the oldest building on campus, a red-brick structure from 1692 that always gave me chills. Professor Hawkins was halfway through a lecture on the Salem trials when I felt it again—that someone-watching-me sensation. I glanced around discreetly. Most students were either dozing off or on their phones. Except… Ethan Blackthorn. He was three rows back, but I could feel his eyes on me like a physical weight. When our eyes met, he didn’t look away. He just gave me that trademark half-smile—the kind that rich, cocky guys wear like armor. Ethan was everything I wasn’t—heir to one of Salem’s founding witch families, perfect smile, annoying confidence. And for some inexplicable reason, he’d been interested in me since day one. I turned back to the front, trying to focus on the lecture. But the feeling of being watched didn’t go away. And it wasn’t just Ethan. It felt… deeper. More intimate. “…and it was right here, where our university now stands, that twenty people were executed for witchcraft,” the professor droned on. “The execution grounds were exactly where the main library now sits.” A shiver ran down my spine. That weird feeling again, like I’d heard those words before. Like they meant something personal to me. When class ended, I went straight to the first-floor bathroom. I needed to splash some cold water on my face and pull myself together. These weird episodes were getting more frequent, and I couldn’t afford to keep freaking out over everything. Thank the stars the bathroom was empty. I approached the sink, turned on the tap, and leaned over. But when I looked up at the mirror, I nearly screamed. There was a man behind me. Not in the bathroom. In the mirror. I spun around, heart pounding. The room was empty. Completely empty. I turned back to the mirror—and he was still there. Tall, dark hair, eyes such an intense shade of blue they were almost silver. He wore old-fashioned clothes—a white linen shirt and a dark leather vest. And he looked at me with an expression of recognition that made my stomach twist. Like he’d known me for a long time. “Hello, Maya,” he said, his voice coming from the mirror in a whisper that echoed straight into my chest. My breath caught in my throat. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. “You… you can see me?” I whispered, feeling completely insane for talking to a mirror. His smile was soft, sad. “I’ve always seen you. The question is… are you ready to see me back?” I raised a trembling hand toward the glass. When my fingers were just inches away, he mirrored the gesture. And when our palms aligned—separated only by the glass—I felt something impossible. Warmth. The mirror was warm under my palm, pulsing like living skin. “Who are you?” I whispered. His blue eyes locked onto mine with an intensity that made everything else disappear. “My name is Kael,” he said, pressing his palm to the glass. “And I’ve known you far longer than you can imagine.” The mirror’s warmth spread up my arm—a strange, familiar feeling, like I’d felt this touch before. “This is impossible,” I murmured, but I couldn’t pull my hand away. “Many things are impossible, Maya,” he said, and there was something about the way he said my name—with affection, with longing—that brought unexpected tears to my eyes. “Until you’re standing here, talking to me.” “I’m going crazy.” “No,” he said, moving his other hand to touch my face through the glass. I didn’t feel the touch, but my skin tingled where it should’ve been. “You’re remembering.” “Remembering what?” His smile grew more bittersweet. “Us.” The bathroom door creaked open, making me jump and pull my hand away. Ethan Blackthorn walked in, freezing when he saw me. “Maya? Are you okay? I heard voices…” I glanced at the mirror. Empty. Just my startled reflection staring back. “I… I was just…” I swallowed hard. “Talking to myself. Studying.” Ethan stepped closer, frowning. “You look pale.” “I’m fine,” I lied, splashing cold water on my face with shaking hands. “Just tired.” When I stood up straight, Ethan was right behind me, his reflection next to mine. For a second, I thought I saw a shadow move behind him—but when I blinked, it was gone. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. The touch was warm, comforting. Normal. Totally different from the supernatural heat I’d felt from the mirror. “I’m sure,” I said, trying to smile. “Thanks for checking.” He hesitated like he wanted to say more, then just nodded. “If you need anything… anything at all… I’m here.” I rushed out of the bathroom as fast as I could, but not before stealing one last glance at the mirror. For a split second, I thought I saw those silver-blue eyes watching me from the glass. See you soon, Maya, a voice whispered in my mind. I ran down the hallway, heart racing, one terrifying thought echoing in my brain: My life had just gotten way more complicated.