
13 Reflections
13 Reflections
Reflection 5: The Red Cabinet
13 REFLECTIONS is a horror fiction serial podcast.
Ashley follows Polly's reflection to a Chinese antique store and discovers the root of the Mongolian mirror curse. Sheriff Gordon connects the dots. Barney, the coroner loses a corpse's heart.
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CAST
- Sheila Ann as Ashley Harker
- Suggie Oh as Polly / Waipoh / D. Slaughter / Kate / Mina
- Kayla Gaffney as Paula
- Minerva Jayne as Sheriff Georgie Gordon
- Mark Woolley as Agent Lee
- Glenn Oakley as Ray
- Collin McCoy as Billy
- Rachel Terhune as Lucy / Freya
- Patt Duynslager as Barney
- Gabrielle McCoy as Christie
- Jared Hallock as James
- Lauren Christensen as McKenna
- Kris Duynslager as Heather
- Jonathan L. Chu as Dr. Chu
- Craig Lew as Deputy Green / Johnathan Harker / Cabbie
- Tina Barnett as Narrator
Craig Lew
writer/director/producer
Tina Barnett
producer
Mark Woolley
Composer
Rachel Banta
Graphic Artist
MUSIC CUE
INTERIOR HOSPITAL ROOM AMBIENCE
WOMAN
Like a trickle of rain that seeps into the soft dirt, birthing rivulets that gather in to streams, gaining speed and volume until miles away it builds into a raging river, it had started long before I got involved. I was just a splash in the rapids. Not that I shun my responsibility. I was no angel...
Am no angel.
MUSIC THEME
ANNOUNCER
This is 13 Reflections.
Reflection 5: The Red Cabinet
MUSIC CUE - SHERIFF STATION
NARRATOR
The Sheriff stands in the hallway peeking through the small glass window of a door.
FOOTSTEPS APPROACH
AGENT LEE
I came as soon as I could, Sheriff. What have you learned?
SHERIFF
Well, Agent Lee, I’ve learned that the world I thought I knew is truly screwed up.
AGENT LEE
Why don’t we start with the facts.
SHERIFF
Okay. I went to Mina’s place, the door was opened, so I enter and I guess what I find? Mrs. Harker standing over a dead body.
AGENT LEE
Was it Mina?
SHERIFF
No. The body had both her arms.
AGENT LEE
How was she killed?
SHERIFF
You might not think this is odd but she was missing half of her head.
Sliced clean off like a watermelon in summer.
AGENT LEE
But how is that possible?
SHERIFF
Beats me. You think we should ask the arm?
AGENT LEE
But she IS dead?
SHERIFF
If you’re asking if she got up and shook my hand without half a brain. No. As a doornail level dead.
AGENT LEE
Cause of death?
SHERIFF
What the hell do you think?
AGENT LEE
I have my theories but what is the official cause of death?
SHERIFF
The coroner ain’t got nothing else to do so he’s all over this but it might be a couple hours yet.
AGENT LEE
I see. What did Mrs. Harker have to say?
SHERIFF
Not much but then again, I’m just a small town Sheriff. Why don’t you, the FBI agent go interview her and see what you can find out?
INTERIOR DOOR OPENS FOOTSTEPS ON LINOLEUM CHAIRS SLIDE
BUTTS SIT DOWN
SHERIFF
Mrs. Harker, Agent Lee would like to ask you a few questions.
AGENT LEE
I know it’s been a difficult day can you tell me what happened?
ASHLEY
Why don’t you tell me what happened to Lucy?
AGENT LEE
Do you mean the dead girl? That was Lucy?
ASHLEY
Don’t you people talk to each other? When I got there she was already like that.
AGENT LEE
But I thought you didn’t know Mina Chu.
ASHLEY
I don’t. Who’s Mina Chu?
AGENT LEE
The missing girl who lives at that apartment.
ASHLEY
That’s Lucy’s place.
SHERIFF
Oh. Didn’t I mention that? Lucy and Mina were roommates.
Jesus.
ASHLEY
AGENT LEE
Okay. Then what were you doing there?
ASHLEY
I went to speak to Lucy. She’s my babysitter.
AGENT LEE
The same babysitter on the night your daughter went missing?
ASHLEY
Yes.
AGENT LEE
What did you want to talk to her about?
ASHLEY
I uh. Just if she remembered anything from that night.
AGENT LEE
Like?
ASHLEY
I don’t know. Strangers outside or noises.
AGENT LEE
Wasn’t she already questioned?
SHERIFF
Yupper. She was. Deputy talked to her the night Polly went missing. Didn’t come up with anything odd.
AGENT LEE
So let’s see if I understand this, Mrs. Harker’s babysitter Lucy is the roommate of missing Mina Chu?
SHERIFF
Correct-a-mundo.
AGENT LEE
And Mina Chu...
SHERIFF
The one armed bandit? She is the girlfriend of non other than the screaming meanie Billy Hazelbob.
AGENT LEE
So there is the link.
SHERIFF
There’s A link. But where’s Mina?
ASHLEY
And where’s Polly?
AGENT LEE
Both important questions. But the most important answer is how do we get them back?
KNOCK ON THE DOOR
SHERIFF
Yeah?
DEPUTY
Call for you Sheriff. It’s the coroner.
SHERIFF
I’ll take it in here.
CHAIR SLIDES BACK PHONE HANDSET PICKS UP
SHERIFF
Yeah. Hi Barney. What’d you find?
ASHLEY
Can I go now?
AGENT LEE
I believe we have what we need.
SHERIFF
What are you saying? What do you mean her heart’s gone? Hang on.
BUTTONS PUSHED
PHONE HANDSET PUT DOWN
SHERIFF
You’re on speaker with the FBI.
CORNER
Like I was telling the Sheriff. I opened her chest cavity and her heart wasn’t there.
SHERIFF
Did you check under the table?
CORONER
I didn’t drop it. It wasn’t there. It was as if someone just reached in and yanked it out.
SHERIFF
But there wasn’t a mark on her. Yeah Okay. Except for her head but there wasn’t a mark on her body. No cuts. No wounds. Nothing.
CORONER
I think I’d remember cutting out her heart. I’m telling you it was just gone.
SHERIFF
Damn it Barney. Check the floor.
CORONER
I looked.
SHERIFF
Look again.
SHERIFF SLAMS PHONE DOWN
ASHLEY
Her heart is missing?
AGENT LEE
That’s impossible.
SHERIFF
Like an arm grabbing your ankle?
ASHLEY
What are you talking about?
AGENT LEE
Nothing, Mrs. Harker. You should go.
CHAIRS SLIDE BACK FOOTSTEPS
SHERIFF STATION AMBIENCE
SHERIFF
What the fuck is going on here?
AGENT LEE
That is exactly what we’re going to figure out.
NARRATOR
Ashley steps out just as Billy is being led down the hallway in a straightjacket.
BILLY
You. You know.
ASHLEY
Excuse me?
BILLY
You’ve touched the thirteenth reflection. You’re going to die.
SHERIFF
Deputy. Get him out of here.
AGENT LEE
Where are they taking him?
SHERIFF
Treasure Valley Psychiatric Asylum. Maybe they can make some sense of his rantings.
AGENT LEE
Yes, let’s hope so.
SHERIFF
Does he look familiar Mrs. Harker?
ASHLEY
No. I’ve never seen him before.
CUT TO
OUTDOOR VILLAGE AMBIENCE TRAFFIC
JOGGERS
DOG WALKERS
NARRATOR
Ashley walks down the main street of the village. She pauses to cross the street when a poster taped to a light post catches her eye.
PAPER FLAPS IN THE BREEZE
ASHLEY
Have you seen Mina Chu? Volunteers needed
Hi Loy Antiques
2965 Looking Glass Lane
PAPER RIPS TAPE PULLS AWAY
NARRATOR
Ashley peers through the front window of Hi Loy Antique shop. It’s more like a warehouse filled with jade trees, Chinese porcelain vases and oriental rose wood chairs.
EXTERIOR AMBIENCE FOOTSTEPS EXTERIOR AMBIENCE FOOTSTEPS
DOOR OPENS INTERIOR AMBIENCE
NARRATOR
A group of college students hover around an antique table now the center of the Find Mina campaign. A very old Chinese woman cocks her head at Ashley. She is WAIPOH. If she were green, she'd be Yoda.
Ashley glances up at the mirror behind the counter. In the reflection Polly darts behind Ashley and heads for the dark warehouse. Ashley spins around but Polly is gone.
ASHLEY
Polly wait.
NARRATOR
Ashley chases after Polly but struggles to keep up. Polly is only visible in reflections off of old mirrors and shiny antiques. At every turn there is something new. Five toed Imperial Dragon statues glare from shelves. Foo dogs protect doorways. Terra-cotta soldiers brandish spears atop horses with flared nostrils.
ASHLEY
Polly? Where did you go?
NARRATOR
Ashley stops in front of a six foot tall old red lacquered cabinet with inlaid mother of pearl.
ASHLEY
Is this what you want me to see, Polly?
NARRATOR
Ashley runs her fingers over the in laid mother of pearl then opens the cabinet doors.
CREAKING HINGES
NARRATOR
Inside is a large ornate mirror framed by a silver dragon that snakes around the entire edge. For a moment Polly looks out at Ashley.
ASHLEY
Polly?
WAIPOH
It's based on an old Mongolian fable.
ASHLEY
What? What are you talking about?
WAIPOH
The carvings inside the doors there. This piece is very old.
How old?
ASHLEY
WAIPOH
Ancient I should say but I hate using that word. Sounds like I'm talking about a secret recipe for soup. The fable is told in these panels about a Mongol Prince who used the secret of the two mirrors to woo a Chinese Princess.
The jealous King trapped an evil demon in the mirror to ambush the Prince and snatch out his heart.
ASHLEY
Wait. What? Did you say snatch out his heart?
WAIPOH
Yes. That is where the soul resides.
PAGES FLIP
ASHLEY
How was the demon trapped?
WAIPOH
The King tricked the demon into touching the 13th reflection, once inside the mirror world, the King broke a hand mirror closing the gate behind it.
ASHLEY
But this is a fable, just a story.
WAIPOH
Yes, but I have been researching the Mongolian spiritual belief system and there is possibly more to this myth.
ASHLEY
What do you have there?
WAIPOH
Borjigen’s book of curses, hexes and dark magic. She was a blue wolf and mother of Genghis Khan. This book contains the sacred rules of the Ongons - Powerful Mongolian spirits.
PAGES FLIP
PAGES FLIP
PAGES FLIP
ASHLEY
What’s an Ongon?
WAIPOH
An Ongon was once a human that died tragically and have become unhappy and vengeful in the afterlife.
ASHLEY
Like the demon in the fable?
WAIPOH
Yes, an Ongon will take residence in spirit vessels, often a bronze figurine or a shaman’s toli.
ASHLEY
Shaman’s Toli?
WAIPOH
A mirror, Mongolian Shamans practice their magic with spirit mirrors.
NARRATOR
Ashley runs her fingers over the silver dragon framing the mirror.
EERIE WHOOSH SUCKING NOISE
SWIRLING
NARRATOR
Suddenly Ashley’s hand is sucked to the mirror like a magnet. She struggles to remove her hand but tiny mirrored tendrils dig into Ashley’s skin and fuse her hand to the mirror’s surface.
NARRATOR
The reflections in the mirror begin to SWIRL.
ASHLEY
What’s happening?
WAIPOH
What do you see?
ASHLEY
There’s a girl. I think it’s Mina. She’s walking her fingers across the mirror. She’s counting. She’s pushing her hand into the mirror.
WAIPOH
Oh no. She’s opened the gate.
ASHLEY
Did you see that?
WAIPOH
I saw nothing.
ASHLEY
The reflections, they...
WAIPOH
Mirrors have memories.
ASHLEY
Maybe that’s what it showed me. I saw Mina, I think. She pulled that mirror in front of this cabinet.
WAIPOH
Then she is lost.
ASHLEY
How does the fable end?
WAIPOH
The demon demanded seven hearts. If the Princess did as he asked, the Prince would be released.
ASHLEY
Seven hearts. How much for this cabinet?
WAIPOH
I can’t sell it. This cabinet was sent here for refinishing and the owner has yet to come for it.
ASHLEY
I must have this cabinet.
WAIPOH
The myth of the mirrors works with all mirrors.
ASHLEY
This cabinet is the key. It must be.
WAIPOH
But I fear it is cursed.
ASHLEY
And that’s exactly why I need it. I know that sounds crazy but you didn’t see what it showed me.
WAIPOH
Just because you see things that other's don't, does not make you crazy.
ASHLEY
How’s ten thousand? I can transfer the money right now. Here’s where you can deliver it.
WAIPOH
As you wish. But you’ve been warned.
MAIN THEME
ANNOUNCER
13 Reflections.