"Hey, no fair!" exclaimed Ryan to the friend he was visiting.
"Hey, if you snooze you lose, bro," said Matt, the friend in question. The two were playing racing games on Matt's brand-new video game console. Matt had seen a shortcut that Ryan didn't, and swooped into first place.
"Whatever, I gotta get home, man. Tell your mom thanks for dinner."
"Sure thing. See ya tomorrow?"
"Huh, yeah, just in time for that test in Mr. Santana's class," Ryan rolled his eyes.
"I'm totally gonna fail it. Anyway, see ya then."
"See ya."
Neither of the boys thought about or commented on the full-length mirror standing between Matt's bed and his dresser. For all they knew, it was just a mirror. Matt was used to seeing it there every night at this point. His parents had bought it for him a month ago at a strange little shop in an obscure small town on their way back from their antique-seeking cross-country excursion. They thought it would like nice in his room, and they were right, so they gave it to him rather than resell it like they did with most of the other antiques.
What no one knew was that this was a cursed object that had brought down kings and lords in centuries past. This was the very one that had cursed the wizard who'd cursed it, because its curse was so easy to run afoul of by accident. If you look into Matt's mirror just after midnight, on exactly the night of the full moon, then it will show a different reflection in your place. If you fall asleep before dawn, then you will wake up changed to match your new reflection. Even if you could find a way to break the spell, it is very likely that you would end up in a form that has no way of changing yourself back or asking others for help.
Matt played Super Giuseppe for a few hours after Matt left until the grandfather clock downstairs chimed 12.
"Matt! Turn off your video games and go to bed!" shouted his mother.
"Fine! Whatever, Mom!" he shouted back but kept on playing. She had to say the same thing five minutes later. Five minutes after that, she threatened to ground him, so he saved his game and shut it off. He shut his door and got into his pajamas, but after he was dressed, he happened to glance into his mirror, and there he saw a strange sight. He couldn't find his reflection. What's more, he saw a dog there. He turned around to look behind him, but there was no such animal in the room with him. Looking back to the mirror, he took a good long look at the dog, who gave an equally thorough examination to him. It was a large dog, but not overly large--perhaps medium size. It looked a bit like some sort of collie mix, with lots of black fur but also some white, with large paws, floppy ears, and a curly white-tipped tail. It didn't move unless he moved. When he reached out to touch the mirror, the canine raised its paw to do the same. Matt blinked his eyes and shook his head to clear his mind.
"Mom's right, I really have been playing games too much," he said, thinking it was some strange illusion, a figment of of his own eyestrain perhaps. He got into his bed and turned out the light, and largely forgot what he'd seen. Little did he know that he'd seen his new self, and he would not be taking Mr. Santana's test with Ryan the next day.