The stars lighting my way were beautiful but it was the serene obsidian of the canal that caught my attention. 

I was beckoned by the motionless mirror's mysterious pull and knelt down to touch its surface. 

The water was cool on my fingertips. I felt relieved; I don't know what I had expected. But, with quiet terror, I realized that I could not lift my hand up. Black vines, thick as tar, climbed up my arms and crawled into my mouth, into my nose. 

I could not breathe. I could not scream. I ceased to exist in the reflectionless abyss.