Hallway of Mirrors

A made-up game from the 1980's that I played. Read at your own risk...

"Hallway of Mirrors" Art by: Rory Christiansen

This was supposed to be a funny story about my childhood, but I veered into the life/metaphor realm. I didn’t mean to do it. That’s just what happened. I have been thinking about this game my brothers and I liked to play when we were kids so this delves more into the nostalgia category instead of humor, but hopefully you'll enjoy it.

When I was around eight years old, my brothers and I used to play this game. I’ll call it the “Hallway of Mirrors”, but I don’t remember if we originally called it that. I’m going to call it that because while growing up we had this really long hallway that we spent a lot of time running down. My brothers and I built forts in this hallway, played board games in it, and I also saw a strange light (maybe a ghost) float down it when I was supposed to be sleeping in my room one night.

The Hallway

It was a true hallway of mirrors if one were to ever know one. And it could be especially creepy with the lights off. Although, one didn’t necessarily see the mirrors or their own reflection with the lights off, one could still sense their own reflection uncomfortably staring back at them in the darkness.

The mirrors along the hallway were vertical on both sides, framed in a light brown unfinished knotty pine wood. The antique gold flecked mirrors went all the way from the beginning of the hallway to the end.

The only thing in between the mirrors were doors to our rooms. There were three bedrooms. One on each side of the hallway and one at the end. And two bathrooms, one on each side. It was a fairly long hallway. And as much as this hallway of mirrors gave me the creeps, it also had a strange feeling of comfort. Like an old friend that hung around you without speaking, but would always laugh at a joke.

For the record, I haven’t ever seen another hallway like it in my life. None of my friends houses ever had this kind of hallway of mirrors. It seemed like the mirrors had been there before we moved in, but my parents had added the mirrors in their own preference for the avant-garde. I was once told as a kid that mirrors can be portals to other realms, so that also made the Hallway of Mirrors peculiar. That kind of thing sort of sticks with you.

Growing Up

Let’s just say I grew up in an extremely eclectic household. My favorite part was being surrounded by books. My mom and dad enjoyed going to new and used bookstores and had a collection that I am still trying to rival to this day. There were also dolls, Disney and Star Wars memorabilia, lots of animals (dogs, cats, chickens, a pony), sage, Nag Champa, and large paintings of nature and angels. BBC and Doctor Who also had a robust life in our household. As well as the giant rug in the den that my mom bought to support the BBC fund drive. Heaven forbid if an episode of Doctor Who was missed.

In the eighties, this made us a “weird” family in a small town. I’ve come to realize this wasn’t the case completely. We weren’t weird, but when you grow up in a really small town anything that people don’t understand is deemed “weird". But, if that's weird to you then so be it.

My parents had gotten us these fake bricks made out of cardboard. You may have had these yourself or seen these before. They are still around today and they were a staple in my childhood back in the 80’s. The fake bricks had a waxy coating on them that you could scrape off with your fingernail. And, they came in primary colors (blue, yellow, red, green).

The Game

It didn’t take too much time before one of us (my two brothers and I) came up with the “Hall of Mirrors” game. In this game for the sake of explaining there were ‘builders’ and there were ‘runners’. And, we played this game when my parents were in another part of the house or at work because it wasn't the safest. Remember, it was the eighties. We were free to take risks of getting hurt and run into walls.

The point of the game was to be fearless. We played this with as many as five or six kids before, but I’ll explain how I played it with my brothers.

If you were a “Builder” you closed the doors to the hallway. Yes, there were also doors before you entered the hallway that could shut with a small little latch. It was basically a swinging kitchen door, but they were full wood doors with small slats that you could adjust and peak out if you needed to.

The other kid was the “runner" who would wait patiently on the outside of the hallway in another room while the builder/s constructed an obstacle course of the cardboard bricks.

The builder would construct their most epic obstacle. For example, sometimes there would just be one giant brick wall that filled the middle of the hallway from floor to ceiling. It’s surprising how many cardboard bricks we actually had and this is what also made it fun.

After the builder constructed what they felt was a substantial amount of walls and obstacles using all the bricks, they would then shut off all the lights in the hallway and close all the doors. This is where the runner would face their fear. The person running down the hallway also had to keep their eyes closed. You know, just in case any light came peeking in through cracks of any closed doors.

The person running was supposed to run straight down the hallway knocking down all the bricks as fast as they could in the dark hallway of mirrors without slowing down. If the person running made it to the end and knocked down all the walls, they won. It then became their turn to trade spots and become the builder.

Now, to some people this may seem like a dangerous and ridiculous game. It was. This is what we liked about it. Luckily, we were always careful and nobody got hurt. To be fair, I ran into doors and walls more when the lights were on.

Reflection

I bring this game up now because I think about this game a lot. We played it all the time until we outgrew it. And, I realize that whenever I’m faced with a situation that seems tough my mind flashbacks to thinking about this game. Why? I don't know, so I've thought more about it. I know this was only a childhood game, but maybe it taught me something and that's why I'm sharing it with you. I've found that this game has become this image and metaphor that I hold onto. It's not only a fond memory, but has functioned as a life lesson.

For example, it taught me that sometimes walls are just imaginary. Many times I ran down that hallway, I thought for sure that there was a wall of bricks when there wasn’t. Sometimes I had to open one eye because I was sure that I was going to fall flat on my face.

It taught me to trust my senses and my gut instinct when I couldn't see and to know when my feelings were based on fear. I've realized that we all break down walls as an adult in our own way (I'm speaking metaphorically here). Not literally. I'm not saying I go around with a hammer and look for walls or anything like that. And if you do, that's cool. You might be doing some construction on your house. If that's the case you may have flashbacks of other things you might be able to compare instead of a childhood game from the eighties.

Either way, knocking down walls can be addicting. Physically and mentally. It can give one a sense of accomplishment. And the same feeling anyone gets from tearing out something old and putting in something new.

As we go through our life, breaking through wall after wall, if you look close you may see something looking back like I did. Just like our reflection as kids that we couldn’t see in the hallway of mirrors, but were clearly there all along. In those moments when the lights go on, you have a chance to see all those real and imaginary brick walls that were conquered.

what’s your hallway of mirrors?

What's that thing that you keep doing over and over because you love it? What's that thing that also feels risky and you have to trust your instincts to get through it?

Mine? Well, one of those has always been putting my writing out in front of complete strangers and as a writer it is one of the most important parts in order to do more and is still the hardest for me. But, here you go. That’s one of mine.

If you read this, I don’t recommend you play the “Hallway of Mirrors” that I fondly remember. The 80’s may have been awesome, but there was a lot of kidnapping. At least it felt like that. We may have had Trapper Keepers, Garbage Pale kids, and charm bracelets, but it was also full of perms, shoulder pads, and jazzercise.