My Short Stories

Reflections of My Inner Self (Part 3)

That night after meeting our new neighbour, I lay in bed, trying to clear my mind and get some sleep. But the more I tried, the more the events of the afternoon came flooding in. Tons of questions filled my mind - Who was that woman? Why did she seem so familiar? How did she know my name? And why did I blackout for that split second when we touched?

"It looks like I will never forget this." I mumbled under my breath, with fear suddenly engulfing me. 

I felt a sudden chill down my spine, and it didn't take me long to realise that it wasn't just the thoughts that gave me goose bumps. I was actually feeling cold. 

Shivering and confused, I sat up to see where the breeze was coming from. As I looked around I could see nothing - none of the windows were open to suggest anything could come in. Along with the cold breeze, I could smell the freshness of leaves in the woods that made me even more curious. How could the outdoor scent come in when no door or window was open? But then, I noticed it - a bright light was emitting through the gaps around the hidden door in the dark corner of my bedroom, like a solar eclipse but a rectangular shape. 

"That's strange." I thought to myself. "Why would a room of mirrors suddenly give out light?" 

As far as I knew no one else in the house would go in there to turn the lights on, and I was the only one in the house who knew about it. I definitely didn't go in there since yesterday. So, who turned on the light in there? 

Then I heard something.

"Cassie." A young female voice whispered my name. It sounded so illusory yet I knew it was real, and it seemed like it was coming through that door. I knew I was warned about not to open that door, twice already, but this was the first time I heard a call and no matter how much I tried, I couldn't resist it.

I jumped out of bed and slowly crept towards the door, being mindful about taking each step as quietly as possible.

Once I approached the door, I inhaled a deep breath. I closed my eyes, trying one last time to listen to the warnings given to me, but there was one part of the warnings that kept playing more frequently of the girl with the ghostly voice - "There's no hiding now. Whatever you've been keeping away, will eventually come out to play...if you don't face them first!"

"Looks like I have no choice." I sighed. "Whatever, I fear, I have to face it, and it seems to be behind this door."

I turned the handle and the door creaked open. I was greeted by a very bright light which blinded me for a second. 

Soon, it all became clear what that bright light was and the cold breeze became stronger as it turned to freezing winds. 

Right there in front of me, the room of mirrors was no longer there. Instead my green eyes met with a forest covered in thick snow.

Snow was one of my fears. I never dared to go out when it fell. Years ago, I went on a skiing trip with my school. My friend, Neve and I were skiing on a mountain just like everyone else was. We took precautions as we learnt at school. But the weather was unpredictable. Even though the broadcast said it would be dry, we were in for a nasty shock. 

High winds started to blow and we were at the wrong place of the mountain when it struck. The winds soon turned into a blizzard and we were all instructed to hurry down the mountain, leaving our ski equipment behind. Most of us were lucky to get to safety when the cold hard snow from the peak of the mountain collapsed and rolled down like an avalanche. I barely managed to escape the huge and heavy pieces of snow falling to the ground, but Neve wasn't so lucky. When I turned around, she was nowhere to be seen. 

Calling her name, I began running back to where I last saw her, but the teachers stopped me from getting in to danger.

After the blizzard died down, a search party went out to look for Neve. But when she was found buried under the snow, it was too late as she was out cold and wasn't breathing. Big drops of tears rolled out of my eyes uncontrollably as I just lost my only friend. I felt like a failure that I couldn't save her. I was scarred for life.

I wanted to keep that tragic event in the past, where it should have been and never think about it again. But because of my recent foolish actions, my instincts started to tell me that if I continue to ignore it, it would keep on coming.

With all the courage I could collect, I took a deep breath and stepped out into the snowy forest. Surprisingly, under my slippers, the snow felt soft. With every step I took, the snow made a soft crunching sound. For moment, the pleasant feeling made me forget the bad times as I ran around the forest. Then I stopped, as the faint sound of the same female voice I heard earlier brought me back to my senses, reminding me of the danger that lurked behind the beauty.

"Cassie!"

In the distance I could hear it as it kept calling my name. I started following the direction it was coming from, and as I drew closer and closer, the calling sounded more like a cry and recognisable.

"Cassie, help me!" 

At that moment, I knew exactly who was calling me and my pace quickened. 

"I'm coming, Neve!" It sounded like I was given another chance to save her, even though I knew that was absurd. But I had no other choice but to go through it all again. 

Then the calling stopped and I paused in my tracks. There in front of me was the very mountain that we were skiing on - the very mountain where I last saw Neve. But there was no one there. It was so quiet that it scared me. Have I failed again? I was starting to think how stupid I was to go on this trek, but something still urged me to go on.

"Neve, where are you?!" I cried. Straight away, it occurred to me how dumb that sounded as I knew she was dead. But my knowledge was once again deceived when I heard an answer. Her eerie voice made me jump out of my skin as she replied.

"Up here." 

I didn't see it coming when I looked up, the sky was covered with Neve's giant brown eyes. I watched in horror as they turn ice blue and instead of watery tears, shards of glass began to fall from her eyes.

"No!" I tried to shield myself with my arms wrapped around me. And the next thing I knew, I was back in my bed. I sat up and blinked a few times. Was it just a dream?

My answer was given instantly as I felt a sharp pain in my eyes as if the shards of glass went straight through them. I ran to my bathroom and tried to wash the pain away, but as I looked up in the mirror above my basin, I saw it - even my green eyes were turning ice blue just like Neve's! My heart was pounding as I panicked. "What's happening to me?"