Chasing My Reflection

Chapter 9: When Night Falls

Liam had no hope in getting his parents to believe him of what happened last week. Once again they blamed him for being irresponsible. They also accused him of lying. Liam couldn't blame them of accusing him of so. He had told many lies in the past, however, he was now understanding the point behind the boy who cried wolf.

After throwing away the pieces of the broken mirror and cleaning up mass amount of shattered glass that was on the floor, Liam slept t in the living room for the past seven days.

Whenever his father or mother would pass by him they would shake their head in pity. He decided to sleep in the living room as long as he lived in that house., until his mom purchased another mirror for the hallway.

Liam made a big fuss about that. He would often look at the mirror but wouldn't dare go pass it without bursting into her sprint.

He stayed awake most of the night looking over his shoulder and at the ceiling and under couches. He did this everyday until 4 a.m. where he would fall asleep with the living room lights on only to be turned off by his tired father who pays the bills.

It was now Monday and Liam got up for school. With bags under his eyes and tired written all over his face, he lazily brushed his teeth, washed his face, combed his hair and got dressed for school. After saying goodbye to his parents he left the house and waited outside for the school bus.

When the bus came, he got on and ignored all the balled up papers that were being thrown at him by the pimple faced bully and his crew. They called him Max. His gang was called Watch-O. They say they're  called that because before anyone could say watch OUT, Max and his crew had already gotten you.

Liam sat on the bus in a chair alone and waited for the bus driver to pick up Ned.
Ned and Liam became very close friends. They had a lot in common, especially when it came to astronomy. The both of them dreamed of becoming astronauts, flying to the moon and living some distant life away from Earth. They would talk the whole ride to school.

  It was until they got to school Max and his crew would slam them into lockers, call them names and blow spitballs at them through a straw.  Everyone else was kind of normal but not really. The students were either extremely boring or ego maniacs.

However, Liam still had a couple of friends he would call normal.

During the lunch period Ned asked Liam what was wrong. Liam shook his head and said it was nothing.

"Awww now come on." Ned said and patted him once on the back. "I know you will better than that. Come on tell me."

Liam sighed. He took a sip of his chocolate milk that was in a small carton, then when he was finished he put it back down and wiped his mouth with his hand.

"Its just, my parents never believe anything I say. They never ever take me seriously you know?" Liam said staring at the table.

"Yeah, I know how you feel. My mom never listens to me. I guess it's normal when you're a teenager. They think you over exaggerating about everything until it's too late." Ned said picking at his food with a plastic fork.

Ned's last sentence seemed to linger inside Liam's mind.

"Until it's too late?" Liam asked.

"Yeah? You know like suicide and all the stuff. Or when you're getting bullied at school. You tell your parents and it's not till' something fatal happened they want to make some drastic change for you. It'll be too late." He said. The sleeves of his shirt moved up a bit, exposing little slashes on his wrist. He quickly hid them.

Liam sensed something in Ned's voice. A bit of sadness. It struck Liam like thunder when he realized Ned was talking about himself. He wasn't treated right at home or at school. Liam felt sorry for him, more than he felt sorry for himself.

Liam smiled patted him on the shoulder.
"We should get to class."

After school Ned invited Liam over to his house. Too bad Liam was still grounded for another week and a half. Ned had told Liam when he was done being grounded,  to come to his house for a sleepover and  that they could play video games and eat junk food.

***

Liam was getting ready for bed. His dad had bought him a small night light about the size of a light bulb for him. It wasn't that bright but Liam had to deal with it for now until he could save his own money and by himself a brighter one.

Liam plugged the night light inside an electric socket that was next to the couch. He could only see about one or two feet in front of him and he couldn't see the mirror. Not that he wanted to.

Liam had a dream about a sand storm in his town. He woke up when he thought he heard the sounds of sand being thrown against a window. He laid back down and fell asleep again still deathly tired. Then he heard sounds. The type of sounds as if someone was knocking on glass or tapping a window.

By now he assumed this house was haunted and figured the noises were most likely coming from the mirror. But he didn't dare to look. He was too afraid to look. He hoped he would fall asleep and it would be morning already.

He was now half asleep. Somewhere between half awake and half asleep he felt this weird sensation again. He started to breathe slowly. It felt as if it was slowing down with each beat. His chest began to tighten. Liam's eyes were half way closed and when he tried to open them they shut back down as if he was too tired.

Huh what's going on. He thought.

Finally his eyes opened. He woke up to hear knocking on glass. At first, he thought it was the window until he heard it come from the mirror

again...

He slowly slid the blanket from over his face. He looked over to the mirror. Scarlett was standing there.

"Scarlett?" He whispered.

Unexpectedly a shadow figure ran from behind the couch Liam was sleeping on. Liam jumped back.

The shadow figure who now had hands and a face ran to Scarlett and grabbed her by the hair.

Scarlett was screaming for help but no noise came from her, as if she muted herself. The shadow figure dragged her to the mirror and threw her inside.

Liam laid back watching in horror as the creature watched Scarlett beat on the mirror. She was inside the mirror.

The shadow figure turned his head  towards Liam and his horrendous face made Liam want to puke. The eyes of the creature looked as if they been burned out by a glue gun while the remains of the glue stayed. His sewn together mouth went up and down as if it couldn't control it. The rest of its body, besides it's face and hands, were still shadow like.

Liam couldn't move and just by looking at this thing he wished he was dead. He thought death wouldn't be as bad as it was looking at this creature.  It ran towards Liam. Liam closed his eyes and prepared for the worse, but nothing happened.

He opened his eyes and to his surprise there was no one there. He quickly turned on the lights.

His dad came down stairs and went straight into the kitchen.

"Dad! You know what just happened!" Liam yelled.

No reply from his dad who stood up drinking some ice tea from a cup.

"Dad?" He said.

Nelson put the cup in the sink then walked pass Liam.

"Okay dad real funny." Liam said following behind him.

His dad stood in the hallway and looked at the balled up blanket on the couch. His dad walked over to it. He moved the blanket and patted the head of the figure that was there.

"Love you Liam." His dad said then ran back up stairs.

Liam watched the whole thing and he couldn't move. He stood staring at himself who was smiling at him. The figure got up and vanished.