A thin ray of light slipped from behind the violet curtains, finding their way slowly to my closed eyes. Soon after it others started to reach in until my room was flooded with a violet light. With a silent growl I pulled my blanket over my head and turned the other way. The pillow was so fluffy and the room so warm that I honestly didn’t feel like waking up.
“Rise and shine Ashley!”
My mother’s voice reached my ears right when my sleep was sweeter. My mother always had this way of stepping in exactly when she wasn’t wanted, or needed, so one could say that I was used to it. But that was my sister, not me. I enjoyed actually sleeping through the whole night, not getting up at the crack of dawn. I growled again and threw a pillow at her, blankly. Sadly it didn’t reach its target. My mother just smiled at walked over to the window, pulling the curtains aside and letting the white light of the morning flood my room.
“Get out mom, its summer. I’m allowed to sleep as much as I like.”
I protested, trying to find my pillow on the floor without sticking my head out from underneath the blanket. But my mother was faster than me and before I had the time to process, my blanket flew from over my head to the foot of the bed. The bright light was hurting my eyes and I had to blink a few times before figuring out where I was.
“Hurry up and get downstairs. Breakfast will be served in twenty minutes.”
My mother added before leaving the room with my pillow and blanket in her arms. Defenseless against the light, and my mother, I reluctantly stepped out of bed and walked over to my wardrobe, hoping I would find something decent to wear. Jeans and a t-shirt, classic. With a nod I pulled out my favorite navy blue t-shirt and pair of worn jeans. As I was pacing across the room a small, bright light caught my eye and made me freeze. Instantly I turned my head to the left only to see my mirror sparkling in the sunlight. My heart started beating again and I breathed relieved. In the mirror I could see a familiar face with sleepy gray eyes and messy black hair looking back at me. Man my hair was a mess. With a giggle it grabbed my hairbrush and sat down to brush the nest on my head.
“Leeeaaa…”
A faint whisper reached my ears and my window opened by itself. I froze and let the brush slip out my hand looking around the room.
“Come closer…”
The voice was clear as crystal and it seemed to be coming from the other side of the mirror. It was low and gave me chills down my spine. My brain was again shouting as loud as it could ‘no! get away, leave!’ but yet again I didn’t listen to it. Curious, and with my heart the size of a flea, I got closer to the mirror. So close that my nose nearly toughed the polished surface.
“Leeeaaa…”
For a few seconds it could have sworn I saw a face next to mine in the mirror. It was a face with big blue eyes and black hair that seemed to grin at me. And it was not a happy grin; it was an ‘I want to get you’ grin. A pale hand reached out to me and almost grabbed my pink strand of hair. Happily I managed to pull back before it could get hold of me and it just disappeared back into the mirror. Everything was so unreal. I jumped from the seat and grabbed my clothes, rushing out of the room. My heart was pounding like crazy and I couldn’t find my breath. Behind me I could hear a laugh right before the slam of the door and the cling of the lock.
---
What just happened? I asked myself as I was sitting at the table with my mother and older sister, Kimberly. My eyes were fixed in the cereal bowl and I was stirring in it with other things on my mind than food. It had been almost a week since I had the weird dream with the voice in the mirror. Back then I didn’t make much of it; I figured it was a dream like any other, like my unicorn dream that I kept having since I was five where a pink unicorn sings this idiotic song. But after spending fifteen minutes slapping myself, trying to make sure I was awake, I was starting to think there was more to it that I initially thought. But I was determined not to believe it until I had evidence. Besides, I was busy without all that on my head, my mother’s wedding was coming up in less than two weeks and we still had many things to do.
“Honey, did you hear me?”
My mother broke the deep silence in my head as she banged on my bowl. That caused me to drop my spoon and splash milk on the table, all the way to my sister.
“Ashley Cara Meyers. Are you listening to me young lady?”
“Ashley! This is my new shirt!”
Kimberly shouted as milk splashed all across her pink tank top. She gave me her usual frowned look, like she used to before any fight. But now I was in no mood for an argument so I just ignored them both as I stood up.
“Excuse me.”
I simply said as I walked away. The walk to my room was longer than usual as I was worried about what I might find in there. Millions of things were going through my mind as I put my hand on the doorknob and my heart was pounding like crazy. I forced to door open but nothing happened. Determined to get inside I kept on twisting and turning the knob, struggling to get it open. Suddenly I heard a clack and the door slammed open. A gust of wind blew out and made the light in the hallway flicker a few times before going off. Ok, now I was clearly worried to go back into my room. Whatever was going on around there was nothing friendly. And it showed me it didn’t want me there.
