Mirrored

The Trip

"Come on Girls! Pack quicker! We leave in a few hours!" My mom calls from downstairs.

"I'm almost finished!" I call back, folding a shirt and stuffing it in my suitcase as Katelyn tosses me a different shirt from my closet, continuing her conversation with me.

"Alright, listen, I don't care who's house you live in as long as you live close enough for me to bike to your house and steal your ice cream, okay?"

I roll my eyes and fold the shirt, then the next one she throws to me. "That's your reason for wanting me to live close to you? Not something like "We've been best friends for almost four years, you can't just leave!" Or even, "Maybe we can convince your parents to let you live at my house!", you just want my ice cream?"

"Hey! It's not my fault my sister is lactose intolerant! Maybe if my parents would allow me to eat ice cream around her, I wouldn't steal yours!"

I allow myself to smile slightly as the last of my clothes are stuffed in my suitcase.

"You won't move schools though, right? I can't handle being alone, you know that. Your the only one who can actually get me through school." she says more serious, sitting on my bare mattress.

"I don't know," I answer, sitting next to her, "my aunt doesn't live anywhere close to school, I don't know if she'll be willing to drive that far. Not to mention my parents have been looking at other school websites recently." I mumble, looking down.

She shakes her head and stares at the wall, messing with her bracelets anxiously, a tick she has from being ADHD. "That's not fair! And I'm not gonna let you leave. I'm starting a campaign, and all of your friends are gonna help me! Or, even better! The whole school!" She declares.

I scoff and lay down, "What friends? As far as I know, your the only friend I have. Plus no one in the school will care either way." I say to the ceiling, messing with the one purple streak of hair I have in the dark, wavy mess of black hair.

Katelyn's face appears hovering over mine, a wide grin spread across her face as her blonde hair falls over my face. Any trace of her being upset is gone, like she was acting.

Katelyn and I have known each other for years now, I was used to her weird and excitable personality, but other people weren't. Us being friends was a 1 in 100 chance, seeing that we were polar opposites. She was upbeat, silly, and always doing something. I'm lazy, laid back, and super boring.

But, Katelyn will stop at nothing to get what she wants, so we became friends. We could've gotten matching bracelets or a friendship necklace like normal friends would, but she said it wasn't "official" enough. So we both dyed one streak of our hair purple.

Katelyn was good at cheering me up when I was upset or in a bad mood because she was never upset or in a bad mood. She says I'm being over exaggerative, but she's never done anything but smile. If there was a gun pointed to her head and the man holding it told her she had to cry or he'd shoot her, I'm almost 100% sure she would just chuckle, buy him a sandwich, and have a discussion on the bad things in his life like Oprah or something. she's a master therapist.

"Come on, Fiona! don't be such I downer! Remember what I told you?"she asks, staring down at me with her blue eyes expectedly.

"The "no more sad thoughts" thing?" I ask in a mumble, "jeez, it's so hard to be a normal human being around you."

"And that's why I'm your bestie!" She says happily. "Come on, we have to get these downstairs, I can't wait to see your aunt's house!"

"Please never call me your bestie again, and I  told you I don't want you to come." I grumble, grabbing a few bags and walking down the hall to the stairs. "I've seen pictures of the house, it's trash."

She shakes her head, walking out of my room and down the steps with the other bags. "You shouldn't say that about your Aunt's house, it's the best thing your parents can give you at the moment. Your being an ungrateful butt."

I scoff and avoid her eyes, knowing she was right like she always is. I have a theory that she's probably the offspring of Dr.Phil and she's hiding it from me, I just need more evidence to prove it.

I hated the idea of living away from my parents and with my crazy aunt, but my parents were offered a job across the state to study a cure for cancer. (they're some kind of scientists or doctors or something. It sounds more interesting then it is.) My mother says its not guaranteed of how long they'll be working there, but school starts in less then a month in Montana, so I would have to stay at my aunts so they can focus more on their work, rather then focusing their time on me.

Apparently I am a distraction of some sort, instead of a child. I was used to my parents constantly having to go on business trips, but at most they would take a week or two so I could just stay at Katelyns house. But obviously, studying a cure for cancer is gonna take more then a week, and they didn't want Katelyns parents to have to deal with me more then a few days. Katelyn tried convincing them that they were overreacting, but they had made up their minds.

It hadn't helped that the one person they decided they would send me to was my Aunt Candace. A crazy, strange, 56 year old that lives in a dirty old mansion.

Aunt Candace isn't someone you want to have a conversation with. she's always talking as if she thought of what to say hours before, like she's memorized her lines for a movie. Yet when she speaks, she sounds like she's worried she'll screw up, like if she says one thing wrong, she'll be shot dead or sent to jail.

She's constantly warning me not to look at myself in the mirror for too long at random times. Yeah, maybe that's just her way of telling me not to think so highly of myself or act selfish, but that's not all she does. She once told me I looked pretty even though we were talking on the phone. No FaceTime, no Skype, not even oovoo, just a cell phone call.

My parents say its nothing to worry about. They say that shes just been a little off since her husband died, but her husband has been dead for 3 years now, so I find that excuse invalid, unless he's haunting her.

I still love her- don't get me wrong. she just creeps me out.

"Ah! There you girls are! Ready for the trip?" My dad asks, taking my bags when we get to the bottom step.

"Aunt Candace lives closer to the mountain side, so it's gonna be about 30 to 45 minutes of driving! She says Katelyn can stay as long as she wants, as long as you girls do some house work she has for you."

"I can handle that!" Katelyn says confidently, "We're ready to go!"

"Great, then let's be off!" My mother announces. After we've all stuffed ourselves into the small smug car and gotten our bags in the trunk, my dad opens the door to the backseat for me and Katelyn.

"Thank you, my good sir!" Katelyn smiles, Curtsying and hopping in, "your welcome, young lady" he chuckles, then smiles at me, "and for you, mistress" he says, directing his hand to the door.

I roll my eyes and climb in, sitting beside Katelyn, "You guys are so weird" I mumble, putting my headphones on and playing a song as Katelyn starts making conversation with my parents. She once in awhile tries making me join in the discussion, but I eventually fall asleep, watching the trees quickly pass by my window.

When I'm woken up in what feels like seconds later, the car we're in is parked in front of a shaggy, broken down house. An old woman smiles at us and waves happily from the door step, "welcome to aunt Candace's house!" My mom says cheerfully.