Into The Mirror

Chapter 11: Derek Returns

As soon as we arrived home, I took in everything that had happened last time we were there, and looked around at the emotional and physical state the house was now in.

My house seemed so miserable, yet it was strangely enough the only place I felt sort of safe, and isolated from the dangers of the outside world. I was my own prisoner, but it kept me sane.

I slowly made my way to the sofa, keeping my dad steady, and then sat him down. I didn't want to go back upstairs after that alone, and neither did my father so we kept downstairs and watched a comedy and ate some popcorn to calm our nerves.

At the exact time the film ended, the phone began to ring.

"Stay here dad; I'll answer the phone in case it's her again." I told him in hope he'd feel safer. He nodded but didn't speak. Instead, he just looked down at his lap and begun silently crying as he remembered everything that had happened from the beginning of the day.

"Hello?" I spoke into the phone

"Hey, it's Derek. Can I come over?"

"Sure, just go easy on my dad, something really bad happened today- I'll explain everything when you get here."

"Is it about your mum? I saw her in the hospital when I went with my parents to visit my grandfather. He mysteriously begun having breathing problems and couldn't explain what had happened to him. All he said was he had seen a blonde girl, and she whispered to him that Pazuzu was entering him." Derek began to sound worried as he spoke more and more into the phone.

"Yes it's about my mum; we need to look into Pazuzu's legend as soon as possible; I can't afford to lose anyone else." I quickly replied, as if to give him the hint to hurry to my house.

Approximately 10 minutes later, the doorbell was rung so I slowly opened the door to reveal Derek outside. For a few seconds we stared at each other, thinking how unreal these past few weeks had been. Subsequently, he grabbed me and hugged me as if it could save our lives, or bring back our friends and family. As if it could erase the terrible things that had occurred. I hugged him back trying felt safe in his arms; as if he'd just returned from a terrible war and the only person he wanted to see was me.

After we'd finished hugging, I led him inside to the lounge, and he sat next to my dad. After I'd left, my father began to talk to Derek and they told each other everything they'd been through that day.

"She was beautiful, but looked so devastated. I didn't think she could harm anyone like that. I don't even have a clue how she entered our house." My dad worriedly told Derek.

"She may have been beautiful on the outside, if you take away the blood stains and bags under her eyes, but if she had the courage to hurt anyone, physically or mentally, she's obviously not a good person inside, and that's all that really matters in a person." Derek replied. He looked furious that Mary would even think of getting near my family.

"Derek, what exactly did she say or do to you today?" I blurted out, not really wanting to know the answer, in case it was something I'd regret wanting to find out in the first place.

Derek looked at me with a sad, guilty expression taking over his face but remained silent.

"Derek?" I repeated. Regret radiated back to him instantly. He knew I didn't want to know the answer if it was as bad as I expected.

" I'm fine. She came back and screamed Pazuzu in my face. I told her to leave us alone. I didn't want her near me. It may make me seem like a baby but after all thats happened I really don't care that I cried." He coldly answered.

He'd never spoken to me like that before, but since we'd all just been harassed by the female version of the devil, I gave him the benefit of the doubt regardless.

That night I fell asleep, still wondering how on earth a ghost as Mary could hide in mirrors and take anything or even anyone she wanted to with her, then keep them locked in there for all eternity. I had a tremendously terrifying nightmare. I saw Mary. Ruby and Crystal were both there. Memories of the night I first came in contact with Mary flashed back and the dream repeated itself.

Mary was one of my best friends in my dream. She had been in the sleepover with us and we had been playing dares, but this time she had been involved in it. Elizabeth, the librarian and Ashley were also there. We had started off doing silly, pointless dares like daring eachother to do the cinammon challenge or running around, pretending to be chickens. Or even, calling up eachother's crushes and telling them they were the loves of our lives. But nothing serious had occured to begin with.

But soon enough, I was frightened to death. Mary had begun to act up, and I was the only one in the room who had noticed. She had begun to talk about the abortion she had been forced to have months before. Her parents, understandably, didn't want her to be 13 and pregnant. They believed it was wrong, and she needed a job, and to be emotionally ready to have a baby. They didn't even know who the baby's dad was. As far as anyone was concerned, she was a virgin. They didn't believe that she would have been brave enough to have had sex at that age. She was too young, innocent and precious to them. But ruthlessly, they had taken away her baby. The one thing she had only truly cared about. She didn't care about her education, boyfriend or friends.

She had been depressed for months and no one really knew, except me. I knew. I knew, and didn't tell anyone, for fear she would hate me forever. Later on, she became violent and tried to attack yolanda. It was then that the memories of yolanda came flooding back. I saw her, lying down. With no one helping her. I saw myself, Crystal and Ruby just staring at her, regretting having dared her to have done this. Then, I looked up at Ruby and she had become Mary. A possessed demon. The vision I didn't want to see. She sobbed loudly, blaming me for everything that had happened. I didn't know what to do, except trying to get into my parents' bedroom. I knocked loudly, but no one answered. Ruby came charging at me. Hundreds of books of Pazuzu went flying, every single one of them in my direction, all at once. I ducked. What else could I do?

I woke up.