Mirror Me

My parents are crazy about Ireland or at least my mother was. That's why I'm named after a town there. I got my mom's flaming red hair and dad's dark gray eyes. My skin is translucent in nature and looks but at least I don't have the typical Irish freckles. Dad kept going on "business trips" to Japan. Later mom found out his sudden interest was named Nanami Sakura. That was just a trainwreck waiting to be discovered or more accurately, divorced. Dad had started drinking a while back and mom was just so fed up by this point. That freaky girl of his turned out to be the last nail in the coffin.

After the divorce motion was carried, dad just wanted to get away from us. I guess he got his wish. The company he works for is expanding overseas and he was reassigned to the Japanese division. Since my mother was deemed "unstable" after the divorce (she was always talking about fairies and the 'wee folk' when dad started drinking) I was shipped off on a plane with him. Mom taught me a bunch of rhymes and charms to 'protect me' before I was taken away. As we landed in Tokyo the dark thunder surrounding my seat slowly dissipated with every flashing neon sign.

"So Princess, what do you think about your new castle?" Dad didn't even look up from his whiskey.

I rolled my eyes and gave him the customary death glare as I shot back: "I'm not like Mom, Dad. I don't have any fairytale delusions since you left us in the dust." Under my breath, I said. "Blimey, but this place is huge!"

He just grunted and took another sip; I had my face pressed up against the glass and was too excited to care. I had never seen a city this big before in my entire life. The airport was almost made completely of glass. Bars of steel mounted in concrete jutted out of the ground to form a mountain range.

A few days after I arrived, Dad took me to see his girlfriend's parents. Apparently it's a custom or something. I was just wondering why they had to live all the way out in the boondocks. The only way you could get to their house was by car.

Most places in Japan are connected by railroads; even the some of the other islands. Kind of amazing, right?

Their home was so far in the country that even the rail stations were at least a two hour walk away. I was starting to get sick from the up and down motion of every hill when Dad turned off the barely visible road and onto a true mud track through the forest. As the four-wheel drive relaxed a little and our rental crunched over ancient gravel, I realized we must be getting close. Five or six hairpin twists later, the oak trees thinned out and the road started to get large enough to comfortably hold a small car. A couple seconds later, a statue as tall as a kindergartener stood at the end of the drive to mark the long walk to the front porch. It was facing our car and had a grin carved from one side to the other.

After five minutes of walking up a steep hill I glanced back to see how far we had come. I could still see the statue and the car through a thin veneer of trees. That creepy thing had faces on both sides and I swear the one facing the house had fangs. I didn't look back at all after that so I could keep an eye on the house that was slowly emerging from a veil of cherry trees. I was so absorbed in staring at them in full bloom that I didn't notice the start of the steps.

"Waaaaah...Ooouf. Ha! Nailed it!" I managed to skip up the first stair on one foot, spin around, and fall on my butt. It was a lot better than the usual option of falling face up the stairs.

"Nice one, kid. You definitely broke the laws of physics there." Dad responded. "Maybe you can even bring one of Frannie's portals into existence." He snorted at his own joke. He always loved to make fun of Mom even though Dad's the one who supposedly drove her over the brink.

I made a face at his back before I stood up and followed. Those stairs needed to be replaced; they wobbled with every hint of wind. Sometimes they wobbled around just for fun. I was debating at whether or not I would be able to make it back down alive when we reached the top. After I stepped off, a gentle breeze blew and the entire structure creaked gently while it danced to the rhythm of the wind. I shivered as I gazed down the 30 meter drop.