The In Between

Part 1

"Rhiannon Matthews, if I come in there and don't see any flashcards you'll be sorry!" My mom warned, pounding on my bedroom door.

"Don't worry mom, I've got the SATs in the bag." I told her quickly scrambling to quietly shut my laptop and grab the index cards off my desk. However, I had forgotten to take my headphones out and my laptop went skittering across the floor. 

"Aha!" She shouted bursting through the door, "Gotcha!" She caught me consoling my fallen laptop. "Hand it over." She motioned with her hand. 

I slowly rose and handed it to her, "This is not goodbye, only... see you later." I dramatically told the computer. 

"Get studying you goof, you aren't coordinated enough for clown college." She told me jokingly before giving me a kiss on the forehead. 

"Don't stifle my dreams mom." I stomped over to my bed, pretending to be angry. 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm taking this too." She said picking my phone up from the dresser. 

I winced. What a rookie mistake, leaving it in her line of sight. "Why must you make me suffer." 

Rolling her eyes she told me, "It's my job. Dinner is at 6 tonight, study until then, and you can have them back." 

I sighed as the door shut softly behind her. I pulled my long hair back into a ponytail and got to work. After about an hour the words all started to mesh together, so I moved on to a practice math test, when finally, after about thirty minutes, I got called down to dinner. My family was already gathered around the rectangle table, my parents at either end and my three siblings divided among the sides. On one side was Harley and Elizabeth, the babies at 6 and 8 years old. On the other side there was my brother Ethan who is 14 and next to him the only seat left open for me, the oldest, at 17 years old, was the one without a cushion. I sat down with a huff as the family said grace. 

"You've been studying." My dad acknowledged as we unclasped our hands. It's fairly easy to spot when I had been studying because what starts as a neat pony tail turns into a reverse half up half down hairstyle with pieces poking out every which way. "If you're not careful all your hair will fall out." He chuckled. 

"My last test is this Saturday morning, and after that I will never have to look at the SAT again." I reminded him. 

"Until you help Ethan study for his of course." My mom chirped. This got a chuckle out of everyone. 

"Very funny." I said, digging into my plate of Spaghetti and meatballs. 

After dinner was over we fed our dog Bailey some table scraps and watched a movie as a family, tossing popcorn at each other. I nuzzled my head into my moms shoulder and fell asleep. After the movie ended I was woken up to the beautiful sight of my laptop. 

"Oh how I've missed you." I said pulling it into a loving embrace. 

"How did we raise such a drama queen Frank?" My mom asked my dad as she tidied up the couch. 

"Give a kid a name like Rhiannon and that's what happens." I shrugged. 

"Your grandmother was anything but a drama queen." My dad reminded me.

"Yeah yeah yeah." I shrugged.  

"Anyway, your father and I are going out with the Johnsons and you're in charge until we get back. Don't get all power hungry now, just know that Harley and Elizabeth should be ready for bed by ten, and you and Ethan, well I don't care when you're in bed just don't let him do anything stupid." She smiled. 

I nodded in agreement and gave them both a hug before heading upstairs, where I sat on facetime for nearly an hour, talking about my latest history assignment. 

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"Get into bed you little booger!" I screamed as I chased Harley around, his half zipped footy pajamas looking like a surfers wet suit. 

He squealed as Ethan popped out from behind the door and grabbed him, pretending he was an airplane all the way back to his bed, where he tucked him in nice and snug. 

I read a chapter out of their bedtime story and gave them each a kiss on the forehead. "Goodnight you guys, love you." I told them has I shut the light off and closed the door lightly behind me. 

"10:41, not to shabby." Ethan said rubbing his hands together. 

"I guess not." I laughed, taking my hair out of my pony for the first time in hours. I playfully knocked my shoulder into his as I made my way to my bedroom. 

I sat crisscross on my paisley comforter slouching over my computer watching YouTube videos. Somehow I wound up watching videos on the Mandela effect and things of that nature. My collie Bailey was curled up at my feet. I was getting drowsy and was just about ready to change out of my ripped jeans and into some pajamas. Then out of nowhere my door slammed open with a loud "Boo!" came from Ethan. 

I screamed and every hair on my body stood on end. "You're going to wake the babies!" I reprimanded. 

In between his fits of laughter he managed to get out the words, "Hey...you...screamed...too!" I got up and shoved him out the door slamming it behind him, knowing he still stood in the hallway laughing. 

I made my way back to bed and laid back with my hands over my head. I accidentally fell asleep for a few hours waking only when I kicked my computer to the ground.  "Oh god." I mumbled slowly rising to retrieve it from the floor. The alarm clocks blue letters read 2:30 am. My room was only lit by the moonlight pouring in from my bay window but as I stood back up I could have sworn my reflection had short hair.  My hand immediately shot up to the nape of my neck which was covered by my thick, brown hair and I sighed with relief. If Ethan had cut my hair, he would've been a dead man. Or boy, rather.

"Ethan!" I whisper screamed, "Stop messing around." I looked around the room and behind the mirror for Ethan but he was no where to be found. "Wow, my brain is fried." I whispered to myself checking out the bags under my eyes in my mirror. 

Suddenly, my reflection turned into a boys with dark brown hair and a smirk, I screamed, but before I could do anything more his two hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me towards him and with little resistance my body went through the mirror as if it were jello. 

For a while everything sounded as if I were underwater and for what seemed like hours there was nothing but darkness. I tugged at my hair and rubbed my eyes, this no longer made galaxies of color beneath my eyelids. I still felt everything. I pulled my hair into a ponytail so it wasn't in my face not that I had much to see. When suddenly the black turned into a milky swirl of purples and blues. I couldn't tell if I was in a hallway or a room and there was so much movement that even the thought of trying to walk made me dizzy. I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet or anything around me at all for that matter. But I did hear footsteps reverberating off of what must be walls, and getting closer by the second. 

"Am I dead?" I whispered to myself. 

A voice from behind me said, "Of course not, you're in between."