Seeing Is Believing

Chapter 1

Summer break was finally here and everyone was off with their families going to foreign countries or just relaxing at home and hanging out with their friends. They would all probably be doing something exciting under the hot glaring sun such as swimming and so on. No one would be going on an extremely long ride all the way to the countryside to meet their grandfather, at least this was what Peregrina Pan thought.

"Do we really have to go see grandpa? I'd rather be at home so that I can focus on my English homework and hang out with my friends." Peregrina complained just a few minutes before they were about to reach her grandfather's place. Why couldn't they go around the world like last summer?

"Of course dear. I'm sure he'd be delighted to see you again! You haven't seen each other in years!" her mum replied.

"But Mum. I need to be in a good environment so that I can get my English homework done and make it good and that environment is exactly my bedroom back in our house." Peregrina continued.

"How can you be sure? What was your homework again? To write a story based on the phrase seeing is believing or something? Well I can assure you that your grandpa's mansion is a place full of ideas to use." her mum spoke out confidently, "There'll be lots of things there that can inspire you. It's a magical place."

Peregrina folded her arms and sat back down in her seat. She knew she had to hold back otherwise this conversation would go on forever and the result would still be the same. She would lose and have to spend the rest of the summer at her grandpa's place and do some family bonding time as her dad would call it.

"What if there isn't anything at all? And magic doesn't exist." Peregrina's one last attempt to make her parents realise this was a silly idea and to turn back home.

"Oh doesn't it? You'll see." Her mum smiled as they reached her grandfather's mansion.

Peregrina stepped out into the hot blazing heat. How could people stand such a thing, she wondered. She looked up to see an enormous old looking building made of stone that had begun to corrode over the years. The windows on either side of the mansion were oddly symmetrical with each a different and unique shape. The tall chimney stood out like a sore thumb soaring up into the sky blocking out a part the fierce sun's rays. A beautiful thick hedge made from overly grown bushes and flowers surrounded the area as if to protect those inside from any enemies. The mansion was exactly the same as when she last visited it which, as she remembered, was quite a while ago. An old withered man came out to greet them, wrinkles of age dominant in his face. Although he seemed weak on the outside, his eyes showed great power and youth which proved that he still had the strength of a lion.

"If it isn't Peregrina. Long time no see." Her grandpa embraced her in his arms, "Did you miss me? You still remember where your room is right?"

"Yep. Upstairs first one right." Peregrina recalled from those child memories of being tucked up in bed by her grandpa at night and getting told bedtime stories. She had to admit, seeing her grandpa again wasn't as bad as she thought. Her head began to fill with the good times they used to spend together.

"I'll be going up now." She said and took her things as the adults talked. When she stepped into her room, it felt like she hadn't even left. The bed sheets and curtains were still velvet and the wall a soft and welcoming pink colour. In the far corner there was a desk with some books and stationeries she had left there when she was younger. Peregrina threw her bags onto her bed and decided to explore the place. Maybe it was time to find that inspiration her Mum was talking about. She went all the way upstairs to the attic. There were a few antique items stuffed up there which were probably very valuable as people don't have them anymore in this present time but non of that caught her attention. A dusty ancient wooden wardrobe stood alone next to a clock which was amazingly still working by showing that the time was 11 o'clock and today was May the 4th. There were unusual carvings on the wardrobe that she didn't recognise but they didn't seem interesting to her that day. She opened it and looked inside. There were a few furry winter coats but other than that, nothing else.

Peregrina eventually made her way down to the living room after passing through some grand hallways which contained paintings of legendary creatures and worlds not our own. The living room looked newer and more modern than the rest of the mansion probably because the termites had infested the original furniture. The only thing that had survived through the mess was the no longer used fireplace and a fancy framed mirror above it. To one side there was a big window next to a bookshelf which contained thick yellow-papered books from age and to the other side it lead into the kitchen.

She was about to leave the room and tell her mum that she couldn't find anything good to write about when the most unbelievable thing happened. The fancy mirror above the fireplace wasn't showing a reflection of the living room, it was of a room that looked similar but what it had was totally different. There were no curtains and so the room was much brighter than the living room Peregrina was standing in. Cracked plates and spilt wine glasses were everywhere and on the table there was a chessboard when in reality there were no chessboards or cracked plates or wine glasses to be reflected. She had seen reflection before. On one of the many paintings she passed in the hallways.

Outside, she could hear the adults still talking and laughing about something that probably wasn't interesting at all. Peregrina secretly climbed up onto the fire mantel to have a closer look but thinking the mirror was a solid surface was wrong. She reached out her hand expecting to feel the cold and hardness of the mirror but instead her hand went straight through and pulled her through the mirror and into the absurd reflection of the living room. She was now in the room that was not meant to exist, the room that was just supposed to be a painting. She recognised that it clearly had the main features of her grandpa's living room just the furniture and things in it were different. She slowly looked back to see the reflection of the other room gradually fade away into one of her and the room she was in. She was trapped.