Caught

Just the beginning

"You'll never know until you go"

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Elizabeth grunted as she was getting ready for the 'educational' trip she was going from her college. It was already 9. She had to be at the college ground at 9:15 sharp. She hissed in frustration as she looked at the clock. She had to hurry unless she wanted to be grounded by Mr. Brent. She hurriedly pulled her jacket on and ran to the door. She picked up the keys to her front door on the way and made her way to her car as fast as she could.

She did reach the college. But surely not on time. Shit. "I'm screwed" she thought as she stepped out of her car. She hurried down the hallway towards the grounds. She cursed when she saw Mr. Brent with her class explaining about the trip. She carefully tried to blend with the crowd without being noticed. Only to her dismay, she was noticed.

"Well, well well look who came so early" Mr.Brent growled through his teeth sarcastically, moving towards her.

She smiled nervously, trying to come up with a reason.

"Don't you dare come up with a stupid reason again Ms. Brown, unless you want to be suspended." He said like he read her mind.

"Okay, sir. I'm sorry for being late. The actual reason is that I overslept. And that is the truth. I didn't mean to...But I couldn't help it." She answered straight to the point, alternately looking at Mr. Brent and her feet.

"You're saved today for your honesty, Ms. Brown. But don't expect me to go easy on you the next time." He said and moved on to continue his talk.

The students spared another look at Elizabeth before listening to Mr.Brent. She looked around for her group. She sighed when she saw them and quickly made her way towards them.

She back-hugged Aiden and rested her face on his back. He turned around and pulled her apart. She raised her head to see his face. He looked pissed. That can only mean one thing. She is in trouble. She shrugged it and paid attention to Mr.Brent who said they will be leaving to the museum in 15 minutes.

Yes, they were heading to the museum for their so-called educational trip to study and learn the cultures of different civilizations of the world. Plus that was also their project for which they would be graded. Elizabeth should have known this when she signed up for archaeology, but what she expected was better. Anyway now there was no turning back. She was a straight-A student but just hated getting up in the morning to go to a museum on a bright sunny day when she wished to go to the beach.

They were soon dismissed. She turned to see Aiden when she already saw him staring at her. She smiled at him apologetically. She knew he hated her being late and being questioned by Mr.Brent always. But she couldn't really help when she can feel her bed calling every morning when she was going to get up.

"Adey, I'm so so so sorry for being late again. I know you hate it. But I'm sorry okay" Elizabeth forcing Aiden to look at her.

"I know you are sorry. But Lizzy, tell me how many times you've said the same thing? I'm so tired of hearing Mr.Brent snapping at you in front of everyone. And later hearing your endless apologies" He said looking lost.

"Okay, I promise I'll work towards getting up early and being on time, okay??"

"Now smile Mr.Punctual" Elizabeth smacked his arm playfully.

"Ohh my god. Quit it love-birds. It's time to be going" Her friend Emma interrupted, coming with Ethan.

"Stop it, Em. All of us know we clearly aren't in love. Don't exaggerate." Lizzy snapped.

" Okay, my Lady. Now it's time for Mr.I-Am-Gay and Ms.I'm-Not-His-Lover to board the bus and go finish our project. So shall we?" Emma dramatically bowed.

"EMM.." Elizabeth and Aiden screamed at their best friend, while Ethan was rolling on the ground, laughing at Emma's joke.

Emma stood up and laughed. She pulled the others and made her way to the bus.

The four friends sat together. They were obviously going to ace this project being the smarty-pants they all were. All four extremely intelligent and good looking were like the kings and queens of the college who never acted that way. They were extremely kind and playful when it came to others. They were envied by many but also loved by many.

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They finally reached their destination. They all followed Mr.Brent's instructions. They all were supposed to go with their teams and study a particular artifact of a civilization and write a report along with a group presentation which was to be submitted the next day.

The whole class split apart to go find their own artifacts to write about. The four of them too went their own way. They were walking aimlessly looking for something intriguing. They looked at everything on their way carefully to see it sparked any light in them. But even after an hour, they found nothing. They were about to give up when they found it. A weird looking doll from Russia.

It was already noon. They were still writing their reports on the artifact when Lizzy suddenly got up.

"Guys I going for a break to the washroom. Anyone else up for it" She asked looking at them through her study glasses.

"Nah" The three replied monotonously.

"Kay"

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Lizzy went looking around for the board that read 'washroom'. But she never found it. She had already circled the whole place twice but still couldn't find it. She had asked the workers there, but they had only pointed to blind spots where nothing was. Already losing her patience, she stomped towards a room that looked like a washroom. But only to her dismay, it wasn't. It was some kind of a larder which was dim-lit. She guessed it was some room where the museum kept the unwanted artifacts. Being the curious person she was, she started looking around completely forgetting the reason she came there.

She wandered about for a while. One of the vases totally caught her eyes. She moved to reach it. But she tripped on a cloth and landed on her butt. She looked to see what tripped her when she saw the mirror the cloth was previously covering. It had a kind of look to it that catches the viewers heart. It had a wooden rim that was painted in gold. It looked too glossy yet truly elegant. The surface of the mirror was brightly reflecting the light from outside. It looked almost a century old but it the glass was without a scratch. Lizzy was totally mesmerized by its beauty. She shrugged and thought of calling her friends to take a look at this beauty.

She thought of asking the museum authority to let them study this artifact. She slowly got up to call her friends here. She took one last look at the mirror before she started to walk away.

She wasn't even a meter away when she felt a strong pull. She looked back. she saw the surface of the mirror rippling like water. She thought it was her imagination before feeling a stronger tug. She was moving towards the mirror. She was about to scream before the mirror sucked her in completely, muffling her panic screams.

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