The Dark Days

Need (to) help.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a town. This town was ordinary in every way. It had ordinary residents, doing ordinary jobs and having ordinary families. Just like it always happens in these ordinary towns it had an extraordinary secret, one of its residents could cast illusions, powerful illusions. In this town lived a girl. The girl seemed ordinary. She had ordinary black hair, and a pair of ordinary green eyes, living in an ordinary family in an ordinary town. There was nothing extraordinary about her, except her ability to cast illusions. She accidentally did it on a cat when she was younger, making the cat think it was a dog. Watching the cat trying to bark was rather hilarious.

She was determined to use her power for good. One day, as she went home, she saw a big crowd in front of the mayor's house. As she got closer, she heard the mayor crying. She asked one of the residents about what happened. It turned out that the mayor's wife, whom he married earlier that month died in sleep. The girl was sad to hear this, a young couple being separated like that is not fair. Life is not fair, there should be a sort of divine intervention that could fix this...

Later that night she sneaked into the mayor's house and cast an illusion on him. Once the mayor woke up the following morning, he saw his late wife next to him. Overjoyed, he ran downstairs and told his staff that a miracle happened - his wife had come back to him. Soon, the mayor's sleeping room was filled with people but they couldn't see anything. The mayor tried everything he could to convince them, she was right there after all, but no one else could see her. As it happens in all small towns rumors of the mayor's madness started to spread. Eventually, rumors got to the girl who had cast the illusion. She thought hard about it. Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do, a grieving man has to be better than a madman. She decided to go to the mayor's house and break the illusion. Later that night she sneaked into the mayor's house and broke the illusion. The following morning the mayor woke up but couldn't see his wife anymore. He searched the whole house and most of the town but couldn't find her. He started to yell at his staff thinking they had taken her from him, hid her somewhere as they played a cruel joke on his sanity. He couldn't lose her for the second time, he couldn't bear to go through it all again. He got violent, he started to throw things, precious things, fragile things, heavy things, light things, and anything he could get his hands on. He threw the necklace he bought his wife for their first anniversary, the vase he got her as a wedding gift, the robe she made for him, and the last painting of them together. All the treasures that no one was allowed to touch for the longest time flew toward the staff who tried their best to help but were ultimately unable to help. Police got involved and he was sent to a mental hospital. The girl never heard anything about the mayor again.

Later that same year, the girl was walking around town enjoying summer. As she walked, she noticed a guy she knew from school and he was looking very depressed. She decided to find out what was bothering him and he told her that no one understood him and now he wasn't sure if he understood anyone. The girl tried to cheer him up, but it was leading nowhere. The girl was very upset she couldn't help him, so upset that she just couldn't let go. Finally, she decided to cast an illusion. She sneaked up and enchanted the young man's mirror so that his reflection would become a person who understood him the most. Soon summer break finished and it was time for school again. The girl couldn't wait for the school to start again. Since she was very social, she looked forward to seeing her friends again and she did, including the guy she had enchanted. Among all of her friends, the guy was by far the happiest one. He was always smiling and was in a good mood in general. The girl was joyous to see such a scene, knowing she played a big part in it.

Just to be sure, she decided to sneak up again to see it for herself. And so she did, she sneaked up and found the guy sitting, talking to his mirror. As he spoke, his reflection nodded him back. Soon the girl got bored of the scene and decided to leave the house. Time passed by fast and the girl barely noticed winter once it came. She was busy studying and didn't notice her friend's change in mood. Now that the studying was over and she found out that the guy was feeling depressed again, she decided to go and talk to him. Soon she realized he was in a far worse shape than it first appeared. He told her that "a friend of his" the one he had been talking with during summer was "nothing more than a fake". He talked to him a lot but soon got tired and decided that it was time to let the reflection speak his mind. Unfortunately, the girl's illusion wasn't that powerful so reflection did nothing. Soon, the guy realized that the mirror never had a personality of its own, during the whole time it was just him and his reflection. Filled with anger, he broke the mirror and collapsed to the ground. That night, the guy realized that now he had lost one thing that still kept him alive. The girl was sad to hear that but thought there was nothing else she could do. She did all she could to help, and no one could blame her. She was never supposed to solve other people's problems, she tried and failed, and no one can blame her.

And with that thought, she continued her life. As for the boy, he continued living in that same town for many more years, but everyone knew that his life was over during that warm summer of that strange year.