Mirror Image

Bella leaned her head against the car window. The rain pelted down harder and harder as she closed her eyes and sucked in a breath of air. Instead of staring at the new scenery going by, she focused on how long she could hold it.

1, 2, 3

"Isabelle, Bella, sweetie." Her mom glanced at her.

4, 5, 6

"Look, I know you don't want to move, but, I need a new start, we need a new start." Her mom reached over and patted her hand.

7, 8, 9

Out of the corner of her eye Bella saw her mom give a sad smile. She hated it when her mom smiled like that.

10, 11, Release.

"Mom. It's okay." Bella said in probably the least convincing voice she had ever used.

"No, it's not. I wish it didn't have to happen so suddenly. But I can't change what happened. I needed to leave. To protect you, to protect you and Maggie." Her mom's voice cracked.

Bella glanced back at her younger sister, who fell asleep an hour ago. She knew the only reason her mom mentioned Maggie because she was the only person Bella truly loved.

"Okay Mom, I understand." Bella pulled her thick black curls into a pony-tail. "I just, miss New York, that's all." This wasn't a complete lie.

She missed the hustle of the street out her window. She missed the smell of their old apartment (A mixture of coffee and rain). She missed the sound of laughter and taxis running through her ears. The switch from the bustling city to a small town in Michigan was a big one. It was another minor detail that would make her life about 10 times harder than it needed to be.

Before her mom could respond to her she put in her purple ear buds and turned up her music.

They arrived at their new house around 2:00 in the afternoon, though their boxes weren't all in the house until 2:30.

"I'm going to run to the store, pick up some dinner for tonight."

"Mommy! I wanna come!!!!!!" Maggie ran up next to her mother.

"Bella? Want to come?" Her mom looked at her hopefully."

"No, I'm just gonna stay her. I'll start unpacking my stuff." Bella gave a quick (fake) smile. "Which room was mine again?"

"You can pick between the room two doors to the left of the stair case, or the attic, which is directly in front of the stairs. But Bella honey, you'll have to leave the house eventually." Her mom sighed.

Bella picked up one of her boxes and started up the stairs. After she hear the door slam shut she exhaled a breath that she didn't even know she was holding.

His house was much bigger than their three room apartment in New York. When this house was empty it felt quieter.

"Holy shit." Bella muttered. "What if there's a murderer upstairs." She nervously laughed and started walking.

Thankfully there was no murderer

Well, at least one in the open.

The room on the second floor was small. It would be enough room to fit a bed and a shelf with a little room left over. There was a closet built into the wall that she could fit into, but there was no way it would be able to hold all her clothes. She decided that the attic might be a better bet.

The paint was peeling off the attic door. Bella pulled it open, reviling a flight of stairs, possibly longer than the first.

She finally made it to the top. Looking around, it wasn't much. There was a big closet on one wall, but there wasn't really a light built into it, and it was dusty. There was a small bathroom in the corner, containing nothing but a toilet and a sink. There was only one thing left in the room, a broken mirror.

The mirror was bigger than she was. It hung on the wall looking over the room. A spider web of cracks sat in the top right corner. There was a handle on the side, so Bella pulled it, but that only revealed that it was locked.

If Bella was paying more attention, she would've seen that her reflection wasn't exactly the same. She would have seen the needle sharp finger tips, the fact that her pupils had swallowed her light brown eyes.

If she was paying attention, she would have noticed that the crack was growing.

If she was paying more attention, this all could've been avoided.