Through the Looking Glass

December 5th 2019

I sat with my hands clenched tightly in my fist listening to the Queens national address. While most seventeen year olds would be watching from their TV at home with their parents arguing over the state of parliament, and they themselves not giving enough of a shit to say something. The would probably be munching down on a big greasy pizza that would go straight to their hips. There would be nothing they couldn't do if they tried hard enough. But not me. I had to be born into arguably the most famous family in modern Estonia. The royal one. So it was my mother, the queen giving the national address just now. And it was me, Tarra of house Winsor, and only princess to Estonia that now sat beside her mother as bright lights shined down on my face and a camera zoomed in on the result of three separate but equally famous makeup artists. My off white gown matched with my mother's gold one and together we were the face of all Estonia. 

When the address was finished I made my way out and into the main hall, nearly tripping over herself trying to get to her room. I raced to an old broom closet where she had hidden her riding clothes and changed hastily pulling off the heavy cream dress. When I stepped out clad in a white blouse, jeans and riding boots she had had made for her, I felt ready. My hair sat in an complex braid atop my head that I dared not touch. But beside that I thought my new disguise was perfect. I was just your average commoner. Just another dissatisfied member of the Estonian empire. I checked my cell to see Wyatt Beckham's caller ID pop up in bright letters. I picked up and picked my way carefully down the hall.

"Hey, you comin'?" Wyatt's voice spoke through my cell.
"On my way. Gotta get passed the entry hall guards then I'll be in the clear." I say.
"Ok I'll see you in a few. Oh and Terra?"
"Ya?"
"I just wanted to tell you that-" A broad man behind me yelled for me to hault cutting off Wyatt's word.
"Sorry Wyatt gotta go!" I hastily say into the phone before putting it in my back pocket. And dashing out of the guards reach. "Shit." I murmur.
"Hey get back here!"
I do no such thing. I'm off running as fast as the wind. Through one hall then another. I check the doors in front of me but their all locked. All except, the woman's laboratory. I run in not sure of what to do next. In seconds I'm in a stall and listening for the commotion outside.
"Where'd she go?"
"That way!" And sound of armored footfalls grew distant. I cautiously stepped out of the stall. Before me a tall mirror as tall as the average woman lay in the sitting room side of the laboratory. It was tall, sleek and reflective like all looking glasses, and perhaps it was the fact that I was out of breath or that I was on edge today but the mirror seemed to move. Like water in a lake, slow but sure. I reached out to touch it and immediately jerked back when the tips of my fingers slid through the damn thing! I took a few desperate breaths. This was insane... or maybe I was...No. I was a princess, I had been monitored my entire life. If I was mental someone would have noticed...Right?

I reached back to the mirror and once more felt my hand slip into my own watery reflection. Outside the women's laboratory I could hear footsteps. Curiosity and anxiety became one within me and I through myself through the looking glass.