Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall.....

First Wish

I awoke a few moments later. I slowly opened my eyes. I must've passed out. But why would I-

Then the memories came flooding in. The mirror, it changed my reflection. It morphed into this girl, and she came out of the mirror. The mirror.....

I get to my feet and race over to the mirror. My reflection was the same as me. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was just a dream. Thank God, it was just a dream. Then my relief quickly vanished when I looked at my bed. It was the girl, the girl from the mirror, sitting on my bed.

She waves at me. "Hi", she says. I scream, scream so loud and so shrilly the little objects in my room shake. Seconds later I hear footsteps racing up the stairs. My mom forces the door open. "Arielle! Ari?", she says, looking worried. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" "Mom, there's a girl on my bed!", I exclaim. My mom looks at my bed. The girl is gone. I stare at the bed in disbelief. "But she was right there, I swear! She came out of the mirror and she was floating in the air! And that mirror, that mirror changed my reflection, I mean I saw myself, but it wasn't me! It was like a 2.0 version of me!" My mom stares at me like I'm a babbling idiot. I don't blame her. I sounded like a babbling idiot. "Okay honey, why don't you lie down for a while? I'm afraid you've been working too hard at school. Just lie here and I'll have Svetlana start dinner right away." And with that, she hurries out of my room. I watch her go and get up. I don't care what she says, I'm not crazy. I know what I saw. I get up and search for the girl. I open the closet, open the drawers, look under the bed. But I couldn't find her. I was ready to give up and conclude that I had lost my mind. Then I heard it.

"Um, excuse me?"

I whipped around and nearly jumped out of my skin. There was the girl, standing right in front of me, looking at me nervously. I open my mouth to yell for my mom, but she clasps her hand over my mouth. "Shhhhh! Please miss, don't scream, I'm not going to hurt you", she says. I can't speak so I only nod. "If I release my hand, do you promise not to scream?", she asks me. I nod, but only because her hand is freezing ice cold. So she lowers her hand. I take a deep breath and find my voice. "Who are you?", I ask. "I'm a ghost, and I live in your mirror", she replies. She blinks and her color is gone. She becomes translucent and I can see through her. She rises off the ground and gently floats back down. "Oh my God", I whisper. She plays with her hair nervously. "Yes it's hard to believe, I know." I gulped. "Yeah." "So, what is your name?", she asked me. "Arielle", I say. "With an 'e' and another 'l' at the end." A lot of people forget that. "Nice to meet you. I'm Arista", she says and smiles. "Arista", I repeat. "Didn't I say your name when I was looking in the mirror?" She nodded. "Yes, that was me. It was the only way I could get out of the mirror", she replies. "What do you mean?", I asked. "When I'm inside the mirror, I can only get out when someone looks in it and says my name", she explains. "Oh", I say. I go over to my bed and sit down. Arista flies behind me and sits across from me. 

"So, how did you get in that mirror?", I ask her. Her face contorts with sadness. "That's actually quite the story", she says. I inch towards her. "Well, when you're ready to talk about it, I'm ready to listen", I tell her. So she tells me:

"It all started when I was dating this boy. We were together for about five years. We were so happy and in love. He even gave me a promise ring, and he said we would always be together. But then I caught him making love to another. I was so upset, I broke up with him and said he could 'have her instead of me' but he begged me to stay, and said sorry a thousand times, but I didn't forgive him, I couldn't. Then one day when I was fetching water for my family, he snuck up behind me and grabbed me. I fought but he was too strong. The last thing he said to me was, 'If I can't have you, then no one can' and he threw me off a cliff. I fell and broke every bone in my body, I could feel it. I tried calling out for help, but no one heard me. I just stayed there until I couldn't go on any longer. And for some reason, my wandering spirit got put in that mirror and I was sentenced to be the slave of that mirror. So whoever finds me in that mirror, gets twenty wishes."