Living Reflections

Chapter 1: I Hate My Life

“Mom! Al’s in my room again,” I said.

“Let him play,” Mom shouted back. My mom is the kind of person who knows that her son is ornery, but never does anything about it.

I’m Beth. I’m twelve. I have two brothers and a sister. My older brother Bert is fourteen. He’s like the perfect kid. Sometimes I wish he wasn’t. For example, he brings an apple to school for his teacher every day. Who knew people actually did that? He’s also the smartest kid in his class. Not only is he the teacher’s pet, but he is extremely handsome. Kind of lucky in our family.

My little brother Al, on the other hand, is a brat. He’s eight years old, and every day he comes into my room, knowing he’s not allowed, and sometimes he just messes things up. Other times he takes things.

Then there’s my little sister, Sal. She is such a baby! She’s six years old, and she still takes naps. She has to or she’ll be crying all day.

“Al, get out of my room now,” I demanded.

“Or what?” Al asked.

“Or…or…or I’ll rip up your baseball cards!”

“You mean basketball,” he corrected.

Finally I gave in. “Fine, stay in my room. But if anything gets messed up, I’m telling Mom, and you’ll get in so much trouble!”

I went downstairs to see what Bert was doing. I wasn’t surprised to see that he was studying. All he ever does is study or play basketball. So I went into the living room and plopped down on the couch. I turned on the TV. It was already on my favorite show, The Librarian. But of course, not five minutes into the show, Sal came in and started whining.

“What is it?” I asked impatiently. She just had to interrupt my favorite show.

“I wanna watch Wobbly People!”

I refused to change the channel, but she kept on fussing.

“Fine! If I turn on Wobbly People, will you leave me alone?” I asked.

“Yes! Turn it on now!” she demanded.

I changed the channel and went to see if Al was still in my room. He was gone, but strangely, everything seemed to be just how I had left it. I flopped down on my bed for a while and listened to music. Then I thought of something I could do. I could write in my diary. That always made me feel better.

I reached up on top of my dresser into my special case, but my diary wasn’t there.

“Al!” I screamed. “Where is it?”

The reason I said “it” instead of “my diary” is because my parents don’t know I have a diary, and the book that I’m using was supposed to be for taking notes at school. They don’t understand that a girl my age, or any age, really, needs privacy.

I ran into Al’s room.

“Where’s what?” he asked with a smile.

“My diary,” I said with my teeth clenched.

“Ha!” he said. “Is that what it was? I thought it was a notebook for school.”

I was furious. I ran downstairs to tell Mom.

“Mom!” I shouted. “Al’s taking things from my room again!”

Mom looked up from her breakfast. “I’m sure he’ll give it back in a day or two,” she said calmly.

“A day or two?” I shrieked. “But this time it was actually something important!”

“What was it?” she asked. “Maybe I can get it back for you.”

Just then, Al came running down the stairs. “It was this!” he said, holding out my diary.

“Weren’t you supposed to have this at school?” Mom asked, confused. She took the notebook from Al and flipped through the pages. “This does not look like schoolwork to me.”

“That’s because…” She didn’t let me finish.

“I don’t care what it was because of. I just know I didn’t pay for some diary for you.”

“But it only cost like three dollars, Mom,” I said.

“Go to your room,” she told me. “I will not accept backtalk from any of my children.”

I ran up to my room, crying. “This is so unfair,” I sobbed to myself. “Al should be the one in trouble, not me!”

If I were to make a list of all the things that were unfair to me, it would probably take up thousands of pages. Sal and I were the only ones who had to share a room, except for Mom and Daddy, of course. Al always comes in my room. Bert gets everything he ever dreams of. Sal always gets everyone to give in to her, just by being a baby, while I’m just treated like a house servant. I hate my life!

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Chapter 2: Maybe Daddy Will Understand

　

I lay down on my back on my bed and looked up at the ceiling. Then I looked at the clock. It was almost four o’clock. That meant Daddy was almost home. Maybe he would understand. He always understood me better than Mom did, anyway. So I lay there and kept waiting and checking the clock. I lay there for a long time until I finally heard a knock on the front door. I jumped up and ran downstairs to open the door for Daddy.

He was carrying two plastic bags that I could see were full of books.

“What did you bring me?” Al asked rudely.

“Actually, this is for your mother,” Dad replied.

“How come Mom gets a present and we don’t?” Al pestered.

I asked Daddy if he could come up to my room to talk.

“I’ll be up in just a few minutes,” he answered.

I walked up to my room and waited. I was sure Daddy would understand.

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Chapter 3: Through the Closet

When Daddy came up, I told him everything that had happened, but to my surprise, he took Mom’s side.

“I can see why your mom is upset with you,” Dad said. “That notebook was for school, and you used it for a diary. We expect you to use your school supplies responsibly, and you don’t really need a diary, anyway.”

I started to tear up, then gulped and tried to defend myself, but he didn’t give me a chance. He just kissed the top of my head and left the room.

I started crying and ran into the bathroom. My face was all sticky with tears, so I opened the bathroom closet to get a towel. I heard a noise behind me and started to turn around, but I was too late. Al reached out and pushed me, and I stumbled into the closet, knocking down all of the shelves. Washcloths and towels scattered everywhere, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol burst open as it hit the floor and spilled everywhere. Al ran out of the bathroom, probably going to hide in case I decided to tell.

As I looked at the mess, I was very surprised to see that in the back of the closet, where the shelves had been, was another door. I reached out and turned the handle, then pushed the door open and walked in.

Looking around as I shut the door behind me, I was confused. I thought I had come through a different door, but I was back in my bathroom again. Maybe my brain was muffled from smelling the spilled alcohol.

I pulled open the bathroom door and walked down the hall and into my room. I was shocked when I saw that there was only one bed in my room. Sal’s bed was gone!

I walked into Al’s room, and he said, “Hello, Beth, where have you been? I was worried about you.”

That confused me a lot, because Al is never worried about me. I left his room thinking that it must be some kind of joke, and I didn’t want to get involved.

I went into Bert’s room to see if anything was strange in there. Bert’s room was definitely strange! The first thing I noticed was that his wallpaper was pink with butterflies on it, and he had sparkly pink carpet. As I walked in, I saw a small white nightstand with a pink lamp on it, a white bed with a pink comforter with red hearts, and a fluffy pink pillow.

There was a lump under the comforter. I touched it and said, “Bert?”

I was even more surprised to hear Sal’s little voice say, “Bert’s in his room, silly.”

I slowly backed out of the room and headed downstairs. The main floor was quiet, so I went to the basement to see if anything was weird down there. I was shocked to see a mattress on the concrete basement floor, with a pillow and a black blanket covering it.

I looked around to see where Bert was. There were only three small rooms off of the main part of the basement, so I figured it wouldn’t take long. First I went into the study, but he wasn’t there reading like I expected him to be. Next I looked in the guest room. He wasn’t there, either, so I went into the storage room.

I found him scurrying around in there, looking for something.

To my surprise, he pulled out a bottle of pimple cream, and when he turned around, he had pimples all over his face. Bert never had pimples! I didn’t bother to ask him why he had pimples. I didn’t want to embarrass him, so I just turned around and went to find out if there was anything wrong with my parents.

I walked up the stairs, and instead of seeing Mom working around the house like she always did, I found her lying on the couch doing absolutely nothing. Now the one doing all the housework was Daddy! He was cleaning the kitchen.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she replied. “I’m just taking a little break.”

I turned to Daddy.

“Why are you cleaning the kitchen?” I asked with a little giggle.

“Because it hasn’t been cleaned since last week,” Dad answered. “Nothing wrong with a clean house, is there?”

“No,” I said. “I just…never mind.”

I walked back upstairs, feeling very confused and a little bit scared, and wondering why everything had changed. I lay on my bed thinking until Daddy called, “Dinner’s ready.”

I raced downstairs and sat at the dining room table, which we only used for dinner, and saw that Daddy hadn’t stopped working. Now he was setting the table. Mom was next to sit down, then Al. Sal was already sitting down when I got there, which meant that Bert would be last. Bert was never last! I was shocked to see that nobody even waited for him, and just started eating.

“Aren’t you going to wait for Bert?” I asked.

“We never do.” said Daddy.

“Besides,” Mom added, “what has he ever done for us?”

Bert finally came and sat down.

“Bert, what did you get on your last history test?” Dad asked.

I was expecting Bert to say a B plus or an A. But Bert said that he had gotten a C minus!

“When you go back to school tomorrow,” said Daddy, “if you don’t get at least a B on your math test, then you’re grounded.”

“This is your fourth C this week,” complained Mom.

Bert shook his head. “No, I had three C’s this week. This is a C minus.”

“Don’t you be smart with me, mister,” Mom scolded, “or you can be finished with dinner.”

That’s when it happened. I got up and ran to my room. Mom didn’t even ask why I excused myself like she normally would.

When I got to my room, I thought back on all that had happened that day. Mom and Daddy were mad at Bert, who was now getting bad grades and covered with pimples. Dad was doing all the housework today while Mom just lay on the couch and did nothing. Sal was sleeping in Bert’s room, and Bert was apparently sleeping on the basement floor. Al was sweet as sugar, and Sal never threw fits anymore. And it seemed as if Mom and Daddy didn’t care what I did, such as getting up from the table without permission.

But the first half of the day was normal, I reminded myself. I woke up to Al messing around in my room. Mom didn’t understand my need for privacy. It was a little strange that Daddy took her side, but I didn’t think that had anything to do with the situation. Bert was studying, Sal was throwing fits and complaining, and Al pushed me into the closet when…

That’s it!

I ran into the bathroom and looked into the closet, but the shelves were all back where they normally were. I pulled them down, but there was no door behind them. I put them back up, feeling confused, and sat down on the counter and thought.

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Chapter 4: The Mirror

After thinking for a while, I looked up at the mirror and realized that I could see the whole bathroom in it, but I couldn’t see me. I knew my eyes were getting wide, but there was no reflection to prove it. I kept staring at the mirror in shock. What was going on? I should be able to see myself in the mirror! Was I a ghost? Was this a dream? Had I turned myself invisible? What was going on?

Just then, I saw Bert’s reflection in the mirror, but his face was pimple-free. I looked behind me, but Bert wasn’t there! I looked back at the reflection. Bert picked up his toothbrush and began brushing his teeth. I looked behind me again, just to make sure he wasn’t there. He wasn’t.

Soon I felt a strange feeling. I thought back again to when Al had pushed me into the closet. Everything was exactly the opposite of the way it was before, like I was in some parallel universe…like I was trapped behind a mirror!

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Chapter 5: Let Me Out!

I hit the mirror with my fists and shouted, “Bert! Look in the mirror!”

But Bert was already looking in the mirror. In fact, he was looking right at me and didn’t seem to see me at all. He rinsed, put the toothbrush away, and walked out of the room. Then Al and Sal came in and both started brushing their teeth.

After they both left --and this is the creepiest part of all-- I walked in and started brushing my teeth! When this happened, I screamed.

The me on the other side of the mirror looked confused, then said, “What’s going on?”

She rubbed her eyes, and I ducked down under the sink, below the mirror. When she stopped rubbing her eyes, I heard her say, “Where’s my reflection?”

How could I be on both sides of the mirror, see myself, and think that I was my own reflection?

When I popped back up, the other me screamed and ran out of the room. Now I was thinking harder than ever. How could this happen? How could I be on both sides of the mirror and only be visible to the me on the other side?

Then I heard something. It sounded like it was creaking through the ceiling.

Suddenly, a black-haired, freckle-faced boy appeared right next to me. I screamed, then asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m Tommy,” the boy replied.

“How old are you, Tommy? And more importantly, how did you get here?”

“I’m eighty-one, and I lived here before you.”

“Then how are you here now, and how are you eighty one? You only look around fourteen.”

“That’s because my reflection tricked me into coming in here so he could be free.” Tommy explained. “But he and the rest of my real family moved away before I had even been in here for a week.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re here now, and how you can be eighty-one.”

“Because you have to be behind the mirror for at least one week before you become a real reflection. Since he left me before the week was up, I couldn’t go with him. And I still look fourteen because that’s how old I was when my reflection left. I can’t ever get any older, and he’ll never have a reflection.”

“How come nobody here seems to know about you? And how did you just appear out of nowhere?”

“When the other Tommy died, I changed. I can’t be a ghost, because I was just a reflection. So I became a genie. I came back here to help you.”

“Why did you appear to me now?” I asked.

“Because I didn’t want you to have to be a reflection for the rest of your life, like me,” he said.

“Okay, so what do I do?” I asked.

“I told you I was a genie, didn’t I?” he smiled. “You can wish yourself out. But you have to be very careful what you wish for. Not that I’ll try to trick you or anything, but when I grant your wish, I don’t really have to think about it. It just happens, and it happens exactly like you say it. For instance, if you wished yourself out of here, you could wind up anywhere, maybe not back home. And you only get one wish. So choose carefully. Oh, and don’t just wish you were back home, because your reflection could try to trick you again, and I won’t be able to give you another wish. In fact, you are the last person I’ll ever be able to give a wish to.”

“Why can’t you give a wish to anybody after this?” I asked.

“After I grant your wish, I’ll be gone.”

“What do you mean, ‘gone’? Do you mean to heaven?”

“No, I won’t really go anywhere, I’ll just be gone.”

“That’s awful!” I cried.

“That’s just the way it is,” he replied. “Now you better hurry up, or I’ll disappear without being able to grant your wish.”

I began to cry, just thinking about letting him disappear, but I knew he would leave anyway if I didn’t make my wish.

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Chapter 6: Just One Wish

I thought hard and carefully, not knowing what to wish or exactly how to wish it. At first, I wanted to wish that my reflection was just gone, but that would be too hard to explain to my family. Then, I thought about wishing that my parents would believe anything I said, but that would be changing my parents completely! Then Tommy said the worst thing he could possibly say.

He said, “You only have one minute left until I’ll be gone.”

My thoughts raced. I didn’t have the perfect wish yet, and if I just told him the closest one to being perfect, I wouldn’t get another chance. Then I had an idea, a wish that would make everything right.

“Thirty seconds,” Tommy said.

I went back over it in my head one more time before saying it. Finally, I made my wish.

“I wish I could go back to before I went into the mirror, when I was in the real world with my real family, and I wish the same thing could happen to you.”

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Chapter 7: I Love My Life

Suddenly a big, glittery circle appeared on the mirror. I reached out to touch it and my finger went through. I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, I was in my bed. Al was in my room throwing things everywhere.

“Mom,” I shouted.

Then I stopped. Did I really want to tell on Al again? I just got the real Al back, after all.

“Never mind,” I called.

I guess Al decided to take advantage of me not telling on him, because he started knocking everything off my shelves. I got up and hugged him tightly.

He said, “Beth, are you all right?”
“Better than ever!” I replied. “You know what, Al? I love my life!”

“Okay,” Al said, and I heard him mutter under his breath, “you big weirdo.”

I grinned when I saw that Sal’s bed was back in my room again.

“Sal!” I shouted, and ran out of my room to go see her. I ran straight into the basement and found her watching TV.

“Sal!” I repeated.

I noticed right away that the TV was turned to The Librarian, and I grabbed the remote and switched it to Wobbly People.

“Thank you,” said Sal.

Sal was actually thanking me!

“I love you, Sal. I love my life!” I shouted.

I saw that there was no longer a mattress on the floor, and I ran to see Bert. He was studying, just like the day before.

I hugged him, then said calmly, “Bert, what did you get on your last history test?”

“An A,” he said. “But why…”

I didn’t let him finish. I just hugged him again and said, “You’re back! I love you! I love my life!”

Then I ran upstairs and hugged Mom.

“I love you, Mom,” I said.

I had already decided to tell her about my diary, and when I did, she didn’t even get mad. She just said that she was glad I told her the truth. I love my life!

I ran upstairs and jumped on my bed, listened to music, and did whatever I could to keep me busy until four o’clock. I even set my alarm clock, so I would be sure not to miss it.

When the alarm clock rang, I ran downstairs repeating I love my life all the way. Daddy was just coming in from work, and I ran to him, gave him a huge hug, and said, “Daddy, I missed you!”

He looked at me like he was confused, and I took the bags of books out of his hands and gave them to Mom, saying, “Here, these are from Daddy.”

Then Daddy said, “How did you know…” but I didn’t let him finish. I just hugged him again. I truly did love my life.

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Chapter 8: Through the Closet Again

　

I knew exactly what was going to happen next, so I ran up to the bathroom, put the alcohol into the medicine cabinet so it wouldn’t get spilled, and practiced how I wouldn’t get tricked into opening that door in the back of the closet this time.

Sure enough, about five minutes later, Al came in and shoved me into the closet. This time, I grabbed Al’s shirt and said, “Don’t leave, Al. I promise I won’t tell.”

“Fine,” he said.

“And besides, I need a little help cleaning up this mess,” I teased.

“Not likely,” Al replied. I bent down to pick up some rags, and when I stood back up, Al was opening the door in the back of the closet.

“NOOOOOO!”

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Author's Note

Please review!!!!!

Reviews

[quinfinn]

i am so sorry, but you must break it down before read requesting a book. at the very most, one chapter at a time. nicely written, but i dont have the time to invest in an entire book. i read chapter one, and your little brother needs a lesson in humility.

[Coyote Poetry]

It was a long read. I did enjoy the story. You set-up each situation with skill. I like the way you described the family. I like the many situations in the story. Life is hard. We must learn from many directions. I like the complete story. I did like the ending. Thank you for sharing the excellent story.
Coyote

[trainwreck]

Definitely should break it up into a book, instead of a story. I did read the whole thing, and it was pretty good. However, I didn't quite understand the point of sending Al through the closet. Just a thought.

[Eliott]

That's just how I ended it. Not everything has a happy ending you know...And I know I should have put it as a book I didn't know how.

[Eliott]

But thank you for your input :)

[trainwreck]

absolutely.

[Wonderful Letdown]

It's well written. I like the part at the end too.

[Salar Majak]

LOL, i love this work, completly and utterly love it!, it's so original, such a great story, good job, i'm actually glad you didn't break it into chapters, that way i'd have forgotten to read every chapter at a time XD again, great write!

[Eliott]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! I'm working on a regular novel right now, but I haven't put it on here for two reasons. One, I'm afraid someone will steal it and two, I haven't decided what to call it yet.

[Salar Majak]

i know what you mean, it is scary, but yet if you don't be brave you'll never know what opportunities you are missing right? i get that feeling all the time but sometimes we have to take chances, about the name, don't worry, the right name will come at it's time, don't rush it, it'll come to you on it's own :)

[skiayly]

I enjoyed the story! A'll that is really needed is to try to lengthen some chapters.

[Rayne-Alexandria]

This was really good. It would be nice if it was broken up but it reads well anyway. It reminded me a lot of Coraline. Keep up the good work.

[Vanessa van Gersie]

ok i read the entire thing :).i liked the ending it had me wondering what happend nxt, oh and dont worry you will probably get a hang of everything soon.Good write

[Eliott]

Thanks :)

[Ana Drake]

Oh how I agree with Quinfinn. You've got to make this into sectioned book. It's really good but, the way it's presented it so disconcerning. And no paragraphs!! You've given me a slight headache, but it was worth it. Good write :)

[Eliott]

I'm glad you liked it, and it had paragraphs but I copied and pasted it fromvmy Microsoft works document and they didn't copy.

[Eliott]

Also, I am new to this website and I don't know how to organize the chapters.

[Ana Drake]

Lolz, it's really simple. When your starting a new piece, pick a book instead of a story, then when your ready to add a new chapter just go to manage and there be a little 'Add chapter' icon beside the book.
But either way, I liked it alot. And I feel your pain, I just now learned how to post comments on the live feed. And I've been here for months! :P

[Courtney]

I absolutely love this! It all is so mysterious with a bit of An Alice in Wonderland feel to it. It shows that when it all comes down to it, our lives now are better than what we believe to truly wish for. Such an original idea, I truly enjoyed reading this.