A Mirror in the Attic

 

Chapter 2: A Mirror in the Attic

The weekend passed, and it was Monday.  My parents were supposed to be coming home today.

Since the weather turned out to be really crappy, Peter and I had to find ways to entertain ourselves.

I was upstairs when I came across the entrance to our attic.  I was never allowed to go up there.

'I guess it wouldn't hurt if I went up there now.  Mom, dad, and Peter would never find out.' I thought to myself.

I grabbed the knob and turned it.  The door opened soundlessly and I walked up the flight of stairs.

The attic was empty except for one large thing against the back wall.  It was covered by a sheet. 

I walked over to the other side of the room and pulled the sheet off.  It was a large, golden mirror.

"That's what they didn't want me to see? A mirror!"

I looked at the mirror more carefully.  The gold flowed in beautiful swirls.  And there was something inscribed at the top of the mirror.

I read the words out loud, "Speculum of obduco. Quisquam quisnam fatur illa lacuna 'patefacio in nomen of Sanctus Senior', vadum pario prodigium ut terra of Alazainia." I stared at the foreign words, looking confused. "Whatever that means!"

I was transfixed by the mirror for at least another ten minutes, before deciding that it wouldn't kill my parents to let me have a larger mirror in my room.

I wrapped my arms around the mirror and lifted it off the ground.  It came as a surprise to me that the mirror was as light as a feather.

I carried it down to my room and set it up across from my bed.

I wiped the dust off of my shirt, then went into the bathroom and got an old wash cloth.  I took the wash cloth back into my room and dusted the mirror with it.

 Finally happy with my handiwork, I went dowstairs to watch some TV with Peter.

Just as Bugs Bunny tricked Elmer Fudd into thinking that it was duck season, Peter's cell phone rang.

"Hello." he spoke into the reciever.

I watched as his face went pale.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

A moment passed.

"Yes, she's fine." he spoke again.

"I will." he promised and then closed his phone.

"What is it?" I asked, letting myself sound worried.

Peter looked at me with a grim face.  What he said next sent a thousand shards of glass into my heart. "I'm really sorry to have to tell you this, Stella.  But you're parents are missing!"

I sat there frozen.  Wanting to scream.  Missing? How could they be missing? They've been to Boston thousands of times!

"I'm sorry kiddo!" Peter said, looking horrified.

I took some deep breaths.  Inhaling and then exhaling over and over until I was finally able to speak.  "Who told you this?"

"An old friend of mine." he said, choosing his words carefully.

"How would she know?"

Peter looked nervously at the clock. "It's 10 o'clock.  Go to bed."

"But..."

Peter interrupted. "I said go to bed, Stella!" he shouted.

Peter never yelled at me!

Filled with dread and shock, I made my way up to my room and got ready for bed.

As I crawled into my bed, I looked at myself in the mirror and thought about my parents.

Tears fell from my eyes as I drifted off to sleep.

 

 

Author's Note

Please excuse all of the I's

Reviews

[Alyssa]

Oh geeez! Her parents are missing!!
Try using less "I's" in your writing, lol if you look at it, you see how many there are starting your sentences? also using less periods too could make it sound less choppy. More commas would really help it!
like instead of this:
I carried it down to my room and set it up across from my bed.
I wiped the dust off of my shirt, then went into the bathroom and got an old wash cloth.
I took the wash cloth back into my room and dusted the mirror with it.
you could do this:
I carried it down to my room and set it up across from my bed, wiping the dust off my shirt that was collected from its neglect, and went to the bathroom to get an old wash cloth.
Taking the wash cloth back into my room, I began to start dusting the mirror.

Of course do what you like! It is still very well done. I'm just trying to help improve :)

[a]

Ok so she said the creep words out loud and her parents goes missing. . .
You use too much i's. But it cool overall . . . really interesting

[Nickle]

huh...this was really interesting...its weird how her parents went missing as soon as she brought the mirror downstairs...wonder what's gonna happen :)

[veronica.voodoo]

i agree with alyssa with the whole 'i' business, and i understand your over use of them because in another story i'm writing, its first person and i get caught up in all the i's. She also did a great example in how to create more of a flow to your writing. You have all the right ideas and scenarios, you just need to learn to create more of a rhythmic tone to your writing, something more casual as if you were telling this story orally to someone. one thing i really liked in here was the mirror's enscription, but i imagine that enscription must have gone all around the mirror, it's really long! but i actually understood a bit of it, my church likes to sing in Latin and they're trying to start reading in latin...and theyre also trying to teach us to pray in latin...i have nothing against it, im totally for dead languages lol! but anyways, this peter character is quite the mystery to me...im trying to figure out this stuff but its really cryptic, so great job! i love it when stories keep me guessing, because i never really know how things are going to end up! i do know that it has something to do with the mirror....cant wait for the next chapter! :]