"Eli! You better be there! I have exciting things to say!" I say excitedly, squealing.
The mirror morphs into the normal couch with multicolored pillows and Eli smiles at me. "So what's so special that you're this happy?" He asks, standing up and I immediately jump through the mirror and run into his arms.
"I made friends today!" I say very enthusiastically.
"I'm so proud of you!" He says happily. He knows how I had trust issues after my mother started abusing me. I opened up to few people, but they had to earn my trust. Eli and I had an old friend in elementary school, and he was our friend until 7th grade, when he died in a car accident. We were both broken, and it took a while to get back to our normal lives, but he always shipped us and I'm glad his dream could come true.
"Yeah, there's Victoria who saved me from three dumb boys that were chasing me and almost did who knows what but she came before they could do anything. And then there's Novalie, she was immediately nice to me once I was introduced. Then there is Parker, who doesn't talk much, he's kinda weird. Gives me that bad boy vibe, but looks like a complete nerd. Finally, there's Max who I'm not sure if he's my friend or not. We constantly argue, but to be fair, the group of us only talked at lunch, but I think only Parker is in one of my later classes. But he was too busy either talking to his other friends or texting. That's pretty much the sum of it." I say, smiling.
He gives me a look, and I immediately recognize it as jealousy.
"Hey. Stop with that look. You know that the only non-family member that I love is you, so stop worrying." I say, which wipes the frown off his face.
"I know. Just be careful who you give your trust to. You never know who can hurt you." He says and I nod in understanding.
"I know, I'll be careful. Don't worry." I say, smiling at him. "Alright. I think I have to go eat now, I'll come back later though."
"Okay. I'll see you later then. I love you." He says, smiling.
"I love you too," I say and turn around and walk out of the mirror and hear the doorbell ring from downstairs.
"I'll get it!" I hear my dad yell.
All I hear is the front door open and then silence. I hear absolutely nothing. All you can hear is my soft footsteps walking out of my room and to the top of the stairs. With each soft step I make down the stairs I can sense something is wrong. Something isn't right.
I get to the bottom and look to the front door and my breath hitches in my throat. I can't breathe, and I wish the world would swallow me whole. She didn't escape. She didn't escape. She didn't escape.
At the door stands a nervous mother. My mother. How? How did she escape? How would she escape? Nothing makes sense.
"Hi Ruby," she says nodding at me, then looks at my father. "Hello Noble." She says my father's name politely. What is this world right now?
"Wh-wh how- how?" I stutter, looking her in the eye. "How did you escape?"
"I know you have questions, but I'm not her. I'm your real mother. The woman that has been replacing me for the past fourteen years is my twin sister. I can answer any of your other questions if you let me in. I can't stand here forever." My real mother says, laughing. How do I know she isn't lying?
"How do we know you aren't lying?" My father speaks my thoughts.
"I have an explanation. And she didn't know our anniversary or the day we started dating. Or how you asked me out for the first time on my 18th birthday in front of all of the seniors, or when and how you proposed to me in that garden on April 16th, 1995 at 3:47 in the afternoon. That's how you'll know I'm not lying." My real mother explains. I stand there, jaw to the floor, shocked. Little did I know that the one I thought was my mother for fourteen years was really my real mother's twin.
I watch my dad walk a few steps forward and wrap his arms around her shoulders. I stand there, arms crossed, a stubborn look on my face as I watch a single tear slip down my mother's face.
"I told her to be nice. I told her to act like me. I don't get what happened. I had no clue she had that in her until I saw her face on the television. I then got the earliest plane ticket here and here I am." She says, starting to sob into my father's shoulder.
I huff and turn back around and walk upstairs, slamming the door to my room shut and locking it. This is too overwhelming right now.
I stare out the window into the blank baby blue sky. No clouds. I don't want to deal with any of this right now. Not anything. But this is reality, and I'm not dealing with it.
I walk over to the light-filled window and open it, feeling the wind blow through my hair. I should be able to make it to the ground if I climb down a tree.
Slowly, I put each leg out the window, ready to slide down the patio roof, climb down a tree, and make it to the sidewalk. Thankfully I do it without getting hurt.
I walk quietly from the front lawn and onto the sidewalk, tugging my sweatshirt tighter around my shoulders at the outside temperature. As I exhale, I see my breath float away from me and fade away, going wherever carbon dioxide goes.
I think back to the day Eli and I sang with each other. Then back to when I found Eli on the floor and I had to let my dad find out. And back to the average movie night, myself curling into his side.
I find myself singing under my breath, watching each breath fly away from me. Not watching where I was going, I stumble forward after tripping on a rock and wait for the impact. But it never comes.
I look up to see Max staring at me dumbly, and when I'm standing fine, his face goes to a face of anger. He quickly lets go of my arm that he grabbed to stable me and walks away, muttering something along "dumb clumsy girl" or "watch where you're going next time" and he stomps off.
I finish watching him jog the opposite way I was going and look back at my path to see two of my new friends, jogging towards where Max went running off to, but they stop when they see me. It's Victoria and Novalie. "Hey," I say, trying to sound casual, like how a normal friend would act.
"Hey." They say in unison.
"What's his deal?" I ask, pointing with my thumb over my left shoulder in the direction Max went.
"It's his father. Family issues." Novalie speaks, pity in her eyes. "Poor guy." She mutters quietly, looking at the ground and shaking her head.
"Well, I can go talk to him, if we can even find him. I'm having family issues too, maybe I can help him." I say even though I don't feel like dealing with someone like Max right now.
"I don't think that's such a good idea. Max can get-" Victoria speaks, but I stop her.
"Please. I feel like both Max and I need this. Just let me try." I say, sort of pleading for some unknown reason.
"Okay," Novalie says, nodding. "As long as we find him though. Let's go. I have an idea of where he went."
We all start jogging in the direction Max went running to, and I immediately regret it. I hate running.
After a couple minutes of jogging, Novalie comes to a stop in front of a path, just as the sun starts setting.
"He should be here. Just follow the path, and you should see him. It's his thinking spot." Novalie says.
"I'll fill you both in tomorrow at school, but as long as he lets me, I should be able to help him," I say, smiling at my new-found opportunity.
They nod and turn away, and I watch them walk away until I can't see them anymore before I turn back to the path that leads deep into the woods. That leads to someone who's most likely broken.
I start getting more nervous the longer I walk and just think about how much longer the walk will take until I see a clearing through the small amount of light being provided from the sun. Peering around a tree, I see Max sitting on a ledge that shows a body of water. You can see the sunset perfectly from the clearing.
"Nice view," I comment loud enough for Max to hear. He doesn't move, making me wonder if he's asleep, but I walk over to him and sit next to him, my feet dangling over the ledge. "Wanna tell me what's wrong?" I ask, nudging his arm with my own.
"It's none of your business." He grumbles, obviously upset.
"C'mon, you can tell me. I might relate." I say softly, trying to give him the urge to tell me something.
He grunts but starts speaking. "My father disappeared when I was six, but he just reappeared. He was acting weird, and I know you'd think that I wouldn't know what he would act like, but it was weird like he wasn't even human. My mom let him in, and I could tell she was shocked at the reappearance, and she went to her room to try accepting it. She's always been emotional. After she went upstairs, my father took a few steps towards me and started-" he pauses, taking in a swift breath. "Beating me. He didn't hit my face, but he just kept punching and hitting me anywhere he could get a good swing at. Then he started yelling at me, about not trying to find him, and my mom came downstairs. She saw me laying there, and she bolted. Right out the front door, it's always her thing to run away from problems. I'm not sure she's coming back for a few days. I just hope he doesn't find her and that she's alright." He finishes, sighing.
"You're not alone with the confusion right now," I say, staring at my lap.
"What do you mean?" He asks, forgetting about his situation.
"Someone who I thought was my mother, was abusing me since I turned 5, and she got arrested a little while ago. Turns out, she was my real mother's twin sister. My real mother just showed up at my house today and my father accepted her in after she explained. I went up to my room, locked the door, and snuck out the window, and here I am." I say, motioning to the surroundings.
"Wow." He says, and I can see him turn and look at me from the corner of my eye. "We're really not all that different, are we?" He asks, showing me a different, nicer, side of him.
I shake my head. "No, we're really not."