A love To Die For

Chapter 2

***Ginger Guyette***

***Iris***

I was up bright and early, excited for the day ahead, rummaging through my closet desperately when I heard a knock at the door. 

Hesitantly, I opened it, anxious about who was on the other side, but I should have known. Not a person that lived in this house would ever give me the respect of knocking before barging in. 

When I opened the door, I was relieved to see Ginger smiling back at me. Her bright orange hair contrasted against her black dress and boots, her dark green eyes shining brightly against her long dark lashes and black eye makeup. 

"What are you doing here?" I whispered, looking out both sides of the doorway. Noone cared what I did, or who I invited over as long as it didn't interfere with any of them. If anything, I did disturb their beauty sleep, well, they'd make sure that I regretted it. 

"Don't worry. I was quiet." She said, rolling her eyes, before coming in. 

"What are you doing here?" I asked, shutting the door gently behind her. I looked at my alarm clock nearby and saw that it was only 8 a.m. 

"I couldn't sleep. Too excited. Thought I'd come and see if you'd wanna go out on a little shopping trip before heading out. Let's just make a whole day of it." She flopped herself on my bed, looking through one of the many discarded magazines I had in my room. 

I thought about my dwindling bank account, but the idea of getting out of this house was too tempting. 

"Let's go." I said, quickly grabbing my leather bag and jacket.

It didn't take us long to get into Ginger's black Mercedes. In reality this car was far out of her league, and her pay grade. I mean we were only eighteen. The only reason that she had the car in the first place was because of her father. Her parents split a while ago, causing her to have next to know contact with her father, and the Mercedes was the one thing that he left to her before he went away. 

She had been driving it since she got her license at sixteen and so far, had gotten in no wrecks. Which was surprising, because of how terrible of a driver she really was. It was a miracle that she had gotten her license in the first place. It was a running joke we had that the only reason she ever got it was because they didn't want to get back in the car with her again. Luckily, through the last couple of years she's gotten better, but her road rage remains unmatched. 

"Oh, come on that was not my fault." She said as we pulled into the driveway of an abandoned structure. We had only been going down the road for a measly half hour and we had already almost had sideways collision with a passing vehicle. 

"How was that not your fault? I asked, as we started walking towards the famously forgotten ruins. 

"You couldn't wait for them to cross so you just had to floor it in their direction. I mean they literally had the right way." I said, almost out of breath as I tried to catch up to her in my heeled leather boots. 

"You saw the line behind them. We would've been sitting there forever." She reasoned. Her eyes remained ahead as she stepped onto the first step of Madam Sherri's Castle, the name locals had given the landmark quite some time ago. 

I decided to drop the conversation. It had always been difficult to her for to admit when she was wrong. 

We walked around the site in peace, each of us enjoying the silent company of each other and the nature that surrounded us. We had been doing this ever since Ginger had gotten her license. It wasn't a very high traffic area in New Hampshire though everyone in town seemed to know about the place. Even though it was a little farther away from where we lived it was a regular hangout spot for Ginger and I, our safe place. The landmark was a peak into the past, an area left virtually untouched by modern man. It was beautiful. It was serene. 

Disappearing, further into the lush foliage, admiring the towering pines I stumbled upon something I had not yet come across. Ginger's voice trailed off into the distance as I noticed a bright gleam coming from the forest floor.

Curiosity took hold of me as I wandered over to the object, covered by twigs and moss. As I drew nearer the mirror seemed to glow brighter as it caught on the sun's rays. I stared at the object, noticing how it seemed to be rooted into the ground. confused to why I hadn't noticed it before now as I must have travelled here at least two dozen times. 

Even in poor condition my reflection was still visible, and as if in a trance I starred deep into the remaining glass shards. 

An unprovoked fog seemed to roll in behind me based on the swirling mist inide of the oval mirror. I turned around, but not even a slight haze was seen. Yet, there it was still, looming in from all direction like a translucent ghost. 

I moved closer to the object, tranfixed by the seen unfolding before my eyes. Gradually my reflection began to fade away, the placid mirror turned dark and foggy, an image beginning to appear in the center. Hovering over the object, dazed and confused I saw but one thing: a silver-plated pendulum with an ornate symbol of a tree embellishing the center. 

"Iris. Iris where are you?" Ginger's voice gained my attention, and snapped my head up to where she was now walking through the perfectly clear forest, the leaves rustling under her feet. 

I turned my head back to the enchanting mirror only to find my lone reflection starring back at me. An unsettling feeling subsided in my gut as I looked at the mystery both in horror and confusion. 

"What's wrong?" She asked, her eyes quickly glancing to the mirror. I swallowed the lump in my throat, debating with the credibility of my sanity as she intertwined her arm with mine, leading me back ot where we had come from. 

"Creepy mirror, hey." She stated, looking to me. I offered one last look to the now dull object, no longer gleaming despite the lack of change in the sky. It was as if it was never there to begin with.

"Yeah. Creepy."