The Boy In The Mirror

Two

A lonely ladybird plucked up its courage to scuttle to the nearby ladybird sitting on the next leaf of the berry bush they both shared. Once close the lonely ladybird quickly swung its wings to show friendliness. The other ladybird that had been watching the other for days came closer to the other, nudged them and attacked them. What the lonely ladybird had not realised was that the other ladybird had red spots instead of black, it was a venomous insect that usually attacks others to regain their title as the 'King of the Bush'. The red spotted ladybird gleamed at the others body and thought about the meal yet to come.

Silence stirred the field as it swayed to the winds music, a large dragonfly gently interrupted the silence as it buzzed quietly to itself. A small mouse climbed one of the many straws and admired the view of the quiet countryside until a noise came from the dirt road, quickly getting louder and louder. The field swayed a little less, the dragonfly flew away and the mouse stayed to watch.

A black Mercedes flew round the corner and drove hastily down the muddy track, inside there was a middle-aged man with a black beard that stretched from ear to ear, he wore silver, round spectacles and frowned slightly, concentrated on driving. Next to him was a younger looking woman who wore a dark cloth round her hair, a hijab, she wore no make-up, she didn't have to as her beauty was clearly evident. Towards the back of the car was a teenage girl with dark hair that hung in little curls at the bottom. She was not interested in her father's driving or the beautiful views that were enclosed around her, she was only interested with the phone she held. Her eyelids were heavy but she was too stubborn and scared to sleep. Even though she knew she shouldn't she was reading the latest news, obviously full of hate and war. Sighing she turned her phone off and leant her head on the window, she did not notice the amber sky or the way the clouds looked like something from a painting, she only noticed the mud and dirt that the car drove on. Her eyelids dropped.

"Come on, Hazeh!" Someone laughed far away. "Come on!"

The bright sunlight pierced her eyes making her lose her balance slightly, she regained herself quickly and looked around at her surroundings. She was in a playground full of the people from her old high school, they were all laughing, smiling and just enjoying themselves like they had no care in the world. A couple were cuddling beneath the tree whilst younger teenagers told jokes to each other on the branches above. A group of girls were gossiping about the new teacher and his eyes whilst a clan of boys swooned towards them. A lot of the first years were playing tag among themselves, running and squealing like little children, bumping into the older ones and quickly apologising and running away. A few boys and girls were scattered around just chatting to each other by either mouth or phone, it didn't matter to them which.

"Hazeh!" The girl jumped at her name and spun round to try and find who said it. "Come on!"

Hazeh used her hands to shield her eyes from the sun to try and navigate where the voice was coming from but to only find no one in particular.

Sighing in defeat she gave up and looked down at her shoes where something glinted in the light next to her foot. Hazeh picked it up to drop it back down again. She remembered.

A loud noise came from the sky above, getting closer and louder and closer and louder until everyone had to stop and cover their ears.

"Everyone, run!" Hazeh screamed covering her ears. "Run, quickly!"

No one moved, they carried on watching the sky, either they didn't hear her or they simply ignored her.

"You have to hurry!" Hazeh ran to the nearest person who was a boy that sat in front of her in maths, he wore a green baseball cap and a pair of yellow sunglasses. "You need to go or you'll die!"

"Hazeh," The voice came again, only it was a lot softer and quiet, like a mother singing a lullaby. "Come and get me."

Hazeh's eyes landed on a young boy, one of the first years. He had her mother's amber eyes and her father's black hair.

"Saad." Hazeh breathed out only for her to choke on her words. "You're, you're alive!"

"Not for long," Saad smiled sadly pointing to the sky. "They're coming."

She looked up to see small five or six planes flying in the sky, getting closer and closer.

"We have to go, now!" She tugged on his sleeve. "Or you'll die!"

"You left me, you left me to die." He blankly looked up at her. "You saw them coming and yet you ran off and didn't tell anyone, not even me."

"It wasn't like that, I swear-"

"You're so selfish," He harshly threw her hand away. "You let your little brother die."

"No, I-"

"I'm dead because of you!" He shouted as the noise grew louder and louder until she could hardly hear herself think. "It's all your fault!"

Her eyes opened quickly and she gasped for air. She clung onto the seat in front and drew short, quick breathes. She choked once, twice and threw herself back into her seat. Raindrops dropping onto the windows were the only thing that she could hear except her own quick heartbeat. Inhaling one more deep breath she realised the car was not moving, and that she was also alone. Wiping the sleeve of her purple sweater onto the window and saw what she presumed was her new house.

The house was far from what her parents described it was going to be, it was true they said it would need renovating in some areas but to her it looked like it was going to fall down at any moment. It was big like they said it was but they also said it looked like something a princess would live in, it seemed like the villain in the fairy tale would only live here. Windows were blocked up by rotting, wooden planks of wood, the white paint had already peeled off leaving an ugly set of stone in its place and pieces of tiles were scattered on the ground.

Hazeh looked at her new house with disgust and left the car to be pelted down by rain, she pulled her sweater over her head and began to run to the door. The rain was throwing itself at her as if trying to stop her from entering the house.