The Boy In The Mirror

Seven

Stepping timidly in between broken brown tiles, that must have slid off the roof from harsh storms, Hazeh ignored the slow sunset getting ready to sleep and instead paid her attention to the dark, surrounding forest that swallowed the house from civilisation. Her mother had asked her to go explore the forest for anything that could have hurt her cat, in which Hazeh disagreed but with a glare from her father she hesitatingly agreed. Knowing the cat's scar was like what Jimin had described Hazeh knew she wouldn't find anything, unless all animals lived for years and years also, which at this point wouldn't surprise her. Her father said to her he'd be plugging the wifi and have the internet up and running by the time she comes back, that was really the only reason she was outside and not hiding somewhere in the house.

"I could show Amal to Jimin to be sure it's the same cat considering it is impossible for a cat to live that long," Hazeh muttered to herself once she stood before the unknown land. "If I can get that bloody cat off her, that is."

Hazeh at this point needed someone to talk to, with the wifi running she could have messaged her friends, if they weren't all dead. She could have called a family member if they weren't missing or living on the streets of a country she didn't know the name of. The only person she could talk to was herself and Jimin, not knowing Jimin all that well she decided to confine in herself.

The forest was incredibly dark, like the deep depths of the ocean, nothing seemed to be living inside as it was deafening quiet. Being the stubborn person she was, Hazeh strolled into the mysterious trees, she didn't want to go back to the house to tell her father she was too scared to take one step inside the forest. Darkness embraced her like a lost friend, Hazeh found it oddly comforting, she was no longer scared. The eerie silence was now like a relief to her, no people and no secrets, the forest was naked and bare and she loved it. She would turn her head to tall, dark trunks of trees that lead to the canopies above, she marvelled at how this would be the perfect place to hang yourself, or someone. You may think this is an odd thing for an eighteen year old girl to be thinking but she was Hazeh, and Hazeh was on a whole different level to the average person. To understand this story you either have to be below average or above, it doesn't matter which.

"I bet I've seen the same amount of people die than there is trees around me." She told the darkness. "Isn't that depressing?"

Wandering aimlessly through her new friend, she realised how truly lonely she was, she hadn't had a proper conversation with anyone but herself for months, except the one with Jimin. Jimin, is he the only hope for her sanity? How ironic, something that would seem to make her go mad could instead save her. All of those dark tumblr posts she saw she finally understood them, she was drowning in herself, and yet no one noticed, not even her. Maybe if she had stopped and thought and realised this would be a totally completely different story, but the one thing Hazeh was concentrating on was not to stop and think.  

Shaking herself to make sure she doesn't fall into traps of thoughts, she looked around to not see anything familiar. Oddly, she didn't feel frustrated or worried that she was lost, a little part of her was glad she didn't have to go back into the house so soon, until she realised the darkness was gradually getting darker, the night was beginning. Finally getting scared, she walked quickly the direction she thought she remembered she walked from, quickening her footsteps she could feel the monster clutching her heels as she broke into a run. Ghosts swam out of her lips and into the forest, her rapid heartbeat was the only thing, other than the snapping of branches below her, that echoed through out the trees.

For the first time, and the last time, she felt relief flushing through her when she saw the house, escaping the dangerous holding of the claws she ran into the courtyard. Slowing down her pace into a walk she looked back to the forest, it looked less intimidating and more welcoming. Passing through the tiles, she looked down at the large cracks that travelled around the floor of cement she was walking on, she realised that there were no weeds growing, not one strand of grass. Yet the ground couldn't be infertile as there was a forest only meters away, deciding her mind had done enough deep thinking for one day, Hazeh brushed it off and entered the house.

No one welcomed her back when she walked into the kitchen to her mother mixing something in a bowl, with the cat sat on her feet, and her father on the computer with his tools placed around him on the floor. Accepting that this was going to be how her relationship with her parents would be from then on, she didn't say anything to them but leave quietly and resign to her room.

A gasp escaped her when she saw something shining on a table her father must have put in, it was the ring she lost.

"Father!" Hazeh shouted, running down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Th-"

"Eh?" He father gruffs, his glasses slightly slipping down his nose as he looks at the usually depressed daughter smiling happily. "What's happened?"

"The thing you put in my room," Hazeh gritted her teeth as she forgot the word 'ring'.

"You mean the table?" Her father raised his eyebrow and looked at her mother who picked up the cat and looked back at her father with confusion. "If I knew you'd be so happy over a damn table I would have given it to you before."

"Didn't you put anything on top of it?" Hazeh's voice wavered. "Anything?"

"No," her father squinted his eyes at Hazeh. "Are you sure you're okay? You look pale."

"It's not as if I ever told you I was okay." Hazeh said under her breath.

"I didn't put anything on your desk, I mean table, either." Her mother nuzzled the cat, in return it meowed. "I haven't been in your room since you were gone, which reminds me, did you find anything?"

"No," Hazeh decided to keep the conversation flowing to steer it away from the ring. "The forest is deserted."

"Are you sure?" Her mother asked uncertain. "She said she was attacked by-"

"She?" Her father asked, now uninterested he turned back to the computer screen. "Oh, and Hazeh, the wifi is up and running."

"I mean, I, I was just talking in third person." Her mother's smile was strained as she hugged the cat tighter, no one noticed. "I think Amal should stay in the house and not go outside from now on, just in case."

"I'm going to my room." Hazeh states, leaving the room, she had not listened to her mother's strange words and neither did her father.

Before she put a foot on the stair, something caught her eye. Deciding to investigate, Hazeh slowly walked down the corridor into the room at the end. There was a key left in the lock, someone had forgotten to take it out.

"Why would my parents want to keep a secret in this house?" Hazeh thought to herself as she pushed the door gently, it swung open with ease.

Seeing what was inside made even her soulless mind shudder.