Mirror Mirror On The Wall

The Tragedy of 1928

Saint Rida's Orphanage. 1928

Kids ran around the orphanage playing and laughing. Some kids were eating and others painting. It was their break time. Too bad their breaks were only five minutes long.

"Break is ovah! Now to rooms!" A middle aged man said angrily. His hair was grey and very short. He had many wrinkles on his face, especially underneath his eyes. It made him look even more scary looking. He was angry all the time, unless he had accomplished something big.

As they were all running to their rooms, an older boy tripped Scarlett, causing her to fall against a book shelf containing bottles of colorful liquid.

Scarlett quickly moved out of the way when one of the bottles fell and broke. The book shelf that had been against the ground fell to the ground.

There was a loud thud and crash of glasses.

"Hey!" Scarlett's brother yelled at the boys who were laughing.

"Ooo she's going to get in trouble." One boy yelled.

"Yeah. I wonder what this punishment's going to be." Another kid said before going into his room.

The Russian man came running out of his office. "Deh!? Vat happened! Hoo did it? You Scarlett?" He said loudly. Scarlett sat there and began to cry. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to a room.

"No wait! Mr. Vladimir it was Riley and Christopher not Scarlett." Scarlett's brother yelled following them.

Mr. Vladimir turned around. His face was completely red. "Vat? Chris and Riley? You not lying to me Thomas? Hm? Are you?" He said.

Thomas shook his head. Mr. Vladimir looked at Scarlett who had tears running down her cheek. "Vait a minute girl." He said.

Vladimir stomped onto the ground and yelled out."HOI!!!" He said.

Every kid was peeking out of there room. Vladimir looked around at each kid. "Show me hands! Who seen Christopher and Riley push this little gil!?" He said while pointing to Scarlett.

Riley and Christopher inched into their room, hiding. About 15 children raised there hands.

The Mr. nodded slowly. "I see... I see." He then walked quickly into the room that belonged to Christopher and Riley. "You two! You shall be punished for destroying my tings!" He grabbed both of them by their arms. They were begging him to let them go. Tears flowed from their eyes. They were screaming that they were sorry. Kids were shutting their doors and covering their eyes.

Scarlett and Thomas watched as the Mr. dragged the two boys into a room at the end of the orphanage. He went inside with them and slammed the door behind, then all of a sudden, it got real quite.

"What's he doing to them?" Thomas asked.

Before Scarlett could reply there was sounds of loud screaming. The Mr. was laughing insanely. He didn't stop laughing until the screaming stopped. Scarlett and Thomas went inside their rooms and looked at each other.

"I can't wait until we're adopted." Thomas said.

***
Klay opened his eyes and saw Scarlett sitting on an old wooden table. She slowly rubbed the blackened wood back and forth.

"I was 12 at that time. Thomas was 13. This was my room. This...was my bed." Scarlett said rubbing the wood.

Klay listened as she spoke.

"I stayed away from that man as much as possible. We never saw Riley and Christopher again after that day. Things started getting worse. More kids were disappearing. Sometimes we would hear screams but there was nothing we could do to help." She continued.

Scarlett sighed. "A nice couple came in one day. Thomas always hoped that one day, just one day he could finally leave that place. We had been there forever. The couple came and said they wanted to adopt me but not Thomas. He didn't take it so well."

Before he knew it, Klay felt paralyzed again. He collapsed onto the ground. After the darkness left his sight, he found himself in the orphanage, back in 1928 again.

***

"It's not fair!" Thomas yelled pointing at Scarlett as she packed.

"I'm sorry Thomas. But hey, you're my brother. I'll try to talk to them. Okay? Just be patient." Scarlett said. She zipped her suitcase shut then dusted her hands off.

The two couples waited at the door. They smiled as Scarlett grabbed her suitcase.

"You don't care about me!" Thomas yelled out.

Just then the Mr. walked in and crossed his arms as he looked at Thomas.

Scarlett looked at Mr. Vladimir and frowned. She then left with her new family.

***

Klay opened his eyes. Scarlett was standing up.

"My new parents ended up adopting Thomas on my fifteenth birthday. Although, Thomas was quite rebellious. He hated rules. He hated our new parents. There was a point where they couldn't handle Thomas anymore. He was just too much, for all of us. So, my parents kicked him out." Scarlett said.

"But how did you both end up dead?" Klay asked.

"Thomas developed such a rebellious nature, he decided to go back to the orphanage. He would tell me that he would kill Mr. Vladimir one day. That's what he did too." Scarlett said.

There was a heavy breeze that went through the orphanage. The wind made Klay's clothes move.

"You're visible again." Scarlett said walking up to him.

There was the sound of laughter. Insane laughter. Klay looked behind him and heard creaking of wood and tiny foot steps.

"You must go now!" Scarlett said, then disappeared.