Glassmage

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Gabrielle sat in the kitchen, tucked into a cozy breakfast nook. When she had been younger and the family gathered here for the holidays, the larger dining room was used. There hadn’t been any such get-togethers for over seven years.

Grandmother slid in next to her, setting down two plates filled with scrambled eggs and slices of warm honey ham.

“Do you drink coffee yet?” the older woman asked.

Gabrielle smiled, imagining what her mother would say if she were here. A sip of coffee would probably have landed her with an early evening in her room.

“Mom doesn’t want you drinking coffee,”

 Marine said with a smile.

“Or soda,” Gabrielle added. “Anything with caffeine.”

Her grandmother rose and returned with two mugs.

“My doctor says I shouldn’t have coffee. At first, it was hard, but I’ve found I like this much better.”

Gabrielle sipped at the warm liquid and smiled. “Green tea?”

“Even better,” said Marine after her own sip. “White.”

“I’ve never heard of white tea.”

They ate their breakfast and talked of things that did not involve her parents. Afterward, when the dishes were done, Marine took Gabrielle’s soft hands into her dry ones and said, “I don’t know how long you’ll be with me, but I need to tell you something. I always thought I’d spend my final days here at the Shanty alone. Everyone moved away, but that happens. Visitors are rare, but that’s okay, too. The thing is, of all the family, I’m glad that you’re the one here with me.”

Gabrielle was touched, but didn’t really know what to make of this comment.

Marine explained that the Shanty was her home and she could go anywhere she wished. “I’m a hopeless beachcomber,” she told her granddaughter.  “You might have noticed the tin buckets at the end of the boardwalk. I spend most of my time on the beach these days. Found a pretty branch of blue coral last week at low tide. Anyway, if I’m not napping in my room, which I do a lot, I’ll be out there.”

So, while her grandmother was moving north up the beach an hour later, Gabrielle found herself wandering through a house she hadn’t explored since she was a little girl. Not much had changed, including the furniture and decorations. One hallway was a grand mosaic of family photographs. It took a while, but she found the one that had always been her favorite. In an oak frame, she stared at a five year-old version of herself. She was standing at the end of the same boardwalk outside wearing a bright, pink leotard and silver dance shoes. In her left hand was a glittery wand and upon her head a jeweled tiara. She was smiling. Standing about ten feet behind her were her grandmother and grandfather. They were smiling as well, holding hands. Behind them, painted against a deep, blue sky was the Shanty. Her Uncle Joe, a professional photographer who now resided in Hawaii, had taken the picture.

This caused her to remember all the photos in the basement. Finding the door at the end of the hallway, she made her way down. It wasn’t a true basement, but rather a lower section of the house that rested a few feet below ground level. Her father’s brother had lived in this large, open room a few years before making it on his own. His pictures filled the walls and Gabrielle would look at them as if she were standing in a showroom at an art museum.

Reaching the bottom step, she flipped on the light switch.

No couches, chairs, lamps… nothing. The floor was bare. The room was completely empty save for a bucket in the corner filled with odd pieces of sea glass. Gabrielle took a few tentative steps in. The wall where her uncle’s photos had once been displayed was now filled with a huge, shattered mirror. Staring warily at it, she soon realized that it wasn’t a mirror at all; it was something else completely. Something that played tricks with the light, both reflecting it and allowing it to pass through. Reaching out, Gabrielle touched the uneven surface and discovered it pleasingly smooth. Someone had glued hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of sea glass onto the wall. Close up, she could make out slight color variations: blue, pink, green, yellow, red and clear. Taking three or four steps back, the mélange blended together to produce a dizzying reflection of herself as well as the illusion of something beyond. It was almost as if she were peering through the blurry window of a haunted house.

Gabrielle thought she could almost sense a smooth, rocking motion. Turning around, there was only the blank wall behind her. Looking back at the sea glass, there was definitely something moving beyond it. Something…

A phone rang from somewhere upstairs and Gabrielle ran to answer it.