Mirror Pieces

Chapter 1

Lying in a field, I gaze longingly at the stars. I wish life could be different. Easier without the heartbreaking pain I have gone through. The wind flutters around me, forcing the grass to move and tickle my feet. My body gives an involuntary shiver, either from the wind or the tears, who knows anymore.

                Today started out fantastic, with laughs, smiles, and love. It started out with things I haven’t felt fully in a while. I was so ecstatic, filled with complete and utter joy and for a few hours I felt loved and wanted. Then I arrived home, and he showed up. His mood and his fierce words instantly replaced the joy I had found, with a more familiar sadness.  

Earlier that Day

                “HONEY I’M HOME” screamed an all too familiar voice from the front room. I finished up brushing my teeth and walked out of the bathroom. Glancing around my shoebox apartment, I spotted my best friend pulling a bottle of water from the fridge and snacking on a banana.

                “Hallo meine Frau. I believe you’re late, as usual” I stated in mock annoyance. Nudging her, I grabbed the banana out of her hand finishing it off.

                “Hey there, just be thankful that I came. I mean, I am treating you to lunch for your birthday.” She jokes shoving me out of the house and grabbing my keys for me. Bantering back and forth, we hop in my beat up, old car.

                I shove the keys in the ignition and put the air on full blast. “Does the weather really need to be so bipolar? One day is chilly and the next it’s hot as balls!” I complain wiping the sweat off my brow before it builds up anymore. “Btdubs darling, I need to know where we’re going so I can drive there”

                “Yeah well Mother Nature IS a chick, she’s probably on her period. And Dominick’s of course. Where else could we go in this small ass town?” Dominick’s was the most common place to go in the small town of Spikfield, Maine. It was a small Italian restaurant with the best pizza, located close to the SF High School.

                Marcell plugs in her iPhone and turns the speakers up as I drive the 15 minutes to Dominick’s. “Lord make me a rainbow, I’ll shine down on my mother…” We sing, giggling because it is “our song”

                Marcell has been my best friend for years since ninth grade history. I made a smart comment to the teacher and she instantly turned around and claimed that I was her new best friend. The tall, thin girl was an obvious catch with her simply dyed copper hair and her big brown eyes with never ending lashes. Our minds think the same and we often finish each other’s thoughts and/or sexual innuendos. We once burst out in the same song at the same time from across while sitting across the room at each other. Ever since, it has been claimed as ‘our song’.

I pull into a space far from the entrance to the restaurant and Marc whines. “Oh god, Ariel, could you have parked any further from where we need to be!”

                Sticking my tongue out I reply “You know how my parking is. If I parked close to the other cars, I would have totaled them.” We slip out of the car and I feel her thin arm loop into mine.

                “It’s a wonder how you even got your license Ari. I mean, your parking IS in fact the worst ever. Now let’s go eat some delicious, garlicy food.” We skip to the entrance and walk in. Chatting about her cats, we mindlessly walk to the back of the restaurant. Suddenly, she pushes me forward and screams something about a present.

                I look ahead of me baffled; sitting at a load of tables crammed together sits a giant mob of my friends. Laughing, I tear up. “Oh my God why?! What the hell!” I laugh, “You KNOW I hate surprises” Someone guides me to my seat and then starts laughing.