The Bleeding Mirror

Within The Looking Glass

(Sorry, the beginning is going to be a bit slow. I don't write much. Ill accept and critiques. Hope you have a great day and enjoy❤)

Stare down your reflection
Watch it crack
But know you could never
Turn your back
For if you dare
All you will see
In an endless cycle 
You will be

My whole reality is glass and I’m fighting to see my reflection appear. Somehow  it’s always empty.

Today is the day that my sister’s fate is written; today is her evaluation. On everyone’s 13th birthday, they are tested and given a career and a future partner along with a load of bull——.

Time seems to pass by so quickly. She’s still just a baby in my eyes. She was so young when we lost our parents. I remember seeing the flames in the living room, breathing in the heavy smoke, trying to find them. The police ruled it as an accident, but something tells me it was more. Their bodies were never found, just shattered glass on the floor from the mirror that they kept covered with an earthy brown cloak. 

After the accident, Lilliana and I went into the only orphanage in the mirror. It’s a rickety old building with 3 floors and 19 rooms. The doors reek of molding wood and creek loudly. We’ve lived here for the past 10 years and although the orphanage is barely standing, it’s still home.

Madame Olivia Aubrielle runs the orphanage. She’s a gentle lady in her early 40’s with midnight locks laced with snowy grey streaks. Time has been quite fair to her, leaving her with few wrinkles and the sturdy posture of a soldier. Though I’ve known her longer than most of the other orphans, she’s never looked me in my eyes. Always looking down or to the side, and speaking softly as if her voice was shattering from my presence. It’s a constant disappointment knowing how much I scare her….and most everyone else. I feel like I’m cursed to always be feared or hated. Still, I'm incredibly thankful for her taking us in. I don’t know where we would’ve been without her.

“Lilly, hurry up! You don’t want to be late!”

“Wait! I’m still looking for my left shoe!” She shouts from the second floor window.

“I’m leaving now!” I reply chuckling to myself. She always gets ready at the last minute.

As I’m walking down the dusty marbled ground, I hear loud stomping on creaky flooring. Moments later I’m face down on the ground, tackled by my little sister. She gets up and starts running.

“Hurry up, Slowpoke!” She laughs as I’m getting up.

I sprint as fast as I can go. Once I’m close, I hug her around her waist, trapping her arms and lifting her off the ground.

“Who’s the slowpoke now, Lilly?”

We both laugh and I put her down.

“Ok, you win, but next time I’ll beat you,” she says, trying to act tough but smiling too much to seem hostile in the least bit.

She exudes a liveliness that few have these days. Her radiant smile seems to make everything ok. She’s a mirror image of our mother. Golden brown, almost blonde, hair riding over waving rapids just past her shoulders with vibrant green eyes. She’s the only reason why I’m still here. I couldn’t leave her, even though I might be forced to soon.

Once we turn 19, we’re embedded into the mirror. It’s a ceremony that was developed to prevent anyone from leaving the mirror, even though it’s probably just for show now. Centuries ago, people were fighting to leave this world causing the mirror realm to become unstable. It was close to shattering until the council members saved it using arcane energy. Afterwards, they developed the ceremony to keep our souls and reality permanently here. In order to prevent people from encouraging the ones too young to be embedded to leave, although it’s very much impossible, children are separated after the ceremony. Most never see their parents or siblings ever again. It makes me furious and sick just thinking about it.