Reflections

By Aabha Ghuli

“Wow!! Its so huge…I love this house” Daisy shouted in the air. She  along with her parents recently rented a new house.

Ancient cobwebs, piles of dirt, stained curtains and heaps of dried leaves welcomed them. And forgot to mention, also few croaky frogs, creepy cockroaches, an ancient, creaky staircase and slithery snakes.

”Oh…its so dirty! Messed up! I will need a decade to clean this house..” said her mom .

“We will help you convert this haunted house into home…. for sure” yelled her dad. “Who even owned this house!” her mother said, disgusted.

Daisy was very excited, that she ran around the house. She went to every room and choose which one would be hers. She dragged her bag into her room. She unzipped it, and started unpacking her books, toys and clothes.

“Daisy, come down for lunch” her father called. She dropped her bag and ran down. As she was running, she heard a rattling noise. She stopped dead on her track and listened carefully. Suddenly noise disappeared . She assumed that it was because of the shifting work that was going on. She jumped all her way to the dining room.

“Lunch’s all ready, pet” her father petted her and walked away with her mother. She finished her lunch. She then ran back to her room. She started arranging her books. She heard the rattling noise again. She cautiously walked towards the staircase. Then the noise stopped again. She shrugged her shoulders and walked back. When she entered her room, she saw that her books were scattered everywhere! “How on earth can this happen?” daisy said. She remembered that she had arranged them! She ignored it and again arranged them, along with the rest of the things.

“Daisy, help me carry these things upstairs” her mother called out to her from the bottom of the stairs. “yes mummy” she called out and ran downstairs. Her mother handed her two big boxes. She held them tightly and started walking upstairs. Suddenly ,she felt something pass by her foot ‘why are the stairs wet?’ she thought, as she walked on the stairs. ‘maybe the ceiling is leaking’ she thought and walked on with her boxes. She kept the boxes and started walking down the stairs again. This time It wasn’t wet. She checked the ceiling, but there was no leak. She was surprised.

The afternoon turned into night. She went to bed. The entire night she heard voices of kids whispering “save us!...S..a..v..e..us…!” The next morning, she woke up, trembling with fear. She looked around. No noise, nothing unusual. As she was walking towards the staircase, she heard the muffled whispers again. “save us…” she looked around, alert and frightened. She walked towards the staircase leading the attic. The voices grew louder and louder. She slowly climbed the stairs. She managed to push open the door with her trembling hand. “save us.. save us!” the voice was clearly coming from here.

With a gulp, Daisy looked around. She saw a mirror, with large wooden carved borders. Somehow, it looked cleaner than its surrounding. There was something, that drew her closer. She walked towards it, and flinched, at what she saw. She did not see her reflection, but instead, saw a girl, who was trying to reach out to her. As she stood there dumbstruck, she saw other children gather behind the girl. They all stretched out their hands, towards her.

“Daisy…time for school” her mother shouted at top her voice.

She rushed down, almost slipping and falling…then gathered herself somehow and made it to her mother. She went to school with incident stuck in her mind. She was helpless but overthinking about what had happened. Soon, it was time for her to return home. The moment she came home, she ran to her room and flung her bag on the table. She was panting and gasping. She badly wanted to go to the attic and know who the children actually were. She tried to restrain herself from going to the attic, but was inquisitive, about the mystery. She then ran towards the attic and opened the door. She ran towards the mirror hoping to see the children again.

She stood there looking, her eyes wide open, when she felt like something was stretching her like elastic! She then found herself stuck into the same mirror. “help us….help us…help us…”she along with others started shouting form within. 

  “oh!...” the children from inside the mirror exclaimed. “this, is wicked and an enchanted mirror. I called out, all these years thinking that someone would think of breaking it. but well, now we all are trapped” the girl from the mirror said. “why not try breaking now?” Daisy asked, in a desperate tone. She then whispered a plan to everyone. Then they put it into action. Daisy, and all the other trapped children screamed and yelled at the top of their voice. Huge cracks appeared on the mirror. Then all of a sudden, the mirror burst open, flinging all the children, with Daisy, into a heap on the floor.  

By Aabha Ghuli