CHAPTER ONE
Hello, my name is Daryll Knitler. Have you ever had a phobia of mirrors? I never had Eisoptrophobia, until June 8th, 2013. Have you ever looked away from a mirror to see from the corner of your eye that your reflection is starring at you? It is almost like there is another dimension…. Outside of our normal everyday lives, and into the mirrors…. Maybe I am crazy and you probably won’t understand my story, but I am going to tell you my story anyway. I will start with the day when I developed a phobia of mirrors.
My phobia of mirrors began when I slowly walked downstairs heading to the kitchen, tired, rubbing my eyes and yawning. I say it was about six o’clock in the morning, and with the sun rising to greet me, I thought it was going to be a great day. Half way to the kitchen I heard a blood curdling scream from behind me. It sounded sinister; it sent chills down my spine. I turned around and saw nothing. In my mind, I was still freaked, but I shrugged it off and forced myself to believe it was my imagination. I proceeded to the kitchen where I then decided to eat breakfast. I made myself a bowl of Frosted Flakes.
I sat down at the dining room’s table. As I gobbled down my Frosted Flakes, I looked at my spoon. I saw a reflection in the spoon of something behind me. At first I thought it was my imagination again, but I took a closer look to see a shadow. I ignored it until I felt the presence of a hand on my shoulder. Startled, I jumped up and turned around. Nothing was there. By that point I thought I have lost my mind. In the process I must have dropped my spoon, so I got on my knees looking for it, until I found it under the table. That was strange for me, because I remember grasping the spoon tightly in my hand. I stood up to see my older sister, Sarah, sitting across the table from me. I admit I was spooked out by that.
“Sarah, don’t scare me like that!” I scowled at her. I noticed that she kept staring at me.
“Sarah?” I began to say. “Are you ok?” At that point I was confused. I had no idea what was going on. Then, in horror, my mouth dropped open, my hands trembled and my heart raced as I saw what Sarah began doing. Her eyes went into the back of her head and they turned black. She looked like she had no eyes anymore. There was a foul odor. It smelled horrible, like a rotten carcass. Then, she began chanting something…. I could barely understand her; I think I heard her say… a sword? Yes, a sword, and a mirror…. I thought to myself what is so special about this sword and mirror? She kept chanting something, whispering under her breath. Obviously there was something special about this sword and mirror.
Something controlled me. I do not know what came over me, but I ran. I kept running. As I ran out of the house, I had no idea where I was going, and why I was going there. A force controlled me. I closed my eyes. I came to a sudden stop. When I opened them I stood in a rectangular dark purple room with torches lit at the corners. I looked to find a mirror. This strange mirror was humongous compared to me. “Was this the mirror Sarah was talking about?” I thought in my mind. I walked towards the mirror to find out that it was no ordinary mirror. This particular mirror had vines growing all around it, with strange letters written at each corner of the mirror. The vines were not normal; they were a red and gold color. The mirror did not show my reflection. In the mirror, I saw a purple mist, for that was the only thing my eyes could see in this mirror.
Some of the mist disappeared. I gasped in horror as in front of me was what I thought at first was my reflection. The reflection laughed an evil laugh, mocking me and then quickly changed into a shadow of a little boy. This shadow had glowing red eyes that hypnotized me. The shadow stepped aside to reveal a sword. This sword was completely purple. The sword looked similar to a machete except the grip. The grip had bronze knuckles attached to the grip. There was blood red writing on the blade that seemed to be written in a different language. There were whisperings, chants like the ones Sarah chanted. I dropped to my knees, and I screamed at the top of my lungs. I was extremely confused. All I knew is that my shadow was trying to tell me something, almost like a warning. At least that is what I thought. My eyes went into the back of my head, and I fainted.
I forgot to mention one very important detail about what has happened in my story so far. Everything I told you since the story began were all a dream I had. Why mention my dream you ask? Every detail I will tell in my story has a meaning to it. You will find out what I mean later on in this story.
I awoke screaming. My hands trembled and sweat poured down my face. I wiped the sweat off of my face with my left hand. My teeth chattered and I felt a chill go down my spine. My mouth had a bitter taste and was extremely dry. I sniffed the air. The smell of pancakes greeted my nose. I let out a sigh of relief, thinking that it was all just a dream. I slowly got out of bed, and I headed for the door. My eyes rolled into the back of my head again and I dropped to my knees. I heard these chants in my head; I could not stand hearing these chants. They started out as whispers, but they got louder… and louder… and LOUDER…. And they were completely different from the other chants. The chants must have been in a different language, because I could not understand one word. I smelled the dreadful odor of a rotten carcass again. I grasped my head with my hands and I let out a scream of desperation. I began to tear up. “What the hell is wrong with me? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?” I thought in my head. I made a fist with my left hand and pounded it on the floor repeatedly until my knuckles bled.
“Dare, are you ok? Stop making those noises! You are scaring me! Come downstairs I made pancakes!” My sister Sarah hollered up the stairs. The chants came to a sudden stop. My eyes rolled back. My hands trembled, my left hand even bled. I ran my hand across my head, it seemed like I was running a fever. I slowly walked towards the bathroom. “Was that really JUST a dream?” I asked myself. So many questions ran through my head, so little answers.
The wooden floor creaked with every step I made towards the bathroom. My head began beating like a heart, I felt dizzy and weak. As I entered the bathroom, I looked into the mirror. I looked closely, to see if I would see anything again. I then ignored it, and I turned the right knob on the sink to make the water run cold. I ran my hands through the water. The water felt like it would carry me away into a stream of happiness. I cupped my hands, and I bent my head over the sink, and splashed myself with the cold liquid. I could not help but to smile, considering the relief I felt. It was as if the water would take my worries away, the world did not matter anymore. Who would get worked up over water you are probably asking. I don’t even know, but my story has many details you won’t understand and that even I don’t understand.
After cooling off a bit I felt better, trying to forget about my dream, and the chants. I walked downstairs and into the dining room to see a buffet of pancakes on the table. Another smile caught me. I sat down in a random chair that had a plate and utensils in front of it. I grabbed my fork and slapped three huge pancakes on my plate and drowned them in syrup. Sarah came out from the kitchen with a cold glass of milk for me and her. She sat down across the table from me. She looked at me. I began eating the delicious breakfast. I gulped down the pancakes, chugged the milk and let out a sigh of happiness.
“What’s wrong Dare?” Sarah asked me with a concerned look on her face. I decided not to tell her about the dream, or what happened upstairs. She fixed her long dirty blond hair and looked straight at me with her brown eyes. I could not help but to look back at her. I could not bare trying to look away from her. She is my only family left. My heart breaks a little every time I look at her because of the scar running across her forehead and down her cheek. The scar looks like a cursive d. My sister is beautiful; she had a career in modeling until that accident that…. that accident that destroyed her dreams like a hurricane destroys a city. Now she works as an assistant at an infamous designer company.
“I know how you feel. It’s been rough since Mom and Dad died in that car crash last year. But you can’t just keep ignoring me, I am your older sister, not only that, but I am your only family you have left. Please, tell me what’s wrong with you.” As she said that a tear ran down my eye. I usually don’t cry, but after all this, I figured I should show some emotions. I hear it’s bad to hold in your feelings, but I had to put a limit on how much to show. I wiped the tear with my hand and looked straight into her eyes.
“If I told you, you would think I am crazy….” Saying that took a lot of courage, but I knew she would understand. I love my sister with all my heart, but I didn’t want to drag her into this. I almost lost her once; I didn’t want to risk anything.
She smiled at me, and began
eating her pancakes. Maybe she understood me because she did not bother to ask
me about the screaming after that. After she ate her pancakes, she gave me a
kiss on the cheek, said I love you and left for work. That was the day I
developed a phobia of mirrors. My friends, Randy and Jasmyn came knocking at my
door that day. I could never pass up an offer to hang with my friends, so I
tried my best to seem happy for them and hung outside with them. After a long
day of laughing and talking to my friends, I headed home, took a shower and
went to bed. I had a weird dream, but it was better than the night before. The
next morning was tremendously strange though.
The dream I had was about Randy
that night. I don’t know why, I thought it was a random dream. Randy was trying
to tell me something in that dream, but I could not understand him.
“What?” I yelled, still trying to figure out what he was saying by his lip movements. He repeated what he said and I still could not understand him. Then, I heard a buzzing noise in my ears. The noise got louder, and LOUDER…
I woke up and looked around my room. I blinked every few seconds. I saw letters written on the walls, the same letters that were on the mirror and sword. Again, I heard chants and I was scared. My heart was beating twice as fast than it normally did. I shut my eyes hard. I felt the presence of a hand on my shoulder again. The hand gripped my shoulder tightly, making me gasp. I ignored it and after a minute or two, I opened my eyes again. The letters were gone and the chants came to a halt. I turned to look at my shoulder, there was no one there, but when I looked at my shoulder closely there was a bruised hand print across it.
Around two or three in the afternoon of June 9th, 2013, I had Randy, Brianna and Jasmyn over my house. We went into my backyard where I have a basketball net with fourteen by fifteen feet of cemented that surrounds it, a wide area of grass where I have a tennis net set up, a wooden shed and a swing set. Randy, Jasmyn and I played some basketball while Brianna laid down on a blanket in the grass and tried getting a tan as always.
I have to admit, Bri, as we call her, is beautiful. She has black straight hair with a little bit of a curl to it. She wears a pink band behind her bangs. She is half German and half Irish but has a tan and is exactly five foot eight, which I find tall. As always she wears sunglasses, a heart shaped necklace, small heart earrings and a friendship bracelet. She is really rich but she is not spoiled and always puts me and my friends first. When my parents died and when Sarah was in the hospital, she helped pay for everything until Sarah was fully recovered and able to work again. I known her since preschool and I’m grateful to have a friend that cares for me as much as I care for her.
Jasmyn and I are always on a team against Randy in basketball because Randy is a “pro” at basketball but gloats, so we team up against him and even though he is better than us, he loses because he gets too cocky. Jasmyn passed the ball to me and I made a swish to win the game. Jasmyn and I smiled, then high fived each other while Randy looked embarrassed.
“I know you two cheated!” Randy said, as always when he loses. Randy is the jock of my friends. He is extremely wonderful at everything except school, but he is nice to everyone unless they treat him like he is trash. Randy is really tall, he is six foot one and a half and is built like a brawler and says he can bench three hundred pounds, and I believe him. He is Puerto Rican with black hair that has a buzz cut. In a year he is going to enlist in the army. I believe he’ll make a great addition to the army. He failed eighth grade so he is seventeen instead of sixteen like the rest of us.
“You say that every time you lose Randy!” Jasmyn said giggling. Jasmyn is a short five foot three. I feel tall around her because I am three inches taller than her. She has blond hair which she pulls back into a pony tail with green eyes. She wears earrings but not make up and she always plays football, basketball, hockey and almost all sports with the guys. She wrestles on the guys’ team with Randy so she is pretty tough. In my opinion, she is not a girl to be sour to.
Randy rolled his eyes and made a shot without looking at the net. I sniffed the air to smell my neighbor’s fresh cut grass. My smile turned into a frown and I became depressed. Fresh cut grass reminds me of spring, which is when my parents died.
“Who wants to go in my pool?” Brianna offered as she stretched. Jasmyn and Randy smiled and raised their hands. I looked around at all the happy faces. I did not intend to ruin my friend’s day, so I put on a fake smile and raised my hand too. My heart hurt though, it felt like it just split in half. After we took a stop at Jasmyn’s house to get her bikini, Randy drove us to Brianna’s house. Yes, that’s right, I said house. Even though Brianna and her parents are rich, they just like having a simple house. It’s not too simple though, it is more high class than most of the houses in Trenton, New Jersey.
I grinned as we entered Bri’s house. I love her house; they have duplicates of some of the most famous art works in the world, like the famous Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, Starry Night. Brianna and I love art, which is one of the many interests we share in common.
We finally entered the backyard where the in ground swimming pool was. The pool was rectangular with a deep side where a diving board was and a shallow side where the steps were. We put down our towels and looked around the backyard. When you first walk into her backyard there is a table with chairs and an umbrella planted on the table. The backyard was wonderfully appealing with colorful flowers spread throughout the grass. There were vegetable plants in the right corner of the backyard and on the left was an apple tree. Her pool is in the middle of her large backyard. After enjoying the view, I looked into the crystal clear, blue water. I could not see the bottom of the pool, which is strange because I usually do. I heard the chirping of birds, my favorite animals, as they helped themselves to the bird feeder Brianna’s parents installed in the back of their backyard.
Randy and I entered her bathroom one at a time and changed into our bathing suits as Jasmyn and Brianna took off their clothes to reveal their bikinis. Randy wore a light blue bathing suit with dark red flames, I wore a grey bathing suit with sharks around the whole bathing suit, Jasmyn wore a white bikini with pink, purple and red polka dots around it and Brianna wore a pink bikini with red hearts across it. Randy was the first one to jump into the pool. Well, he did not actually jump; he actually did a cannon ball on the deep side screaming like a chimpanzee. Next was Jasmyn. Brianna laid on a blanket again and looked up at me. I was trembling with fear, thinking about what has happened the past few days and with my parents. I didn’t notice how upset I looked, but she noticed something was wrong.
“What’s wrong Dare?” Brianna said as she took off her jewelry and rubbed sun tan lotion on herself. I quickly looked down at her. I changed my expression the best I could to make it look like I was happy.
“Nothing Bri Bri!” I said that too quickly in my opinion. I jumped in the deep side of the pool. The water greeted me with a chill. I smiled again, trying to forget about what has happened to me lately. In my mind, I thought that at least I am with my friends. That is all that matters. The deep side of her pool was really deep. Randy couldn’t even touch the bottom, that’s how deep her pool was that day.
After a while, Brianna decided to slowly get in the pool. Randy and Jasmyn were playing volley ball in the water. They were smiling and having a good time. The thought of my family came back into my head. I wondered what it would have been like if my parents were still here. I had butterflies in my stomach. I felt the warm summer breeze on my face which complimented the chill of the water. A hand rested on my shoulder. Startled, I turned my head to see Brianna looking at me with a concerned look. She looked at my bruised shoulder, than looked back into my eyes.
“Are you sure you are ok Daryll? You don’t seem yourself anymore….” She looked deep into my brown eyes with her hazel eyes just like Sarah did. I opened my mouth to say something, but I stopped. She gave me a long hug. It was hard considering we were both in water, but that cheered me up somewhat.
“Come on.” Brianna said with a
heartwarming smile. “Let’s play volleyball with Jasmyn and Randy.” She tugged
my arm and dragged me towards them. Randy and Brianna were one team and Jasmyn
and I were the other. We had a lot of fun and I even forgot about what has been
happening lately. All of that did not matter to me, until I saw from the corner
of my eye a shadow; the shadow looked exactly like the little boy from my
dream. Startled, I quickly turned around. Again, I saw nothing. I turned around
to see everyone looking at me with a confused face.
“Are you ok Daryll?” Randy said with a confused look on his face. As soon as he said that, Jasmyn was pulled underwater.
