| abstract | - I thought I was mad. It was a rather strange house, with a likeness to a small castle. Indeed, it seemed to have been ripped from the pages of a storybook; its magic lost somewhere the lines. It was still beautiful. Then why did I feel so hollow? I stepped into the house after fumbling with the creaky little gate. The grass seemed well kept. It didn't make sense to me since the house had been uninhabited for a very long time. The paint on the house was pristine too; the way it seemed untouched by time was haunting. It was too perfect. Nothing in life is ever too perfect. It was silent too; and I didn't like silence. It had a lot of trees, so it was breezy. For a moment, I felt safe. I caught a distant bird call and I felt a smile creeping along my cheeks. It felt good... to feel free. I kept walking along the grass until I came to a little serpentine stone path that led up to the steps of the house's porch. I found it odd that the path didn't start until now; that it didn't start at the gate like most other houses. I stepped on the path and for a moment, I thought I heard a giggle. I looked up and caught the glimpse of a young girl in the window of the house. She was a portrait. Perfectly tragic in a poetic way. I felt the bag slip from my fingers; I had forgotten I was holding on to it. I ran after the girl. I intended to call out to her, but I couldn't find my voice. It was all so strange. She reminded me of someone I used to know... I reached the window, but the girl had gone. I looked carefully and the house had... nothing. No dust, no indicator of the time that had passed. It was all a mystery to me. I stepped inside. Oh, the inside was beautiful. It was timeless and majestic. It was also spotless and that continued to bother me, but I decided to ignore it. I focused, instead, on the carpeted floor. It was a beautiful shade of red. I wanted to run through it, but I couldn't. I felt stuck. I was staring at a hallway and that made me queasy. I walked hesitantly towards the hallway. It was calling to me. I knew this place. I remembered it. I could not remember from where though; but it was all so familiar to me.. The walls lining the hallway were mirrors. It was so grand, but it was not uncommon to me; I was fairly familiar with this place and the reason as to why still eluded me. My eyes wandered the glass walls and all I could find was a frail little woman looking back at me, her eyes vacant and sad. I tried to smile, but her lips wilted and her eyes shed a tear. I felt so empty. Through my peripheral vision, I caught sight of the little girl. She was sitting on the ground, fumbling with something in her tiny hands. Her back was to me and she had long dark hair cascading off her shoulders. I approached and clutched the bag very tightly in my hands. I was about a foot away when she turned to face me. She had big dark eyes and skin like ivory. Her eyes shone with a dull light, like the sun reflecting off tinted glass. She smiled when she saw me. "Mommy, you came back for me." Her voice was sweet and mellow, but it was also cool; mature for her age. I didn't understand. I looked back at the wall and saw a frail little woman in a white maternity dress. Her face was a statue of fear. The little girl stood up and walked over to my side. "Don't you remember?" She looked up at the little woman's face. I could not look back at her, I was frozen. I felt kicking inside of me. I turned to the side and saw the little woman do the same. Her stomach bulged out and it quivered. I looked down. I had no such bulge. I looked back. I felt my heart quicken. "You died mommy." I saw the little woman's stomach begin to expand and break; blood pouring from the wounds. It was not happening to me, but I could feel it. I began to feel frantic. "But I kept you mommy... I kept you here, with me." I didn't know what else to do. I ran up the mirror and smashed it. A huge crack ran up the length and I saw myself. I was sitting in a chair, holding up a little woman in a white dress. My lips were moving. I touched the glass wall and watched the woman in the chair reach out. I was mad. I wrapped my fists within my hair and closed my eyes. I opened them again. The mirrors were tarnished, the carpet eaten by moths. I saw a little girl playing with her dolls... sitting at the foot of a chair. The chair was filled by a corpse in a white dress. I couldn't feel my heartbeat. The magic in the house was gone. It was cold. I reached out and touched the girl's mirror image and the corpse in the chair reached out to touch the girls hair. "I kept you all these years."
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