A Mother's Regret

In school, students will ask the teacher why we have to learn about our history. I remember asking my teacher that exact same question. The teacher told me, “So that we may learn from our mistakes, and not repeat the past.” Ever since then, I have had an interest in history. I found myself fascinated with history. I would spend hours just reading about the revolutionary war, and the beginnings of our county. By the time I was twelve years old I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I was older. I wanted to become a history teacher, and I did. At the age of twenty-five with the degree in hand, I took a job as a teacher at my old school. I have been a teacher ever since.

That was fifteen years ago. I still love history, and still love teaching it to younger kids. Except now, my perspectives have changed. Ever since the year 2009, the economy has been slowly receding, and eight years ago, the President officially announced that our country was slipping deeper into depression. The news wasn’t all that bad for me, until Alex, my husband, came home and told me that he was laid-off at work and officially unemployed. It was a sad day for my family. My income wouldn’t be enough for us to live in our home anymore. We were going to move in with my sister, but her family was going through the exact same thing. It was a very scary time for all of us.

For a whole week Alex looked for a job, while Mark, my ten-year-old son, and I stayed in a shelter. By the end of the week, my sister found me, and she had an idea. She offered that we rent an apartment together and share the rent until we could afford our own house again. It was a great idea, and by the next week, we had moved into an apartment. Alex found a job, so we started looking for a new house. Things were looking up for us until the day the United States and Russia went to war.

It wasn’t even a month after we moved into the apartment when we learned that Russia declared war on America. We knew for several years that the two countries had not been getting along, but we didn’t expect them to go to war. Both the United States and Russia agreed not to use nuclear weapons, but we feared that could change in a moment. The good thing to come out of the war was that Alex was able to enlist and housing was provided for us to live. We now had another income, and we were able to send Mark back to school. Though Alex was off to war, at least we were able to provide for our family. We just hoped he would return home alive.

My sister, Valerie, was able to get a house as well. Her husband enlisted, and went to war with Alex. Though she lived on the other side of town, we talked often over the phone, and she would come visit me after work. Valerie didn’t have any children of her own, so she loved spending time with her nephew. Life wasn’t great, but Valerie and I were making it through the hard time together.

Two years later Valerie called me crying. She told me that two soldiers visited her today at her house, and told her that her husband died in battle. Although she was awarded the money for his life insurance, she was devastated. At least she was given thirty days to find a new house to live in. My sister doesn’t mind challenges in her life, but with her income being so low, and the government taxing the life insurance money, she would be lucky if she could afford an apartment. She asked if she could stay at my house until she was able to find a better paying job. I love my sister, and to see her suffering like that was too much to handle. I agreed to let her stay, and she moved in the next day.

It wasn’t long after, that I received another call, this one from my sister-in-law, Anna, telling me her situation. She told me that my brother got into a car accident, and died instantly. She was a stay at home mom with two children, and needed a place to stay until she could find a job as well. The day she moved in, I received a call from my mom asking if she could stay with me. I was about to tell her that she couldn’t, I already had too many people in my house, until she told me that father just died in his sleep. The government was about to kick her out of her house because she couldn’t pay her bills. In one month, my whole world fell apart. I missed my husband, and now I had to take care of the girls in my family.

I hoped that the war would get better over time, but it didn’t. The military needed more soldiers, so they started drafting men into the army. There was a couple, not much older than me, who lived right next door. I didn’t see much of them. Until one day when the husband walked out of the house. He had a bag over his shoulder walking to his car. His wife was crying on the porch as she watched him drive away. He had received a letter from the military, and had to leave for war. It was heartbreaking to see her cry like that. As I watched her cry, the realization came to me that history was repeating itself. We never seem to learn from our mistakes.

Things continued to get worse after that. Drafting had become a regular thing. When a boy turned eighteen, he was drafted. I feared for my son’s life. I didn’t want him to go to war unless it was his choice. I tried to think of ways to avoid him receiving a letter. I thought about sending him to a different country, or faking his death. I almost considered putting him in a special educational class, in order to convince the government that he was mental. I wasn’t thinking rationally at the time, and eventually discarded the idea. I didn’t know what to do. I was already afraid for Alex’s life; to fear for Mark’s life would be more than I could bear.

There was only one way to save my son from the war, and I could not financially afford it. Ever since the declaration of the depression, the government had become corrupt. Government officials believed they were above the law, and began treating people poorly. However, that wasn’t the worst. If people had enough money, they could bribe the government to keep their sons from the draft and from going to war. It was morally wrong, and they knew it. Except, they didn’t care, as long as they got their money they were happy. They didn’t care about the military or the people who were sacrificing themselves for their country.

It had been almost eight years since Alex left to join the military. Mark was in his last year of school, Anna and Valerie were working together in a children’s day care. With my mother having pneumonia, she was in bed most of the time. We had to keep the children far enough away from her so they wouldn't catch it either. She could barely get out of bed without having a coughing fit. My cousin would visit us to check on my mom, and gave her antibiotics to take, but it just wasn’t enough. She didn’t charge us like other doctors usually did because she knew our financial situation. Because of my mom’s age and situation, I didn’t think she would live much longer.

Alex sent me letters once every month since his departure, and didn’t miss a single one. He often talked about how much he missed Mark and me, and about the people he has met. I always looked forward to reading about what was going on. Three months before Mark’s eighteenth birthday, I stopped receiving Alex’s letters. I didn’t know what had happen to him and I began to panic and fear that he may have died. Everyone living in my house was still there because my husband was still alive. If he died, we would have had to find an apartment we could live in together.

Not long after I stopped receiving his letters, two soldiers knocked on my front door. Before I could even answer the door I burst into tears, I had lost my husband, and my whole world fell apart right in front of me again. They told me he died in battle, and that he was a good soldier. I, too, was awarded money for Alex’s life insurance, and I, too, was given thirty days to move out.

In that moment, I had a decision to make. I had enough money to pay the government and keep my son from the draft, but at the same time, I needed the money to support my family. I was frustrated with myself because this was supposed to be an easy decision, but I couldn’t give up on the option of preventing my son from leaving for war. It went against everything I believed in, and I couldn’t make the decision. I stood there in the doorway of my house unable to decide. Maybe taking my own life was the answer I needed. I fell to my knees and began to weep for my husband’s death. If only I could run away to another country, a place far from war. Even though tragedy has plagued my country, I cannot leave it; my love for Mother Russia was too strong.

Nothing Good Happens after Midnight (cont.)

Morning had come with the sun rising above the horizon in the sky hiding behind the dark and gloomy clouds. There would be no rain for the day. There was already the presence of depression from the weather. With the New Year passing, it was going to be a frigid day, but the chance of snow was slim. Even if it was thirty three degrees outside it would rain instead of snow. That’s how it was in Oregon.

However, the weather did not matter to Madison. Her alarm buzzed 8:30. Refusing to get out of bed, she hit the snooze button, and rolled over. She had a restless night and got very little sleep. The whole night she tightly gripped the covers by her scrounging face. There was continuous scratching at her door and occasional creaking. At one point she thought she heard a moan, but the scratching remained. It was until light began to peek through the room did the scratching stop and Maddie was able to doze off.

Five minutes pass and the alarm goes off again. Hitting the snooze button again without even turning over, she continued to lie in bed. However, the alarm continued to buzz. Maddie sat up and saw her cell phone next to the clock buzzing. She picked it up and flipped it open. The name read Erin.

Groggily she answered, “Hello?”

“Maddie! Good, you’re awake.” Erin spoke with energy.

“Yeah, just barely. Anyway, what’s up?”

“You don’t remember? We had made plans to get coffee this morning.” Her voice almost sounded disappointed.

“Oh,” Maddie said as she looked at the clock, “that explains why my alarm was going off.”
“You forgot,” she said as a matter of fact.

“Sorry, I didn’t have a good night sleep last night. That reminds me, I read you’re story.” Maddie rubbed her face and positioned her feet to the floor.

“Really,” She immediately perked up, “That was fast. How did you like it? Is there anything I should change?”

“I thought it was really good. Gave me the creeps.” Maddie shuddered by her own words.
“Thanks.”

“I’m curious, Erin,” she said as she slowly walked to the door almost hesitant to open it, “where did you get the idea for the story?”

“Oh, I based it off an old ghost story here in town. Mr. Gregor, the old man across town, was nice enough to tell me about it. I changed a couple of details to my story from the original to make it sound a little more real.”

There was no response from Maddie. Only silence over the phone.

“Maddie, are you there?”

She did not move. Terror had completely frozen her in place. Erin continuously said her name over and over again, but she did not respond. Because what lay before her was a corpse.

The Mirror (Part 3)

The man's heart was beating ever faster and he had to grip the edge of the counter to refrain his hands from shaking. His reflection was talking to him, and he didn't know how to respond. "What?"

The reflection once again smiled back at the man, "You are wondering what's going on, and I'm telling you that your reflection is speaking to you."

The man went wide eyed. Even if this was just a dream, it was one of the freakiest one he has had. "You," he began to speak as he lifted his right hand and placed it on the mirror, the reflection did the same thing as well, "are speaking to me?"

The devil's smile came across the reflection's face, "Yes."

The moment he replied the reflection's hand moved from its place and reached out from the mirror and grabbed the man's wrist. The man gasped and removed his hand from the mirror. His reflection followed. Along with the hand his arm and head came out of the mirror. The man ripped the reflection's hand from his wrist and backed away. The reflection's shoulder and other arm came through the mirror, and seconds later the rest of his body was out of the mirror and onto the bathroom counter. The man stood speechless.

The reflection jumped down from the counter and stood in front of the man with an upset look on his face. He crossed his arms, "Kinda weird isn't it?" He walked closer to the man, "I mean your own reflection just stepped out of your mirror." He walked until he was only inches away from his face. "Are you scared yet?"

"I-I have to go." The man stuttered. He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared out of his mind. He pressed himself as far away as he could from his reflection, but he found himself cornered between the closet and the doorway out to the hallway.

"You're not going anywhere," The reflection chuckled, "So how about you sit down and relax?" He walked away from the man and stood by the shower.

The man didn't move from where he stood.

"Well, since you're not going to move let's talk."

"About what." The man managed to say.

"We are going to talk about you, and your problems" He said with conviction and a little bit of sarcasm. The topic of the man's problems seemed amusing to him.

"My problems?" The man asked.

"Yes, your problems!" He over accentuated the word 'your' as he leaned a little forward and cocked his head to the right, "Those problems that you refuse to acknowledge. You think your life is so perfect, and that you have no problems at all!" The reflection was shouting at the man, "Yet, you continuously stare into the mirror as if you're looking for an answer. What answer?"

As the man's reflection shouted at him, he found that he was becoming frustrated, almost as if he was feeling what the reflection was feeling.

The reflection continued, "If you have to no problems then you shouldn't have to worry about looking for an answer."

"So are you saying that I do have problems?" The man posed the question.

"Yes! You, and the rest of the world, have problems! Let's talk about that job you have. Think it's stable? I doubt it. You're boss is not happy with your performance, and doesn't appreciate that you argue with him."

"My performance? I do an excellent job at what I do, and sometimes my boss doesn't know what he's talking about. I have to disagree with him." His fear slowly started to fade as his anger began to rise. He wasn't sure why this was happening, but he was actually arguing with his own reflection.

"Then about that family of yours? Yeah, you guys still see each other, but you completely denounced from their faith and the church."

"Denounced? That's too extreme. I said that I don't believe in the bible as much as they do." The volume of his voice began to match that of the reflection's voice.

"That sounds a lot like denouncing to me!"

"Oh fine then! I denounced my family! Why don't I just say that I denounced God as well!" He stepped away from the corner and walked towards the reflection which matched his movements, "What next? You want to talk about my friends as well? How I use them like they're disposable and I throw them away?"

"Exactly." The reflection said with a serious look on his face, "You're finally admitting your flaws."

"Are you kidding me? I don't use my friends!"

"Yes, you do! You manipulate them into doing things for you. You make them feel bad like it's their fault and you're the victim. It's disgusting!"

"I don't manipulate my friends! You are crazy!" The man turned around, and was about to walk out the door when he found that there was no door only a wall.

His reflection behind him began to chuckle that turned into laughing and then hysteria. The man turned around to see his reflection holding his stomach with his arms, bending forward and about to fall over. The man didn't understand why he was laughing, but he didn't like it. It was very uncomfortable to see his own reflection laughing in hysteria.

Slowly the bathroom began to fade away until there were only the white walls, and when that was the only thing left, the walls fell away into nothing. The man was left standing in blackness with only his reflection in front of him laughing.

When he finally caught his breath the reflection stood back up and spoke, "I'm the crazy one?" He laughed a bit more, "On the surface, you are a decent fellow. You are nice, friendly, and have it together, but if someone were to look deeper and deeper into your real self they would only see that you are crazy!" He shouted at the man, with the last word ehcoing through the blackness.

"I'm not crazy." The man shook his head.

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not."

"Crazy head! Crazy head!"

"Shut up! I'm not crazy!" The man covered his ears.

His reflection walked towards him, and removed the man's hands from his ears. He brought his face closer to his and whispered in his ear, "Whether you like it or not. Whether you deny it or not, it's true, you are crazy."

The man back away and screamed, "I AM NOT CRAZY!" He raised his hand, and struck his reflection. Hitting the reflection caused it to shatter into a million pieces and fell to the ground. The man looked at his right hand and saw blood running down his arm. The pain came after the realization, and it looked like there were some shards where he hit his reflection. The mirror now lay on the floor of his bathroom. The man looked up and saw that he was back in his own bathroom. The mirror above the counter was completely shattered and everywhere in the bathroom. The parts where he could see himself he saw blood on his face as well. He backed up against the door and slid down.

His heart was beating as fast as ever, and he was shaking uncontrollably. Chills ran up his spine and the pain in his hand grew increasingly worse. Tears came from his eyes, not of sadness but of complete and utter shock. He closed his eyes and asked himself, "What is happening to me?"

Nothing Good Happens After Midnight

The clock struck midnight. Madison had just finished reading the ghost story her sister wrote. Earlier in the week, her younger sister Erin came running into her house all jittery about her finished work. She eagerly asked Madison to read it and give feedback for she planned on sending it to her editor the next day.
Madison gently smile and said, "I'll read it."
Erin shrieked as grabbed her sister and gave her a big bear hug, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Without a chance to reply to Erin, she was already out the door.

Madison laughed to herself. She looked down at the story that rested in her hands and read the title out loud, "Nothing Good Happens After Midnight. Well, it's a working title, right?"

It was now midnight and only a small lamp lit the chair that Maddy was sitting in reading her sister's story. She let out a sigh as she tightly gripped the stack of papers in her hands. Her heart was racing and she quickly looked around the living room feeling on edge.

"That was one scary story. I should be careful not to let my mind get carried away." She laughed nervously.

She stood from her chair, placed Erin's story on the coffee table, and went to go get ready for bed. As she climbed up the stairs to the bathroom there was a light creaking coming from behind her, and she hurriedly went up the stairs. She flipped on the lights and turned to face the staircase. There was no one there. Her breathing quickened.

"It's just the story. The stairs always creak like that. It's just an old house." She said repeatedly to calm her nerves.

She walked into the bathroom. After brushing her teeth she lathered up the soap in her hands and began messaging her face. She tried not to think too much on scary things. She wanted to sleep tonight, but if that story her sister wrote spooked her so much that she couldn't even sleep, she was going to have to talk with her. She thoroughly rinse and dried her face with a wash cloth. For just a moment she looked at herself in the mirror thinking about how sometimes there will be a mysterious figure in the mirror, but when you turn around nobody is there. It must be one of the freakiest things to experience.

Someone was standing in her bedroom staring at her. She quickly turned to see who was the invader, and saw no one was there. Stepping outside of her bathroom and into the bedroom she looked around. No one was to be seen or heard. She slowly walked over to her bed and knelt down to pick up the bat that lay underneath the bed. She walked cautiously around the house looking for the intruder, but there was no one.

"Geez, there I go again. Getting freaked out for no reason." She said as she lowered her bat and walked back to her bedroom.

She shut the door and switched off the main light. The lamp next to her double size bed was still on for her to turn off after she was comfortably in bed. The wind outside blew vigorously. There was a light whistling coming from the wind giving it an eerie feeling. Maddie tensed up a bit as she pulled the covers over. She was about to fall asleep when she saw that the closet door was still open.

"Oh! I better close that." She exclaimed as she got up from bed and walked over to the closet door. She shut the door quietly. She sighed tiredly. Being on her toes since she began reading Erin's story had really worn her out. Once she was finally in bed once again, she relaxed and turned off the light. It was pitch black and completely silent.

Sleep was about to overtake her when she hears a scratching at the door. She was wide awake now. Turning on her side away from the door, she gripped her covers in hoping she just imagined the scratching. It came again. This time louder and longer. Maddie's heart was pounding. There was something at the door, she just knew it! She feared to turn around. There might be claws coming from under the door trying to get in. Whatever it was it wanted to come in her room to kill her. She decided that she would not let it in!

"Meow!"

Maddie turned around immediately and turned on the lamp.

"Mee-ow!"

She sat up when she realized that it was her cat that wanted in her room.

"Meow! Meow!"

"I'm coming. I'm coming." Maddie said as she got up from bed and headed over to the door. She opened it up for her cat to come in. The calico came inside purring and rubbing against Madison's leg.

"Man, out of all the times I have gone to bed, how come every scary thing is happening tonight?" She asked looking down at her cat, "It couldn't be because I read Erin's story?"

"Meow!"

"Yeah, you're right. It's just my imagination running away with me." She laughed to herself as she climbed back into bed.

Her cat jump up and curled next to her falling asleep immediately. Maddie gently pet her cat and rested back down on her bed. She turned off the light and took one more deep breath before she closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep.

However, not two minutes later, there was a small creaking coming from outside her door and then some more scratching.

Madison's eyes went wide.

The Mirror (Part 2)

The devil's smile looked back at the man. He continued to stare back at his own twisted reflection, and concluded that he was dreaming. There was no other explanation to it. He lived a very normal life and out of those twenty years he had never experienced something this supernatural. Reflections don't smile at you for any reason unless it was a dream.

He placed his toothbrush on the counter and headed back to his bedroom. He lay down on his bed which sat up against the wall in the middle of the room, and waited for himself to wake up. After five minutes nothing happened. He tried closing his eyes to see if that would help, but still nothing happened. He sat back up and sighed. He rubbed his temples trying to figure out how to wake up from this dream. He hadn't realized earlier but his heart racing. He heard it beating through his chest. His hands were shaking as well and he had no idea what was going on.

"Am I going crazy?" He asked himself. What he did next he wasn't sure what his reasons were for doing it, but he got out of bed and walked across the hallway into the bathroom to once again to look at his reflection.

He slammed his hands on the counter and stared at his himself. Everything was normal. He looked at his reflection and saw the look of frustration across his face. There was no smile to seen. He covered his face with his hands and slowly dragged them down his face. "What in the world is going on?" He said out loud.

"What do you think is going on?" A strange yet familiar voice said.

The man immediately stood up and looked around. There was no one to be seen. He was alone in the bathroom and in the apartment. A mysterious voice just spoke to him and he didn't know where it came from. A scary thought passed through his mind. He considered that his reflection responded to his question, but like everything else it seemed ridiculous. He looked at his reflection and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"If you're thinking that I was the one who responded then you are correct." The reflection said with confidence, but with the same confusing look the man had on his face.

The Mirror (Part 1)

A common myth among people is when you break a mirror you will have seven years of bad luck. You know why? Because it is believed that a mirror is not only a reflection of your physical self but your soul. To break a mirror would be denying or destroying yourself. Hence the bad luck.

It happened on a Sunday. Not so sure why, but it did. He had been troubled for weeks and would continuously stare into his bathroom mirror looking for what he hoped would have the answers. The thing is he wasn't in dept, his job wasn't on the line, and he lived happily alone in his apartment. He had his friends and family nearby to visit him, so he was never lonely. It was something much deeper, and he couldn't figure out what was troubling him. Was he stuck in a rut? Someone from his past has come back? Unresolved problems somewhere in his life? He wasn't sure. Nevertheless, he continued to stare into the mirror for five to ten minutes searching for an answer.

Finally, on a rainy Sunday, he went into the bathroom and something had changed. His appearance looked much thinner than the day before. In fact, the whole room looked thinner. He lightly touched the mirror with his hand and found that it had completely warped. "What happened?" He asked himself. He was tempted to press on it, but he feared it would shatter. Unsure what to do he decided to pull out his toothbrush and brush his teeth. He wasn't going anywhere in particular today, but he still wanted to clean up a bit.

When he looked back at the warped in mirror it had gone back to normal. There was nothing warped about it. He stepped back for a moment to double check, and nothing was out of place. "Did I just think it was warped?" This time he took his right hand and lightly touched the mirror. It was sturdy as ever. He slightly pressed on it, and left a hand print. Weird. He reached for the toothpaste muttering to himself about going crazy. He looked back up at himself with his toothbrush in hand and stopped.

His reflection had changed again. The mirror was not warped, but his reflection was smiling at him. It stood the same way as he did with the toothbrush in his right hand only with a smile across its face. He moved to the left and his reflection followed. He moved to the right and his reflection followed. He did a quick movement from left to right and his reflection still followed and still kept smiling. He pondered whether he was still dreaming or not. Events like these don't happen in real life. He moved closer to his own reflection to examine his face a little better. The smile in the reflection was off. It was not a smile of happiness or glad to see someone. The reflection's smile was a smile of secrets. It knew something the man didn't. Its eyes did not smile with the rest of the face. The eyes showed a different emotion. Anger.

Part 2 will come later. :)