June 2023

Those Left Behind

Flash Fiction

Today’s the day. My grandmother’s funeral. You would think I felt anything, but if I am being honest, I wasn’t upset at all. She never came around, and my mom never mentioned her until a few weeks ago. My mother and father finished eating and asked me to sit at the table. From what they told me, Scarlet Lane was once a wonderful woman.

She raised my mom and her two brothers all on her own. They had little, but she gave them the best childhood they could ask for. It took only three seconds before Scarlet put a smile on your face no matter how you felt. I couldn’t understand why my mom would keep such a kind woman out of my life. My mom said after she graduated from college that she realized her mother changed. She expected to return to a bright, cozy home, but it was a cold, dark house.

Scarlet wouldn’t let her inside and told my mom terrible things. She said I shouldn’t know all the details yet at my age. From then on, my mom and her brothers had to find new homes, but they continued to check in on Scarlet. Years went by and she continued to push my mother away. She was a different woman, and my mom couldn’t continue to stifle her life for that of her mothers.

Now we are here at the house she kept herself cooped up in for years, having her funeral. At least forty people arrived. Some of them were deep in their tissues. Others mumbled about how sad it was that she shut everyone out. I didn’t take the time to meet new relatives or hear how big I’ve grown. Crowds were like the ocean, and I would drown if I tried to swim out to the middle.

Mom told me I could explore the rooms upstairs, but I had to stay out of her attic. I rushed up the stairs and inside Scarlet’s attic. The air inside was thick. Floorboards creaked under my shoes. Sunlight came through the window and warmed the room. Particles of dust swirled through the air.

Dingy white sheets covered objects of different shapes and sizes in the dark corners. Near the window sat a tall rectangular shape. A wooden base poked out from under the sheet. Its top almost touched the ceiling. I grabbed the sheet and pulled.

It slinked down and dropped to the floor. Dust burst into my face. I let go of the sheet and coughed hard. My reflection stared back at me. It was a giant rectangular mirror. Someone carved strange shapes and triangles into the wood of the base and frame.

I don’t know what it was, but something about the mirror interested me. My reflection and I locked into a staring contest. It was strange, but it felt better than small talk with the family.

Pain seared across my eyes. I would not blink. My eyes watered. Through my blurred vision, I watched as my reflection blinked. I stumbled back, but my reflection didn’t move. My chest tightened. Words couldn’t form in my mind. The reflection raised its hand and placed it against the mirror.

I averted my eyes toward the floor and looked for the sheet. My eyes grew wide. The sheet was gone. My reflection crouched low to the floor, and grinned from ear to ear as it forced itself into my eye line. I stumbled toward the ladder out of the attic, but I never looked away from the reflection.

Nausea swirled within the pit of my stomach. I snapped my head away, but I felt the reflection as it stared at me like something being burnt at the back of my neck. I grabbed the handle of the attic door and tried to push it open. It wouldn’t budge. I kicked against the door. A pain shot up my leg and into my hip. I dropped to the floor and banged against the wooden panels.

“Mom! Mom!”

My throat burned as the words erupted. They echoed through the attic. I couldn’t help but look in the mirror. My reflection watched my every move with its face pressed against the glass. His mouth moved as if it chuckled. Everything went silent.

The winds blowing against the window. The creaks of the floorboards. People walking through the house. It was all gone. I stood up and walked closer to the mirror. My reflection stood up as well.

His smile still stretched across his face. The nausea bubbled inside and turned my stomach. It was like the room closed in around me. I clenched both of my fists and slammed against the mirror. The glass shook under the impact.

I continued to bang my fists against the mirror. The pain in my hands swelled. I screamed out, but I couldn’t hear myself anymore either. A weight on my chest swirled and pressed down harder. I slinked down to the floor under the immense weight.

Tears swelled in my eyes. The mirror didn’t have a scratch or crack anywhere. It loomed over me. My reflection looked over at the attic door. I wiped the tears and watched as its mouth drooped down and tears trickled down its face.

Its eyes rose from the floor toward the ceiling as my mom walked up to it. She wore the black dress she bought for the funeral. In her hand, she held a small basket of granny smith apples. My favorite. I darted my head around the room, but my mom wasn’t with me. A chill crept down my spine, and the nausea boiled.

I looked at the reflection. My mom knelt down to it and held out an apple. They talked to each other, but I wasn’t great at reading lips. My reflection wiped the tears from its face and took the apple. They both laughed and my mom reached her hand out.

It grabbed her hand and stood up from the ground. I watched myself take a bite of the apple and walk away. My mom let go of the reflection and looked at the mirror. I jumped up from the floor and pounded my fists against the mirror. Tears ran down my cheek, and my heart pounded against my ribs. My mom’s smile faded and her eyebrows furrowed.

The reflection stood by the attic door and stared at me with its wide grin. The green skin of the apple faded until it turned to a light brown and shriveled up. My mom set the apples on the floor and grabbed the sheet. She threw it over the mirror. A fire roared through my fists. I dropped to the floor. Everything went dark. I was all alone.

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Final Exam

Movie Review #10

The first film I am reviewing is, “Final Exam”, a 1981 film directed and written by Jimmy Huston. It is about a psychopath who hacks away at college students that are just trying to take their final exams. This was a struggle for me to watch. I couldn’t find any reason to care about the characters, and it felt so slow. I don’t know if that was because of the cheesy acting from most of the cast or the cheesy writing. “Final Exam” wasn’t all bad though. There was some good acting, and a few scenes that mirrored each other were good. I don’t think I would watch this movie again. I do like some cheesy acting, but this one just wasn’t it for me.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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