Attic Mirror

By Linda Hamonou

Hitomi pushes one more door. This is the part of the attic where nobody ever comes. She feels the cold air coming out of the dark room. It smells like dust and old things. She pushes the door a little more and enters...

Her curiosity becomes slowly stronger than her fear of the darkness and she starts to explore. She finally starts to enjoy herself, uncovers a strange looking mirror and puts an old dress in front of herself.
"Really, really nice", she heard a voice say.
She startles, turns around in the room, she is all alone...

Then she looks in the mirror....

• Language: English
• Publisher: Linda Hamonou
• Release date: Oct 23, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310789960

Linda Hamonou

Born in 1983 in Brittany, France, Linda Hamonou spent most of her childhood reading adventure and fantasy books while exploring the folklore of Brittany. Later studying Physics, Linda obtained her PhD at Queen's University, Belfast in 2009. Her studies led to travels in Europe and the US, leaving her with a sense of adventure that carried her to the top of Machu Picchu. A Phd graduate in 2009, Linda discovered NaNoWriMo and became determined to succeed by writing her first novel, "Demon Soul. After 6 months of hard work completing the novel with an eye toward self-publication, Linda also managed to draft her second novel "Attic Mirror." Hard at work on her third book, "Demon and Fairy," Linda has also completed a draft of a detective story not yet ready for publication. Juvenile, fantasy, fiction and Young Adult are her categories... so far but this motivated writer is sure to surprise all of us as much as she has surprised herself to date!

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ATTIC MIRROR

LINDA HAMONOU

Published by Linda Hamonou smashwords edition

Text copyright © 2011 Linda Hamonou

All Rights Reserved

Table of content

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Epilogue

Chapter 1

I really don’t understand what you find so great about Timmy, Grenadine said, adjusting the bag, which was falling off her shoulder once more.

Hitomi looked at her, repressing a sigh, she was under the strong impression that Grenadine would never give up.

Don’t give me that look, I know what I’m talking about, Grenadine added, as if she could read in her sister’s thoughts. The problem was that she couldn’t read others’ thoughts, and that she was terrible at reading their feelings on their faces as well.

I don’t find anything about Timmy. Are we going to have this conversation every time we walk back from school? Hitomi asked, trying not to sound as annoyed as she felt.

I noticed how you look at him, Grenadine said.

Everybody looks at him, he is acting like a clown most of the time, Hitomi said.

Is it what you like? Because I find it rather childish, Grenadine said.

This time Hitomi sighed and spoke very slowly, as if trying to make each word rest deeply into Grenadine’s brain, even though she was already convinced that it was going to go through one ear, turn a bit and go out through the other.

I don’t like him, I don’t look at him and I don’t even think about him, he is nice, maybe, as a friend, that’s all. End of the story.

I think you should go talk to him, Grenadine said, not even listening to her sister.

I don’t want to go talk to him, I don’t have anything to tell him, Hitomi said, getting annoyed.

You’re denying it too much to be trusted, Grenadine said, with a smile.

Hitomi shook her head wondering if resonating with Grenadine was a good idea, but if she didn’t she would probably then be suspicious for not saying anything.

Even if I wanted to talk to him, I said even if. I couldn’t. Girls don’t go talk to boys like that, we have to wait until they come talk to us, Hitomi said, as if it was a basic and obviously indestructible rule.

Come on, nobody does that anymore, people invented parity now, you can go talk to him, there is no law against it, Grenadine said, laughing.

It’s not about law, but boys and girls are different, you should know that by now. Boys always need to feel they are the one in control, Hitomi said, very seriously.

What is this suppose to mean? Grenadine said, a bit lost.

Hitomi felt that she was finally, after days of endless debates about whether or not she liked Timmy, getting something through Grenadine’s thick head.

It’s just a question of perception. Boys want to think they are controlling everything, so we let them believe they do and they are happy with it, Hitomi said.

I still don’t see what it has to do with you not talking to Timmy, Grenadine said.

If I wanted to talk to him and to have a result, I should let him talk to me first because if I go talk to him he will think that I’m the one in control because I took the first step, and he would probably be scared. So the best thing to do is to wait, Hitomi tried to explain.

So you let him be in control that is very courageous and it will make every feminist in the world want to kill you, Grenadine said, looking at Hitomi a bit shocked.

Of course not, I let him think he is in control while I’m the one having it, Hitomi said.

This time, I really don’t understand, Grenadine answered.

If he asked me, he doesn’t have a choice anymore, so he lost all his powers over the near future transferring it to me who has the choice to say whatever I want to, Hitomi said.

I see, Grenadine said, sighing. She was not entirely convinced, but Hitomi had a point.

But he will still believe he is in power because he took the first step and that will keep him confident. It’s basic psychology, Hitomi added, hoping Grenadine was going to think it over for the entire week.

So if he doesn’t come to talk to you, you will keep on waiting forever wondering if he likes you too, and hoping desperately for a sign, Grenadine said, happy not to believe in basic psychology.

But I don’t want him to come talk to me, and I’m not hoping for anything, Hitomi said, her hopes for a quiet walk fading again.

But if neither of you moves, nothing is going to happen, you’re crazy, Grenadine added, as if it was the basic and only rule, which should be taken into consideration.

I told you that…, Hitomi started, but Grenadine hid behind her, glancing at the three people who just entered the street a few meters in front of them.

Hide me, she whispered.

Why are you hiding from Gideon? Hitomi asked, trying to continue walking.

Not from Gideon, but he is with them again, Grenadine said, glancing at them as they turned into the next street.

They are really nice, Hitomi said, wondering what was wrong with her sister.

I know it’s just that, each time I’m near her I feel stupid. Even if she says or does nothing, I just feel that she is too smart for me to be able to say anything interesting when she is around. And he is, he is… Grenadine tried to hide a blush and started to walk again a bit faster than usual.

You’re having a crush on Sedana, Hitomi said, opening big eyes. It was something she could probably use.

Of course not, Grenadine said, unable to hide a smile.

I know what I have seen, Hitomi said.

You haven’t seen anything, Grenadine said.

As much as you have seen about me and Timmy, Hitomi said, holding her revenge for the past few weeks’s conversations.

Alright, maybe a little, just I feel weird when he is here so I can’t stay in the same room and I want to see him when he is away, Grenadine said. But it has nothing to do with a crush or with what’s happening between you and Timmy.

Nothing is happening between me and Timmy. You’re the crazy one, Hitomi said, pushing her forward to the house. Let’s hurry, maybe you can spy, she said, laughing.

Very funny, Grenadine answered, making sure they were out of sight before turning at the crossing.

They entered the house and Grenadine precipitate to the stairs. Hitomi had never seen her climb them so fast. Gideon was talking loudly to Sedana and Taika in the living room.

I have homework to do, Grenadine said, before disappearing from Hitomi’s sight on the first floor, before she even had time to take her jacket and shoes off.

Hitomi shook her head and walked to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. Homework on a Friday night! Nobody would ever believe that, especially coming from Grenadine who most of the time conveniently forgot that such things as homework even existed. She took her notebook and pencil along with her cup of tea and sat on the small couch at the entrance’s window. For almost three weeks, she had been observing people outside and taking notes about their behaviour at different times of the day and imagining their feelings from their facial expressions, something Grenadine could have been practicing a bit more without hurting herself. She sighed, trying to forget about her conversation with Grenadine to concentrate on what was happening outside. Her main purpose was to experience how someone waiting desperately for someone else would feel. As she wasn’t that desperate, however, she was generally getting bored. Thus she had started to observe people going on and off the street, and especially, the old deserted house across the street, which the boys used to call the haunted house. It seemed that some kids had been playing in there recently, she wondered how people could ever be attracted by such places for her they were just old, and filthy, and dangerous. She started to take notes about the weather, and the shape of the clouds, and the way the wind made the leaves move on the tree branches, waiting for something to happen or for someone to appear. She was glad Grenadine went to her bedroom before she sat here, at least tonight she wouldn’t be telling her not to wait for Timmy to show up.

Give it back, Theo yelled, running down the stairs after a flying book.

I won’t, I won’t, Yobi’s laughing voice said, near the book.

Gideon, Mark called, following Melody in tears, holding the pieces of a broken figurine in her hand.

Yobi threw the book in his face, giggling and rushing up the stairs, making as much noise as possible.

Outch, Mark said, stroking his forehead and calling again for Gideon as Theo took the torn book and started to call for Gideon too.

Hitomi took Melody on her knees.

Stop calling him, he is with Sedana and Taika, she said.

But Danny made my fairy explode, Melody said, sniffing, There were pieces everywhere.

I’m sure he didn’t mean to do it, Hitomi said.

Danny still had problems with his telekinetic powers and each time he was concentrating a bit too much on something, he ended up making it explode.

Still, it needs to be fixed, Mark said, pushing Melody away from Hitomi to go look for Gideon.

And I need him to fix the book, Yobi torn it all apart, look, Theo said, putting the book under Hitomi’s nose.

No! Someone cried upstairs Grenadine, how many times did I tell you to close the door of the painting room when you’re done with it?

Yobi ran down the stairs again, all laughing, holding two big bottles of red paint, followed closely by Grenadine and Jayden.

I’m gonna get you, Theo said, walking toward Yobi with an angry look.

Did you find Gideon? Danny said, walking out of the kids’ room.

Yobi threw the bottles at Danny before running to hide behind the sofa, and looking at him as the bottles exploded, making a very big noise and throwing paint at everything and everybody in the room.

grrrr, Hitomi said, passing a hand in her sticky hair before laughing, I always wanted to try turning my hair red.

Very funny, Jayden said.

The little ones started to cry.

I got paint in my eyes, Theo cried.

Well done, Danny, youhou, so artistic, Yobi said, clapping getting out from behind the sofa and escaping in the living-room.

Gideon, Jayden started to yell.

Grenadine was trying to help Melody with the pieces of her fairy now covered in paint, but was only making things worse, and the little girl was crying even more.

Just you two go wash yourself, Jayden said to Hitomi and Grenadine, as you are old enough to and I’ll take care of the rest. He seemed passably angry.

Grenadine started to protest about catching Yobi first, but Gideon opened the door and entered, followed by Sedana and Taika. Grenadine pushed Hitomi upstairs in a hurry.

Do you think he saw me like this? Grenadine asked when they arrived at the first floor.

Of course not, Hitomi said, laughing.

Oh, my god, he did, Grenadine said, looking horrified.

It doesn’t matter that much, you’re always covered in paint anyway, Hitomi added.

Grenadine shrugged her shoulders and run to her bedroom, leaving Hitomi to wonder if she should have just tried to say something different. She walked to her bedroom, left her notebook on her desk and started to remove the most of the paint with a rag at least they weren’t too much damage and only the cover had been touched. Yobi could be so annoying sometimes. She then walked to her private bathroom. It was the advantage of being a girl in this house; Mum went so sick of having the girls arguing for the bathroom every morning and evening, that she added one to each bedroom. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t help to let out a cry, she was completely red, even more than Grenadine was. Only her back side escaped the paint, she thought that the tickling came from the leaking of the paint from her head, but it was coming from the big stained of paint she had all over her face. For a second she thought about catching Yobi right now and teaching him a little, but she decided that someone would do it for her anyway. She was no match for a four hundred years old, nine-tailed fox full of magic.

She took her clothes off and stepped under the shower. She was thinking too much about what was going on with Grenadine to appreciate the warmth of the water. She would never have guessed Grenadine could be so sensitive about a boy. She wondered what in Sedana could make her act like that and also if someone was ever going to make her act like that herself. Obviously not Timmy! She chuckled at the thought, and started to imagine her dream guy, which was a pretty hard and hopeless task, she always ended up seeing him as one of her novels’ characters making her think that she needed to work to make them more realistic. In that state of mind, she decided to go back to wait at the front door after her shower. If she was waiting for something in particular, something that she could imagine, it would probably be easier to concentrate and to fall into her character. What was her character’s dream guy like? She really needed that to make her novel as plausible as possible.

She struggled a lot to get the fresh paint out of her hair. The first time she tried to go out of the shower, her towel turned red at the contact of her hair. She had to get three shampoos before getting it all away, and all the way long she was trying to draw the image of the ideal boy and to keep the image slowly forming in her mind. It was blurry and not really well defined, but concentrating on creating someone new was also helping her not to get too mad at Yobi.

She wanted to put her sweatpants and sweater on to feel comfortable, but realised she wouldn’t like her dream guy to see her like this so she dressed up a bit smarter. Becoming her character could get difficult at times, but Grenadine’s reaction was helping her to feel closer to the girl she wanted to impersonate.

When she went out of the room, some people were arguing in the corridor about who was going to help the children get rid of the red paint and about who was going to clean up the entrance. Melody wasn’t crying anymore and Mark was telling her that she was so cute in red. Hitomi walked to the stairs without getting into the conversation and started to get down when something struck the wall near her. Apparently, Yobi hadn’t been caught yet and Gideon was still trying to fix everything with him getting in the way; Sedana and Taika had decided to go home due to the crisis, letting the poor Gideon alone to deal with the jungle like entrance. She couldn’t possibly blame them, sometimes, like now, for example, she really wished she could escape too to somewhere a lot quieter. It seemed suddenly that this time she would maybe have her chance. They were all too busy to notice that she was here and to ask her for help. If they had asked she would never have refused and she really often ended up stuck with doing things she didn’t want to. But this time, she looked down the stairs and in the corridor, hoping that nobody would call for her and instead of getting down to the chaos, she climbed the stairs to the second floor. The corridor was deserted. The boys had probably come down to help with the paint.

She continued to climb the stairs to the attic. On the right side, work had been done to make the attic viable. Some of her brothers had their chemistry lab or building room there. Jayden and Grenadine had their studio, where they spent days painting, and where Yobi loved to steal the paint bottles. Raphael was probably building something as she could hear the hammer knocking, he could stay in his part of the attic forever, forgetting to eat or sleep, when he was starting to work on a new project. For a second, she looked around wondering where to hide, and finally opted for the left side. Nobody was ever going there. It was the old part of the attic. For a second, it made her think about the haunted house and the feeling she had toward it. Maybe desolated places were not that bad after all, at least she was sure to be left on her own. She took a deep breath and tried to imagine it as another experiment to see how a character would feel, going to this kind of place.

She opened the door of the first room, which looked more like a closet than like a room. It was so dusty in there that she started coughing. She opened the next door, but there was still no window in the room either, even if it was a bit larger. It started to feel like a bad idea, but she still had some more doors to check.

When she opened the door of the third room, at the end of the corridor, she was first struck by the smell. It was certain nobody had been in here for ages. She walked to the big window on the side and opened it, filling her lungs with welcomed fresh air. Then, she turned around to take a look. It was a little dark already as the sun was on the opposite side of the house, but still clear enough to read or write comfortably. With a little bit of cleaning, it would make an acceptable escape place. She regretted not to have followed her first thought of dressing herself comfortably. She put the notebook on the corner of a broken desk and started to explore, to move things around and to remove the dust. The shelves were full of old newspapers, disks, old toys and clothes, it felt a bit like a treasure hunt. She tried to tidy up and put one of the dresses in front of her wondering if she could wear it after a good wash. She looked down at herself hoping to have a mirror. When she looked up, she noticed a heavy and dusty red cover, which seemed to be hiding something big. She put the dress down and pulled on it, at first it seemed it wasn’t going to move. She seized it at the top and pull harder trying not to make the thing fall on her, it didn’t seem very stable. When the cover went off, she found herself in front of a full size mirror from, which were coming strange glints.

She smiled.

Just what I wanted, she said, turning around to take her dress and put it in front of her, ready to take a look in the mirror.

Really, really nice, she heard a voice say.

She startled as she had thought herself alone and looked at the door. Nobody was to be seen.

Maybe you will need a bit of sewing at the bottom, the voice said again, It seems a bit torn, but I can’t really see properly from here.

She turned around again. It was the voice of a boy and it was definitely coming from behind the mirror. She turned around to take a look, but didn’t see anyone.

Where are you? she asked.

Just here, in the… The voice marked a little hesitation and asked mirror?

Hitomi walked back in front of the mirror, but instead of reflecting herself as any good mirror should have done, she could see a boy about her age in what seems to be his bedroom, a bit like if the mirror was a window.

How did you get in here? were her first words, when she came back from her surprise.

Well, the same way you did, I suppose, the boy answered, staring at her as if she was the most curious thing he had ever seen. But his answer didn’t make much sense for her.

I’m not in anything, Hitomi said, Well, just in the attic.

And I’m in my room, but I see you in my mirror, which changes quite a bit from the usual red background I usually have. My first guess would be that you are seeing me in your mirror too, he explained.

It seemed like a pretty smart guess, but Hitomi turned around her head in her hand.

I’m talking to a mirror, I’m getting crazy, it’s probably all that dust and that weird smell, I must be dreaming, she struck the side of her forehead a few times, Wake up! Wake up!

You’re not crazy, well otherwise we both are, but I’m pretty sure I’m not and I’m pretty sure I’m awake too, he said, putting down his book to come closer.

She turned to look at him again a bit confused. He was smiling nicely to her and she kind of liked that smile.

Are you some kind of ghost? she asked

And are you some kind of spirit? he answered laughing a little.

She was looking more and