Glass Walls

Chapter 1

There's always been this one rule dad constantly reminds me of: Don't uncover the mirrors. Ever since I was little the mirrors have always been covered. Ever since mom left they've been covered.

I've never really had the courage to ask dad why the mirrors are unusable. I just listen to his orders like the good daughter I am. Or maybe it's because I'm scared of the reaction I'll spark. This whole mirror ordeal certainly isn't a joke. This rule is taken quite seriously in the house, at least by dad that is. He's so afraid of someone mindlessly uncovering the mirrors that I'm forbidden to have any friends over. (There's only one exception to that rule) Not even family is allowed to step in the house.

But why did mom leave us? Now that was something I had asked dad a few times as a child. Before he had usually tried to cover it up with "Mommy has a job and she's very far away working" or "Mommy has things to take care of but she'll be back soon". They were never good excuses but they were good enough for seven year old me. Soon enough the truth came out. One day while we were coming back from the park, he took a turn he wasn't supposed to. "Dad, you went the wrong way." I had said. His eyes stayed glued to the road. A word never escape his mouth. His face was like a statue's, unmoving, and I was a twelve year old girl trying to interpret what was running through his mind. He kept driving but I didn't know where he was taking me. He stopped in the middle of the road and parked alongside the street that was slick with rain. He grabbed the umbrella and we got out. I glanced to the other side of the road and I noticed something. There was a stone cross surrounded by pink flowers. As we crossed the street I noticed a small rectangle at the bottom barely peeking out behind the flower petals dripping with droplets. I crouched down and my heart almost stopped. That familiar face in the small rectangular glass frame looked like mom.

Engraved in cursive on the cross read Elizabeth Marie "Danzel" Mason. Dad grabbed my arm and pulled me up. As he explained his usually stern voice morphed into a pained one. Mom had disappeared and traffic cameras revealed this was the last place she had been seen. With insufficient evidence, the case was closed and officers gave up looking for her. But dad didn't. He spent a whole year trying to piece the puzzle together and find the woman of his dreams. Everyone urged him to stop because his health was plummeting and they were worried he would kill himself trying to find her. I always thought that was beautiful. He cared so much about my mother he would go to the ends of the earth to find her. I had cried and it seems the sky did too. The rain kept falling and so did my tears.

That was four years ago.

Conversations about mom did not occur often and when they did happen to pop up they were very brief. As for my personal opinion, I think dad went a bit looney after mom disappeared. I've talked to my grandmother and she's always told me my parents were very much in love. Dad had been seeing a therapist but he quit going about  two years ago. So to me this mirror thing is a coping mechanism for him, that's why I put up with it. Don't get me wrong, it's annoying but I think this insanity is what keeps my dad sane.

A rain drop splatters on the bridge of my nose. I look up and dark clouds fill the sky. Crap. It can't rain, not yet at least. Another drop falls on my arm. I sling my backpack off my shoulder and zip it open. My hand fumbles over books and finally finds my jacket. I pull it out and close my bag. I slip on the gray jacket, then pull the hood over my head.
The amount of rain drops increase and soon it's a downpour. I'm still a block away from the house! I swear under my breath and start running. Water splashes as my feet hit the pavement. I'm wearing my Converse so my feet are soaked. The sidewalk is slick and my right foot slips out from under me. I fall forward but catch myself. My hands scrape the sidewalk and the rain water slides me forward. I'm laying on my stomach and water seeps through my clothes. If I wasn't completely soaked before I am now. Fuck.