1 chapter 1

Lightening drew across the night sky. With it came its excellent white light. A part of that light illuminated a quivering girl who laid underneath her blanket, begging for the monster of her mind to let her be. Fifteen years after her first incident and Lisa hart is still cowering under her bedsheets from the night terrors. Every night for as long as she could remember, she has been forced to relieve the same nightmare. Contrary to the belief of others, what doesn't kill you doesn't make you stronger. Not like this, it doesn't. rather, it leaves you gasping for air to fill your constricted lungs and begging for help under a shaky breath.

Sitting in the dark, she watched the raindrops batter the window plane. Her mind scurrying from thought to thought, trying to block out whatever would take her back to her dreamscape. Her phone chimed, reminding her of the world of distractions that laid beneath her pillow. After a brief, uncomfortable moment of accustoming to the brightness, she began mindlessly scrolling from app to app. Like every teenager she soon became lost in the world behind the screen, worrying why those closest to her had not messaged and only briefly remembering the horrors that troubled her some minutes ago.

"Hey you! Why you still up?" said a message from Jeremy.

"Night terror"

"Shit! Want me to come over"

"Dude.... it's raining" she replied, looking out from the window. She stared at a house on the other side of the fence with only one lit room on the upper floor.

"You're legit my neighbour. Plus, there's this really cool invention I got last week that stops rain. It's called an umbrella, it's really high tech"

"Oh wow! Did you also get the invention that tells time? If you did you would know it's 2am!!!"

"Jokes apart Lisa, are you okay?"

"I am, don't be a baby, I'm just a bit frazzled that all." She replied smiling from ear to ear "I'll see you tomorrow right?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Well it's not like I can miss it, it's the first day of school."

Lisa started typing a reply when her room door squeaked open and a woman in a black suit walked in. "Don't tell me you haven't slept" she said as dropping her briefcase and walking towards Lisa "Lisa it's a school night".

"The night terror woke me up" she replied making space for her mum to sit beside her. A flash of lightening revealed the tear in her mum's eyes which the darkness hid. No words were exchanged but they both knew there was nothing else to say. Mrs hart stood up, gave Lisa a kiss and walked out, sniffing a bit as she left the room.

Lisa took one last look at her phone. Jeremy had left one last message for her during the awkward moment she shared with her mum "night". She smiled a bit as she laid back on her pillow, allowing her heartbeat increase and lumps form in her throat before falling back asleep.

Sunlight shot through the window striking Lisa's bedroom mirror and reflecting to the wood mimicking tiles. It reminded her of treasure hunting movies, striking her as an over dramatic announcement of sunrise. She had been up for hours now. The night terror came, this time there was no one to talk to about it. But the night she dreaded had finally finished, now she could move on with her life. At least that's what she thought.

She sat in her bed unable to move, her eyes stuck on the glinting mirror. Calm as she looked, her mind was in the worst of disarrays. Screaming at the top of its lungs and dreading what may happen next. Fight and scream as It may. It will and can always be just her minds voice, unable to save her, unable to scream out.

The warmth from the sun drained. A cold icy breath of air was all that remained. The cold that sucked at the air in your lungs, the cold that jab at your chest. A cold so dark, it brought the room into a maniacally shade of blue. The mirror she had been cursed to stare looked pretty much the same. The cold bit at her, but her reflection seemed to enjoy it, spreading a wide grin. It walked out of bed and out of Lisa's range of view.

Her mind screaming, pushing at her very brain, the cage that it was trapped. Begging and screaming for It to make sense. Ice grew on the mirror creeping until it was nothing but a plane of ice glinting in the faint sunlight that made no effort to heat up the room.

The ice shattered with a blast. Lisa not even flinching a she sat face to darkness with her dad. His usually electric light had gone off. The man who sat in the dark was a shadow of the man her dad was. His hair unkempt standing like black grass on a human.

Lisa watched as he mouthed a sentence to her. A sentence she understood, not from experience from tireless practice like others, but by the sheer power of the macabre that controlled this moment.

Over and over he lipped out the same sentence, each time his eyes sinking in terror. "I will not go the house; I will not be a protector." She watched tear rush down the grown man's eyes, washing down his checks and into his bloody shirt.

Like a camera, the mirror reared back to get a picture of Mr hart's favourite shirt. A blue polo nothing more, nothing less. This one though was stained with red and in its centre stood a knife sticking from outside the shirt.

Lisa screamed, this time pushing at her mind walls so hard, she broke out for her trance and fell to the floor. Like a nightmare the vision melted around Lisa. The blue cold melting to the suns warmth.

The door blew open and in came her dad. Although not the best of clean looks, but much better than the fellow in the mirror. He rushed to Lisa who had curled up into a ball beside her bed, crying and shivering.

"Lisa! Lisa! Listen to me." He all but shouted as he ran to her and crouched beside. "I'm here baby, daddy's here." He said stroking her hair and planting kisses on her forehead.

She sat there, listening to her dad's heart pant, although not as fast as hers but fast enough to show he cared. His voice quivered as he murmured "I'll always be here for you no matter what". The terrors of the vision much like the room melted away, leaving her with a faint shimmer of peace. Minutes after her dads cuddle and therapy, Lisa was up and shaking.

"I'm okay now" she said, avoiding her dad's eyes.

"same nightmare" her dad asked stroking her hair.

"yes" she lied. It was better she lied than have him worry she was becoming worse and his work was all in vein. "I would like to take my bath" she whispered.

"oh yes, can't be late on a school day" her dad stuttered. He turned to leave, when Lisa gave him a hug from behind and whispered a thank you. With a smile he left the room bobbing his head a bit in pride.

Lisa took a hard look at the mirror before turning to her dad once more "dad" she said scratching her hair and avoiding eye contact again. "can we get rid of this "she finished pointing at the mirror.

"sure but why? This was all you wanted for your 15th birthday"

"nothing dad, it just creeps me out"

"consider it gone" he said swiping through the air with a dramatic smile.

Lisa giggled and went off to take her bath.

..........................................................................................

Jeremy Kenneth Matthews, get down here right now! Shouted the strong feminine voice of Mrs Matthews. She stood before the cooker serving the eggs she had prepared for breakfast. Dressed in her suit and her bags at the doors, she was prepared for her business trip.

"do you really have to travel" Jeremy whined as he dragged himself down the stairs.

"well, if you are okay without a roof over your head, then I can stay" she said setting down to plates of toasts and eggs.

Jeremy grabbed the orange juice from the fridge. Taking his time to study the picture of the solider smiling in the mirror.

"we all miss him" she said putting her hand over him.

"but we get better every day" Jeremy whined rolling his eyes a bit. "so how long will you be gone?"

"it's not yet decided, but promise me you I will take care of the house" she said studying Jeremy as he ate. "and no parties" she said pointing at him.

"come on mum, you know me better than that "Jeremy said in-between toasts and juice.

"don't talk with your mouth full" she warned, shaking her head "sometimes I wonder why I have to baby you by 18."

"probably because you can" Jeremy said as her phone rang and she ran out kissing him good bye.

A door slam later and Jeremy was alone eating his breakfast. His eyes dancing lazily from the well cleaned marble table to the empty spotless sink and finally resting on the magnet framed picture that rested on the fridge.

Even in the kitchen he could hear what he had since assumed as the last moments of his dad. Loud gunshots crisscrossing the air, a bunch of terrorist screaming in Arabic and then a boom. An empty feeling always took over him whenever he reached the part of the bomb. Fear of the possibility of no afterlife followed next. Then finally the memory of the funeral.

The 21 guns' salute playing in the background of his mind. It hadn't rained that day, but he preferred it that way in his memories. The rain took care of the crying and the cold. Then finally he remembered the flag. The American flag given to him for his dad service. When he was younger, he found it almost impossible to understand why a man will die for a flag. Now he knows why, but closure doesn't stop the pain, it just gives a reason.

Jeremy took a look at his father chain he had one. "lieutenant Jacob Jeremy Matthews" he let a drop of tear fall before sucking up and putting the chain and plates away. He took his time to turn off the light, trying to comport himself before leaving the house. As he left the door, he took a hard look at the flag smiled and walked out.

..........................................................................................

"Lisa!" Mrs hart shouted up the stairs.

"coming mum, just finishing up!" she yelled back as she packed her hair in a ponytail. She looked into the mirror one more time, the bathroom mirror of course. She had promised not to enter that room as far as the mirror remain.

After what looked like the 700th glance she gave a faint smile. Not the "I look hot smile", but more of the toothless "let's hope this work smile."

Making her way down stair was a bit harder that she imagined. She was never a fan of leather, but she just had to try it today.

In the kitchen her dad sat with a copy of the newspaper in hand, complaining that there's no hope for new writers when the old one wouldn't stop churning of masterpieces. Her mum was elbow deep in dishes. Normally she would complain, but her husband had made breakfast.

Lisa waddled in hoping to grasp hope from her parent's expression. There was none to be found. Her mum couldn't stop her brows for telling on her surprise. While her dad just smiled in a way that made her feel uncomfortable in her skin.

"Lisa" her mum said, dragging her name for long than it was supposed to as she broke into a smile.

"I know mum." She began, throwing her hand around as her mind began regretting her choice "I know it's not my style but I just thought I could pull it off."

"I'll be more surprised if you can pull it off later" her dad said laughing at his dad joke from behind the papers.

"honey" her mum said, again dragging the name. "it looks good, what made you do this"

"bet Jeremy is involved" her chimed in again, making her grow red.

"stop being and asshole" miss hart said hitting him in the head with a spoon she just rinsed.

"actually" Lisa said "some of my friends say that Jeremy is going out with Sandra cause, her back side is tempting – "

"- so you decided to tempt him. Way the go Lisa" Mr hart interrupted, this time looking at her and giving the uncomfortable smile.

"oh my god, David" said Mrs hart, hitting him with the spoon again. He whined a bit but soon shut up at the glare of his wife "honey I don't care how sexy you look, never get dressed for a guy. Men are scum, just look at your dad

" –hey" Mr hart shouted

"-I'm not a scum" Jeremy said from behind the kitchen window.

Mrs hart gasped as Lisa turned a shade of red, praying the earth swallowed her up. Mr hart waltzed happily to the door, smiling maniacally as he let Jeremy for school.

"you ready for – damn" Jeremy said as he walked in.

"you like it" she said, in a barely audible voice.

"like it, I love it. Whoever you got dressed for must be dumb not to notice you!"

Mrs hart sighed and chased the two out, given Lisa a bag of chips. Lisa made to complain but her mum whispered her dad made breakfast and that sealed the deal. She gave her mum a hug and waved her dad who couldn't stop snickering from behind the papers.

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