Chapter 11

Now standing in front of the front door she slowly opens it, everything looking just as they had left it only now dust lays heavy on the ground and furniture. Walking slowly through the empty dusty room, up the stairs cobwebs hanging everywhere dust motes flittering about the air like dancers in the stream of sunlight coming through the windows, pausing for a moment to remember it was just like this when they first came to this house and she walked up these stairs immediately from walking through the door just as she was doing now, she laughs a dry laugh and continues going. The weight on her shoulders grow heavier as she moves further up the stairs into the cold dusty house, how long has it been since that night? How long has it been since the girl in the mirror vanished? Sometimes she forgets to be honest, she has no idea why she was brought back to this house. Was it for answers? Was it in hopes of revenge? Was it hope of maybe getting their mother back? Amanda doesn't know now that she is actually there but she knows it can't really be for anything good.

The shadows dancing along the walls with the sunlight. She reaches the top of the stairs to the door at the end of the stairs, grabs the door knob and turns it ever so slowly, the door clicks open and creaks slowly opening like it's inviting her to play another game. The whispers start just as they once had what felt like so long ago, the room cold, dark and dusty slowly warms and brightens the room looks clean and the furniture was back in upright positions any trace of the fire gone like no smokey smell and no scortch marks where the flames once kissed the floor boards. There on the wall the mirror still stands tall and in that mirror everything is reflected as it has always done only instead of her she sees Yvonne standing there staring at her with wide eyes surpirised Amanda had come back.

"What are you doing here? Why did you come back?" Yvonne asks quizically, Amanda shakes her head and puts a finger to her lips to signal for silence. Amanda came here on a mission and will not let this old friendship get in the way because she knows Yvonne will not help her on her mission to answer these questions and find the truth, so with long strides Amanda searches every corner of the room with Yvonne watching her with a confused look on her face. Amanda's first question she needed to be answered was what happened to Clarice? How did she disappear? If she did manage to sneak out how did she do so without being spotted at all? Then seeing Yvonne had made her think about it maybe there was a secret room or secret stairwell, some home built in the 1700's did still have entrances for maids so it's possible they made one as well when building a house for the simple face they had just come from france and what better place to look than the place that is the most popular. Amanda goes to every inch of each wall knocking on them searching for that hollow sound to ring so far no luck though then she gets close to the mirror taking that chance, she knocks on the space beside the mirror frame and sure enough...

It's hollow she grins a smile victory grin and grabs the side of the mirror, Amanda can see Yvonne look curiously at her watching Amanda's every move. See Amanda didn't expect the mirror to move or anything she hoped to maybe find a switch or something but instead she tugged alittle and the mirror had moved which only gave her incintive to try and pck the darn thing up, and when she does Amanda was surpirsed to find it was fairly light considering how big it was. With that said she manage to move it but it swung open like a door, inside was dark and cold like the rest of the house she fishes in her jacket pocket to find her phone and pnce the phone was retrieved Amanda turns the flashlight on and steps into the space behind the mirror. It's a bit cramped inside the space but has two halls one to the left of her and one to the right, something pulled her attention to the right side so Amanda heads in that direction. Once she reaches the end of that little hall there is another door but this door had a padlock on it, the lock was rusted away and after looking around she managed to find bolt cutter to break it. Thankfully the rust did most of the work for her and the lock broke quickly, with that she pushed the door open and slowly walks into the room. This room looks almost identical to the mirror room, this room is dusty, cold, damp, even fully of cobwebs and essentially what the mirror room is supposed to look like after not being used from so long. Only this room has no window which Amanda thought to be strange, she makes her way through the room to a beautiful but dusty rose colored vanity table and on it was a hand mirror, a book, some pens, and even a few different brushes. Amanda picks up the book to find on the inside the first name was almost completely faded and illegible but the last name was Autry so the room must have been a secret room for one of the Autry women she flips through the pages of the book to find all the pages were withered and old easy to tear, so she fingered each page through it carefully most of the words faded and illegible but the last few entries were readable so she reads the pages eager to know what the book contains even if it's only nonsense.

'March 3rd,

Today mother came to see me again like she always did, she brushed my hair while humming a beautiful melody a song she says that is only between us. I asked my mother about the name of the song she told me it's title was Do DO, L'enfant Do, a popular french lullaby her mother taught her who had learned from her mother and so on.

"So why am I the only one who knows of it in our family?" I asked her, she simpy smiled at me with sad eyes. She then sits the brush down on the vanity and takes my hands in hers and squats down in front of me her beautiful sky blue dress fanning around her and says.

"Since we took away your freedom and kept you hidden I thought it was only fair to show you things no one else can see or know, I am sorry again my child for keeping you here. I promise we will find a time to let you out but at this moment it's not safe." She wispers holding my hands to her warm chest. My mother had told me once, they hid me away for my own safety, to protect me from the man who wanted to harm me. So I must be a good girl and stay hidden until i'm 18, so I agreed to go along with them and their thoughts of protection but i'm 17 now so I am getting pretty antsy to go out and explore...'

The page breaks off there.