The Shadow in the Mirror

I remember when I first met him, I was dreaming and just coming into my powers. I was no more than six or seven years old and he was twelve or thirteen. The dream was so weird. I was flying through the clouds holding a red cord. The stars were twinkling around me so bright that they almost blinded me. I could feel the wind blowing in my long red hair. The fear I felt as I looked down at the random city lights below me causing me to hold tighter to the cord, pulling it around me. I wanted to call my grandmother, but I didn’t know which one to call on, so I just started to cry in the dream. That’s when I saw him with the cord wrapped around him. We gasped when we locked our eyes with each other. We both picked up the cord, seeing that it was attached to us both.

“Sup, I’m Q. Who you?” he said. Between hyperventilating sobs, “Mavena. I’m Mavena Spearfinger.” He looked me up and down with his golden-brown eyes. “Cool, so do you know where we are Mavie? " As I started to calm down from not feeling so alone, I looked around the dream. We were just hovering above the city. Everything was blurry distant shapes. “Not really. I know I am in a dream though.” He smiled softly with a snarky tone. “I knew that too. I was hoping you knew what city that is so I can go home. Did you call me to you?” I looked at him like a mean teen boy and I didn’t like him much right then. “How am I to know that? This is just new to me.” I said in a tantrum voice. He stared at me then. Like he just realized I am a child. Softening his tone, “I’m sorry, I thought you were older. Dreams tend to trick the perception of things. How old are you anyway?” I looked at him hard then. I look older? “I am six. How old are you? Have you done this before? I have never dream-walked before, but my grandmother told me I would be doing it soon. She just never mentioned that I would meet mean people.”

He started laughing at me then and I hated him for it. As he tried to stop laughing “I’m thirteen and I am not a mean boy. I am a scared kid and this is how I handle fear. I laugh at it. Did your grandmother tell you how to get home or are we stuck like this?” Crossing my legs like I am sitting on a magic carpet, I started to feel more in control of myself. “You fear me? That’s funny, I’m just a little girl. Anyways, no, Agitsi didn’t tell me how to get home.” I saw his ears perk up when I said grandmother in Cherokee language. “You’re native!” He shouted at me. “I thought you were an Irish Traveler as strong as you are.” Cocking my brow at him as I watched how excited he got at me not being a gypsy. “My other grandmother IS a Gypsy so don’t start insulting my family while we are here.” I could feel a power growing inside of me. I didn’t understand the feeling I had for this boy. I just know I felt safe and stronger in my power with him. “Calm down Mavie, I’m not making fun of Travelers,” he said as he copied me.

We sat floating in the air quietly for a few moments before he broke the silence. “So have you thought about where we are yet? I have been thinking about this cord. I noticed it ties us together. Do you have any idea why?” Looking at him I think to myself that he excepts a lot from a child. He really does see an older girl sitting with him. “No, I’ve just been trying to go home.” He then looked at me frustrated. “Well, I don’t think I can go home until you let me since we ARE tied together. Can’t you just wish me home or something?” Getting mad at him I glared. “I wish you home Q.” He still sat there with me. “Well, that didn’t work.” He shrugged. I took his hand then and held it tight. He looked at me like I just shocked him with a taser. “What was that!” he said as he tried to pull his hand away.

The cord began to glow in a bright red and pulsated. I started talking in a language foreign to me. He pulled at the cord trying to unwrap himself from its coils. “QUIET CHILD!” a disembodied voice shouted over me. We looked to where we thought it came from. A misty figure swirled to us. “Neither of you are to be here or be meeting yet.” The mist formed a circle around us. Q then disappeared and I knew he had woken up in his bed. “I am going to talk to your grandmothers. You are stronger than they think.” With that, I woke up in my bed feeling like I had lost something.

I woke up on my floor face down. My mom opened the door without knocking. “What was that? As I slowly pushed myself up “I rolled off my bed, mom.” Getting to my feet, I noticed that my nose was bleeding. “Oh, my lord! Come let’s clean you up. That must have been a bad nightmare,” my mom said as she put a tissue on my nose. “No. Not a nightmare, but it was weird.” Walking to the bathroom with my mom, I passed the hall mirror and noticed it was covered. “Tell me what happened in the dream.” My mom always asked about my dreams and usually, I would talk to her, but something inside me said, “Don’t tell her.”

“There is nothing to tell. I don’t even remember it now.” She looked at the mirror and I saw the sheet move. “OK, well, if you change your mind, I’m here to listen,” she said as she left me there. I watched her tuck the sheet around the bottom of the mirror before going to her room. After a while, her light went out. After I stopped the bleeding, I went back to my room and laid back down. “You can’t tell your mother about Mavena,” the voice in my head said as I curled up to sleep again. I whispered ok to no one. Too soon, a screeching beep echoed thru my room. Reaching for my alarm with a growl, my feet the cold floor as I absently walked to my bathroom. I didn’t bother with the light as I went to relieve myself. Too soon, a screeching beep echoed thru my room. Reaching for my alarm with a growl, my feet the cold floor as I absently walked to my bathroom. I didn’t bother with the light as I went to relieve myself. I released a heavy sigh as I opened my eyes to the dark room, confused that the bedroom light wasn’t reflecting in the mirror like usual. Last night’s dream crashed into my memory as I remembered the bloody nose. Flipping on the switch, my eyes squinted at the sudden brightening of the small room. Over the mirror is black fabric and I could swear I just saw it move. As I reached for it, the creaking of my bedroom door caught my attention. “DON’T REMOVE THAT!”, my mom’s voice bellowed as I dropped my hand. Turning on the water as I watched the mirror, “Why is it covered?”, I splashed water on my face and rinsed my mouth. “It broke yesterday while I was cleaning. I will have it removed today,” she said as I walked to my closet. She is lying the voice said. “What were you using? A sledgehammer.” “Haha, funny boy. So what was that dream about last night?” DON’T TELL HER ABOUT MAVIE! “Nothing really. I was running and I fell.” I wasn’t lying really, I had been running in the dream before I started floating. She was looking at me like she wanted to ask more, but just sighed, “Ok, well don’t be late for school and I’ll see you tonight.” She pulled me into a tight hug before leaving. “I love you Quinn.” " I know I love you too mom.”