Alaura Speaks

Alaura Speaks

Not that you’ll believe me, either, but I do have a brother. His name is Riley, and he was the most amazing brother anyone could ever have asked for. Is. At least, I hope “is”. I’m not quite sure. I just know that he’s real, not just a figment of my imagination. He hasn’t been around for about seven years now, since I was eleven, and no one else remembers him ever being around. I used to call him “Wiley”, partly because I had a speech impediment when I was little and partly because he, like a certain coyote, loved to build ingenious contraptions. He’d be twenty-two now.

I just met his best friend again, not that he remembers Riley either, but he does seem to have a huge crush on me. He remembers me from before he moved away from our home town, at least, and he remembers Mirror-Side. He’s even willing to take a semester off with me to go to Mirror-Side. He’s a good man, Peter Skyler. I wouldn’t need his help, but I’ll take it. I’ve been practicing for this time ever since Riley was taken from me.

You see, the other side of the mirror isn’t like what Alice found. There aren’t ridiculous things to amuse and amaze. Well, some of it is, maybe, but for the most part it’s more like where the little girl from “The Ring” comes from. It’s more like where Bloody Mary resides, waiting for someone to call her name so she can lunge out and take their eyes. At least, it is to me now.

Riley and I, when we were little, we played in Mirror-Side. Most kids at least instinctually know it’s there. That’s part of the reason they put their hands all over mirrors. It was a lot of fun then. We could go to the light places and make messes and explore and no one would complain, because when we came back through all the dirt and grime from our adventures would be gone, left behind. Only things from Earth can come back to Earth.

Then we explored a little too far. We went deep into a cave, and that’s where we met Erebos. He started fighting with us, and we fought back, but he was older and much, much more powerful. Soon, my Riley was lying still on the cave floor, his firelight flickering to nothing, and I told Erebos I’d kill him.

He just laughed. He said he’d make a game of it. He said to come back when I was ready. He didn’t mention then that his powers extended so far. I went home, crying that Riley was gone, and no one would comfort me because no one believed me. No one believed there ever was a Riley.

Then the dreams started. Erebos made sure I wouldn’t forget him. I’d have daydreams and nightmares both, Erebos killing my brother or the fight that day or the fight he hoped to have with me in the future. No doctor could figure out why I would have sudden fainting spells, because nothing was physically wrong with me. It made it a lot harder to train, but also a lot easier to be determined.

Now I think I’m ready. I’m going to go there and kill that man and get my brother back. Riley is real and I refuse to give up on him.