Status: On the 14th of April 2013, I will be editing this story. Most chapters are subject to change, and some may be combined. Stay tuned for the remake.
Maleficent
A Frame of Golden Leaves and Prophet's Eyes
My fingers traced the edge of the golden mirror; reassuring myself that the beautiful piece was still tucked between my schoolbooks. The heels of my boots tapped against the linoleum floor as I aimlessly walked down the parted sea of students. Flora walked oddly silent behind me, with Fern trailing beside her.
The strangeness of walking through the school was starting to unsettle me. The normalness of something I’d done every day for the past twelve years suddenly seemed abnormal. I knew I would find dark circles lining my eyes. I hadn’t slept in a week; constantly haunted with the strangest of dreams and always the same one.
I’d been completely oblivious to the outside world as I sauntered down the hall when I suddenly realised that I was completely alone. Standing before my locker, the absence of chatter and laughter left behind the eerie aroma of silence in its wake. An unnatural shadow seemed to envelope the world in a bleary grey, setting a subtle weariness in my bones, though I only ignored it. Instead I continued to stack my books in my locker and fill my bag with those for the next class.
Chills ran up my spine as an icy breeze drifted through the lonely hall, brushing against my bare skin softly and feeling eerily like fingers wrapping around me. Shivering, I hardly noticed the object slipping through my fingers before a sharp sound resonated in the empty hall. Slowly turning my gaze down to my feet, I realised I had dropped the golden mirror I’d stored in my shoulder bag.
Kneeling down, I reached for the mirror, my finger brushing lightly over the frame and admiring in its beauty. In contrast to the grey world, the gold shone as brightly as the midday sun, sparking a wonder deep in the pit of my soul.
Curling my fingers around the handle, I carefully lifted the mirror, noticing for the first time the shapes that moulded its surface. Veined leaves had been intricately designed in vines around the circular disk before twisting into the handle. I had half expected the leaves to be decorated with flower buds, roses perhaps, but as I looked closer I realised that the buds were not floral at all. They were eyes.
“What is it you wish to see?”
The voice was layered with many others and yet the strongest of them was a toneless breath that tasted of metallic. Scrunching my face, I peered into the mirror, watching with interest as it swirled with a black fog that clung to the reflective surface. I was no longer looking at my scrunched up face, but at a baby’s face. At her beauty as the baby became a girl, and then a young woman.
Frowning at the motion picture, I watched as the young woman smiled at me, her features looking disturbingly familiar though I couldn’t pick her name. In the blink of an eye, the girls smiling face was gone, replaced instead with her slumbering figure. Her golden hair framed her face in ribbons, her face an ashen white – a stark contrast against her beautiful lips that would shame the red rose.
“Allie?”
Flora’s voice startled me, having thought I was alone in the hallway, but as I glanced around I could see I was far from alone. Student still milled about, avoiding class as long as they possibly could.
“Are you okay, Allie?” Flora knelt beside me, hastily picking up a pile of books I must have dropped.
I nodded; giving the girl a brief smile as I tucked the mirror back into my shoulder bag and took my fallen books from her arms. Only then did I feel the odd prickle of eyes watching me, and as I turned, I didn’t expect to see Bentley glaring icy daggers into my soul. But I did, and he was.
And I knew, he was pissed.
The strangeness of walking through the school was starting to unsettle me. The normalness of something I’d done every day for the past twelve years suddenly seemed abnormal. I knew I would find dark circles lining my eyes. I hadn’t slept in a week; constantly haunted with the strangest of dreams and always the same one.
I’d been completely oblivious to the outside world as I sauntered down the hall when I suddenly realised that I was completely alone. Standing before my locker, the absence of chatter and laughter left behind the eerie aroma of silence in its wake. An unnatural shadow seemed to envelope the world in a bleary grey, setting a subtle weariness in my bones, though I only ignored it. Instead I continued to stack my books in my locker and fill my bag with those for the next class.
Chills ran up my spine as an icy breeze drifted through the lonely hall, brushing against my bare skin softly and feeling eerily like fingers wrapping around me. Shivering, I hardly noticed the object slipping through my fingers before a sharp sound resonated in the empty hall. Slowly turning my gaze down to my feet, I realised I had dropped the golden mirror I’d stored in my shoulder bag.
Kneeling down, I reached for the mirror, my finger brushing lightly over the frame and admiring in its beauty. In contrast to the grey world, the gold shone as brightly as the midday sun, sparking a wonder deep in the pit of my soul.
Curling my fingers around the handle, I carefully lifted the mirror, noticing for the first time the shapes that moulded its surface. Veined leaves had been intricately designed in vines around the circular disk before twisting into the handle. I had half expected the leaves to be decorated with flower buds, roses perhaps, but as I looked closer I realised that the buds were not floral at all. They were eyes.
“What is it you wish to see?”
The voice was layered with many others and yet the strongest of them was a toneless breath that tasted of metallic. Scrunching my face, I peered into the mirror, watching with interest as it swirled with a black fog that clung to the reflective surface. I was no longer looking at my scrunched up face, but at a baby’s face. At her beauty as the baby became a girl, and then a young woman.
Frowning at the motion picture, I watched as the young woman smiled at me, her features looking disturbingly familiar though I couldn’t pick her name. In the blink of an eye, the girls smiling face was gone, replaced instead with her slumbering figure. Her golden hair framed her face in ribbons, her face an ashen white – a stark contrast against her beautiful lips that would shame the red rose.
“Allie?”
Flora’s voice startled me, having thought I was alone in the hallway, but as I glanced around I could see I was far from alone. Student still milled about, avoiding class as long as they possibly could.
“Are you okay, Allie?” Flora knelt beside me, hastily picking up a pile of books I must have dropped.
I nodded; giving the girl a brief smile as I tucked the mirror back into my shoulder bag and took my fallen books from her arms. Only then did I feel the odd prickle of eyes watching me, and as I turned, I didn’t expect to see Bentley glaring icy daggers into my soul. But I did, and he was.
And I knew, he was pissed.