The Mirror of Memories: Part Five

     I opened the door and Kin ran out into the hallway. I put on my pink slippers and went after him, glad that I didn't have to touch the gross hard green carpets with my bare feet.

     The house was eerily quiet, and I saw a note on the counter in the kitchen. I picked it up and began to read.

     Sepra,

     I am at my job right now. Please help yourself to some of the food in the cupboards. I will be home at around noon.

     Malin

     I carelessly dropped the note to the ground and started to open every cupboard I saw, savagely looking around for any trace of food. I was starving. I finally found where all of the food was stashed, but all that was in there was an old box of nasty-looking oatmeal and some cereal that didn't look too appetizing. I slammed the cupboard shut, sticking my tongue out. I heard my stomach growl loudly, and Kin looked up at me, grinning madly.

     "Well, Kin..." I said exhaustedly, picking the baby Ogrin up. "I guess we should go back for now and see how everyone is doing. Your mom and dad are probably worried crazy about you."

     Kin frowned as I made my way into the bathroom and stood in front of the same mirror I had fell through the day before. I looked at my reflection, wondering how I was going to go through it again. I set Kin on the counter and then climbed up there myself. I slowly moved my sharp nail towards the mirror and poked it. My nail went right through the mirror into the liquid-like portal, sending ripples through the mirror and my reflection. I scooped up Kin and then stepped into the mirror.

     I was back in the alternate reality thing. The swirling rainbow colors were flying all around me. I saw the Mirror of Memories on the other side of the hallway, or whatever I was in, and I started to sprint towards it, getting quite dizzy from all of the flashing lights. I closed my eyes as I kept running, hoping that Kin wasn't feeling sick either.

     I ran straight through the mirror and the next thing I knew I was on the floor of Nera's attic again. I sighed and got up to my feet, dusting my knees and legs off. Kin was already bounding through towards the attic door.

     "Fyora, you must really want to get outta here," I told the baby Ogrin, running after him.

     I hoped that I wouldn't wake anybody up or anything. After all, I was in Nera's house on a Sunday morning and if someone woke up they'd wonder what in Neopia I was doing in their house at a time like this. How would I even get out of the house? And how would I get back in and go back through the mirror if I left in the first place? I was beginning to think that maybe it was better if I just went back to the past until I found out what had happened to Malin.

     As I went through the storage room that led to the attic, I looked out of the window and noticed that it was nighttime. Great, I travel through time and I skip a whole day, I thought, opening the door. I stepped out into the hallway and my ears perked up. I heard... people talking? Yes, I did! I bounded down the stairs, happy to see that there was still a party going on! But... how had I done that? I had come back through the mirror to the time when I had gone through it in the first place. I got down to the ground floor and squeezed my way through the crowds of people, Kin at my heels. I looked around for my mother and father, and thanks to her ugly bright orange dress, spotted her near the table with all of the food on it. I made my way up to her, smiling broadly. She looked very surprised to see me.

     "Wow, that was fast," she remarked, looking down at Kin, who was scratching behind his ear with his foot. She looked over at the clock, which was hanging on the ceiling behind her. "You were only gone five minutes!"

     "...Really? I asked, my heart pounding against my chest. Cool! I hadn't wasted any time when I had gone through the Mirror of Memories! It was like I had never been gone! There was no time to lose. I could go back through it and it would still be morning in Malin's time period, and I could come back to the present whenever I pleased and the party would still be going on and my parents would still be here and everything!

     "I don't know where Kin's parents have run off to," my mom told me, taking a drink out of her glass of water. "You'll have to go and find them."

     I nodded, grabbing a huge handful of Chomby Chips out of a large bowl on the table, stuffing half of them into my mouth. "Uh-kay," I replied, chunks of food flying out of my mouth. I signaled for Kin to follow me, and I started to make my way upstairs to the attic.

     On my way up the stairs, I saw Lawne and Nera making their way down. Lawne smiled at me.

     "Where've you been?" the disco Chomby questioned, looking down at Kin.

     "Ohh, I just had to go and find this little guy... he was outside somewhere."

     "Where are you going?" Nera asked, wearing a confused look. "Nobody is up there anymore."

     "Oh, really? Well... I, uh, I just have to... go to the bathroom," I told her, hoping that I would be able to get away with it. She would probably find it weird that I was wandering all around her house or something.

     "But... there are plenty of bathrooms downstairs," the faerie Peophin explained, looking down the long flight of marble stairs.

     "Oh, really? Well, I like the one up here the best," I said. "Sorry, I've got to be going, I have to go really bad now." I sprinted up the stairs as fast as I could, not daring to look back behind me at my friends. I hope I hadn't made too much of a fool of myself. Lawne and Nera were probably both wondering why a baby Ogrin was following me all around, especially since I was 'going to the bathroom.'

     I hurried back into the attic and stood in front of the mirror, concentrating on where I wanted to go again. I wouldn't bother trying to find Kin's parents. I had to get back to the past and find out more about Malin. At that moment I remembered that I still needed to get the umbrella case Kin had hidden in her house. I picked him up after staring into the mirror for a while, tested the mirror out with my nail to make sure the portal was open, and ran through again.

     Each time I went through the flashy tunnel that led to the mirror on the other side, it felt like the trip got shorter and shorter. This time I got to the other side fairly quick, and I guess I was getting used to it because I didn't feel sick on the way there.

     I jumped through the mirror at the other end of the tunnel and tumbled off of the counter and onto the floor of Malin's bathroom once again. I looked at the clock on the counter and was pleased to see that it was the same time it had been when I'd left to go back to my time period. It was like I hadn't even been gone.

     "Kin," I said, looking down at the Ogrin as I stood up, "where's the umbrella case? You know, the one I told you to hide the other day?"

     The baby's eyes zipped all around the room and then he looked up at me, smiling, hopefully remembering what I was talking about. He dashed out of the bathroom and I followed. He led me into one of the three rooms, and I suspected it to be Malin's. There was a little bed with blue sheets in the corner of the room and a white wooden desk pushed against one of the walls by a window. Kin sat down in front of the bed, looking up at me.

     "It's under here?"

     He nodded, and I got down on my knees, reaching under the bed. It smelled bad under there, like it hadn't been cleaned in a long time. I felt around on the gross green carpet and I finally felt the old umbrella case. I pulled it out excitedly and opened it, pulling Malin's old journal out. I flipped through the pages just to make sure it was the same as it had been when I found it back in the present. I didn't know what could have happened to it, but you never know.

     I took the journal and the umbrella case into the kitchen and sat down at the table. I figured I should read the rest of the journal, since I'd only read part of the first entry and the last one. Kin climbed up on the chair next to me as I opened the diary. I had opened it up to the last entry again, and I skimmed it, though one certain part caught my eye. I reread it.

     I am so frightened right now. Sepra has been trying to help me, but I just don't know what to do anymore.

     My eyes grew wide, and I almost dropped the book. So, I was Sepra! I had almost forgotten that was the name I had introduced myself to her with. I was no longer Aina, I was Sepra. I sighed heavily and turned to the second journal entry, which was written on the twenty-fifth day of Gathering, in other words, that morning.

     Dear Journal,

     This orange Bori and baby Ogrin showed up at my house last night. I heard a crashing noise coming from the bathroom so I ran to see what it was, and I saw the two of them sprawled out on the floor in an uncomfortable manner. The Bori was dirty, looking as if she'd just rolled around in a puddle of mud, so I offered to give her a bath. Then she revealed that she and the poor Ogrin didn't have any parents, that they were just living on the streets, so I offered to let them stay here for a while. Poor things...

     Enzie was supposed to come over today after I got off work, but now that my two unexpected guests are here, I don't know if that's such a good idea. Knowing Enzie, though, she'll probably just come over anyway.

     I'm off to work now!

     Malin A. Lanely

     I set down the journal. I wanted to read the next page, but I decided to wait until tomorrow. It would spoil the surprise!

     I then wondered about Enzie, and if she would really come. I felt weird knowing about Malin's personal plans and all, but at the same time it was exciting.

     I then remembered that in the first journal entry Malin had written, she mentioned had a job working in a 'cute little cafe down Main Street.' Maybe I could take Kin down there and pay her a little visit?

     A grin spread out on my face as I went to the front of the house, then out the front door, not bothering to lock it. Kin was at my heels, smiling everywhere he looked. I started down the streets of Neopia Central, wondering how much it had changed in twenty years.

To be continued...