Edward.

…

Edward!

…

EDWARD!

The poor boy shook his head to wake himself up from his own little world. Staring off into the depths of the mirror he brought to school simply enraptured him. His friend, Leah, shook his shoulder relentlessly while calling his name. The boy sighed before actually listening to what she was saying.

“¾looking at yourself all the time! She’ll take your mirror away again if you don’t stop! Don’t you even care about what everyone will say?” Leah scolded him.

“Not unless it involves my looks, mirrors, or other shiny objects that I can use instead of mirrors.”

“Edward, you’re hopeless!” Leah sighed and slumped in her seat.

“Hopelessly good looking.” Edward smirked.

“If you call a rock good looking.” Leah muttered.

“Only a brain made of rock could think that one up!”

“Lamp shade!”

“Rock brain!”

“Imbecile!”

“Stupid!” “Lump of coal!”

“Rock brain!”

“Brainless, you already¾” The teacher, also Edward’s mother, interrupted Leah.

“Quiet you two! You’re disrupting the class again.” Indeed, the class was enjoying the little spat enormously after taking boring notes. Teresa, the teacher, noticed something glint on her son’s desk. “Edward! Give me your mirror, now! Don’t bring those to school! If you don’t stop bringing them, I will smash every mirror in our house before locking the shards away in the attic.”

“You, you wouldn’t!” Edward stammered, a look of pure horror planted on his face.

“Yes I would and will do so when we get home of you don’t put that mirror away right now young man!” Ordered his mother before turning to Leah, “Leah, I expected better behavior of you.” Leah’s face flushed in embarrassment as Teresa continued, “Both of you stand against the back wall for the rest of the lesson. Try to remember this next time you decide to have a little tiff in the middle of my class.” She turned back to the board to continue writing notes. The class groaned, the notes seemed perpetual.

My life sucks, echoed through Edwards head for the rest of class.

Edward makes my life suck, was Leah’s only thought. That and why didn’t I think of smashing his stupid mirrors?

*****************************************************************

The tedious class finally finished; Edward and Leah could go home. The two childhood friends gathered their stuff and began to walk out of the class, until Edward’s mother stopped them.

“Ed! I would like you to walk home with me. There are things to be said that you need to hear young man.”

“Do I have to?” Edward, informally known as Ed, complained.

“Yes,” His mother promptly responded. “You do. And Leah, go on home ahead of us. I wish to speak to him alone.” Leah nodded her head before giving a wave to Ed and left the room. She could hear them discussing as she left, but was disinterested in their conversation. Ed is probably being scolded again, Leah thought as she exited the school to head home. This was a common procedure in her life.

Arriving at her home, she found the door unlocked; her parents were home. Leah walked into the living room, slumped in the nearest chair, and looked at the show her father was watching on T.V.

“Not that stupid show again, papa! I can’t understand how could possibly like it, it’s horrible!”

“Each to their own tastes,” Her father replied before adding on, “and welcome home.” Leah sighed before responding,

“Yeah, yeah. Good to see you too. I’m going to go up to my room.” She pried herself from the comfortable chair and headed towards the stairs leading to her room. Her father resumed watching the television.

Once inside her room, Leah plopped onto her bed. I love this bed, she thought. It’s so comfy and really well made, not to mention the beautiful carvings on the bed posts. Leah’s bed, covered in a homemade quilt, had roses carved into the bed posts. A burn mark ruined one of the carved flowers, a constant reminder of Edward’s stupidity. Apparently he failed to listen when told to never play with matches. This occurred during his fire loving stages in his life.

Looking at the burn, Leah remembered a sad memoir, one that changed her life greatly.

***************************************************************

Edward hadn’t always been self absorbed. He used to never care what people thought of him. After all, with a dangerous toy like fire, you never needed to fear others. He was often considered the fire boy, never without a match or two. He smuggled them from his house to experiment with them at Leah’s. That was when she lived in a different house. Leah moved when it burned down.

Edward never considered that he might destroy something like his best friend’s house. Fire was his thing, he mastered it. Nothing could go wrong, such a small thing as a match should not be able to bring down a house down, even if he left a match lit on the ground.

At first, all he wanted to see what would burn. He lit everything on fire, but quickly put it out after. That’s why the burn was on Leah’s bed. He tried to see if a wood flower would burn- it did and left a scorch mark. The bed was moved outside to air out; burning it left an undesired woody smell. The bed left a great vacant spot in Leah’s room, in which, the two friends resumed their activity.

Edward took out his matches and lit one on fire, suddenly a call from the kitchen was heard. The two rushed down the stairs forgetting about the match. It rolled into the corner and slowly began to burn, not very noticeably at first.

Leah’s parents left them at home to visit a sick friend, thinking they would be fine. To think, they would come back to find their home ablaze and their child with it. The fire slowly spread throughout the room. The children panicked, what could they do? In their confusion, they knocked over a burning lamp across the door. They were trapped.

The fire roared higher and higher, their screams could be heard clearly to the gathering crowd outside. With more love for a child than any other, Leah’s father came home, dumped water on his head, and stormed the burning house. Coughing from all the smoke, he found them the moment a burning piece of debris stuck his daughters face and burned her. Somehow, he saved their unfortunate souls from death, with only a few burns to show. Leah, on the other hand, was scarred for life.

Her face, now deformed and burned, never healed right. Leah felt shamed and embarrassed. Furthermore, she hid her face whenever she could. The looks of sympathy she would see became hated sights.

Edward was left with no scars, except of the mind. He never played with fire again. He soon developed his self absorbed personality. Coming so close to death, he realized that he valued his life above all else. Seeing Leah scarred, no longer a pretty sight, created the appreciation for his own looks. Mirrors soon became his best friends, maybe more so than Leah was to him.

Of course, all this happened years ago. Leah decided what was in the past should be left there, and to not think on it too much.

*******************************************************************

“You need to stop being so self absorbed! The rest of the family lives for everyone else: your sister is the town healer, an amazing one at that, and your father and I assisted in the Light Wars!” Ed’s mother gave him the usual talk about being selfless.

“Assisted isn’t the word I would use. Dad killed the Natrital leader and you held a shield over the entire town for a week! I can’t live up to that, so I figure, why try? I like myself, and myself likes me. It’s the perfect relationship.” Edward told his mother. “It’s not like anyone wants my help anyway. So why should I go out of my way to do something for them?”

“They only don’t want your help because you haven’t offered any! They don’t know what you have to give! I can’t wait for the day that you finally understand what being selfless is.” Teresa said while they walked up the steps to their house.

“Me on the other hand, can wait!”

“Edward, you’re a hopeless case.”

“That’s the second time I’ve been called hopeless today!”

“It’s only the truth!” Edward’s mother was tiring from the argument.

“You’re mean, mom!”

“Sorry Ed, I’m just tired.”

“Yeah right, you just wanted to insult me.” Edward’s comment angered his mother enough to be ordered to be sent to his room.

“Humph! Fine!” Ed stormed off to his room and his collection of precious mirrors while his mother went into the kitchen, her comfort zone.

Edward threw his school supplies on the floor before settling down in a strategically placed chair in his room. The chair, if sat in, gave the most advantageous angles to see oneself in Edward’s mirrors. He had over fifty mirrors in his room, all different shapes and sizes. His favorite, a giant oval shaped mirror with an elaborate frame, hung on the wall directly in front of the chair. Looking at his reflection created a feeling of calm and comfort. Nothing calmed Edward down more than seeing his reflection.

Once thoroughly comforted, Edward’s brain began to properly function again. He noticed one of his mirrors was cracked in the corner, and gasped in horror.

“Not Mr. Timbles!” Edward called out, distressed, to one of his first mirrors. He named his older mirrors like a young child would name their stuffed animals. Edward’s waterworks began in great dramatics. He began to sob heavily, like someone close to him died.

“I can’t bear to look into a mirror again! No longer are these looking glasses, but gateways to despair!” Edward cried out and slumped to the floor. In his grieving, he missed the hand that appeared in each of his mirrors. Although, his sister, who had come up to check on what he had been blubbering about, did. Alarmed, she raced to their parents. Edward never saw her come and leave.

He realized quickly what he had said to himself, “What am I saying? They are my friends, they reflect my gorgeous image! How could I ever think such insulting thoughts!” He began to sit up as the hands in the mirrors faded. Edward began to stop crying and sat once more in his chair. Looking once more into his favorite mirror, he calmed down and relaxed. That is until he fell out of the chair due the sound of an angry mother storming into his room, angered.

“Edward! You’re grounded!” She yelled at him.

“What did I do?” Edward asked, completely clueless to why she grounded him.

*********************************************************************

Leah was bored. She finished her homework quickly, there wasn’t much of it. Normally she’d go over and visit Ed, but felt to lazy to move that far. Instead she looked around her room for stuff to do. She glanced over at her closet, jammed full with everything she could fit in it. Taking a look at what actually was in it could be interesting, she thought.

She rolled off her bed with a thump. I shouldn’t have done that, Leah thought. She slowly picked herself off from the floor and moved over towards the closet. She braced herself before opening the doors, who knew what was going to fall out. She certainly hadn’t opened it for a year or two.

Nothing fell out on her, except for a stuffed animal, but that was hardly a threat. Inside the closet, items and toys were scattered and covered in dust. Nothing stood out much, but Leah began picking through it anyways in hopes of finding something interesting.

She discovered stuffed animals, a jewelry box, old puzzles, the CD player she could have sworn she had lost, and other old stuff. In the back on the floor was a wooden disc with a rose painted on the back.

“This is pretty,” Leah muttered to herself. She turned it over and discovered it was a mirror. Seeing her reflection, she grimaced. Her scarred face stared back at her. I hate my face, I hate mirrors, Leah thought. Well, if I was as good looking at Ed, I might not. If only it didn’t show my reflection. Leah sighed. If only it could show something else.

Leah barely stifled a shriek when she saw the hand extending towards her in the mirror. Her reflection was gone, was it magic? Whether it was or wasn’t, the poor girl was thoroughly freaked out. She flipped the mirror face down and scuttled across the floor away from it.

To comfort herself, she began to tell herself, “I didn’t see anything! It’s just a mirror. If I look again I’ll just see myself. There wasn’t a hand there. There wasn’t a hand there. Just a simple mirror…” Slowly, Leah moved back towards the mirror and flipped on its back. To her relief, the hand was gone; it was a normal mirror again. Her last thought before she was called down to dinner was, “Did that really just happen?”

*********************************************************************

“Ah, that was a good meal.” Leah’s father smiled contently after dinner. “Leah, would you clear the table for me?”

“Sure Papa.” Leah replied. The meal was good, as her mother loved to cook, yet Leah had been silent the whole time. She kept thinking about the hand she saw in the mirror, What was it? Did I really see a hand? Why did it appear? These thoughts kept her occupied throughout the meal.

As Leah cleared the dishes, the phone rang. Before Leah could get it, her mother picked it up.

“Yes? Hello! Oh my! Grounded? He did what?! Yes, I see. Of course I will forbid her from seeing him. That was very dangerous to try to do. What if something bad had happened? You have to go? Ok, it was great talking to you Teresa. Bye!” Leah’s mother hung up and turned to Leah. “I would like to speak to your father alone. I’ll finish clearing for you.”

“Are you sure?” Leah’s curiosity level increased.

“Yes, now go and run along.” She motion towards the door. Leah complied and left the room with a sigh. Once outside the door she just closed, hundreds more thoughts were added to her already unanswerable ones. Ed’s mother called, that’s nothing unusual. So why would mom kick me out of the kitchen? Leah tried to recall the part of the conversation she had heard. Something about forbidding me, I think, from seeing Ed. He was grounded, still none of that’s new, but then she mentioned something about danger, something that Ed did. The words ‘danger’ and Ed’ haven’t been in the same sentence since the fire! I wonder what on earth it could be, but I can’t for the life of me figure it out. All Ed does is look in mirrors…Leah’s thoughts trailed off as she began to listen to her parents discussions.

“Ed tried to go into the shop? Are they sure? He’s just a child, they aren’t taught about the shop until they come of age!” Leah’s father exclaimed.

“I know, I know, but his sister Alessandra says she clearly saw the hand! And not only that, but in every one of the mirrors in his room!”

“Every single one? He has over fifty, that’s incredibly dangerous! They should smash his mirrors at once!”

“They did, plus they grounded him. I agreed to not allowing Leah to go see him as part of the punishment.”

“Well that’s good, hopefully it was just an accident.”

“So do I, but what if it wasn’t?”

“Are you saying he might have tried to enter the Shop of Glass on purpose?”

“I don’t know, but it’s possible. If so, we might have some trouble ahead.” Leah’s mother sighed. Her daughter slowly backed away from the door and crept up to her room. Her parents never found out she eavesdropped.

In her room, Leah sat down on her bed and pondered over what she overheard. “The Shop of Glass?” She whispered, asking no one in particular before getting ready to go to sleep.

*******************************************************************

“NO! My mirrors! My mirrors!” Edward was in hysteria. “You smashed them! You smashed them! How could you! I hate you! I hate you!” He screamed at his parents. “Why the mirrors? They were mine! MINE!”

“It was for your own good! You tried to enter the Shop of Glass, Ed! What else were we supposed to do?” His sister Alessandra shouted.

“I don’t even know what the stupid shop is! Never heard of it! I haven’t been near any shops at all today, anyways!” He retorted.

“Liar! I saw the hands in your mirrors with my own eyes!”

“What hands? If you mean my own, it’s because they’re part of me, so of course they reflect in the mirrors!”

“No! The ones that take¾” Alessandra was cut off by her father, Howard, who placed his hand over his mouth.

“Don’t say any more you two! Both of you go to your rooms! We will speak no more of this until morning.” When neither of his children moved he added an extra, “NOW!” The two of them fled to their chambers. Howard sighed and hugged is wife.

“Why did this have to happen?” Teresa asked.

“I don’t know, I just don’t know. Maybe it will clear up in the morning.” Howard replied.

******************************************************************

How dare they! They destroyed my precious collection of looking glasses! Ed thought furiously. How am I supposed to live like this? Locked in my room, without any mirrors, and unable to talk to Leah. This is worse than hell! I don’t want to live! I’ll jump out of my wind¾ he cut his thoughts off suddenly at the sight of the window. The window! I can escape through that, go to Leah’s, get whatever mirrors I can, then run away! Yes! I’m a genius! Ed cheered up slightly, rushed over to the window and slid it open.

Without a second thought, he jumped out the window to the ground. Looking around carefully, he cautiously moved in the direction of Leah’s house. It didn’t take long to reach it. He stood below her window, two floors away. If it wasn’t for the tree that ran parallel to Leah’s window, he’d have never been able to reach it.

Ed looked through the window at his best friend asleep and then at the mirror lying face down on the floor. The sight of it gave him inspiration to follow through with his plan. He found the window to be slightly open, allowing a breeze to enter the room; it was summer. Ed opened it with little difficulty and slipped into the room.

Immediately he bent down to pick up the mirror and took a good look at himself. Boy, am I handsome! He thought with satisfaction. Now all he needed to do was leave before Leah woke up. He saw Leah move and open her eyes slightly. She didn’t see him at first, but at the second glance she did realize there was a person, any person.

Leah almost screamed, but Ed covered her mouth. Once she realized who it was, she quieted down.

“What are you doing here?” The girl asked Edward.

“I’m in serious trouble. I need to run away, but I needed a mirror before they left. See, my parents smash¾” Leah interrupted him.

“Yeah, I know all about that. So you came for a mirror? I see you found one. Is that all? You just came for the mirror?”

“Yup.”

“You didn’t come to say good bye or ask for my help?” Leah asked seriously .

“nope.”

“You know you would last. You can’t take care of yourself.”

“Yes I can.”

“Sure you can,” Leah replied sarcastically. “Even though you have issues brushing your hair…and can’t cook…and until a year ago you still need help getting your clothes on…” Leah taunted Edward.

“I get it! I get it! Fine! Want to come with me?” Ed replied, slightly embarrassed.

“Run away with you? That’s such a stupid idea.”

“I wasn’t going to ask you in the first place¾” Ed was cut off.

“You push too hard! Of course I’ll go!”

“You were watching The Incredibles again, weren’t you?” Ed asked suspiciously.

“No! Well, yeah.”

“You just sounded like that short lady who sews.”

“I get it, Ed! So just leave it be! So, when are we leaving?”

“Now.”

“Now?!” Leah looked startled. “But it’s the middle of the night!”

“Exactly.” Ed replied promptly. Leah sighed.

“Ok, let’s go. How’d you get in here anyways?”

“The window.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok, let’s go. Alons-y!”

“What was that?” Ed asked.

“French.”

“Right, gotcha.” And with that finally comment, the two of them snuck out the window and climbed down the tree. After a short argument about which way to go, they decided to actually leave the town and head for the bordering forest.