The mirror in the woods doesn’t reflect what others see. It shows who you are not who you pretend to be. When I look in the mirror I see a monster looking at me, a devil and not something I want to look at me. That might be why I see it in the mirror, the thoughts shown what’s hidden behind my smile. I haven’t talked bad about them, I haven’t even tried. But this mirror seems to see how I feel inside. I wish that it didn’t and I hope it isn’t true, but the mirror doesn’t lie, at least that’s what they say is true. I don’t want this to be what I see inside but I don’t know how to change what the shows. I have done nothing wrong but the mirror always knows. So now I look in the mirror and see nothing has changed so when. I always trusted what everyone said to me so I didn’t bother to read the sign. So when I walk away I didn’t see, “Don’t look in the mirror, the mirror always lies,”

“So your my fairy god mother?” The fear that once filled her voice left within seconds. It wasn’t the fairytale she had imagined but no one ever said it had to be by the book. “Yes my child my looks may not be what you were hoping for, but it’s the ones like me who no one goes searching for,” The tall figure left her eyes covered with hair, her voice was angelic and entrancing. Drawing the girl in. “Did you have to hide? Why would you not want someone to look for you?” The girl stepped closer the mystery making her want to know more and more. Her eyes were enchanted and she moved as calm as the sea. “I have many reasons some are from the people of power who wanted to use me. It wasn’t hard to hide I have many forms,” The figure started moving, walking in a slow circle around the girl, “It was easier to make them fear the dark, wonder what’s creeping behind the corner, what stalks them in the forest. That way no one would come for me,” “Wouldn’t you want people to look for you? To have the feeling that somebody wants you, needs you?” The enchanted look left her eyes as the fear of someone leaving you, staying alone filled her head. “I wanted myself,” The figure stopped in front of her. It’s voice changing trying to make her understand, “Once you figure that out, you won’t need anyone. All you will need is yourself, and my dear you are always enough.”

With this small freedom the ten year old Aziel made a friend. An eleven year old girl who went by the name Ashley. She was a outgoing girl who loved to talk, this trait was the thing that drew Aziel to her. The young boy was never found of words, they were never something that come easy to him so it was common that he used the same phrase or wording. It didn’t take long for Ashley to learn how he spoke and was able to translate certain things he spoke of to other people. The short visits made there friendship hard but neither of them cared. Despite all these the two were the best of friends and inseparable when they were together. The joy Aziel would feel once he got back to the building didn’t last long. His sister and brother were always put straight back to work and testing, only allowed back to their shared room when they couldn’t take it anymore. When Aziel’s sister Ophelia would come to the room, she would just sit on the floor covering her ears. Callum would sit on a bed to sore to move to much. The two didn’t want to worry the others so they would still joke around as if everything was okay. A year had passed before they used the serum again, taking Aziel’s other brother Rowan. This time was different the gift didn’t show up right away, the scientists didn’t seem worried though. Rowan said he had heard them say it was because this time the serum was linking to his DNA. This would have been true if Rowan didn’t feel the gift inside of him and it wasn’t ready to come out yet. After six months they gave up on Rowan’s power ever coming and turned to Aziel. It was his twelfth birthday when they brought him to the serum. It was a huge tank with a glowing liquid that didn’t seem like it could choose a color. He was mesmerized by the look that he didn’t hear what they said, when the time came for him to answer he just nodded his head not wanting them to get angry at him. Even though he saw everything that happened to his siblings he never fought anyone when they put the serum in him. What he didn’t expect was the pain it brought, he didn’t want to move in fear of increasing it. It was a surprise to him as none of his siblings ever mentioned anything about it hurting and he didn’t know if it was because they wanted to protect him or there wasn’t any pain for them. This lasted hours and he just sat there his eyes closed waiting for it to stop. When it finally came to an end he sat up, they took his vitals to see if anything was different. Nothing was, everything no was in place and nothing was out of the ordinary. The scientist seemed to be getting frustrated and he heard them talking about the two other kids and they still had a chance to get it right. This information chilled him, how many kids were there before him? How many would be after. What was there goal? When would they stop? When Aziel got back to the room with his siblings Callum was play wrestling with Rowan clearly going very easy on him, Ophelia was quietly humming to herself. Since he was the one who got the serum none of them where tested, they all seemed excited to have had a break and they turned to Aziel when he came wanting to hear what happened. What they were told lessened their excitement as they realized none of them were put to work was because their younger brother was in so much pain they needed everyone there to try and stop it. It was quiet for a while, no one was taken no one was let outside of the walls. The testing seemed to have stopped until Rowan spoke, he said his power was ready to come. No one spoke a word Ophelia and Callum looked at each other speaking with their eyes. Neither of them wanted him to go through the same tests they had to, and the chance that Aziel would get one soon it wasn’t something they wanted to risk. Callum had everyone sit and he took a breath, “I think we should try to get out of here and never come back”

The man looked at himself in the mirror, checking his hair to spit any grey hairs. It was part of his morning routine now. The loud crash and yelling outside his apartment didn’t faze him anymore, it would be more worrisome if it wasn’t there every morning. It was a the era of super powers, and with every power there will always be a villain no matter how hidden they stay. The world has always been against evil, that’s something that give us hope when the lesser power starts fighting. Though now days there’s not much lesser powers. Supers show off to impress and for the money, like street performers they are part of no organization they just do as they please. The man had finally decided there was no grey on his head but he still grabbed his hat before leaving. He whistled as he walked down the street not even glancing at the fight behind him, his neighbor was out watering her garden. He had lived next to the Jone’s all his life and was well acquainted with all of them, “Hello Darlene how’s the flowers sprouting!” The elderly woman turned her head hearing his voice, a smile on her face as she spoke, “Quite beautifully if you ask me, my green thumb does have a purpose,” What she said wasn’t any sort of hyperbole she quite literally had a green thumb, it was her power and it has only gotten better as she aged, “Where are you off to today Aziel.” The man returned the smile, “Where ever the road takes me I guess!” When his name was spoken there seemed to be a sort of silence in the chaos, the Super had gotten the villain in cuffs and was now looking at Aziel. The Super rushed over as a school girl would run to a celebrity. There was wonder is her eyes as she looked at Aziel, “Are you Aziel Hart?” The fact that a Super was giving attention to somebody who seemed of no importance made everyone look his way “Yes I am, what may I help you with Mrs. Velocity?” Hearing her hero name made her giggle. Which in turn made Aziel’s smile bigger, these people may have incredible strength or blinding speed they’re really just children inside. “Are you really 203?! You don’t look a day over 30!” Mrs. Velocity’s eyes just filled with more wonder, “You were one of the first six supers!” What she said was true, not only did he receive his gift when he was thirty it also grew with age. Most supers never lived to see what they could be. Aziel was there because he stayed out of trouble. Friends was something he did his best to stay away from. When he was three his parents were killing in a house robbery, his two older brothers and his older sister were all sent to an orphanage. Only staying for a week before being “adopted” by an organization trying to change how the world worked. The four became test subjects, they were there for four years before they tested the serum. His sister was nine when she took it, she was the first successful super. Her gift was super hearing, though since she got it at such a young age it wasn’t very super as it only slightly went above the average hearing. They didn’t try the serum on someone else for another three years. In that time they studied Aziel’s sister finding the power grew as she got older. It didn’t grow by much but there was a difference. There next subject was his oldest brother Callum, he was nineteen when he got the serum. The power that was gifted to him was super strength, Callum was already one to workout at the gym so the strength. This organization made him train every day testing his limits, the young Aziel started worrying what they would make him do once he got his power. The building they were kept in had lots of security. No gasp anywhere and no hopes of leaving, they didn’t have much freedom but it wasn’t complete isolation. They were allowed to go to town and explore and talk to people twice a month, this was only aloud if they kept quite about what was happening. Any mention of it outside of the walls would restrict where they could go and have a severe punishment.

“Met me at the playground, he said I’ll meet you there,” Ally sat on the swing only slightly swinging, “He’s always pulling these pranks why did I even come.” She let out a sigh and looked to the sky, she had actually been pretty excited for this as Daniel had actually seemed nervous for once. Nervous about what though, that’s all she wanted to know why was that to much to ask for. “Ally! I am so sorry, I uh kind of got lost.” The voice came from behind her, it even made her jump. The hesitation in his voice made her question why he was here but she was just going to wait. Ally turned to looked at him, “You got lost to the park we’ve been going to since we were kids? You really are hopeless Danny,” There was a teasing tone in her voice which made the nervous look in her eye grow but his smile stayed the same, “Are you okay?” His smile faded and a silence fell over them. It felt like ages before he finally answered, “I am so sorry this is not how I wanted this to go. Really I wished it could have gone different, I tried to reason with them but I just couldn’t,” There was no change in tone but tears still seemed to brim the edge of his eyes. This declaration, this confession only confused her more. She stood up to get a better look at him, “Daniel what do you mean, what is this all about,” The tears started to fall, it was a calm crying as if it was a memory, “I wish I could explain but you’ll figure out soon I promise. This will all make sense when the times right,” His eyes looked to the sky, the sun setting behind him and a small smile could be seen, “I love you, I hope you know that and I hope some day you can forgive me,” “Wha-“ A sharp pain cut off the sentence she was about to say. Daniel looked away not able to bring himself to witness the scene in front of him, but he didn’t try to stop it either. As Ally started to turn to find what the warm trickle was along her back she heard something coming towards her. Then everything went black.

Dread filled her mind as she felt her arms starting to get tired. She couldn’t let them catch her, for the safety of her sister she had to keep going, “Alice please wake up! We could swim down please,” Her eyes were on her sister and her restless sleep, it had been three days as she tossed and turned but never actually waking. “Please Alice I want to go home but I can’t leave you,” Her voice had turned desperate as she called out to her sister.

Yelling filled the air as she rowed, her pursuers couldn’t touch the water, that was the only reason she was thankful for this curse. What they couldn’t gain in the water that made up for on land, keeping with both the rivers speed and the help of the rowing. Water wasn’t something they could breathe but they somehow found a way to live in it. That’s why Alice needed to wake up to hold her breath and swim. Swim down to their home, their life.

Tears filled her eyes but her brain wouldn’t let her stop the canoe, and her heart wouldn’t let her leave her sister. She felt a hard bump on the canoe as it ran into a rock. That only made life harder as she had to get the canoe steady again. It was only after she started paddling again she saw the hole that was created.

Water started started in filling and landing on her sister. Upon seeing this the little bit of hope she had vanished, she finally stopped paddling and let the canoe drift. As the water rushed it started moving towards the shore. She picked up her sister and just held her waiting for the inevitable meet up of her pursuers. Few words escaped her mouth into her sister’s ear, “I’m so sorry Alice, I couldn’t save you I’m sorry,” Her eyes where like clouds and the rain began to fall as she hugged her sister hearing the footsteps approach.

Although I couldn’t see, something told me that I definitely wasn’t alone in the cellar. There was no mistaking the feeling, the one you get while walking alone. The same feeling there is when you finish reading something terrifying. Except this one was different, this one was real.

No matter how much I stared my eyes never seemed to adjust to the darkness, the guards had always been strict on sound she didn’t want to risk using her voice. There was so many factors and no certain way to know that there would be an answer. With the small fraction of hope, and a small whisper I finally mustered up a, “Hello?”

“The knife belongs to me.” The words came out as barely a mutter. They didn’t seem real as everyone’s eyes turned towards me. It was definitely my knife if I hadn’t claimed it I know they would have seen my initials engraved onto it’s hilt.

The knife was the same one used to kill my dearest friend. They wouldn’t think I was the one who killed him. Would they? Would they really think I would have killed my best friend over a silly little fight. Everyone else had a reason to do it so why did it have to be my knife. My knife where would they have gotten it, I had to hide it to bring it here so why, how?