I stepped out of bed, ran to my bedroom window, threw open the curtain, and gasped. Prince Edward of the Highlands was here! I shuddered. I specifically told Mother and Quincy NEVER to let Edward near me ever since the accident. I still blame it on him, personally. However, Mother tells me never to dwell on the past. I laugh when she tells me that, because she dwells on the past a lot. Especially the day of the accident. She lost 2 kids that day. Maxwell, and me. I hate that I lost some of myself that day, but my younger brother was everything to me.

Yes, Max was not my real brother (all of us were adopted due to my mother’s inability to have children) but it sure felt like it. We were 4 years apart, and Quincy was 6 from me, so Max and I were the closest. However, when I was 11 and Max was 7, Prince Edward and his family came for dinner, and we were tasked with entertaining him, seeing as 17 year old Quincy was too old now. So, we took him down to the pond to explore. He had never been down there, so of course he didn’t know the one rule: don’t go INTO the pond. It wasn’t a dangerous pond, exactly, but there was one spot in the middle that was too deep to touch, and the water was so murky and dark that nobody could see. Edward, thinking that he’d be able to touch (being the stupid thing he is) waded in, then bobbed underwater. Max decided to jump in and save Edward, but he wasn’t strong enough. He too, started to drown, but by the time I got both of them out of the water, Max was unable to be saved and Edward was hanging on for dear life.

Mother couldn’t scream at Edward then, because he wasn’t her child and he was almost dead himself. I locked myself in my room for weeks after the incident, and still will barely talk to the family I have. Dad died when I was 8, Max when I was 11, and….who’s next? Now it’s 3 years later, and I absolutely am dreading tonight. It’s my 14th birthday, and Mother tries EVERY year to invite people over, but I always refuse. I can tell she’s devastated when I do, but I dislike seeing people now.

So, instead of going downstairs when my mother called me, I rushed to my father’s study. We’d been told to never go in there, but I always did. And today, I wanted to find out what was under the blanket.

So, I tiptoed toward the object, then threw the blanket off. It was a mirror. I stepped back to admire it, then screamed. Instead of seeing my reflection, I saw a demon. I delicately ran my fingers over the glass, confused at what I was seeing. Then, I noticed a piece of paper on the floor. I picked it up and read it, then threw it down. It had said: ‘My dearest Addie, I know you’re going to look in the mirror, and I must warn you. Do not look at the demon. If you look at it too long, then you will eventually become one. Love, Dad’