ENGAGED TO ONE IN LOVE WITH ANOTHER

Chapter 4

*People in The Mirror*

Raynette's point of view

“Your father and I have been speaking about hiring help around the house” Eliza announced as she walked into the living room. I went to get anything I could find from the refrigerator. Disappointed, I only found a box of half-eaten pizza from two nights ago and a bottle of water.

“This house is too big for us girls to clean” Elizabeth spoke, as if she had ever touched a broom in her life. As far as I'm concerned, Elizabeth was born and lived like royalty, sometimes she could be so fragile. I wonder if she was glass

We always had help around the house, even in the old home we had a cook and a few house helps but that was because Theo’s business was booming and he could afford to hire them.

“Do we have enough money to do that?” I asked

“Theo is going back to work for his family”

“What?” I asked, shocked.

After what happened yesterday, does he want to go back to work for his family? But then again, why am I surprised? We didn't even leave after the confrontation, Theo and Eliza made me sit there for hours and participate with the same people who made it obvious they didn't want me around.

“Theo’s father promised to give him back his position as director of one of the major companies and also transfer back the shares he abandoned when he cut ties with the family,” Eliza said dryly,

“And he accepted?”

“We are struggling right now, we don't have too many options. Besides, Theo would only need to show the family that he is capable of leading the family business and maybe he could even inherit the business one day” Elizabeth's eyes glitter at the last statement “it was said when he was an active member of the family they generated more income than they do now. That's why they want him back”

“At what cost?” I asked, my voice lower than I intended.

“Your father promised to get you married to a Carmichael”

“As a bet between his family”, I frowned. I refuse to be a pawn in their games.

My curiosity took hold of me yesterday and I spent too many hours looking up the Carmichael family, trying to gather Intel about them from the internet and so far, what I got was they are the richest family in the world and have a hand in almost every business when I checked their net worth I almost choked, I didn't know numbers like that existed in the first place. I understand why the Roosevelt would want to have ties with people like that, but why would Theo promise to marry me into their family?

“All your father wants is the best for you,” Eliza said as she walked closer

“I’m finding it difficult to wrap my head around how that is the best for me”

“The Roosevelt would not truly accept you as one of them until you give them a reason too“ she kissed the crown of my head and smile “You’ll need this marriage if you want respect from the family, trust me.”

Good luck trying to get me married to that family

I looked up all the members of the Carmichael and, almost like the Roosevelt the first two generations had gotten married and the only single people were either too young or were girls, and even if there was an opportunity, what is the possibility that they won’t treat me worse than the Roosevelt?

“I’m going to see a friend” Eliza grabs a bag then smiles at me “Take care of yourself, I’ll be seeing you later“

As I watched her leave I tried to bury the negative words the Roosevelt still spat at me throughout dinner last night but it's hard to drown their voices when I’m all alone in the huge mansion.

The house feels much bigger now that Eliza was out of sight, if only I had a friend come over.

A Friend

The concept of having friends is so foreign to me, I have never had a friend talk more about friends before. I'm the kind of person people do not want to associate themselves with enough to call their friend.

I locked the front door and walked back to my room. It looks better now that all the pictures have been taken away. The sunlight peeped through the curtains into my bedroom making me wish I could go out for a picnic

This is the perfect time of the year to go for a picnic or a walk through the park with-said friends or go for lunch, maybe watch a movie or two like a normal teenager.

I plugged in my phone and placed it on my bedside before grabbing the novel "Her Demon Eyes by Lipstick Pride", I sit comfortably on the bed, my fingers opening the pages and my eyes ran through the words until I got lost in it

A few hours into reading and I suddenly hear a scream.

I jumped, surprised at how loud it was and how quiet the house was a second ago

Were Theo and Eliza back? I thought, and even if they were they'd never make such noise, in fact, I have never seen them having an argument or even screaming at each other

My thought is disturbed by the sound of a crash like someone just threw a glass through the room or something and my heart falls into my stomach.

“A burglar?”

I keep the book on my bed and slide my flip-flop on before tip-toeing to the door. I took a deep breath, twisted the knob and opened it, but surprisingly, outside of my room was so quiet that it took only a second for me to realize that the sound was coming from inside my room.

My heart starts beating so hard I fear it would tear out from my ribcage.

"It's nothing, Raynette It's probably nothing," I told myself. My palm started to sweat and I suspect the sound of people arguing might be coming from the mirror again.

But people don’t live in the mirror Raynette

Was it a ghost? Has Aunt Perry come to take me along with her?

I hold on to my sweatpants and walk slowly toward the mirror and I hear another crash. I slowly stood in front of the mirror and just like I suspected, it doesn't show my reflection like it did yesterday, early this morning, and even a minute ago

With my chest beating loudly, I didn’t run away this time.

If something strange is happening, I want to see it with my eyes.

The mirror started to change shape, slowly twisting and changing, and in a second it turned into a room, a really messy room, my head went dizzy for a second.

How is this possible?

Was there a secret regarding this mirror?

“I recognized this room” I gasped.

It is the same room I saw last time. Does that mean I wasn’t crazy? What I saw was real?

Is what I’m seeing real?

If this room is revealed, then it means the young man. I could see him again

I have no right to feel excited to see him, for all I know he could be a ghost too, an evil spirit, and worse, he could be a nonhuman sent by Aunty Perry and Willy to kill me but for some reason I wanted to see him again, I wanted to look into those alluring eyes of his

“Snap out of it Raynette!” I slapped myself on the cheek, a little too hard I might add but anything necessary to wake me up from this halo effect. I refuse to completely lose myself into the unknown,

No matter how good looking the unknown might be

"Get back here boy!" someone shouts from inside the mirror,

Oh my God! It's real, someone is really in that mirror.

"Leave me the f**k alone" another person replied.

I chocked

I chocked on my breath

There was not only one person, but there were more in there.

"SORA! " a lady's voice yells "Sky, don't!"

"If you break one more f*****g glass I swear I'll kill you" a deep voice threatened.

"You cannot come back here after 10 years and tell me what and what not to do" someone roars and there's another sound of a glass being smashed, probably to the floor.

"Go into your room Sora" the female voice pleads.

"I'm not leaving you with him, mom... Call the police to throw him out! " someone says

"Sora please, listen to me" I hear someone beg. I could hear a door pull open and then slam so hard it felt like the mirror will break but a second later the same young man was in front of me.

My jaw drops

He's real

I'm not crazy