Through the Mirror and Into Snow (4 page)

V
ALERIE
S
TOOD
I
N
W
HAT
W
AS
V
ERY
M
UCH
like the forest outside her house. It was just different enough that she knew something very strange had happened. She had roamed that forest so many times she was sure she could be blindfolded, led out to the middle of it and still be able to find her way home with no problem. I remember once very long ago, she was out there with a friend and they feared they were lost. Her friend had blue-colored hairspray with her in a small backpack. With it, they wrote ‘Help Us’ on the ground for an airplane to see so they could be rescued. Looking back at this memory, Valerie knew it was beyond silly for a few reasons. There were too many trees to even see the writing even if a plane did fly overhead, not to mention the words were way too small as well. They were young at the time and more than a little scared for a few brief moments. They had gone further than they were usually allowed alone. After a few more paces though, Valerie had found the ravine and knew which way to go. They never told anyone about it and hoped it would rain soon to wash away the blue message before her dad discovered it.

“Valerie!” Val heard Samantha call for her, snapping her out of her memory. Sam showed up behind her. “That was a little strange.” Samantha crossed her arms, rubbing them as if she were trying to warm herself. “No, that was a lot strange. Don’t leave me alone like that.” A chill ran down her spine. She rubbed her arms again. “This is the forest by your house, right?” Her voice cracked, not sounding convincing even to herself.

“No, it’s not, Samantha. Turn around. There’s no barn.”

“How did we do that? What just happened? Valerie, where’s your barn?”

“I don’t know but our little friend is right there.” Valerie pointed to the possum as it continued on its journey, paying them no mind at all. “Maybe our best bet is to keep following it. It seems to have brought us here; maybe it needs help or something.”

“Sure, and any second now he’s gonna stand on his two legs and start talking to us, right? Stop this game. I’m not having fun anymore.”

“Come on, Samantha.” Valerie grabbed her by the shoulders. “You are always the one looking for an adventure. Well, here it is. Even I want to pinch myself to make sure we’re not dreaming, but we’re not. We just went through a magic mirror. I don’t know where we are, but I’m not going to turn around and go right back through it to just go back home.”

“This is too strange to believe it’s happening. What do we do now?”

“We’ll start with following it—” Valerie pointed in the direction on the possum “—and wing it from there. Sorry, it’s the best plan I have.”

Shrugging, Samantha was at a loss for words. “Let’s go.”

Being careful not to get too close, the girls started off after the possum. They didn’t want to scare it and have it run away. They had to watch their footing, too. There wasn’t much of a moon to offer light and their small flashlights only gave small, dull beams to guide them. Despite their best efforts to follow the animal, it wasn’t long before they lost it. Together they wandered through the forest trying to catch sight of any trail it may have left.

“Valerie? We’re really not in your forest, are we?”

“No, we’re not. We would have passed the old graveyard by now if we were.” She stopped to look at Sam. “I have never known you to be scared of anything before.”

“I am not scared!” Samantha placed her hands on her hips and gave her foot a solid stomp. “Even you have to admit this is strange. A magic mirror? Come on. That’s too crazy, even for you and your love of fairy tales.” They heard something coming from behind them, moving fast. Sam lowered her voice. “Do you think we got ahead of the possum?”

“I don’t think so. It sounds like it’s moving way too fast for that. Quick! Let’s hide,” Val whispered as she hopped over a fallen log. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to be standing here wearing only my pajamas.” She squatted and pulled Samantha down with her.

Together they crouched, waiting silently. As if out of nowhere, a dark figure showed up beside them. They both screamed.

“Otter!” Their screams turned to giggles of relief.

“Are we ever glad it’s you! I’m happy you decided to follow us through the mirror.” Valerie petted her dog. “Good girl! Maybe we should go back, Samantha. I bet she can take us.”

“No way!” Samantha replied while she took her turn rewarding Otter with pats to her head. “We wanted an adventure and we’re going to get one. I know it was a little hard to swallow at first. I don’t know what this place is yet and I’m still half expecting to come out at a road by your house, but I’m not going to be the one to chicken out.”

“Okay. That’s more like it.” Valerie stood and dusted herself off then helped Sam to her feet. “Now let’s go try to find some answers. It’s got to be more than a coincidence that it led us here, wherever ‘here’ is.”

They walked along not saying much for over a half an hour. Neither of them could really grasp where they were or how they ended up there. Oddly, Otter walked beside them behaving herself. It wasn’t like her to not run off after the occasional bunny that hopped across the path ahead of them. Suddenly, her ears perked up and she ran ahead. “Wait, Otter! Get back here!”

They chased after her and in just a minute, found her sitting next to a little girl about their age. Otter was wagging her tail and licking the little girl’s face. She had jet-black hair and a very fair complexion. At first she appeared startled to see them but then she smiled. The young girl was wearing what had to be her nightgown. It was simple with no designs and her feet were bare.

“Hello.” The little girl offered a pleasant smile then returned her attention to Otter. She held the dog’s cheeks and was nose to nose with her. “Who’s a pretty girl?” She glanced back to the girls. “Is this your dog? She’s very friendly.”

“Yes, her name is Otter.”

“Well, that’s a strange name for a dog.”

“I know,” replied Valerie. “That’s my mom, though. I don’t think you want me to even start with the other odd names we have for our animals.”

“What was the turtle, Val? Shelly?” Sam asked.

“Fluffy.”

The young girl giggled. “That is silly. I think I like Shelly for a turtle though. I’ll have to remember that.”

Valerie continued. “Well, a Dalmatian named Domino makes sense, but when you name his brother Little Caesar, they are pizza places and that’s downright silly.”

“I’ve played dominos. That makes sense. What’s pizza?”

Neither girl was sure how to answer that.
How does she not know what pizza is?
Samantha changed the subject instead of answering. “What are you doing out here in the forest in the middle of the night? Are you lost?”

“Umm, sort of,” she answered.

“What do you mean ‘sort of’? Do you know where we are? Did you run away? Sorry if I’m being nosy,” said Samantha, “but if I told you what we…”

“Samantha!” Valerie cut her off and gave her a look that warned her not to say anymore. She didn’t want them to look like fools. There was no way a strange girl would believe they came through a magic mirror. “Why don’t you let her answer the questions you have thrown at her first before you start asking her more?”

“That’s okay, I don’t mind questions. But please, I need to keep walking. Will you walk with me? You really should. It’s not safe to go back the way I came.”

“Why?” asked Samantha? “Is there a dragon or something that way?”

“A dragon?” The little girl laughed. “You must read too many fairy tales. The only dragons in the forest are cute little lizards.”

Samantha sighed with relief and blushed. She gave Valerie a little hit on her arm. “So much for your fairy tale land.”

Valerie sniggered as they walked off together.

“W
E
D
IDN’T
E
VEN
G
ET
Y
OUR
N
AME
,” Sam said.

“Sorry. I’m a little out of sorts right now. It’s Snolindria.”

“Snolindria? That’s really pretty. Way different than anything I have ever heard before.”

“I guess so,” she replied with a shrug. “My mom used to call me Snow.”

Valerie and Samantha stopped dead in their tracks. Their eyes widened and Valerie gave Samantha another pleading look.
‘I know you’re thinking what I’m thinking but let’s not say a word!’

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“No, we’re fine.” Samantha’s voice cracked as she spoke. She and Valerie took a few hurried steps to catch up. “We have just been walking for a very long time. We, umm, got lost in the woods by Valerie’s house. We were wandering after a possum and I guess we lost track of the direction as well as the time.” Sam paused. “What did you mean by your mom used to call you Snow? She doesn’t call you that anymore? You didn’t like it?”

“It’s not that,” she replied. “My mom died when I was little. I have a stepmother now. She is not very nice to me and doesn’t really call me much of anything other than a pain in the butt.”

The girls giggled then Valerie apologized.

“No worries. My dad is hardly ever home anymore. I don’t like to complain when he’s around. We have so little time together…I want to make it happy for us. You can call me Snow if you’d like.”

“I’d like that. Friends use nicknames. You can call me Sam and you can call her Val or Larrie.”

“Larrie? That’s funny.”

“I know,” replied Valerie. “I told you my mom was goofy. You know Val-Larrie. It got shortened to Larrie, sometimes she just says Lar.”

They laughed then continued on through the forest. Otter happily trotted beside them. She never missed an opportunity to slip her head under a free hand to get attention wherever she could. Their eyes had adjusted to the dark and they maneuvered their way through the forest without any problems. The girls didn’t want to use the flashlights since Snow was sure to have no clue what they were, if she was who they thought she was. Of course the thought of it was silly, but it was in the back of their minds just the same.

After walking across a small meadow, they stopped briefly to watch a couple of deer grazing nearby. Samantha was about to ask Snolindria how she came to be out in the woods alone when she noticed a small cottage.

“Hey look! A cottage! Maybe someone is home and can help us.”

“I don’t know. I don’t see any lights…” Val quickly recovered. “I mean light from candles or anything.”

“But it’s late. Let’s stay together and try to be quiet. We don’t want to scare anyone and have them come out with a shotgun…uh, weapon or anything,” Sam said.

Val nudged Sam. “Drama Queen.”

Together they walked closer to the cottage. “This place is small. Look how low the roof is. You think it’s a playhouse?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know,” answered Valerie. “It would be a little big for a playhouse, even by your grandpa’s standards.” Samantha’s grandfather had built her a huge playhouse when she was three years old. It was a Victorian style and had two stories. There were no gnomes out front, but it was still an okay playhouse otherwise. “It doesn’t look like anyone is home…if anyone lives here at all.”

Val walked to the house alone. She stepped up to the door, placing her ear to it. When she didn’t hear any sounds, she went in. She couldn’t find a light switch so she moved her flashlight beam across the house looking for signs of someone living there. The light revealed quite a mess.

Certain they were alone, she shouted to Sam and Snow. “Either someone left in a hurry or they are very messy. This place is a disaster. You guys can come on inside. I don’t think anyone is home.”

Lightning cracked as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Sam and Snow hurried toward the cottage. It started to pour almost the second they walked in.

“Whew. We got in just in time,” Samantha said as she closed the door behind them. “Isn’t this strange? A cottage way out here in the middle of nowhere? Lucky for us though.” She turned to Snolindria. “You’re awfully quiet. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, just very, very tired. Let’s look around for some beds.”

“I’m tired too.” Valerie walked past the kitchen area, through a doorway and stopped dead in her tracks. “Um, Samantha, you want to come here for a second?”

Samantha went running over and gasped. “You have got to be kidding me!”

There they stood, looking into a bedroom with seven small beds. Snow came over and joined them.

“That’s odd. This is the only room. You think children live here on their own?”

“I don’t know.” Valerie glanced over to Samantha. Again her eyes were wide and filled with wonder.

“It’s awfully late for them to not be home if they do still live here,” Snow said with a yawn. “I’m so tired, I’m going to fall over. Let’s crawl into bed and worry about what to do tomorrow. At least it’s a nice dry place to sleep for tonight.” She walked to one of the beds, shook out the top blanket and crawled in.

Val whispered to Samantha, “Still think we are in the forest by my house?”

“I stopped believing that a while ago, Val. I don’t know how she could be who we think she is, but this is getting stranger by the second. It’s late. We can get her story in the morning.”

Val and Sam chose beds beside Snow. Despite the excitement the day brought, they managed to fall asleep almost immediately after a quick, “Goodnight.” Otter curled up in the doorway to the bedroom as if she was on guard duty. She was asleep in seconds as well, dreaming as she always did; with a low whimper and her legs slightly kicking. No doubt her dreams were of chasing rabbits, squirrels, barn cats, and perhaps an occasional possum.

The storm stopped but the rain continued to fall throughout the night. The girls slept well, considering their current circumstances. Even though the house was a mess, the roof didn’t leak and kept them snug and dry. Samantha was usually the early riser, and was the first to awaken to the bright morning sun shining in the tiny room.

“Yuck, this place is even dirtier in the daylight.”

Valerie and Snow woke up at Samantha’s protests. Valerie took a few blinks as if she was trying to figure out where she was. She glanced over at Samantha and Snolindria and took a big stretch.

“Excuse me.” Her morning stretch, more often than not, was followed with a slight musical from her behind. By ‘slight musical,’ I mean she puts my cousin Jonnie to shame. The other two laughed.

“That’s nothing,” said Samantha. “You should hear her burp! If there were windows, she would make them rattle.”

Valerie’s eyes got big. She looked at Samantha and blurted out, “Safety!”

Just as Val began to shout, Samantha cried out, “Doorknob!” Valerie got her reply out first. She was the victor this time. They laughed instead of beginning a chase.

“What was that about?” asked Snow.

“It’s just a game we play,” explained Samantha. “If I say ‘doorknob’ before Valerie says ‘safety’ after she farts, she has to run to the closest doorknob and touch it for a safe base otherwise I get to punch her as hard as I can.”

“You two are sure weird.” Snow was grateful to have the silly antics of Sam and Larrie to keep her company during this trying time. “Let’s take a look around the house. Maybe there’s something to eat.” She stood up and stretched. No music accompanied it…thank godmother for small favors.

There were dishes in the sink and on most of the countertops. Valerie and Samantha noticed the sink was more of a washbasin made of wood and the faucet was more like a small well. There was no sign of a refrigerator. There were no lights either, but instead tiny lamps that needed to be lit with a match.

“That’s explains why I couldn’t find a light switch last night,” Valerie whispered to Samantha. “We must be in another time.”

They found some fruit that had been preserved in jars in the cabinet and found some clean forks, so they sat down to eat breakfast. They decided to clean up a bit when they were done. None of them was sure what their next move was going to be, but cleaning kept their idle hands busy for the time being. Valerie worked on the dishes that were in the sink as the other girls brought dirty ones off the counters over to her. With Val on dish detail, Samantha took the task of shaking off the bedding while Snow dusted.

When Samantha came back in with slightly less dusty comforters, she told the other two about a creek she saw out back. They decided to go out and relax by it, soak their tired feet, and let some sunshine sink in while they discussed what they should do next.