Refraction of Beauty

by Shaanzae Shahid

It started off as an average Sunday morning. In fact so average that I almost bragged about how boring it was. The only thing that was, I suppose, un-average about it was a rare golden sun that was shinning high in the blue sky. Dad read ‘The Coast Analyzer’ on his favourite periwinkle couch, feet resting on the matching footstool; surrounded by the coziness of his brown fleece slippers. Mom prepared breakfast, our traditional sunny side up eggs with two perfectly crisp slices of toast, each, and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. I, being the eldest assisted her in her large preparation, while Delilah, my fourth sister set the dining table. Roxanne, the third sister, was outside, plucking the grapefruits from our fruit garden. Josephina, the second eldest, who ought to be in the kitchen helping mother and me, was too busy shooting some hoops outside. Her extreme sporty side was on the high every morning, and if she couldn’t let out her zealous energy through basketball; then a quick jog in the park, early in the morning, would calm her down and build up her already large appetite. And finally, Anneliese, the youngest, brightest and insanely prettiest sister of the lot…who had often, on many an occasion been dubbed celestial because of her enchanting visage, was practicing her ritualistic vanity in front of the large emerald framed mirror dad gifted her on her fifteenth birthday. Mom always made a big deal of the mirrors in our home as special, because all of them were imported, or something. That one was a really expensive gift; dad had his friend bring from Argentina. Anyway, with her sixteenth birthday, just three days away, Annie had left no stone unturned to make sure her plans of a huge birthday party were executed well. Everyday she’d put new post-its on our refrigerator that would commemorate each stage of her life with pictures to charge at mom and dad’s emotional vulnerability, and her age next to each picture. Tactful, very tactful. And right on time, she placed a new post-it with a picture of her, mom and dad at dad’s friend Andrew’s house. The cherry on top? That was the day she sang some soppy song about her being their little angel, little princess, and completely broke their threshold with a cascade of feelings deluging out. Since the rest of my sisters and I were considerably older than she was; like at that time I was 25, Josephina was 23, Roxanne was 22 and Delilah was 20, she was their and our ‘protected pearl’ inside an oyster of a family. Anyway, as soon as she came down, breakfast was served. Equipped with a preppy ribbon hair band, Annie chirpily bid her good-mornings to everyone.

  ‘Darling, hope you slept all right?’ mom asked Annie, as she poured her some fresh and chilled orange juice.

  ‘Hardly, mom. My night was still plagued with those weird and freaky dreams. This is actually getting ridiculous. I mean, I KNOW I saw “Gory Mandy” when I was clearly supposed to be doing my homework, but wasn’t three straight nights of torture enough? Thanks…’ She finished off as Delilah added her toasts to her plate.

  ‘You had those dreams again?’ I asked, with a raised eyebrow, while sipping juice with my pinky protruding out of the grip I had over the glass. Consecutively dreaming the same thing had gotten a bit fishy.

  ‘Yes…I did Carrie Warrie...’ Annie cooed, mocking me by rolling her eyes later.

  ‘What did you see this time?’ Roxanne asked, interested.

  ‘It was the same thing I’ve been seeing for a while now. Those three ugly witch-like things talking to each other about me. And GOSH! Their faces? Really disturbing…it’s like a piece of ripped cloth dangling above their skinny shoulders for a head…with the triangular tip of the dilapidated cloth like their chins. Then circles, more like ovals, cut out for their eyes and face. It was a dark and misty place and as usual, I was hiding behind this really tall tree, praying and praying feverishly for them not to see me. One of them flew quite near the tree but just when I thought she had seen me…my alarm went off.’

  ‘Wow…Macbeth, thanks for the drear scare.’ I sarcastically commented to break the silence that prevailed on the breakfast table. And partly because, I, myself had begun to feel a little worried at the oddness of her slumbers. So, quite typically, to evade this unnecessary feeling of chills...I tried to dilute the tension.

  ‘Obviously…I’M Macbeth. At least I’m not a coward like YOU.’ Annie remarked with ignited fury, to my utmost surprise.

  ‘What was that?’ I raged with my blood boiling.

  This was a sensitive topic for me. A few months ago, there was a local carnival that took place near our neighbourhood. My boyfriend back then, Jerry, invited me to check it out and have a good time. I am under no circumstances an adrenaline junkie, and so we both had agreed to not sit on any ride that would leave me looking like an electrified cat. By the time we got there, however, most of the lines for the top rides were full, much to my devilish satisfaction, because Jerry was a huge fan of such immensely ridiculous thrills. Propelling our way through the hustle and bustle of the various attendees and attendants of the carnival, the night seemed wonderful. We treated ourselves to deliciously frothy and fluffed up cotton-candy, played games, and characteristic of super cute dates, I got myself a prize teddy-bear that Jerry won from playing darts. But soon Jerry’s camouflaged happiness transformed into boredom. He held my hand and took me inside a tent, with people standing in wait of something. There was an open train type contraption on rails that generated immense hype, with people getting on it while heaving sighs, showcasing their bravado before diving down a cliff or something. Suspicious, but unwillingly to let any hints of Jerry’s deception enter my mind, I sat next to him on the train.

  ‘Is this some sort of tour train, Jerry?’ I asked.

  ‘Oh yeah…hold on tight babe…’

  I tried my best to relax…but just as the supervisor came who examined us by asking various questions regarding our physical health and put these massive belts on us, did my panic arise. I looked frantically around and shook off that faithful puppy demeanour, and confirmed the peculiarity of Jerry’s behaviour. It was the new ride that was supposed to be the most scariest and craziest experience for young thrill seekers; called ‘Monster Munch’. My heart began to pound incessantly and felt death was just around the corner for me…because as soon as it started, it was to take you 132 feet in the air…and twist you around in a giant metal pretzel. Cunningly, there were no signs or boards in front of the tent indicating to Monster Munch, so unsuspecting victims were lured in and devoured in their fear.

  ‘AAH! PLEASE! GET ME OFF THIS THING!’ I snapped almost immediately following my discovery. ‘I WANT OUT! GET ME OFF! NOW!!!’ I screamed at the very top of my lungs. ‘HEY! HEY YOU! TAKE THIS THING OFF ME! I’LL SUE YOU! I’LL SUE YOU ALL IF YOU DON’T GET ME OUT OF HERE!’ Instantly, all the commotion stopped. I was hysterical.

  ‘Carr!??? What the heck is wrong with you?! Chill out…I’m here! This is just a stupid ride! Chill!’ Jerry sounded his dumbfounded reaction to the mad woman next to him.

  ‘Shut up Jerry! You tricked me! HELP! HELP!’

  ‘Geez lady…will you take it easy? God…relax...’ The supervisor, Clarence, came and unbolted the belt.

  ‘What a loser…’ I could hear some people saying. And there were some snorts of disgust here and there.

  There were tears in my eyes, because of everything. From Jerry’s conniving self to the public humiliation I subjected myself to. It was so spontaneous - my fear, that I had almost no time to think. Looking back, I feel I should have just stayed quiet or done anything but shriek the way I did that night. Seriously shaken at my outburst, more than the prospect of riding such a ride as that…I headed for the exit, waiting for Jerry to come after me and say he was sorry or try to stop me. But, when I turned around, he was on the ride, with everyone still looking around at each other and whispering insults at me. I motioned towards Jerry to come and take me home. Reluctantly, he made his way toward me. We uttered no word the whole way. He dropped me back home and said the last words I ever heard him say:

  ‘Hey…maybe it’s time you and I took a break from one another.’

  So ever since that night, I’ve only been blaming myself for my coward
ice, and how it helped succumb me to another defeat. I was criticized enough as it was, for being ‘faint-hearted’ compared to my friends who could ‘take on any challenge’. Thus forth, to be called a ‘coward’ by Anneliese once more was just…painful and once again, cowardly of me. So, annoying.

  Anyway, brushing aside what she said, we all quietly had our breakfast. Joe had come in by this time, and began extracting her second glass of orange juice. A tall girl, 5’11”, she befitted her status as a basketball player well, despite her height being equivalent to that of a desirable one for a career in modeling. But to say so to her would only jeopardize your relation. To her, life seemed…cool. To live and play, and bask in the thrill of its existence was her style – unlike me, the fantasizing, bookworm of a sister.

  She pulled her chair and sat with her long legs stretched, and then rested one leg on the other, creating a number four. She looked very much like the way men sit, but mom had wasted only too much of her breath on her before, so ignored it.

  ‘Annie, heard you’ve been dreaming those things again.’ Joe pushed back her short red hair that formed spikes right up to her shoulders.

  ‘Indeed I have, and choose to completely ignore it.’

  ‘Heard they got closer to ya!’ Joe grinned, whilst sipping her juice and grinning, mockingly.

  ‘And next time...they’ll get me. And I’ll be free of you two losers!’ Annie gestured towards Joe and me, and sarcastically laughed.

  ‘That’s enough! Finish your breakfast!’ was mom’s fierce assertion, which silenced everyone like little lambs.

  As if trying to avert our attention, Roxanne switched the television on, with dad turning to the news channel. Little did she know that this was to result in the heightening of an already precarious situation...severely. Something peculiar was up. The news anchor was briefing us in on the breaking news that had left many feeling traumatized and shocked. The inauguration of the new revamped mirror store in our local vicinity was due today, but the unveiling scheduled for 9:15 a.m. wasn’t on the cards. Each of the mirrors had diametrical cracks from the right side of the frames, shattering and completely breaking all of them – except for three lucky ones that survived the break, but had huge cracks, rendering them useless too.

  ‘Oh my God. That’s just messed up.’ Delilah, who was the quietest mouse of the family, voiced out our inner thoughts.

  ‘But…do they have the cause of it? I asked.

  ‘Probing further into the crime scene, it seems whoever, or what ever was behind this, left NO traceable steps. Absolutely no lock was turned since its shutdown at 10:45 the previous night,’ continued Roger Duke, the leading business and economic news anchorman. ‘If our sources are to be believed, no reported activity took place in any quarter of the shop for the duration of its closure; except for a faint mist that was claimed to have appeared for exactly three seconds… Further interrogation is underway for this extremely perplexing affair – though our chief forensic artist and special effects detectives have coincided the event with one that took place nearly 45 years ago, as it too, had the exact same happening. Whether this derives from the same perpetrators, is a cult of some following, or was a psychotic prank, we are still trying to find the root cause. Stay tuned for more, I’m Roger Duke, and this is Alistan Prime!’ And he rounded it off with his twinkling, whitened smile.

  ‘OK, how fascinating! Finally a mirror store opens around here and this happens?’ Roxanne added, after a moment of quietude. ‘I’d love to find out about what happened at that store 45 years ago!’

  ‘Wash the dishes after you’re done girls.’ Mom added, appearing visibly troubled and getting up hurriedly from the table. She glanced at dad and they both, as if through some telepathic signaling, had to ‘leave urgently’ for the bank before lunch break closing time. Which was in another five hours.

  ‘Carr, I need you to make sure Annie gets to school and the rest of you to work! Tell Joe we wish her the best of luck for her sports scholarship.’ She and dad got into the car like two kids going to an all-you-can-eat candy store, except kids aren’t so agitated. ‘Oh! And sweetheart?’ Mom added from the window as dad reversed, ‘we love you. Promise me you’ll be there for each other!’

  ‘Of course mom! Don’t worry!’ I nearly shouted to sound audible.

  She nodded in approval with visible tears in her eyes. ‘Bye!’ And she blew me a flying kiss after finally taking off.

  I got back to the kitchen against the backdrop of Roger Duke interviewing the shopkeeper. Roxanne and Delilah had started to clear the dishes, while Joe had gone up to tone her appearance for the interview. Annie was still standing, appearing visibly disturbed too.

  -- CHAPTER FOUR --

  Strange Reality