The Girl Behind the Broken Glass

by Valy

  “Mine has ninety-four hours, how many does yours have?”, Noelle asked.

  “Fifty-six”, Marie said simply, as she put her watch on her wrist too.

  “Only fifty-six? How is that possible? No, no, no. That’s impossible-”, Noelle started to argue but Marie stopped her.

  “It’s very possible. All the stopwatches started out with 120 hours. One was already running when I got here. Then I spent almost two full days alone exploring the island. When I ran into you, I only had eighty hours left and you had your full 120. We just spend the last twenty-six hours together. So, if you do the simple subtraction it all makes sense”, Marie explained.

  “Wow. It’s been a full day already? And what do you mean one of the stopwatches was already running? If it wasn’t yours and it wasn’t mine-” Nora started the sentence, but Marie could tell she didn’t want to finish it.

  “It was Nora’s. She has the least time out of the three”, Marie interrupted. They both looked at the stopwatch that should belong to Nora. It read 45:30:12.

  45 hours, 30 minutes and 12 seconds. But it wasn’t running anymore. It had stopped. What happened to Nora and her time?

  “That’s less than two whole days! What happens when it runs out?”, Noelle interrogated Marie. Marie didn’t have those kinds of answers.

  “I don’t know but I don’t want to wait to find out either. We must find her. If her time has stopped it means- well I don’t know what it means. But we have to figure out what happened, Noelle”, Marie said.

  A couple of seconds of silence were exchanged between them while they just quietly looked through the glass.

  “Noelle? Look”, Marie sounded happy. She never sounds happy.

  Noelle put down the pieces of glass she was currently looking at and put all of her attention into what Marie was looking at. It was just a piece of glass. It was a shard almost as big as Marie’s head.

  “What? It’s just another shard”, Noelle was so confused on why Marie was so interested in that piece of glass. Marie turned it around so it would be facing Noelle.

  Noelle couldn’t see her reflection. All she saw was green.

  “I can’t see myself. I can’t see myself!”, Noelle yelled out and started to jump around.

  “I know! She must be in there! Look to see if there is any other piece like this”, Marie told Noelle excitedly. They both looked around, but all the broken glass shattered on the ground was unlike this special piece.

  “Do you think she’s ok-”, Marie started to ask but she was interrupted by the most horrific sound either of them had ever heard. They heard things shattering and breaking. Which didn’t sound related to what happened to the mirror.

  No, this was different. It sounded like if everything was collapsing. The ground started to shake and everything in the attic started to fall on the ground.

  “What’s happening?”, Noelle screamed through the noise.

  “I don’t know but we have to get out of here”, Marie screamed. Marie grabbed the broken piece of mirror and stuffed it in her backpack. Without any hesitation, they both ran to the stairs which led back to the cabin. Everything looked worse from up there. Everything was shaking.

  “It’s an earthquake. Oh god, it’s an earthquake”, Marie cried out.

  “What’s an earthquake?”, Noelle trembled.

  “It’s- It’s something really terrible that happens and a lot of people die. The earth starts shaking and- I have no idea how it’s even happening on an island”, Marie explained.

  “Earthquakes can happen on islands if the island is on the perimeter of a tectonic plate. And I have no idea how I know that”, Noelle quoted as if she was reading it straight from a science textbook.

  “So, you know how they happen, but you don’t know what they are, wonderful”, Marie mumbled sarcastically.

  “Are you scared?”, Noelle asked.

  “No. I’m wearing this terrified expression on my face ‘cause I’m having so. Much. Fun”, Marie said sarcastically. Which just made Noelle form an upset frown.

  “Should we go out there? Or do we stay inside?”, Noelle asked cluelessly.

  “Uh I-I think we should stay inside. Trees could fall on us if we go outside and it could be more dangerous. We should just stay inside”, Marie tried to sound as adult-like as she could. Because she knew that an adult would be able to handle the situation.

  Marie had no idea what to do. She barely could remember what an earthquake was, so she didn’t know how to stay safe. Everything she was saying at this point was assumptions and guesses. But she wasn’t just responsible for her life but for two other ones as well. She was responsible for Noelle who looked like a lost puppy most of the time. She didn’t know why but Noelle respected and followed Marie. And she was responsible for Nora who was in a really vulnerable moment right now. She couldn’t let any harm come to that piece of glass.

  There was something else, but she couldn’t remember it.

  Noelle and Marie sat down in the empty living room of the cabin. Waiting for the earthquake to pass which only took a couple of minutes. Noelle was rocking back and forth on the floor trying to calm her anxiety. Marie would have tried harder to calm her, but she knew she was forgetting something. Something incredibly important. And she wouldn’t rest until she remembered.

  “Noelle”, Marie gulped breathlessly. But Noelle kept rocking back and forth.

  “Noelle”. Marie hissed, this time a little more loudly. Noelle stopped what she was doing and looked at Nora with scared eyes.

  “I remember”, Marie announced.

  “You remember what?”

  “I knew I was missing something- I knew there was something about earthquakes that I was missing! I remember now- I’m sorry! Oh my, we’re going to die”, Marie was frantic. Throwing her hand in her hair and crying out.

  “WHAT? What do you mean? I don’t want to die”, Noelle screamed out even more frantically, sobbing.

  “It’s okay- it’s okay. Calm down. We need to run; we need to get out of here. Somewhere tall. Somewhere very tall”, Marie tried to remain calm. Even though she wanted to scream out, she had to play it cool in front of Noelle.

  “Why? What’s going on?”, Noelle sniffled, wiping away her tears.

  “There’s something called a tsunami. They often happen after earthquakes and mostly when they’re near the ocean. Humongous waves form-”, Marie started to explain it, but Noelle interrupted.

  “But we are surrounded by the ocean”, Noelle roared out with wide eyes.

  “Exactly, that’s why we have to get somewhere so high that nothing will harm us”.

  “But where?”, Noelle whined.

  Marie smiled brightly, knowing Noelle would love the idea, “The waterfalls”.

  III

  Nora’s mirror was obviously not supposed to be broken. She now understood that. The mirror symbolized something, but Nora had no idea what it was.

  She had figured out that many of the things that made no sense to her were some sort of metaphor. Just like the fog was. Her mind was blurry and messy, so her surroundings became a visual representation of how she felt. Maybe she was able to control what she was surrounded with or the place she was in, but she hadn’t figured out how.

  So, she had a theory that the mirror symbolized something and that’s why it was so painful for her when the mirror was broken. But it wasn’t all negative because when the mirror broke, whatever spell or curse was placed on Nora had disappeared. She was now free to talk whenever she wanted. And didn’t feel like she needed to please anyone.

  Her ears took a couple of hours to heal, so she was completely deaf for a couple of hours. She kept talking but she couldn’t hear what she was saying. She spent most of that time picking up the pieces of glass and putting them in a corner. Trying to make everything look neat.

  Her body felt the need to rest and for once, she was more than happy to sleep. Hopefully, she would dream of a better life than the one she was living.

  She w
oke up to the sound of loud sobs. And Nora certainly wasn’t crying. She immediately stood up alarmed and looked around the room. But Nora was the only one there.

  The mirror.

  She approached the pieces of glass and the noise of crying got louder. She didn’t want to touch the glass again because she had already cut her hands with the sharp glass.

  “Noelle? Marie?”, Nora yelled out. The crying stopped and all she heard was shuffling for a second.

  “Noelle? Marie? Are you guys alright?”, Nora asked louder this time. Hoping to be heard. Everything was silent for a moment.

  “Nora is that you? You’re okay”, she recognized that voice. It was Marie.

  “What’s going on?”, Nora was worried. Something very bad must be happening for Marie to be so upset.

  “Noelle and I were running- but the water took her. The island is destroyed-”, Marie started to explain, crying out again.

  “Wait, wait. Island? And what do you mean the water took her away?”, Nora’s heart started to beat a pace faster. This all sounded nuts.

  “Nora, can you see me? Because I can’t see you. I need to show you something”, Marie sounded calmer. Why was she trying to change the subject?

  “Uh no. I have no idea how I’m even hearing you right now”, Nora chuckled.

  “Breaking the glass was a stupid idea, we thought we had lost you. We looked through all the shattered glass but one of them was different. There was a shard that didn’t show our reflections, instead it showed green”, Marie explained.

  “Green like my walls?”, Nora asked.

  “Exactly. Green like your walls so we knew there was a chance you were still in there. So, I packed the piece of glass inside of my backpack. In your reality, you must have a piece that looks like that too. One that doesn’t show your reflection”, Marie insisted.

  Nora started to carefully look through the pieces of glass. She can’t believe she hadn’t noticed one was still working. She did what Marie told her to do and tested if she could see her reflection. Which on most of them, she did. It wasn’t a pleasant reflection though. Most of her face was smeared with blood from her attempts at making the bleeding stop earlier. And her eyes still hadn’t recovered from all the crying, giving her red puffy eyes. But there was one shard, almost the size of her head, that she was graced with not having to see her reflection.

  She recognized Marie. She was super close up so Nora was getting a view of Marie’s crystal-like eyes. Marie noticed her too because she backed the mirror away and her eyes widened. Nora was able to see Marie better now. Her eyes were as bloodshot as Nora’s and her body was covered with some type of brownish substance.

  It looked like mud.

  Maybe Nora didn’t have the right to complain.

  “Woah! What happened to you? Are you okay?”, Marie screamed out in shock, also noticing Nora’s appearance.

  “I’m okay now. When the mirror broke my eardrums shattered along with it- but I’m feeling okay now. Just messy”, Nora sighed and shrugged her shoulders. Like if it was truly no big deal. Marie apologized for doing that to her and for all she must have suffered. And Nora being the kind soul she was, told her it was no big deal.

  Marie took the piece of glass and turned it around. So instead of seeing Marie, Nora would see what Marie was able to see. Nora was stunned. There was just water and damage everywhere. It looked like Marie was at the top of some building or mountain because everything looked far. All the tragedy looked like if it was happening from a distance.

  “Marie. Tell me exactly what happened. From the moment the mirror was shattered and onward”, Nora said calmly. Nora had to stay calm and relaxed no matter what Marie told her. It wouldn’t do Marie or herself any good if they were both losing their heads over the situation.

  “Okay”, Marie stuttered out with a deep breath.

  “After the mirror was broken, Noelle and I started to look through the pieces. We were so worried that we could have harmed you. We luckily found the piece and I put it into my backpack. But soon after, this terrible sound started. Like the sound of destruction. And the ground started to shake. We were in a little cabin we had found, and you were in the basement of that little cabin. So, we ran back up to the cabin and sat there until it passed. It was an earthquake”, Marie started. She took a deep breath so she could go on.

  “I should have remembered! But my mind- it took a while-”, Marie started to cry again.

  “Shh. Shh. It’s okay. Keep going. Finish the story”, Nora soothed her, trying to calm her down.

  “Well, with my lack of memories I didn’t remember one of the most important things about earthquakes. That when they happen in a place that’s near the ocean there is a big chance a tsunami could happen. A tsunami is when these big waves rise up from the ocean and flood the city- or in this case island- where the earthquake took place”, Marie stopped for a second to let Nora process the information. But Nora just nodded, not wanting to interrupt her again.

  “I was too late. By the time I remembered, the tsunami was about to happen. They don’t always happen right after the earthquake. Sometimes they take minutes or even hours. We had to get somewhere high up where the waves wouldn’t hit us or affect us. So, we went to the waterfalls”, Marie looked down and sighed. Nora decided that it would be better if she took a break.

  After a couple of minutes had passed of comfortable silence Nora asked, “Why waterfalls? Wouldn’t that be more dangerous?”.

  “No, I don’t know why. The island works different than the real world, I guess. There are these tall mountains and they have a waterfall hidden within them. There’s this little steep path you take, and you have to hike for like hours to get to the waterfalls. We knew that once we got up there, we wouldn’t be in any danger. The water wouldn’t be able to get to us”, Marie tried to justify herself.

  “So, what happened?”, Nora just wanted to get to the point.

  “We reached the mountain but then we heard the sound of water and we knew what was happening. We started to run up the little path as fast as we could. I should have grabbed her hand or something, but I thought she was right behind me. When I looked back, she was more behind than I thought she was. The water came so quickly and tried to drag her down. She was able to hang on to a tree. I started to run down to help her, but she shook her head. She just said, ‘your backpack’. And then the water took her away”, Marie finished with tears in her eyes.

  “I didn’t understand why she talked about my backpack at first. But then I got it, she didn’t want me to help her because I could get dragged down too. And she knew that inside my backpack was you”, Marie smiled sadly.

  “She sacrificed herself for me?”, Nora’s throat knotted, and tears filled her eyes. That was the most heartbreaking thing.

  “Marie, I need you to tell me everything”, Nora requested hoarsely.

  So, Marie did. She told her about the island and how she had woken up there a couple of days ago with no memory. She told her how she met Noelle and how initially she betrayed her. But how they came back together, and Marie grew to truly care and admire the innocent girl. She told her about the lost things and about the countdown.

  Nora just listened. Trying to process the information.

  The situation was even worse than Nora thought.

  IV

  Nightfall arrived.

  Marie wanted to go down to look for Noelle, but Nora talked her out of it. She cared about Noelle’s well being too, but Marie couldn’t go and put herself in danger’s way. Not until it had calmed down there. From the view that the waterfalls had Marie could see that the ocean had washed over most of the island. They needed to wait it out.

  “Sunsets are so beautiful”, Nora breathed out dreamily. Marie had taken the piece of glass and pointed at the sky so Nora could see.

  “I’m so sleepy but I don’t think I can sleep knowing Noelle is out there”, Marie yawned.

  Nora thought for a second. “Do you want a story?”, Nora asked c
heerfully.

  “A story? You remember stories?”, Marie asked.

  “No, but I’m sure I could come up with something”, Nora smiled.

  “Okay”, Marie nodded, excited to see what Nora would come up with.

  “What about the story about the girl with crackers for arms?”, Nora asked.

  “What? That’s so random!”, Marie burst into laughter.

  “Okay, fine! Fine. Let me tell you one for real”, Nora laughed. Her own randomness surprising her.

  And Nora did. With all the silliness aside, Nora told Marie a good story to give her a peace of mind. Because sometimes focusing on fiction is better than living in reality.

  “Good morning. We’re going to die today”, Marie said in a sarcastically cheery tone, as she took the piece of glass and put it right beside her. Nora had been awake for a while but didn’t want to wake Marie up.

  “Well if that isn’t the kind of optimism that gets you up in the morning then I don’t know what does”, Nora sassed back.

  “Well technically, you will die today, and I’ll follow soon after”, Marie continued to speak as if this was all wonderful news.

  “Well hello to you too Miss. Sunshine, how much time do we have left?”

  “Well, my clock says it has thirty-six hours left and yours says it has twenty-five”, Marie answered.

  “Well, that’s impossible! That means like twenty hours have passed. And we didn’t spend that long yesterday talking or sleeping”, Nora was puzzled. How was it possible that it’s been that long?

  “I know, I was surprised the first time it happened to me too. Time has a funky way of working here. I haven’t learned how to keep track of it yet”, Marie said.

  “Nora, how old do you think you are?”, Marie asked randomly.

  “Oh uh- I don’t know. Maybe like eighteen. What about you?”

  “I’m not sure. I mean we all look similar in age. Noelle looks around fifteen, I think I look around seventeen and you look just a little older than us. But I don’t know if this is how we truly look like in real life”, Marie stated.