The Broken Mirror

by Tshombe

  The old man’s eyes seemed to look right though her, as if they could see deep into her heart. He smiled warmly, “I accept your gift. I will be your friend, young Shannon. I want you to take the chair you are seated in home. Put it in a place that the world can see, and the peace of life shall be yours. I must return to my work, please feel free to come here whenever you want. It’s open to you my friend. Go in peace.”

  When the two women emerged from the booth carrying the rocking chair, a tall, slender, freckle faced man walked up to them smiling. “Hey Sheryl! Where you headed?” He gestured to take the chair from them.

  “We’re headed to my friend’s house. She’s the wife of the new Reverend.”

  Shannon looked at her with surprise. Sheryl winked and whispered, “I was your friend before you ever met me.”

  That evening sitting in her rocking chair and entertaining her new friend in the living room, Shannon felt the peace Mr. Kelly spoke of. When the Reverend came into the house he quickly scurried into his room with young Rio for bible study. He said his hello’s and made his escape very quickly. A few weeks passed like this with the two women meeting and enjoying their time together in the living room. The Reverend knew he could not be cold to Shannon in front of Sheryl, one of his new parishioners, so to put on a good show, he fixed up the guest room and put Shannon’s things in there. She continued entertaining Sheryl in the living room. The house was hers.

  The Years of Seeking

  The day of Sheryl’s funeral was cold. Shannon couldn’t remember a colder day. After spending many years together, Sheryl had come to understand the ways of Shannon’s home. The Reverend always kept Rio close to him, and not once in all the women’s years together did Rio spend time with them. For years Sheryl watched this strange relationship. She never inquired about it, rather she ignored it as though it was not taking place. Finally, on Rio’s thirteenth birthday Sheryl made Shannon promise that she would send Rio out into the world to find love.

  Watching them lower Sheryl into her grave Shannon vowed again to keep her promise. Only six months had passed since Sheryl’s request and now here they were. Maybe Sheryl knew that her time was almost over. Whatever the case, Shannon missed her a great deal. The time she spent with Sheryl was the longest she had spent with any friend.

  The Reverend continued his methods of keeping Rio away from Shannon. When Shannon took control of the house, the Reverend tightened his grip on Rio by taking her to the church every morning, only returning for supper, eating in silence, then retiring to the Reverend’s room for bible study before going to sleep, and beginning the routine all over again the next day.

  Rio had developed an interest in drawing, and she could be found with a sketch pad or a paint brush whenever she could find time. For her fourteenth birthday the Reverend allowed Rio to paint outside. He’d finally changed his routine and Shannon did not let this opportunity pass without taking advantage of it.

  One Sunday after church the Reverend was distracted by some of his new parishioners and missed Shannon walking down the path toward the church. Painting outside and consumed by her work, Rio didn’t see her either. Shannon’s heart fluttered as she approached her beautiful daughter.

  “Hello Rio,” she said in a soft, motherly tone.

  The young girl turned to her and smiled but didn’t say anything, making her reason clear by directing her eyes toward the church.

  “Don’t worry about The Reverend, Rio. He cannot see us right now. Old man Kelly is talking to him about the ways of man. They should be awhile.”

  Rio looked back toward her painting, continuing where she left off.

  “It’s okay Rio, you do not have to talk. I came to you. I just want you to hear my voice. We have not been allowed to speak to each other since you were born, and when we did speak it wasn’t much of a conversation, but I want you to know that I have always loved you and I will not let the Reverend stand in our way any longer. One day we are going to leave here and go to some place beautiful. I’m your mother, Rio, and I will never leave you alone.

  The young girl’s paint strokes stopped on the canvas. She turned around and smiled.

  “That’s right,” Shannon said, “Mommy’s little angel is going to be happy someday soon. I must go my love. I’ll talk to you again. Keep painting. Your work is beautiful just like you.”

  Shannon walked away with tears of both triumph and sorrow, having no idea when she would speak to her daughter again but knowing somehow, she would.

  Many days passed into months, which formed a year of Shannon secretly meeting with Rio. Their conversations were nothing more than passing words or gestures; three to four sentences before being out of ear shot and having to wait until the next opportunity to do it again. The two developed this method so that Shannon could speak to another person in front of Rio and deliver a message directly to her daughter. Even words spoken under her breath became parts of unfinished conversations and the seeds planted began to take root.

  Rio began to rebel, defying some of the Reverend’s requests, questioning his commands, and objecting to his desires. He would never punish Rio in front of Shannon, but once they were alone, he punished her worse than any chastisement. She knew what he was doing. Rio was a beautiful young girl whose budding body was not hard to notice. Shannon checked the Reverend’s sheets and found all the proof she needed. She begged Rio to sleep in the living room where she could watch and make sure her little girl was safe. For a while it ensured that Rio would have a good night’s rest, but the Reverend’s would find ways to be alone with the young girl. Shannon had enough and decided it was time to end this battle. She told Rio to run away to a place that she has only seen in a dream, a park filled with kind people who would care for her. Shannon knew Shadow was there and that he would make sure Rio found him. Rio trusted her mother’s vision and left in the middle of the night, looking for a place called People’s Park.

  Shannon worried while Rio was gone. Her heart grew heavier with each day during her daughter’s absence. She’d given her money for a start, but as a mother she knew her daughter was vulnerable to so many things, having never seen the outside world before. This small scratch of land had been her entire world. No television, radios, or computers to encounter the daily events of outside life.

  Nine months had passed by when Shannon started to lose hope for her daughter’s return. Shannon wondered if the dream had been a vision or delusional desires. While hanging laundry on the clothes lines outside, tears fell from her eyes. The curse had claimed another victim. In her attempt to break it, it reared its ugly face in opposition to claim the one last thing she lived for. She’d done her best to disguise her love for the young girl because she knew loving her only brought harm, but her weakness caused by the strength of her desires allowed the curse to strike again. There was nothing left to live for now that Rio was free. It was all for the best.

  “Mom.” Shannon jumped. It couldn’t be. “Mom.” From behind her the sweet melodic voice, she’d been wishing for. “I’m home Mom.”

  Shannon was almost too afraid to move for fear it couldn’t be real. She turned to see her beautiful little girl. Laundry to be hung still in hand, she embraced her daughter for the first time, the joy in her heart radiating all the moments she had missed.

  “Rio! I missed you so much. Are you alright, honey? Did everything go okay?” She asked, pulling back a bit so she could examine her little girl’s face.

  “Yes Mom, everything is fine. I’m fine. Nothing bad happened to me.”

  “You were gone for so long, honey. I began to doubt if you would ever come home.”

  Rio sighed deeply. “Mom, this is not my home, and this is not your home. I didn’t want to come back here, but I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you behind.”

  “Oh Rio, I’m fine honey. As long as you’re happy I’ll always be fine.”

  “I know, Mom, I know. I have a message for you from Shadow.”

 
Shannon was relieved.

  The Reverend returned from church to find Rio had come home. He displayed no emotional reaction whatsoever, acting as if she never left. He walked inside, said hello, and ate his dinner but before saying goodnight and retiring to his room, he asked Rio if she would accompany him to the church in the morning. She answered no, saying she refused to attend church until the Reverend allowed her to go to a public school. After months of resistance, he finally agreed to let her go.

  It had been a short three years since Shannon made her promise to Sheryl, and Rio was now out of the house attending school. She was outside looking for love, looking for the king whose love could save her from the Reverend. Shannon watched and waited every night for Rio to come home and speak about love and of loving someone. Finally, the name of a young boy, Ethan, crossed her daughter’s lips, with a familiar melody of sound.

  Listening to Rio’s song of Ethan, Shannon knew it wouldn’t be long before the curse would strike again. Shannon would see that the curse would end with Rio. She told her daughter that if she refused the young boy in an abrupt fashion he would free her from the Reverend. With a pit in her stomach and pain in her heart knowing what Rio would soon endure, Shannon told Rio to return home every day before the sun goes down, and not to refuse the Reverend. Rio did as her mother instructed.

  The night Shannon decided to pray at the church and not to watch her daughter come home was the night the Reverend died. After the lights from the police cars and futile ambulances had faded, the two women sat alone in the house staring at the blood pooled on the living room floor. Rio felt the weight of the curse her mother had warned her about. She had loved the young boy who rode his roaring white horse to save her, and now the curse had stolen him from her. Shannon felt the curse had been satisfied, at least in this newly lost love, but she knew it hadn’t been broken.

  “Mom?” Rio broke the silence.

  “Yes, honey?”

  “I – I - I want to leave here. Can we please go? Please?”

  Shannon sighed, reminded that the curse must be fed once more. “It is not time yet, and there is something I must tell you.”

  “What? What is it Mom?”

  Shannon shivered in her rocking chair. “You have a father and a sister who are both living near each other but don’t know each other.”

  “What? Mom? What are you saying?”

  The rocking chair creaked as a tear trickled from Shannon’s left eye.

  “The Reverend was an evil, evil man and he lied to you. Now I’m going to tell you about your father.”

  Shannon told Rio all about her father, Charles, and how the Reverend stole her older sister Eva and put her up for adoption. The story wrenched Rio’s heart; her father had abandoned her. Shannon tells Rio what needs be done to break the curse. She cringed at the thought but felt the truth of her mother’s words reverberate deep within her. In the morning Rio set out to find them. She knew it was her and her alone who could bring her sister the peace she needed, and her father, his revelation.

  It had been almost a year since she’d left. Rio knew her love was cursed, and she knew that her father and sister would love her. Shannon smiled in her rocking chair, thinking about how Eva and Charles lived only a few miles apart and had no idea they were related. It was funny to her how life had kept them close to each other.

  Charles was a cold, selfish man who needed to feel his youngest daughter’s touch of love. Eva was a very sick young girl taken unjustly from the love of her family; she deserved to meet the man who had brought her into this world. Silently, Shannon prayed, rocking in her chair.

  Tap, tap against the window. Tap, tap against the window again. The moon was full, and Shannon was reminded of the times when she was a young girl with Claudia and they traveled in the light of darkness. She got up and opened the door to see that Rio was home. Shannon’s heart burst wide open feeling all the love she’d tried to keep safely locked up. She knew what had been done and tears of release and joy ran down Shannon’s face. The curse had been broken.

  “Mom, Shadow awaits us. We seek no more.”

  Shannon placed a handmade flower wreath on Rio’s crown and hugged her tightly. “I love you honey, I love you so much. You ready?”

  “Yes, Mom, I’m ready.”

  “Take my hand, the light of darkness awaits us.”

  The two women walked out into the night. Their path glowed under the moonlight. Rio’s love had brought them to the crossing of their parallel paths. Together, their paths crossed into shadow as one, they entered with their hands clasped together. When they reached the place where the street met the forest, in the distance they could see Shadow getting closer to their reflection.

  “Your seeking is complete young Shannon. You both shall enjoy love without fear of losing its presence. The path of love is a road revealed through living desire. Individuals can travel next to it without ever knowing it is truly there. The reflection of love grants access to the being. Love seeks only to recognize the eternal connection of two or more existing. Those in love with their individual journey are cursed to never see their own reflection, and those in love with their individual journey will only see themselves in pieces, like a broken mirror.”

  Shannon and Rio knelt and closed their eyes in the great Shadow’s presence.

  “Thank you, wise Shadow for showing us the way.”

  Shannon opened her eyes to find herself alone in front of the mirror, kneeling in prayer.

  “Mom,” Rio enters her bedroom, “we need to go to Old Man Kelly’s before the truck leaves. Last time we missed it.”

  Rio stood behind Shannon in the mirror. Their image together caused Shannon to reflect on the last time she looked in a mirror. But this time the mirror didn’t shatter. It merely reflected the eternal commitment of love with no fear of losing love’s presence. For them love was no longer a fantasy.