Chapter 1: Smiley Face

In a small rural place lies small clusters of houses side by side with trees and hills. At first glance this place would be the perfect home for those who love forestry and quietude.

As night falls, symphonies of frogs and leaves rustling hums their melody accompanied by the starry night sky 

“Again with this Patrick, why do you always bring it up everytime we talk?” 

In a far distance from the clusters, rests a modern house that is surrounded by thick trees

This modern house was occupied by a small family of 3.

“Why do you want to talk? Can’t I get some damn peace in this house?!”

the man in his middle ages responded to the woman who stood up from her chair in the dining room

“I just wanted to know where you were. Why aren’t you eating the food I made?” the woman questioned him in annoyance for the lack of interaction

“I already ate at judy’s, now fuck off” The man tries to dissmiss the questions and drank the bottle of beer in his hand

Crash! The sound of a glass cup shattering on the floor was heard

“There?! Again?! You keep eating at her place! What’s wrong with the food I made for us?! For this family?”

In response from what the man said, she threw a glass cup on the floor 

“You wasted another perfectly good cup” he bottoms out the beer he had

Thud! Smash! The loud noises muffled incoherent screaming and yelling

“You fucking bitch!” 

I plugged my ears with my headsets and played music, I am inside my room which is 10 meters apart from where the shouting were the loudest

I grabbed a sketchpad, a mechanical pen, and my eraser

On my bed, I put my sketchpad onto my knees and started drawing

A few months ago, I started having pleasant dreams. In those dreams I met a stranger, he was a gentleman and surprisingly funny

‘I feel like I have seen him before’ I thought but obviously I have never met anyone who’s as gentle as him

Either I was a small child or a young adult, he’d accompany me in those dreams, making me laugh and such

I wish what I’ve dreamt was true

Then heard footsteps that slowly became louder

‘Slow.. deep sounded footsteps.. 1..2.. It’s dad’

‘Fuck’

KNOCK!! KNOCK!! KNOCK!! 

He was rigorously twisting the door knob like a maniac

“I know you’re in here! Get out now!”

The knocks became more aggressive as well as the twists like he was determined to rip off my door

“YOU LITTLE SHIT IF YOU DON’T–”

I swung the door wide open 

I already dropped everything under my bed; afraid he might tore apart my sketchpad again

As the door was open the smell of beer wafted into my nose, it was nauseating, he reeked blood and booze

I clenched my jaw hard to the point you could see a vein popping

Back when I was younger, I’d cry till I pass out on anything that’d hurt me; basically a crybaby but not anymore, since this shitty father of mine destroyed that precious younger me a long time ago

“I’m here father, I was sleeping..” I gave a calm look, though underneath I'm seething in rage and anger

He grabbed my arm, tightening his grip so I couldn’t run away then proceeded to throw me to the living room

My father forced me to take a look at the center of the room

There I saw my mother on the ground sobbing, I looked at her more closely; she was bruised up especially on her left arm

“Look! This! This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t kill your sister!”

“This is all your fault!”

He kept rambling and rambling about how the death of my big sister was my fault or how the family was like this all because of me

I bit my lip until it bled, I know it was my fault yet hearing her name coming from my bastard father… I could feel my bloodlust seeping out of my skin, imagining the ways my father would kneel down begging for mercy..

A sudden wave of tranquility washes over me and the thoughts of murder went away immediately.

I am still surprised why I haven’t done anything to harm my father, or anything to satiate my anger and sadness

Somewhere between now and the time my sister died, I’ve had this weird ability to stay calm despite having to be swallowed in my emotions

Maybe this is my traumatic response but it’s too foreign and unique to be classified as that

The resound of the front door smashed closed signals that my father finally left 

I was still standing on the living room

‘I’m tired..’

I closed my eyes and bowed my head down

“I'm so sorry Sentrik…” 

“I'm sorry… I’m sorry”

I listened to my mother’s quiet apologies, although she was saying her pleas, she did not bat an eye at me so neither did I. She had always been this way since the start of the domestic abuse, she used to take care of me and my sister but since the incident, she had neither cared for me or father.

Only for her own, treating herself as a victim for everything. She may not even realize because of that, she mentally tortures me whenever I fail to meet her demands.

'Such a coward' I thought

Yet I went to kitchen to grab a handful of ice and wrapped it with dry cloth and I softly put the makeshift ice pack onto her bruised arm

She continuously says sorry

“...”

 I did not say anything, I just silently sat with her holding the ice pack

It was already 2am, my mother has went to her room and slept

I went to the bathroom and took a bath, having cold water running down from my head felt nice

After I finished, I took my new clothes and dried myself up. 

I am Sentrik Anwir, 18 years old, my sister died when I was 7. She died after falling off a cliff when rescuing me, after that was a blur

Up to that all I could remember the cops showed up blaring sirens and flooding my vision with blue and red, if my memory serves me right all they could find was a puddle of blood but there was no signs of her body being found 

After a few years they stopped all the search parties and declared it as a cold case

That was then the beginning of the hell I’m living in right now.

I let out a heavy sigh and stare at the mirror

“Still looking awful as usual me”

My hair starts out straight from the top then curved to the bottom then spiky, it’s colored in light salmon. and no it’s not dyed

My pupils were the color of sandy brown. Seems like I’m developing eyebags due to sleeping late

As I track down, I see my mouth smiling, it’s a bit cracked from drying-

‘Huh..? I'm smiling….?’ Right now I certainly I am not

As I step backwards to get a wider look at the mirror, I realized my reflection had a smiley face on it

There was no other remarks that would call it a face, just a gaping wide smile and an arched eye

“Hello my dear Sentrik”

The reflection talked like a human being, its voice was creepily deep sending shivers down my spine

“What the fuck” I responded

“No need to use foul words, that’s not how you greet your guests now do you?” It snickered at me widening it’s smile even more

‘Am I dreaming? Did I pass out? Am I hallucinating?’ My brain could not process what’s happening I tried convincing myself there was a logical explanation

“Oh no no, in fact, what you’re witnessing right now is neither a dream, a hallucination or any of that, and It’s quite certain your wide awake right now”

“Holy shit, this is real”

“Yes it is dear Sentrik”

“Don’t call me that”

What would a person react right now when suddenly their reflection is talking, it’s not like I can scream my lungs out to wake up my mother

"What the fuck are you?" I asked, demanding a logical answer

“I can understand your confusion right now dear Sentrik” My reflection moved its hand to it’s chin; brushing it’s fingers over it’s leer

“But I can’t explain any long details so I’ll go straight to the point”

I braced myself

‘What kind of bullshit will I hear from a talking mirror?’

All of this felt too unreal for me

It’s smile went ear to ear as its eye became sharper

“Your sister is alive”

"Huh?"