I woke up to realize it was a nightmare. I got up and went to my bathroom, and when I looked in the mirror I saw sweat drenching my black skin, and fear written in my brown eyes. I sighed, it was just a nightmare, but if this nightmare continued I would be in trouble. I was already having difficulty staying awake during the day before this. I sighed again.

“This is the third time this week, Drew,” I said to the mirror, who said it right back.

“I can’t keep going like this!” I wailed into my hands, this time not looking up until my sight was no longer blurring the walls. One look in the mirror told me how bad it was getting. I hated it so much; I didn’t want to see what I was slowly becoming. 

I smashed the mirror.

It shattered all over me, the glass stuck to my fist as I pounded it into the face of disappointment staring back at me over and over again. The disappointment faded to anger before finishing with pain, barely seen through the spiderweb of glass. So many eyes are looking at me. I hate it. I hate it so much. Looking at me with pain in our eyes. It was too much. I went back to my room with blood still covering my fist, the glass catching the light and making me realize what I had just done. Tiffany will be angry. This might just be the icing on the cake that finally gets me kicked out of this hell hole she calls home.

“Stop thinking like that,” I said aloud, “Just wait ‘till school starts and you can move into the dorms.” 

Before I knew it, the sun was rising, and I was still pacing the room. I could hear Tiffany coming up the stairs, her footsteps like the pounding of a drum I wasn’t ready to hear.

“Aisha!” She hollered from halfway up the stairs as I ran to the bathroom to try and hide the evidence of what had happened last night. 

“You better not still be in bed!” 

I didn’t make it in time.

“What the hell is this!” Tiffany is angry. Her voice was louder than the blood rushing to my head.

“I… I didn’t… mean for this to happen.” I spoke softly, wishing that was enough to calm her down. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?! What did you do?!” She screamed at me, she shouted, only stopping for the second it took me to tell her to go look. “What the hell is this?!”

“...I think the potion you gave me has… some side effects…”

“Don’t use that as a fucking excuse, it wouldn’t make you do this! This is all you.”

“I can stop taking it! I don’t need the potion…and it’s taking a toll on me…” I practically whispered.

“Pack your things. I want you out of this house by the night's end,” she spoke just as quietly.

“You’re not even angry about the mirror, are you? You just wanted a reason to kick me out.” I have always hated screaming, it was just one of the things I couldn’t bring myself to do.

“I should have kicked you out earlier,” Tiffany spoke as if this was the best gift I had ever given her. “Start packing. I don’t want to see you here again, Aisha.” She spoke with ice in her voice.

“Fine.”