I based this off of a prompt I found on https://www.servicescape.com/writing-prompt-generator (it has nice writing prompts) I sit at my desk, looking through pictures of my brother and I. Again. Ever since Caden started high school, he's had less and less time for me, and more time for his friends and girlfriend. I wish he would just hang out with me every once and a while. I remember when he used to read stories to me before bed. He would always try to impersonate the peoples voices, of course very inaccurately. We would laugh, and cry, and sing together. We were like best friends. Of course, up until high school. “Scarlet! Dinner is ready!” My mom calls. Crap, I've gotten none of my homework done. I walk downstairs to the dinner table. Tonight we're having spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. “Woah mom, you never cook this,” I say. “I just felt like making something a little special tonight,” she replies. “Well I’m not complaining!” My dad adds. I can't help but notice that Caden isn't at the table. “Where’s Caden?” I ask. “He’s eating at his girlfriend's house tonight. What a lovely girl letting him come over to her house.” “Soo lovely,” I mumble to myself. “What was that?” My dad asks me. “Oh nothing,” I reply. “So I heard that the Spring Fling is coming up!” Mom says, breaking the tension. “You're going to need a dress for your first middle school dance!” “Mooom,” I say, annoyed. “I heard that there’s this new store a few minutes away,” Mom says, ignoring my comment. “I thought maybe we could go shopping after dinner.” Actually, shopping sounds like a much better alternative to looking at sad pictures. “Ok then,” I say. After dinner, I change out of my drab school clothes, and brush my wavy red hair. I got some ketchup on my shirt today (thankfully I was able to hide by zipping up my jacket) and my hair is always a bit tangled at the end of the day, due to how long and thick it is. At least it isn’t crazy curly, like my dad. I spray some dry shampoo just to be safe. Mom and I hop into the car, and drive over to the store. Gosh mom wasn’t kidding, it was only about a 5 minute drive from our house. Hold up- “Mom, this is an antique shop, not a clothing store!” I exclaim. “Yes, but I’ve been here before. They have some really nice looking dresses,” Mom explains. I guess I see what she means. There are a few dresses and clothes in the window. “Ok, fine,” I say. We enter the shop and a lady says, “Welcome to Angelina’s Antiques! Can I help you with anything?” “Could you lead us to the clothing section?” My mom asks. “My daughter is having her first school dance!” “That’s very fun!” The lady says. I can feel my face growing red. “Mom!” I say quietly. “Oh, sorry sweetie,” Mom says. The lady leads us over to the clothing section. The clothes are surprisingly in style. It’s a lot of the older things that just came back in style, though. “Scarlet, look at this dress,” my mom says as she pulls out a sparkly flapper dress. “Nooooooo,” I say, “Not in a million years.” “I know, it looks cool though, right?” She asks. “I guess,” I say. I continue to look at more dresses. None of them seem to be my style though. After about 30 minutes of looking at dresses, I have about 3 that might work. But, on the way to the dressing room, I spot ‘the one.’ It’s yellow with little white flowers and green leaves, off the shoulder, poofy sleeves, just the right length. “Mom! Look at this one!” I say excitedly, holding the dress up so she can see. “It looks great honey, are you going to try it on?” Mom asks. “Yes!” I exclaim. “Ok, I saw a few things throughout the store I might want to check out, it’ll take a few minutes. I’ll go while you’re looking at the dresses, I’ll call you when I’m done.” “Ok,” I say, and run off to the dressing room. I try on the 4 dresses, but none of them are any good compared to the yellow dress. It fits me perfectly, and has a summery spring vibe to it. I get a call, and expect it to be mom, but when I look at the contact, it says “Spam Risk.” I decline, and put on my normal clothes. I don’t really have anything to do, so I decide to look around the store a bit. After a few minutes, I see this cool wooden box with a lock and key. It’s about the size of a few paperback books stacked on top of each other. On the sides, it has little branches and flower designs etched into it. It seems pretty cool, so I add it to my small pile in my hands. (Continued below)
(Continued from above) Towards the back of the store, I spot a mirror half-hidden behind a large wardrobe. I move it out from behind the wardrobe, and look in it. But it’s not my reflection, it’s someone else! I jump back in shock. Staring back at me from inside the mirror is an old looking lady in one of the fanciest dresses I’ve ever seen. Much prettier than my yellow one in my hands. “Hello my sweet,” the woman says. “I can grant you any wish in the world!” I stare at the woman in disbelief. I must be imagining this. Anything? “Can I ask for more wishes?” I ask, hopeful. “No, why does everyone keep saying that?” She exclaims, and starts mumbling something about children and immaturity. I still think I’m probably hallucinating, but might as well try to wish for something while I can. I think for a moment. Then it comes to me. “I wish that my brother could stay with me forever, and not get caught up with his girlfriend or friends. Just me and him, whenever we want.” I say. I know you have to do a pretty good job clarifying with those wish things, so I made sure I did well on that. “Wish granted!” The woman says. “Now go before someone else sees me! And hide me better this time, the last person did terrible!” I wonder why she wouldn’t want to be seen, but I figure that granting people wishes all the time would be tiring, so I push the mirror all the way behind the wardrobe this time and head off. I think more about the woman in the mirror. She couldn’t have been real, right? She’s like a genie, and genies aren’t real. I probably just imagined it. Just then, my phone rings, it’s Mom. “Hey sweetie, I’m at the checkout right now, could you meet me there?” she asks. “Sure, be there soon, bye.” I reply, and start walking towards the checkout. After Mom and I check out, we head back home. It feels shorter going back than it did going there. When we get home, I start walking up to my room with my dress and box. “This box would fit my diary perfectly!” I say to myself, glad it will finally be safe from anyone who would want to look in it. When I get up to my room, I hear Caden’s voice coming from my closet. That’s strange… I better go check that out. I look inside, and see Caden stuck in my mirror! “Caden! How- what- huh?” Is all I can muster out of my mouth. “Hi Scarlet!” He says, almost like he was told to. “Let's spend some time together!” “Caden, how’d you get in there? I need to get you out! How are you in my mirror?” I yell. Then I remember, it was the woman in the mirror at the store! “Oh no, are you okay Scarlet?” Caden replies, almost robotically. “Is everything fine up there?” Mom asks from downstairs. “It’s all fine!” I call back. There’s no way Mom can know about this. “Caden, stop saying things like that, I need to get you out!” I exclaim. “It’ll all be fine, Scarlet,” he says, “Why don’t I read you a story.” His eyes go all dreamy, and I cringe a little. I could've never imagined that expression on Caden. “I, umm, gotta go,” I say hurriedly, and run downstairs. I need to get to that store! “Oh hi sweetie, what do ya need?” Mom asks when I reach the bottom. “I need to get back to the store,” I say quickly. “Why is that?” She asks. “I, umm, lost my lucky bracelet,” I say, cringing at the quick excuse. “Oh I didn't know you had a lucky bracelet.” Mom says “It’s bad luck to tell people,” I say, cringing again at the even worse excuse. “Whatever you say,” Mom replies. “We can go get it after school tomorrow.” “I need it now. I, uhh, have a test tomorrow and need it.” I say. Gosh, I am really bad at making excuses. “I guess it couldn’t take too long,” she replies, deep in thought. “I have a phone call I’m expecting, but I suppose I could take it in the car while you get your bracelet. Ok then, I guess that’s fine then.” “Thank you!” I say quickly, and run to the car. When we get to the store, I quickly get out just as Mom’s phone rings. I run to the back of the store and find the wardrobe that is in front of the mirror. I slide my hand behind it, but I can't reach the mirror. I look behind the wardrobe, and the mirror has disappeared. 1618 words (the whole time I was scared there would be too many in the end haha)
