The Infinite Mirror

‘Twas the night before Christmas in Mississippi as Amethyst and Amir lay on the frigid basement floor of their small cottage.  Their mother, Genevieve, stormed down the basement steps as she had done many nights before and accused them of being responsible for their dad’s abandonment.  It was ironic that Genevieve meant “fair one” when she blamed her children for the actions of a grown man.  You could smell the whiskey on her breath as she sobbed and yelled all at the same time.  We dared not move, hence we would accelerate the agony from the extension cord in her left hand that was waiting for us.

There was a brief pause as she dropped to her knees.  For a minute there, we thought that we might escape the wrath of Genevieve tonight.  Unfortunately, the lie detector determined, well, you know the rest…

Amethyst watched as her mother jumped up and tore into her brother’s back over and over and over.  She began to cry, not because of the pain that her brother was feeling, but because of the fact that she too would feel the same pain shortly.

That night, as she longed for a time where their mother was full of joy and showered her kids with love and affection, she crawled to the mirror and intensely stared at her reflection.  She imagined that the basement that had become their bedroom was the North Pole.  With only a few hours until Christmas, she didn’t care about receiving money or toys, she would settle for baking cookies and building gingerbread houses as a family one more time.

At that moment, a fog began to form around her, and the mirror began to look a lot less like a mirror and a lot more like a town.  Trying to determine whether or not she was actually seeing these things or if she was being delusional, Amethyst turned around to look back at her brother only to find him drifting away from her in the fog.  When she turned back to face the mirror, she saw little creatures moving and could almost hear them talking.  She reached out to touch the mirror and fell face-first in a pile of snow!

Terribly cold and confused, she spun around to search for the mirror, yet the mirror was nowhere to be found.  To search for the mirror or walk towards the beautiful lights and smell of cocoa that lie ahead?  She had watched enough movies to know what lies ahead is not normally what it seems; however, what lies behind her wasn’t ideal either.  Amethyst got up and ran towards the town as if her entire life depended on it.

Upon reaching the town, she saw a little gift shop, or so she thought, full of various clothes, toys, and pretty much anything that she could think of.  She saw the smallest form of a person inside placing a star at the top of a Christmas tree.  It almost looked like, well, like an elf.  As if the disappearing mirror wasn’t enough, there was no way that she was looking through the window at a real-life elf.

Amethyst hit herself a couple of times and blinked a few times to decide if she was dreaming or not.  When she opened her eyes, the elf, or whatever it was, was subtly staring at her.  She was unsure of what to do next.  Should she go ahead and walk in, or would it be best to take off running?  Before she knew it, the elf was standing in front of her leading her into the shop.

There were so many questions running through her mind.  Why did she feel so comfortable when the little person grabbed her hand?  Where exactly had she ended up?  Should she be alarmed or just enjoy the moment?  Had her mother figured out that she was gone?  Would Amir be punished if her mother believed that she had run away?

“Ummmm... I’m Amethyst.  I’m not sure how I got here.  Can you help me get back home?”

The elf grabbed the coziest blanket and wrapped it around her before responding with the heaviest accent she had ever heard, “Sure!  But first, we must take you to the top of the pole!”

“Pole??”

“Yes!  We must hurry because there isn’t much time left before they prepare to leave!”

Though I was very confused and frankly quite concerned, I did not hesitate to grab the elf’s hand and run out of the shop and up the hill.  I was in awe as we passed such magical cabins layered with snow and lit up with beautiful lights.  I could feel the holiday spirit as I passed by and became overcome with sadness as I pictured Amir in the basement longing for a Christmas Eve like this.  It had been years since we had experienced the love that most families feel on a holiday.  There were a few days here and there when our mom slept the day away.  Those were the days that we enjoyed the most…

Before long, we had made it to this huge log cabin.  There was a sleigh outside, and everything all started to make a little more sense.  A pole, an elf, and a sleigh?  I MUST be dreaming.  Nevertheless, I was going to enjoy the dream.

I slowly entered the cabin, and there was a tall, rather slim man working on placing toys in a sack with his back turned.  Not quite the size of the Santa that I had pictured, but it was just a dream, right?  Imagine my surprise when he turned around, and I saw someone that I had not seen in FOREVER!!

“Daaaaaaaaddddddddd!” I screamed as I ran and jumped into the arms of the man that I almost didn’t recognize because of how much time had passed.  “I wasn’t expecting that,” I thought to myself as I felt a wave of joy wash over me. He gently put me down, and I stopped and stared at him for a while and tried to imagine how he could be here and not with us.

As if he knew what I was thinking, he said with a look of both warmness and regret in his eyes, "I had to leave you in order to bring joy to all of the children around the world.”

There was so much I wanted to say— so much that I NEEDED to say.  Instead I burst into tears and thought of Amir and all of the pain that we had endured over the years.  I didn’t utter a word, though.  I just looked at him hoping to live in that moment forever. 

He pulled me closer to him as he softly wiped my eyes with a handkerchief that he pulled out of his enormous  pockets.  “How about we brighten the mood on what’s left of this Christmas Eve, my love?  There’s so much left to do and so little time to do it.  How about you help me with these gifts here and then we can get you back home?”

“NO!” I screamed.  “I never want to go back home.  Well, I just want to go get Amir.  Could we just stay here with you?  Please?”

He thought long and hard before finally replying, “There’s a lot of things that would need to be worked out, but I think that that would be a marvelous idea!”

Maybe it was a dream, or maybe it wasn’t, but I couldn’t wait to get back to that mirror and introduce Amir to a new life full of the love and happiness that we had been wishing for.