Hope In The Mirror

• Emelia Morgan, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2017

I had never seen a ghost before.
It was the most beautiful thing, my eyes couldn't blink in case it was all gone the next second.
A phantom girl: Riding a phantom horse.
They were synchronized.
1-2-2-3-456, 1-2-2-3-456.
I'd never seen so much beauty in such a mystical place.
I'd come to see my sister.
Instead I saw a young girl around 14, as healthy and happy as the horse she was riding. My sister had been sick before she died. I wished everyday for her. My birthday wish was to keep her alive.
My birthday was the 7th of September, I was turning 15. She passed on that very evening to a much happier place. That was the worst day of my life.
I was now 18 and graduating from high school.
Anyway I saw the horse she was riding as big as a Clydesdale. Big boned and black with a splash of grace. A blaze on his forehead shaped as a crescent of the moon. I knew all this because I used to ride. Charlotte and I were the best riders at the stable. I was 14 and she was 13 when we had to stop riding. We rode two horses that were sisters, two black mares. Mine had a star so I named her Star Dust, hers had a moon and she named her Blue Moon. She always imagined Blue Moon as a Clydesdale.
"Charlotte?" I whimpered into the night.
"Ho-oooooo-pe" Her voice called out luminously. "Step through the mirror. .. ". I turned and gasped. A mirror was there and my reflection was from when I was 15. Brown hair, pale skin and my riding clothes. I hadn't noticed that Charlotte’s blonde hair was under a helmet and her favourite pink breeches fitted snugly on her legs. I didn't believe it, I really didn't believe it. I put my hand to the glass; an electric current was sent through my blood. My heart stopped. I looked behind me and a patch of flowers spelled my name HOPE. I wanted to see my sister but my parents were still grieving . Imagine if we were both gone. "I can't" I stuttered. "WHAT??" Her head snapped round and she jumped off the horse landing on two feet. She snapped her fingers at the horse and it ran off into the night. Charlotte was in the mirror.
"Come here", her words were rigid. "No" I choked out. I saw flashbacks of years ago. "No!!" I whispered. But I was in the mirror. I looked out, then back at the welcoming grin. "I have been so lonely I really need you sis ... " Her face turned sympathetic. We had reunited. I leaned in to hug her but there was nothing. I was standing exactly where I was before. I guess I just really wanted to see my sister.