Joshua Clover
Age: 13
Date of Birth: September 7th
Hair Color: Light blond
Eye Color: Blue
Personality: Daydreamer, Funny, playful, cheery.
Likes: Painting, drawing, music, playing videogames, eating
Dislikes: Romantic movies, fish
Johnathan Clover
Age: 16
Date of Birth: January 24th
Hair color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Personality: Arrogant, boaster, Mischievous
Likes: Pranks, Eating, music, trains
Dislikes: Balloons, maturity
Christina Elote
Age: 12
Date of Birth: November 20th
Hair Color: Blond
Eye color: Blue
Personality: Sweet, crazy, protective, loyal
Likes: sweets, games, handicrafts, building
Dislikes: Mice, spiders, cold weather, hot weather
September 7th
Where am I? What is this place? A castle? What's this dark aura around it? I hear screaming!
"Hello?" I can't get in. "Stay calm, I'll help you!" I'm suddenly inside. There's more screams. Where's it coming from? There's some stairs. Uh, who's that man? Why's he holding a painting? Now he's looking at me… His eyes are demonic.
Wait, what just happened? Everything's dark again. There's a girl. The girl from the painting the man held. No, wait. That girl had blond hair. This girl's hair's purple.
"Who are you?"
"Please, you have to help. My world's in trouble."
"How can I help you?"
"You must help us."
"How do I help you?!" The girl faded away.
"JOSHUA!" My eyes snap open. I sit up. "You finally wake up, lazy. Come on, get yourself ready for school idiot." My older brother leaves the room. He's always been pretty rude to me. I pull the covers back and get out of bed. I get dressed into my school uniform and leave the room. A bucket falls on my head that was full of fish and water. I hear laughing. I pull the bucket off my head and I see my brother and his friends laughing at me. "That probably woke you up sleepy head."
"Johnathan!"
"Aw, did I strike a nerve, brat?" I threw the bucket at his head. He fell back. Bet he wasn't suspecting that. His friends stop laughing and crack their knuckles.
"You know what kid, you need to learn not to mess with us."
"How would you like it if someone dropped a bucket of fish water all over you?" I walk to the bathroom and close the door. I take off my uniform and get in the shower. I made sure to lock the door so those idiots would leave me alone. I'm going to smell like a lake all day. Great… I try to get rid of the smell as best I could, but it still lingered. I grab a towel and dry myself off.
Luckily, I have a backup uniform stashed away. They do this a lot, so I have to make sure I have a backup uniform. I grab the uniform, get dressed and grab a hairbrush. I start to brush my hair. I put the brush back and as I turn back to the mirror, I suddenly have purple hair and red eyes.
I rub my eyes and when I open them it's gone. Maybe I'm just really tired still. I brush my teeth and carefully leave the bathroom. No fish buckets fall on me. I make my way to the school building.
I go to a private school with my older brother Johnathan. Our parents are pretty rich and they were able to send us here. My brother acts like your typical rich brat. Flaunting and bragging about how rich we are. Meanwhile, I try to keep it a secret. I'd prefer to be a painting on the wall that nobody ever notices. However, no matter how hard I try to be a wallflower, there's this one girl who always seems to notice me. There's a lot of good looking people at this school and I'm not one of them. I'm surprised she even noticed me. We became friends easily. She's that kind of crazy, annoying, caring friend you can't live without. She makes it seem less gloomy here. She finds me in the cafeteria.
"Hey Joshie."
"Hi, Christi." Her nose started to twitch
"Do I smell fish?" Oh great, I guess I didn't get rid of the smell as well as I thought.
"Oh, uh. Um…"
"Did your brother bully you again?!" She can always guess.
"Yes."
"Oh that jerk! I wish I could punch the living daylights out of him!"
"Be my guest." I said, and take another bite of my food. I had an omelet with cheese, bacon, and ham with a side of two cinnamon rolls and potatoes. For my drink I have orange juice. She sits down next to me. All she got was a bagel with honey-nut cream cheese and some apple juice. She doesn't have a big appetite like I do.
"Hey, Guess what."
"What?"
"Happy birthday!" She punched my arm. "Punch to grow a bunch." I start laughing.
"You're so crazy. Thanks."
"Well, I figured your brother wouldn't say anything. So I might as well. Happy birthday Joshie." I can't help but smile. I forgot it was my birthday.
"Thank you. It means a lot Christi. I'm glad I have a friend like you."
"Don't mention it." We finished breakfast and put our trays away. We started to leave the cafeteria, when a bag of flour dumped all over us. I hear my brother laughing at us.
"Aw, it's the flour couple."
I close my eyes and look down.
"Did I strike a nerve birthday boy?"
"Johnathan…" He grabbed my chin and made me look up at him.
"You know, with just some eggs, baking powder, and frosting you could be a birthday cake." I punch his neck. He struggles to breathe for a few seconds, but is back to normal. That punch felt really good.
"Don't touch me! Why don't you learn to grow up for once?! You're 16 years old! I'm 13 and I'm already way more mature than you!"
"Come on, it was just some harmless pranking."
"It may be harmless to you, but think about how others feel. You know, I was ok with you bullying just me, but when you add my friend to the mix, that's when I fight back. I'm much stronger than you believe. You know what else. I hate your guts!" I grab Christi's hand. "Come on Christi. We better get cleaned up." We left the school building and went to our dorms. Her dorm is all the way across from the boy's dorm. You know how teens can be. I get cleaned up once again and stand in front of the mirror to dry my hair. I remove the towel and there's that weird reflection.
"You have to help us." The image said. I rub my eyes with the towel and look back at the mirror. The image is gone again. What is it? Why does it do that? I comb my hair and meet Christi outside. We head to our first class, Math.
Few hours later
It's finally lunch time. I'm glad because I'm so hungry. Christi and I meet at our usual empty lunch table. Two people come up to us. I recognize them. Devin Elote and Matthew McKendel. They're bullies who bully everyone, even bullies. They consider themselves the 'top dogs' of the school.
They had generally left me alone, but I guess today they selected me as a target. They get to either side of me.
"Hey Shrimp." Matthew McKendel said.
"We heard it's your birthday." Devin Elote said. They grab my arms and pull me away from my seat.
"Leave him alone!" Christi yelled.
"Stay out of this, girly." Christi stood up.
"I will not! Let go of him now!" Matthew pushed her away. Devin is her older brother… I'd say an older brother shouldn't let this happen to their younger sibling, but when exactly has my brother done anything for me?
"Christi, no!" I tried to break free to help her, but they definitely had muscles. "Leave here. Don't worry about me. I'll be ok." She looked like she was about to cry. She stood up and ran out.
"Such a brave child." Devin said. He let go of my arm, but Matthew grabbed it before I could fight back or escape. Why the heck isn't there any teachers or security in here!? "Any last words?"
"You touch Christi again, I'll snap both your necks, you dumbasses." I said. I'm very protective over Christi. She's my best friend. My only friend. The only one who understands me.
"You little brat." He drew his arm back and balled his hand into a fist. Right as was about to punch me, there was a familiar voice.
"Hey!" We all turned to the voice. I knew it was familiar. It was Johnathan. "Let go of my brother, now." He was walking toward us.
"Ah, seems like the Clover brothers are both brave and stupid." Matthew said.
"You're the dumbass around here if you think hurting my little brother is ok." He cracked his knuckles. He didn't look happy one bit.
"Oh yeah?" He went ahead and punched the left side of my chest. I shut my eyes tight due to the pain I was feeling. I couldn't breathe. I coughed a few times in a desperate attempt to breathe again. The restraint on my arms went away suddenly. I felt some arms hold me up.
"Josh, are you ok?" Johnathan asked. I look up. I'm surprised Johnathan even did that.
"You bitch!" Johnathan sat me down and grabbed Devin's fist as it was aiming at his head.
"You call me a bitch? Seems like the one who should be called that is you. Nobody messes with my little brother but me. I play pranks on him. You bully people until they start feeling suicidal." Johnathan kicked him in the stomach. "If you mess with my little brother again, you can expect the result won't be pretty. Get out, now, before I change my mind in letting you jack asses go." Both boys ran out. I stand up and grab Johnathan's arm.
"Johnathan?"
"Yeah?"
"Why would you do that?"
"Because, you're my family. Nobody is to hurt you. I never actually hurt you. My pranks were harmless."
"Not mentally." I let go of his arm. "I'm tired of all the mental bullshit you guys pull every day. You're pulling prank after prank on me every morning. When we were little, we always got along. Whatever happened to that? We'd play videogames and dinosaurs and never have a care in the world, but once we moved to this school, you turned into the very person you hate. Can't you see Johnathan?" I start to walk away.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going for a walk around campus for a while." I walked out of the lunch room and I feel someone grab my shoulder. I turn around. It's Christi. She hugs me tight.
"I'm so glad you're ok. What happened?" She asked me.
"Johnathan came and got rid of them. I just wonder how he knew." I said. I did truly wonder, but I can probably guess. Christi stopped hugging me.
"I told him. I ran out to find you some help and I happened to run into Johnathan. I told him what was going on and he ran to the cafeteria as fast as he could. He does care about you, Joshie. I know he does." Christi told me. Her eyes were always so pretty. They are mainly brown and green but speckled with blue. Each color comes out more depending on which shirt she wears- that's not important! Stop thinking about that! Why do I always get lost in thought?
"Sure he does." I start to walk away from her.
"Where are you going now?"
"For a walk. That's all. Around campus."
"Aren't you going to finish eating?"
"I lost my appetite. I'll be back before class."
"O-ok." I'm not really going for a walk. I just remembered the reflection. I want to see if it happens again. I head over to my dorm and go to the bathroom. I look in the mirror. It's not there. I close my eyes and open them again. There it is.
"Hello?" I ask.
"Wait, you can actually see me?" I'm taken aback. It spoke.
"Um, yeah. Who are you? What are you doing in my reflection?"
"My name's Ravio. I'm using a communication mirror. My world's in trouble. I need your help."
"What can I do? I'm a nothing."
"You are much more than you believe. Trust me."
"If you say so, but how can I save your world?"
"Come through the mirror."
"I don't know. I barely believe this is even happening."
"Hey." I turned to the new voice. It's Johnathan.
"How'd you know I was here?" I ask.
"Because, I know you. You usually come here to splash water in your face. Who were you talking to?" I turn back to the mirror, but Ravio is gone.
"No one. Just myself. I'll be going now." I walk passed him, he grabs my arm.
"Hold on. I want to know something." I turn around. "Do you, really hate my guts? Be honest, do you?"
"Why do you care what my opinion is of you? Won't that ruin your status in the school? You just beat the toughest bullies in the school. Now you're the top dog."
"I don't care about status. You were right. We used to get along. I don't know what happened, but I'd…" He trailed off. He looked so sad.
"I better get to class. You can tell me later or something." I walk away again. Two arms grab mine and pull me into a closet. A hand goes over my mouth. A light turns on. It's Devin and Matthew.
"Hello." Devin said.
"You be a good little boy and wait here, alright?" Matthew grabbed something off a shelf, which was duct tape. Devin removed his hand from my mouth.
"Why are you doing this?" I ask.
"To get back at that annoying older brother of yours." Devin said. Devin held my arms back while Matthew tied me up with duct tape. He just tied around my ankles. Devin pinned my wrists behind my back and Matthew taped them together. He put duct tape on my mouth. "We'll be back for you after classes, little buddy." He pushed me to the ground. I couldn't get back up. What are they going to do to me once they come back? I don't want to stick around and find out. I move my hands around in the duct tape hold. I manage to slip my left hand out and remove the rest of the duct tape. It hurt a bit, but it wasn't too bad. What they have in mind could be worse. I can't get the door open! I start banging on it.
"Hello?! Is anyone still out there!?" I yell, nobody seems to hear me. I don't want to suffocate in here. I have to stay calm. I've been locked in here many times. I find the patch of carpet that lifts up and I find my lock pick tools. I unlock the door and put the tools back. I can finally leave this closet. I'm late for class! Oh no! I start running to the school and get to my class. Once inside the class room, everyone's attention is on me. I forgot about that. I shy away a little. I don't look anyone in the eye. "S-sorry, I was held up." I'm a shy kid, ever since I came here. I am a wall flower you know?
"Just sit down Mister Clover, we'll talk about it after class." The teacher said.
"Yes ma'am." I sat down in my seat next to Christi.
"Ok, class, ignore that interruption, I hope you are ready, because we have a pop quiz on the French revolution. Participation points will be awarded for answering the questions. First question, what was the cause of the French Revolution. What started it all? Why doesn't the late person answer? Stand up, Joshua." I slowly stand up. "Do you know the answer?"
"Um, the French revolution, was um caused by King Luis XVI and his Wife Marie Antoinette not um doing anything for their people. They just sat on their lazy hides, and um, everyone was struggling with their everyday lives. Barely able to get by."
"Good answer. Sit down." I'm so shy! The people I'm not shy around is Johnathan and Christi. "Next person. Christina." Christina stood up. "What became of Luis the XVI and his wife?"
"First, King Luis the XVI was beheaded, and then Little Madame Deficit took her trip to the Guillotine. As for her son, he had died for excess amounts of torture." Christi said. She's more outspoken than I am by a long shot.
"Very good. You may sit." She sat down. I look out the window. It looks so pretty. The clouds have the right fluff to them and the sun makes them glow like golden puffs in the sky, below is the empty street and a forest beyond the gate of this prison. I feel someone poke my head. I turn to Christi.
"Mister Clover." I look up at the teacher. "Make sure you say after class."
"Y-yes, ma'am."
"Alright class, take out your text books and turn to page 243." We did as told. I noticed there was some drawings on my desk that weren't there a moment ago. It's the scene I saw out there. Did I do that?
Class ended eventually. I hesitantly walked over to the teacher's desk.
"Mister Clover, I am not pleased with you today. First you arrive late to my class, then you're staring off into space and drawing on a desk."
"I can explain the lateness, ma'am. I, um, I was locked in a closet, by um…" She gave me a look. Almost like, she was saying, 'please tell me more.'
"Well, go on." I don't want to get those bullies in trouble, if I tell, they'll only attack me.
"I uh, um." I shook my head, "Never mind. I'd rather not tell you."
"Is someone bullying you, Joshua?" She looked concerned for me.
"N-No, nobody, I just, it was my, my own stupidity that got me locked in a closet." The teacher walked around the desk and put a hand on my shoulder.
"Joshua, if you're being bullied, you need help. Don't let them walk all over you. I grew up with your father. When we were kids, he never let anyone push him around. You have to be strong and stand up to those who try to wrong you. Otherwise, they'll continue to walk all over you and it will only get worse. Now, tell me, who locked you in the closet."
"It was, um, Matthew McKendel and Devin Elote."
"How long have they been bullying you?"
"About a month since I came here. They bully everyone though. They generally leave me alone, but I guess they're interested in me at the moment, me and my brother." I explain. Suddenly feeling the bravery that's starting to show.
"Johnathan?"
"Yes. Earlier at lunch, Matthew grabbed me and restrained me while Devin was going to punch me. He only punched me once before Johnathan intervened. He got them to go away. I went back to the dorm to splash water on my face after that and when I went back down, that's when they grabbed me and shoved me in a closet. They tied me with duct tape, but I managed to get free and escape. I don't know how many times that's happened now… I think that's the fifth time this month."
"Joshua, you need help with this. Normally, I wouldn't say this, but you need to fight back. Show them you shouldn't be messed with." She seemed scared for me. Why?
"Ok, I'll try."
"Do more than try." She took her hand off my shoulder. "I expect you to come in after your last period class to wash off the drawing on the desk. Until then, take care of yourself."
"Alright ma'am." I grab my bag and leave the room. I hope those bullies will leave me alone. I honestly doubt it.