Chapter 34

Jordan stood dumbfounded; she’d found herself in this state of mind a lot lately. Teresa sat in her fuzzy blue computer chair, using her toe to swing from left to right.

     “What’cha gonna do with that, Jordan?” Teresa asked, coming to a standstill in the chair. Her eyebrows were raised and she produced a knowing smile.

     “It has to be done, Teresa,” Jordan stated. “The mirror has to be destroyed. You have no idea how horrible this has been. What this mirror can do!”

     “You promised, Jordan. If you destroy it then how can you keep your promise? Or did you ever plan to stick to the deal in the first place?”

     The mention of the deal, made Jordan look up in fright, the question written all over her face. Had Teresa kept her end of the bargain? Was her father alive?

     “You want to know, don’t you? You want to know if I was able to keep your father from his death. Well, you’ll let me use the mirror and then I’ll tell you.”

     Enraged that Teresa would put the mirror before someone’s life, Jordan leapt toward the mirror, the hatchet outstretched. She connected and the glass shattered into slivers all over the floor. She swung back and began hacking at the wooden base.

     From behind, Teresa screamed in outrage and flung herself upon Jordan, pulling her to the ground. Both girls wrestled on the floor, rolling into the mirror, toppling it to the ground. The base had broken into several pieces by now,  causing Teresa to pause as she jumped to her feet, leaving Jordan lying on the ground bruised and bleeding from her nose.

     Trembling, Jordan sat up to watch Teresa, who was pawing through the pieces. At first Jordan didn’t understand what she was looking at. It hit her then, when she saw the little wooden drawer that popped out of the base of the mirror. From it, Teresa pulled an old piece of parchment and she unrolled it gingerly, a wicked smile playing across her face.

     “Teresa, Don’t-“

     “Shut up!” Teresa snarled. “You perfect little goody goody! You don’t deserve this! I deserve this after all I’ve been through, after all I’ve done!”

     Teresa continued to unroll the parchment scroll, her face pure evil. Jordan knew she had to stop her and she withheld her groan of pain as she pulled herself to her feet. Teresa was so intent on the scroll that she didn’t realize Jordan was on her until the two were once again rolling on Jordan’s floor, glass crunching under them, both girls grunting in an effort to best the other.

     “My  mother is going to be home any minute now, you need to leave!” Jordan shrieked, hoping it would alarm Teresa and she would leave. But it was obvious that Teresa would not leave until she got what she came for. Holding Jordan down with one hand, Teresa groped along Jordan’s desk, connecting with the heavy crystal paperweight.

     At the last second, Jordan scrabbled to her knees, hoping to get out of that room. Teresa was street smart and had obviously been schooled in fighting, Jordan knew she didn’t have a chance. Heck she had never been involved in a verbal altercation let alone a physical one. She pushed up to her feet, but never made it, a blinding pain erupted in her head and she swore she heard colors as Teresa crashed the paperweight across her skull.

     Things stopped and started in short waves of consciousness as Jordan attempted to pick herself up. She heard movement in the room and things would go black, she saw Teresa right in her face, leering and saying something, then things would go black. Unsure of how long she’d lain there, Jordan felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She fumbled for the device and managed to get it out and hit the talk button.

     “Jordan! Jordan, are you there?” It was Stacey and she sounded frantic. Jordan mumbled something, she wasn’t even sure what, and Stacey continued, “The news, you need to turn on the news, it’s about your dad, Jordan. Are you there? Jordan?”

     Jordan slowly sank into darkness, her last thought that she had failed to save her dad. Teresa had played her. She had lost both the mirror and her dad.