I read out the title
"Be the opposite"
I grabbed the book and opened the first page
"To fight the opposite you have to be the opposite"
Maybe that's it, I should also be the opposite of myself.
"The person trying to make me confused won't succeed. This is all an illusion" I said within myself.
I walked out of the library to the classroom. Just as I expected they were all in class so I'm late, just like the opposite me should be, that is a good start. Now to act more like it. I barged into the classroom and all attention was drawn to me. I could hear the students whisper this is all new to me but it is all for me.
"Why are you late?" Mr Finn asked. He is actually being nicer than he is supposed to be. Why is he being nice to me? He's supposed to be the opposite of himself. Maybe, wait, maybe he's doing this to drive me crazy again. Calm down.
"It doesn't matter" I said and walked over to my seat. No, bad girls don't sit. I stood up and went behind the class to join my fellow 'rascals'.
Mr Finn kept on saying something that I didn't understand, he was speaking in tongues, literally.
"I can see what you're doing Cree but it's not going to work" I heard it say.
"Get me out of here" I screamed and the whole class turned to face me.
"Miss Cree, why are you interrupting my class" he said.
"I'm sorry" I said and he continued his lesson.
This can only mean that the voice is in my head and I'm in my head since no one, apart from me, and can hear the voice. I know I can get out of here, I just need to think outside the box.
I walked out of the class before the lesson was over just like the 'rascals' would, and from there I went down the hallway and you bet I was going home.
At the school gate, I met the same guy I met when I came into the school, but he was different. He didn't look like a rascal anymore. He looked, he looked responsible?.
"Hi" he said and gave me a nod.
"Hi" I said keeping the distance between us.
"I'm sorry about earlier. I don't know what came over me" he said.
He remembers what he did?
"No problem" I said and walked out of the school compound. Everything seemed normal now.
I soon arrived at home expecting to see Dad out on the lawn,maybe watering the flowers, but I was glad when I didn't see him there, that is nice. At least it won't be awkward. I went upstairs to my room. I shut the door quickly so that no one would disturb me. Today has been one hectic day.
On my bed I saw the book, the book that supposedly caused all this, the book that belongs to Cree. I rushed over and opened it. Its brown pages flipped open with the wind and stopped on a page that had ink on it. It said:
24th May, 1920
It is just a dream and your imagination. You can get out when you stop imagining all of this.
Does that mean that to get out of here, I have to stop imagining all of this? Or is this trying to tell me something else. I now know what to do, I imagined my favourite 'Rent a Bridesmaid' novel sitting alone on the shelf. To my greatest surprise, the book was there. Running over, I grabbed the book, it was the same and I could feel it.
I imagined my wall painted black and white and when I opened my eyes, it was black and white. Maybe I can also imagine myself out of this maze. I sat on the end of the bed and closed my eyes. I imagined when I was back home with Mom acting like Mom and Dad acting like Dad. With Jeremy always coming late to class and always been a rascal. With all my teachers back to normal, Miss Lisa and Mr Finn, if necessary. I could feel the tears drop from my eyes as I submerge myself in memories of what I had earlier and still see as a normal life.
When I opened my eyes, I felt different. The bed was different and the shelf still had my favourite books. My walls were black and white again and the air didn't smell like dark black magic, it was clean, the good kind of clean.
I looked over and in one of my hands, I held Cree's diary. I stood up and looked back to the window, it was dark outside, pitch-black. I tilted my head to the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table, fifty-nine minutes past eight, it's almost nine. Mom!
I ran down the stairs to Mom's room which was just under the staircase.
"Mom, mom open up" I said banging on the door. After about five minutes of me banging and waiting, a hand pulls the door open from the other side.
"What is it?" she asked wiping her hand over her eyes.
"I . . . nothing. I just had a really bad nightmare" I said.
"I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yes, I think so" I said glad that everything was back to normal. I hugged her tightly and after exchanging good nights, I went back to my room and threw myself on the bed. I turned my head around to see the book that belongs to Cree, the book with a black cover. I have to return this book tomorrow. I have to end all of this. I fell asleep while thinking of how to explain to Miss Lisa what has been happening ever since I got the book.
I woke up the next morning with the sun's rays warm on my face. 6:25, the clock read, I am almost late. I ran into the bathroom to brush and take a bath and I was able to do that in about twenty minutes. I put on my usual uniform of red blouse, black jacket and skirt and went downstairs for breakfast.
"Morning Mom" I said when I got downstairs.
"Morning Cree, how was your night?" she asked. She had an ash skirt and pink blouse on.
"Horrible" I murmured.
"What? Oh, the nightmare" she said.
"It's alright now though" I said while dishing out my breakfast of spaghetti and meatballs. It reminds me of someone, Nona!
"You're thinking of Nona right?" Mom said. How was she able to read my mind?.
"Actually, yes" I said hesitating a bit.
"I was thinking of sending you over in two weeks time, maybe for the weekend" she said.
"Sure thing but just for the weekend" I said with a grin.
"Don't worry. I always keep to my words" she said with a laugh at the end.
I watched her as she sat down to eat her meatballs, she doesn't actually like taking spaghetti in the morning. I looked at her again and I noticed there was something exceptional about her today. I remembered the illusion I had last night, how I saw Dad instead of Mom. Wait, where's dad?
"Where's dad?" I asked.
"Oh that. I forgot to tell you. Actually yesterday, the divorce was finalized and your dad has left us, finally" she said still keeping her usual genuine smile.
"That's good" I said. I wonder what it feels like to live without your dad. He has always been here but he was actually never been here. He was always in his room doing one thing or the other.
"I have to leave" I said grabbing my backpack and leaving for school. I arrived to school soon after. I actually arrived on time so I decided to go see Miss Lisa first.
"Miss Lisa" I said as I walked into the library.
"Yes" she answered from inside. She had a blue gown that looked amazing on her.
"You look nice" I said.
"Thanks a lot" she said with a full smile.
"Um actually I have something for you" I said pulling out the black-covered book.
"What's this?" she said surveying it with her eyes.
"It's the book with the black cover" I said.
"And?" she said.
"Actually, I keep seeing things there that are just confusing." I said trying to use my hands to demonstrate confusing things. I bet my demonstration alone is confusing.
"What's confusing? Maths, Calculus, Algorithm?" she asked turning the book to me. Wait, what? I took the book from her and to my greatest surprise, it has mathematics written on it. What is this?. This is definitely not the book I took from here.
"Something's wrong" I said. Am I joking? Everything has been going wrong since I took that book.
"I think you should take it and look through it again" she said handing the book over.
I took it, like the good girl I was, and went back to class. She must be kidding me. This book, it is . . . I don't know. It is something else.
When I was in the hallway, I opened it again and you won't believe what was there.
"You can't expose me to anyone. Only you can see me"
I read out. What? This book, I have to get rid of it, it is paranormal. It is not supposed to be a part of my life. I ran to the toilet down in the hallway and I tore the book to pieces. I soaked it in water and flushed it down the toilet.
Now I've gotten rid of that I hope that all of this ends I went to class and the day went as quietly as possible. I went home after the day's lesson feeling normal like I used to feel before the book came along.
"Mom, I am home" I said and dropped my backpack on the dining table.
"How was your day?" she asked as she gave me a hug.
"It was awesome" I said. Seriously, awesome.
"I'll be in my room in case you need anything" I said as I climbed up the stairs.
"Okay" she said.
I went into my room, after having a successful day. I am just so happy that everything is back to normal now. I don't know where the book is from, if it is magical or paranormal but I hope I never see it again. I pulled off my shoes and dropped myself on the bed. I spread out my hands like a butterfly and moved it across the bed. I reached my hands under my pillow and I felt something rectangular underneath. I pulled it out and believe it or not, it was the same book, the book I tore earlier, the book with the black cover, the book that belonged to Cree.
DOOMED