It was all the worst mornings Lotty could think of. Her parents finally decided to send her away to boarding school. Since she was ten, her parents had the idea to send her away to a fancy boarding school for girls. Lotty would always find good reasons not to send her to boarding school like she was still too young or she wasn’t responsible or independent enough to take care of herself. So her mother decided to wait until she was thirteen. Now the day has come. Lotty woke up to the barking of her faithful dog, Lola, Lotty smiled, she will miss Lola a lot. For the last time she would see her, Lotty hugged and gave her belly rubs. Lola seemed satisfied enough so she stopped and stared at the uniform her mother bought yesterday, on the left hand side of the blazer it said:
The name was already making Lotty choke, it sounded like she was going to a princess school. She rolled her eyes and reluctantly changed into the uniform which by the way was impossible to wear. She had to put on a white blouse, wear her red pleated skirt, put on some white leggings that reached until her knees, put on a sweater then finally her blazer and a stick on tie. Lotty went down stairs to the kitchen to find her mother making her favorite, pancakes with honey topped with all kinds of berries. “At least this will be nice”, she thought. But who knew it would turn out to be worse than she thought about the school.
“My baby is finally going to boarding school!” Lotty’s mother cried as she helped adjust her crooked tie. She had just finished her pancakes when suddenly her mother started hugging and lecturing her about safety when she was in the school. “ Where’s father?” Lotty asked, trying to sound casual but really she was disappointed that her father wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to her.
“ He had to go to work early” mother said, putting on a smile that she thought would make everything better, “but he said goodbye though before he left”.
After many goodbyes and hugs from my mother, Lotty hopped into her mother's old motor car while her mother helped carry her suitcases. “Goodbye house” Lotty cried through the window, she could hear Lola barking. Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw the house slowly disappearing through the windows.
When they arrived, Lotty said one last goodbye to her mother and watched her leave the school grounds. The school looked ancient, Lotty was afraid it might collapse at any moment. Nobody greeted her or any of the new students, she saw a small thin figure at the front of the school, her hair was tied back into a bun and she was wearing a very dull thin dress. Lotty hesitated to go up and ask her where her dorm would be at first but then she thought she would be here standing outside all alone with teachers ignoring students and being unaware of their safety.
I trudged to the woman, “Miss?” she squeaked, she turned and looked at me in disgust, “what do you want I’m busy now” she said as if insulting someone.
Before she could speak, she overheard her talking to another teacher in a dull dress to take me to my dorm. The teacher stared at Lotty. Then she gestured to Lotty to follow her, she did so. The school looked magical and Lotty really felt she was in Queen Elizabeth’s palace, the carpets were soft red velvet, chandeliers were hanging everywhere. As the teacher stopped in front of the fifth door on the third dorm floor, she pointed to the door to tell Lotty this was her dorm. “Thank you?” Lotty said but the teacher had already fled. She opened the Victorian like door, inside was an old single bed, next to it was what looked like a hand crafted desk, a big wooden closet was in the corner of the dim, cramped room. Lotty had thought she would have a dorm mate but she guessed the first years didn’t need to have one, but what really caught her eye was a vastly mirror hanging on the door.
Lotty stared at the mirror and her reflection for quite awhile. It looked so enchanting and so…. Suddenly a bell rang, “Dinner time!” someone shouted. Lotty jumped and followed the other girls to the dining hall. The dining hall doors opened, the room was big and airy, a single chandelier hung on the ceiling. Lotty lined up to be served and as she did so, she was daydreaming about the mirror. In her mind, her reflection was calling out to her, “Lotty, Lotty, come….” the reflection said in her mind over about a hundred times.
“Stop holding back the line!” Lotty shook her head and saw a ghastly tall figure giving her a bowl of vegetable soup, Lotty took it and grabbed a spoon. She sat down next to a group of chattering girls, again she daydreamed about the mirror while scooping some soup into her mouth. By the time Lotty finally went back to her room, she stared at her reflection, she smiled, the reflection smiled back, she raised her hands but this time the reflection just stood there. Lotty gaped, now she was terrified.
“HELP!” cried Lotty as she tried to open the door but it was locked, how? The reflection grinned, Lotty wasn’t even standing in front of the mirror. Then something unexpected happened, the reflection jumped out of the mirror, grabbed Lotty’s arm and shoved her into the mirror.
“You never wanted to go to this school right?” Her reflection said, “you never cared about the opportunity to come to such a school like this right? Now I can have that opportunity”, then somebody knocked on the door.
The reflection went to the door and opened it, “Hello!” A beaming girl said, “I saw you in the dining hall, you look nice…. Could I be your friend? I’m Libby by the way. The reflection smiled sweetly, “Sure, but we should get to know each other first, my name is Lotty ''. It was weird hearing somebody who looks like you say your name. The both of them talked for hours even though it was already lights out. In the early morning of dawn, they both said their goodbyes. “Enjoy living in that mirror” the reflection said, she yawned and hopped into bed and was fast asleep. I was stuck, I cried, shouted but nobody could hear me.
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