Mirror of Apollo

     Long ago, there was once a mirror of great power. This mirror, legend told, would let a child of Apollo, one who had the gift of sight, have one brief glimpse of anything they wished to see. There was a catch, however. Whoever could see into this magic mirror and view what they wished to see only had sixty seconds exactly to view it. If one was to over step these boundaries of time and magic, they would painfully turn into a pillar of salt and forever understand the curse of Apollo. In the times of ancient Greece, the chosen ones who had the gift of sight were mostly the Oracles of Apollo but not all them. After the era of power shifted to the Romans, the magical mirror was lost in the current of time, forgotten. Only a legend of this gift from Apollo has endured over the centuries. Everything changed, however, when I, Adelphia, found it.

     "Mom, where does this go?" I called down to my mother who was on the ground floor of our new two-story house.

     "The random door without a knob dear?" My mother's voice answered sifting up through the floor boards.

     "Yeah, that one," I called back. "How do we get in?"

     Footsteps started on the stairs and soon I was looking into the round, doughy face of my mother's boyfriend. He walked over and inspected it. "Well, Ad," he turned to face me, and stated simply "You don't." With that, he smiled a toothy grin at me and walked right back down the steps.

     "That was incredibly unhelpful Bill!" I called after his plump form. All I could hear was his sarcastic chuckle and my mother scolding him. I turned to the door and determinedly regarded it with my golden eyes. My eyes had been a gift from my father I'm told. My mother's eyes are dark blue so where else could I have obtained them? And honestly, where on earth is there another person with bright golden eyes like mine? Some people call me a devil child because my eyes remind them of the sun; others call me an angel. I have to say, though, I don't think I'm an angel because I don't ever remember hearing of one who could see into the future. Many people teased me, and some even threatened my life back in my old town, forcing my mother, my half-brother, Bill, and me to pack up and move to where no one knew about my ability.

     I looked at the door with no knob and turned around searching my room for anything I could use for a knob. I found a knife that worked; the door giggled open. The door creaked open on rusty hinges, exposing a dusty and very steep staircase. I rummaged around in a box next to me and found a flashlight and headed towards the stairs. I ascended the staircase quickly, finding it almost like a ladder. At the top of the staircase, I shined the light all around the small room. Boxes of junk littered the dusty floor, making it hard to walk around. When I shined my flashlight over a particularly large pile of junk in the corner, a tiny glint of something in the wall caught my eye. Not being able to make out exactly what it was, I navigated my way through the sea of garbage toward it. It took some maneuvering, but I finally got there. I finally made it to the wall, but, to my disappointment, it wasn't anything special. Just a golden sun painted onto the ancient wood panel was found there. I ran my fingers over the rays of the sun, almost feeling the warmth of something beneath it. Suddenly, the air seemed to ignite with sparks that danced around my hands and seeped into the wall. I yelped and stumbled backwards, landing on an old box that caved in under my weight. Where the golden sun painting had been moments ago, there was now a square hole in the wall. Unsteadily, I got to my feet and curiously looked at the hole. Inside was dark as night and seemed to go on forever. I shined my flashlight into the gap and found myself looking at the back of a circular, flat object. Carefully, I reached in and grasped the object, bringing it out into the open air of the room. I put more light onto the object and gasped. The markings on the back of the object seemed to shift themselves in front of my own eyes, transforming themselves into English. The words read that this mirror of Apollo and if I looked into it for more than sixty seconds exactly, I would suffer the curse of the god himself. I flipped around the mirror and looked upon its glassy surface. At first, nothing happened. All I could see was my refection. Soon, though, the face of the mirror burst into sparks that danced like fireflies over water, changing the image of my pale face with golden eyes. Images whirled over the surface and stained my eyes, leaving imprinted pictures of a face that I couldn't remember ever seeing but looked so incredibly familiar it was hard to say who he was. At the very end of the whirlwind of pictures, I saw myself as a twenty-year old, standing in front of the man with the glowing face and eyes like two perfect suns, my eyes. I pulled away just as a full minute ended. I turned the mirror over and put it back into the hole in the wall paneling. As soon as I removed my hands, the wall shifted back into the place, and the golden sun seeped into the wood. I sat down on the box I squished before during my fall and thought of what I had seen. I had replayed that face over and over in my head I found more familiarity in it. I realized who the man who radiated godly power was, the one I believe to be my father: the sun god Apollo himself. My brain tried to wrap itself around the chance that Greek gods exist and then I smiled. I know, somehow that yes, they do exist and he, the god of the sun and the future, is the father I've only dreamed about.