• I sit here, and gaze up in wonder at the silent wanderers, the fairies pillows, human’s candyfloss. The silent observers, holding the knowledge to the past and the present. They will even hold the knowledge of the future, when the time comes…but now, not even the clouds can read the future’s fortune.

    The wind softly blows, swaying the branches of the tree that I am sitting in. The sun’s glittering shadow cast on the water sends bright light into my vision. Clouds are my safe haven, on which I can dream, and my imagination can escape from my physical being. I laugh softly as my soul dances among the fairies on top of the clouds, and imagine myself dancing and twirling on the giant pillows.

    The tree sways to the left, and I look down. A brown head pops up, and soon Harry is beside me. He sniffs and says: “They tree, taller than last time, aye? More to climb, higher than before.” I look down the trunk of the tree.
    “I think your right, it does seem to grow.” I slithered down the tree and beckoned for Harry to follow. He jumped down beside me.
    “I just climbed they tree, why’d we jump down again?”
    “Because, I think your right. I want to test it and see if it does grow.” I took out my pocket knife, and knelt down beside the bottom of the tree. I opened the knife compartment, and inscribed the letters:
    I.W _ H.B
    Harry looked at it sideways, tilting his head.
    “What’s that meant to say, aye?”
    “Indi Wyte, Harry Bentley.
    “Ah, I see. But looky here, missy, if they see that, we’ll be in a scoop.”
    “Don’t loose sleep over it. Why would they look at the bottom of a tree anyway?”
    “Okay, I see, but why’d you do that? What’s it got to do with they tree being taller?”
    “Well, it would probably take a while, a couple of years, but as the tree grows, the signature will move upwards.”
    “Silly cow!” Harry jumped up. “If it moves upwards, they’ll see!” I shook my head.
    “We’ll be gone by then; grown up.” Harry smiled.
    “Like they tree?”
    “Like the tree.”
    I climbed up the tree with Harry alongside me. We sat on opposite branches, bodies facing each other, but heads looking up to the clouds. “It’s so pretty up here, with the fluffy cotton buds up dere, and the play fields down there. Is so pretty, and soon it will go.” I looked at him, confused.
    “It’s not going to go anywhere. The clouds will always be in the sky, the grass below us.” But Harry shook his head.
    “Soon, you’ll go. You’re older. Then, I’ll be alone, and it won’t feel the same.”
    I smiled fondly at Harry. “Once I’m old enough, I’ll adopt you, and then we won’t have to be servants anymore. We’ll get jobs; you’ll be a butcher, and I’ll help you, I guess. I could clean the shop. We’ll live in a house above the shop; we’ll be happy.” Harry grinned, a wide grin from ear to ear, flashing the white teeth that were such a contrast against his black skin.
    “And I could chop up dead animals, and go shooting with my gun, bam bam!” he cried. I laughed and agreed with him.
    “You take such a pleasure in killing animals, but if it makes you happy, I’m in.”
    Harry sat on my branch and put an arm around my shoulder. “You’re a good friend, Indi, and when you go we’ll all miss you. But promise we’ll see each other again?”
    “I promise.”
    With my fourteenth birthday looming ahead, goodbyes seemed more necessary than hellos, and each moment that could be spared was spent with merriment to form good memories, not bad.
    The rule of once fourteen may be released was introduced my Maglen, the lady in charge of us servants. She had been at the house ever since she was five, and didn’t think it was fair, considering she was now thirty one. So she bought in the rule that once fourteen, you may be free to live your own life. This was partly because they couldn’t be bothered to pay adults, children were cheaper. Soon, I would leave, but Maglen made sure that I did twice more work than anyone else. Just to make the last half year a living hell.
    But I turned my thoughts away from this, and just let myself drift off. Drift away….
    My peaceful dream was shattered by the loud clang of the lunch bell. It was time for me to keep my worth at the House. My parents favoured their son – my brother, Derik. An artist, a mathematician, a scientist, a movie star…my brothers list goes on. A servant, a pest…my list. I joined my fellow servants and started to prepare the soup. I barely paid attention to the gossip that was circulating; I just kept concentrating on stirring the red liquid. The Top Chief’s booming voice rang out in frustration. “Bah! They demand wine! Expensive wine! The finest they’ve got! They’re also hosting to an important guest, so the most expensive cutlery. Double the soup recipe! Double the bread! Chop chop! On to it! Ah……Indiana, fetch two bottles of champagne. Quick quick! Chop chop!” I handed my wooden spoon to the trainee who would be taking my place, and ordered her to add more herbs. Then I dashed off to the wine cellar, located down the corridor, and down a flight of stairs. I opened the steel door, and raced inside.
    The room was quite large; in fact, it was the entire length of the dining room and the ballroom combined. The champagne was near the doors at the back, and I walked briskly down the aisles to the rows at the back. I ran my fingers over the bottles, skimming to see which one was champagne. I decided I’d better take two, but where was the other one? I hummed a random tune as I read, but then I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around, and there stood Derik. His blond hair was the same shade as mine, except his was short. His blue eyes shone against his olive skin. He was slender, like me – many said we looked like twins. Except he was older, and smarter, and more talented than I. I looked fondly at him, but noted menace in his eyes. He took a step towards me. “Little sis, funny how things should turn out. I’m the future heir to this house, and you’re a worthless pig.” He slapped my face. I flinched. “You see, our parents are obviously rich. But you’re their daughter too –“his voice became whiny, “- so they have to give the pathetic little wimps half of my money. My money, and it has to go to your pathetic excuse of a life. But, there is a way out.” He smiled wickedly. “If you were to die, I would get all the money. Or, if you were to, I don’t know…” his grin widened, “…disappear.”
    He pulled a big bag from behind his back and pulled it over my head. My scream was muffled from inside the bag. His picked me up upside down and walked, with me over his shoulder. I knew that he was heading towards the door at the back. My guess was proved when there came a creak of a door. He dumped me on the floor and slammed the door in my face. I could hear the key turning. I was doomed.

    I pulled the bag over my head and threw it angrily into the corner. Stupid Derik. Why does he have to be the perfect one? I slumped in the other corner. Something hard poked my bottom. I shuffled around. It was still there. I stood up, and looked down, expecting a nail. But it wasn’t. It was a little metal ring. I tugged at it, and it came up. My mind just screamed trapdoor! But I didn’t believe so. I would have seen it. But, just in case, I blew around the edges. As I had predicted, dust floated aside and the outline of a trapdoor could be seen. I grinned, and tugged at the metal ring. Nothing happened. That was when I noticed the key at the front of the large square. A lock. It was locked. A tear rolled down my cheek as I sat, hugging my knees. But then I remembered the bobby pin in my hair. Harry, the sneaky one, had shown me how to pick locks with it. As I slid it out of my hair, a side fringe sat on my face. I shook my head to push it to the side, and knelt down by the lock. I stuck it in, and turned, and turned, and then I heard a click. I smiled jubilantly, and lifted up the metal ring. This time, the square moved upwards. But it didn’t go up the whole way. I tugged a bit more. I stood up, put my feet either side of the square, and heaved. I groaned with the effort as I pulled the ring. My fingers ached, but this was the only way. Suddenly there was a pop! And I fell backwards. I laughed, even though my bum hurt. I was free.
    I slithered down the trapdoor, making sure I closed it. If Derik came in, I wanted no clue of where I had gone. I climbed down the rungs of a ladder until I came to ground. I patted the walls as I went, making sure the walls didn’t end abruptly. But instead of ending, it widened. My eyes adjusted to the light. There was a small circular window on the left wall, which fed some light from outside. The light was feeble, but enough to provide me some sense of what was in the room.
    I coughed the musty air and looked around. The room was very small, but filled with boxes. Heaps of boxes, stacked on each other. I looked around the room, searching for clues of escape. The window was too small for me to climb out; and I couldn’t open it and yell out, because there were no hatches. I turned around and studied the wall behind me. There was a light on that wall. But the window fed light directly to the opposite wall. Not the wall in front of me now. I turned around and stared hard at the boxes. There was a crack in the lines, in which a piece of glass could be seen. It was barely anything, but I felt the need to explore. I shifted the boxes aside. It was hard work, but soon it was done. A mirror was now exposed, but it was no ordinary mirror. It wasn’t dull and rectangular; instead, it was oval, and the design was peculiar. Its sides curved up, but when the gold frame nearly met at the top, instead of joining together, it pushed up and formed a koru on both sides. The reflected korus then rose up, then pushed up together again then curled under. This design fascinated me, and I took a step closer. Suddenly I felt nauseated, although I had no idea why. Until the mirror shimmered, and a ghost appeared.
    The ghost in the mirror had long, blond hair, identical to mine. Her eyes were a strange, sad grey colour, as if the life were being sucked out of them. Her lips were a pale red, and her cheeks were completely white, as if she were sick. She wore a long, dull brown gown, and her feet were bare. Her appearance startled me, and a wave of déjà-vu washed over me. How was that possible? I had neither seen nor been here before.
    She started beckoning to me; her lips mouthing come. I took another step closer, but then stopped. There was no where else to go; the mirror was directly in front of me. No where else, except into the mirror. But that was crazy…stupid, impossible…but suddenly it seemed a good idea. “INDIANA! WHERE ARE YOU?” I swore under my breath. I didn’t want Derik to see the mirror; for some reason I was very protective of it. I quickly pulled the boxes back to cover it. I moved quicker than before, and the job that had taken ten minutes took five. But then I heard a muffled ah ha… and knew that he had found the trap door. I turned to face the mirror again.
    The ghost-girl turned around; gazing with horror at something I could not see. Then she turned back to me. Her expression became strained and then the beckoning became more furious and quick. There was urgency in her eyes…pain in her look of exigency…something I could not ignore. So with that decision made, I stepped into the mirror.