I was sitting on the edge of my bed, thinking about how terrible I felt after running from the cops. I wish I hadn’t done it or at least I wish I hadn’t been caught. I thought the cops wouldn’t see me speeding on the back roads. No one was ever out there and my headphones were in, so I couldn’t hear the sirens behind me… 

Suddenly I was interrupted, I heard someone calling my name. 

It was one of the many guards, “Heinz, come with me to the front office.” 

I headed toward the front, and as I was walking, I was hoping I wouldn’t get in trouble, even though I didn’t do anything.  The guards would find a way to add to my misery. 

To my surprise, however, I was getting bailed out. I wondered who. It couldn't be my mom. She had always told me to deal with my problems. I followed the guard to the gate where I saw an oldish lady with brown, wavy hair. She called my name. But who was she? The guard gave me my few things and sent me away.

      Who are you and why in the world are you bailing me out?  How do you know who I am? How did you know I was in that jail? 

 All these questions going on in my head but I ended up asking only one: “Who are you and why did you bail me out?”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

“I’m Rebekah’s mother, she's missing!”

What happened to her?” I asked, “I just wrote to her last week and got a reply back a few days later. She seemed to be doing well. What, are you two not getting along or something?”    

“No, well, we did get into an argument but it wasn’t that bad, and I only bailed you out because I thought you knew where she was going.”

“So, do you know where she's at?”

“No, she never told me where she was gonna go,” I said.

“So, do you know where she could be?” she replied, “Did you guys have any special place you liked to hang out?”

“Nope, But she would always tell me about that secret room in your basement that we could go in.”

“No, she ran out of the garage door, so she wouldn’t be in the basement.”  Heather snapped back.

We had no clue where Rebekah could be, but then it came to me.

“Did she have her phone with her when she left?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Rebekah’s mother replied.

Now, maybe, we could track her location.

We were able to track her and she was at her … GREAT GRANDMA’S HOUSE!

    Why was she there?

***

I wondered why Rebekah would be at her great grandma's house since her grandma was dead. I decided to call her but she didn't answer. I called her three more times but was still waiting for an answer. Why didn't she pick up? And why was her location not moving? Since I was unable to sleep, I snuck out to her Great Grandma’s house. I bet she didn’t think I would 

look there because she was so scared of that house. 

There were rumors that it was haunted. To my surprise, no one was there, but Rebekah’s bike was leaning up against the porch steps. I peeked inside. Glass was everywhere and a hole in the floor. As I entered, I had to be careful where I stepped because the floor was 

old and brittle and I didn’t want to fall through. I didn’t know why she would go to that house, because it was extremely run down. 

I looked around for any trace of Rebekah but saw none,  I was going to give up and leave when I suddenly saw blood on the floor.  This worried me. I also saw footprints in the dust, so I had to stay and keep looking. But what if it wasn’t her?  Could I be sure?  What if there is someone homeless living here? 

I slowly made my way through the house and found a stairwell. I crept down the stairs, pushing away cobwebs, each step creaking beneath me. It was dark.  I turned on my flashlight. While walking down the stairs I looked to my left and noticed an opening like a tunnel, but I was unsure whether to go in because if Rebekah got trapped in the tunnel, I might get trapped too. 

I just had to find her! Before entering the tunnel, I decided to write a letter saying where I went in case I got lost:

 “If you are reading this, my name is Ronnie, I entered this tunnel to find my girlfriend, Rebekah. She went missing and I believe she might be in here, but I am leaving this note so you will know I was last here if I go missing too. If I have service or my phone is not dead my number is (397) 794…”

Suddenly, I heard a loud CLUNK!  It scared me so much that I dropped my pencil down the drain. I couldn’t finish my writing, so I decided to slowly go forward, curious yet nervous about what I would find. As I approached, I came upon a gate. It was very rusty, and it squeaked when it moved. Then out of nowhere, it slammed shut by itself! My immediate thought was to try to open it, but when I tried,  I found out it was locked. 

I was so scared. Out of nowhere I felt something brush against my feet, and that scared me even more, then my vision went blank. 

***

I woke up and saw a large rat crawling across my toes. The strange thing about the rat was that it had only three legs and no tail. I wasn't scared because I had a rat as a pet when I was little. I snatched it up and kissed it. It might seem weird but I missed my rat, Steve. I liked this one. I named it Steven, in memory of Steve. I didn’t want to lose it too, so I took him with me. I had to continue on my way to save Rebekah. Slowly, I looked around trying to find who or what had dragged me. I noticed a mirror about 6 feet to my left. 

Why is there a mirror in a tunnel? I thought.

Out of nowhere, Steven jumped out of my hands and ran into the mirror. I was surprised! How did he go through a solid object? 

I wanted to see if I could go through it too. I stretched my left arm out toward the mirror, and to my surprise, it went through. I decided to see if my leg could go past the mirror. Yet again, it went through. Then I stepped completely into the mirror. It made me feel lightheaded and nauseous. 

My mind twisted and turned for a second, and then I stopped feeling sick. I got sucked through the mirror and landed on a hard wooden floor. Inside the room, it was old and musty.  I saw a rocking chair and marks in the dust that looked like feet. I also saw my clothes were changed into old-fashioned garments. The weird thing is that I hadn’t changed.

Where am I? I thought. This room looks very old. There’s Steven! As I roamed around, I heard voices from a different room. There were two, one sounded vaguely familiar. I ran as fast as I could, following the voices. “Rebekah?”

Yes? Who is that? 

Her back was turned to me so she couldn’t see me, but I knew it was her. 

She turned to look at me and I saw the happiness in her eyes when she saw me standing at the other end of the kitchen. Yet she needed clarification about why I was standing there. 

“Ronnie!! I haven’t seen you in ages. I’ve missed you! Wait, how did you know I was here?” Rebekah asked.

I told her that my phone said her location was in her great-grandmother's house, which was how I ended up there. We both stared at each other, processing what they had heard.

“So….” I asked, “How do we get out?” 

“Hey,” some lady replies, “why are you going to leave, you just got here-”

I was scared about who this was.

 “Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Rebekah’s great-grandmother, Gran for short,” then she asked Rebekah, “Is this your boyfriend?”

  “Yes,” Rebekah replied, “Gran, this is Ronnie.” 

“Wait, You’re Rebekah’s Gran. I thought you died like eight years ago!” I exclaimed.

Gran and Rebekah went on to tell the story about how Gran went into the same tunnel, walked through the mirror, and disappeared, everyone thought she died. So after giving up looking for her, they had a funeral and buried an empty casket. 

***

We started looking for anything to get us out. Rebekah thought that maybe if we came through a tunnel to get into this “world”, there might be a tunnel somewhere here that could bring us back. 

Gran spoke up. “I’ve explored this house pretty well, and the only unusual thing I’ve seen is the absurd amount of boxes in the basement.” 

I said, “We should try to go through the mirror that we came out of.”  When we tried it didn’t work. It was just a regular mirror on our side. Since that didn’t work, we went into the basement and started moving the boxes Gran talked about. Then out of nowhere, I heard Rebekah scream, “RAT!” 

“STEVEN!” I hollered.

“Steven? You’ve seen this rat before?” Rebekah asked, seeming confused.

 The rat scampered to me. I told Rebekah and Gran, “I found Steven in the tunnel and he jumped in the mirror, which helped me realize it wasn’t a mirror. Steven is the reason I was able to find you.”

Rebekah was about to argue with me when all of a sudden,

Gran yelled, “THERE’S A TUNNEL!” 

“Where?,” I yelled. 

“It’s hidden behind these boxes, but I think it is too small for us to fit through.”

Steven scurried around the boxes and ran into the opening of the tunnel. 

“Steven just went in the tunnel!” Gran exclaimed. 

“I wonder where it goes?” I questioned.

A few moments later we heard noises coming from behind us. So we moved those boxes to find another tunnel that appeared big enough for us to fit through and Steven was sitting at the entrance as if he wanted us to follow him.

“Wow! He did it again,” I said, “He found something hidden that can help us.”   

“ We should go in,” Gran said.  

“Ronnie, you go first. I’m too scared,” Rebekah replied. 

“Ok, I’ll go first,” I said, even though I was a little scared as well.  

Gran asked, “So, should I go in the middle?”

“Sure Gran, you should be in the middle,” Rebekah and I both agreed. 

We all slowly advanced, crawling along the cold, hard floor of the tunnel, dark as night, and soon we arrived at an opening, almost like a room. In the opening, there were two more tunnels, but they were both going in opposite directions. So we decided to split up. Rebekah and Gran took the tunnel on the right and Steven and I went into the tunnel on the left. The strange thing about these particular tunnels was that they were tall, tall enough for us all to stand up in. We said our goodbyes and decided if the tunnels ended, we should turn around and come back.

While I walked through my tunnel, I could hear distant noises which scared me, but I continued, trying to be brave about it. Then my tunnel came to an opening, but those noises were getting louder. I wondered if they were Rebekah and Gran. 

I heard a scream. It echoed through the tunnels. Whipping my head around, I looked to see who it was. Then I screamed, there was someone here with me. I wasn’t alone. 

“Wait, Rebakah? Gran?” 

Suddenly my vision cleared and there right in front of Steven and I was Rebekah and Gran. The tunnels ended up connecting. They were panting hard, like they had just run.

“What happened?!” I asked.

“There was a big fuzzy black spider! IT WAS TERRIFYING!!” Rebekah exclaimed.

I smacked my face.  

After the tunnels connected, there was an object on the wall that looked like a mirror. We thought maybe this would bring us back, so I put my right hand on the mirror, and it went through. 

“But what if it takes us to the future or farther into the past”, Rebekah said, sounding scared.

“Not it,” Gran shouted.

“Not it,” said Rebekah.

So, I guess I had to go through it. I stepped into the mirror hesitantly with one foot, then the other. I went fully into the mirror, coming upon a room I recognized. I looked behind me to see Gran and Rebekah walking through also. 

“We're back in Gran’s rundown basement, hopefully in the present!” Rebekah exclaimed. 

“There's where you fell through, like you told me,” I said. 

“We should go to my house, so my mom doesn’t worry too much.  She is going to be very confused and happy when she sees you, Gran,” I said. 

“Sure, let’s go, I haven’t seen Heather in years,” Gran said excitedly, “I’ve missed her so much.”

So we carefully made our way out of the basement, and through the house, making sure not to hurt ourselves in the process. I grabbed my bike and started walking it home, Gran and Ronnie following me. Soon we made it to my house, where my mom was looking outside for something or someone. 

“REBEKAH! RONNIE! Who is with you?” 

I yelled, “Mom, it's Great-Grandma!”

“My Grandma? Isn't she dead?” 

“No, she isn’t!” I shouted.

***

After she and Gran hugged, we told her how I found Gran and how Ronnie found me.  We also explained that Steven discovered a tunnel to get us back. Mom was too stunned to speak. She stared blankly, looking between me and Gran. 

“So this all happened because of a mirror?” Mom questioned.

“I guess you could say that,” I replied.

“Grandma, how are you not dead though?” Heather asked. 

“I went through the same tunnel and got trapped, just like Rebekah and Ronnie.”

“This is just all so confusing to me.  You went missing in a ‘mirror world’ and Rebekah found you, and Ronnie found Rebekah, it's a lot to take in…” Heather said with a sigh.

Later that day, Gran and Mom were talking, and Ronnie and I were having a separate conversation when, suddenly, Gran fell to the floor. We were all so startled. 

Mom yelled, “Someone call 911!”

Ronnie whipped out his phone and called the ambulance.

“MY GIRLFRIENDS GREAT GRANDMA JUST COLLAPSED! PLEASE HELP!”

“Please, calm down,” the dispatcher said, “What's the address?”

“7986 Bayberry Drive, OK, 47008,”  he said.

While we were waiting for the ambulance, Mom, Ronnie and I moved her frail body to the couch. 

A while later we heard sirens, and then we saw lights. The ambulance had arrived. The paramedics rushed in and took Gran to the closest hospital, which was 15 minutes away. By the time we got to the hospital, there was no chance of Gran surviving since she was 94 years old, and she just had a stroke. She was not going to make it. So we all gathered around her bed and said our goodbyes. The last thing she said before she died was “Go to my house and dig under the crabapple tree. There’s something there you should see…”

We were all too sad to think about what she had said, but I still remembered it. I couldn’t get it out of my head. It was all I could think about. I talked to Ronnie about it and he told me not to worry. But I couldn’t help worrying about it. My Gran told me to go dig under that tree so I had to do it. I was too scared to do it alone so I asked Ronnie if he would go with me. 

We went to the crabapple tree which was in Gran’s side yard, next to the garage. We started digging around the tree and after digging for 40 minutes trying to find whatever Gran was talking about, we discovered a metal box about two feet down. We carefully removed the 

box from the ground, and the dirt crumbles slid” down into the soft grass. We set the box gently on the ground and looked at the rusty old lock on it.

“How do we open it if it's locked?” Ronnie asked.

“Hold on, I have an Idea,” I said. “Let's hit it with a rock, since it's rusty it would be easier to break.” 

“Good idea, I’ll get one from the landscaping,” Ronnie replied excitedly.

Ronnie came back with a red, fist-sized rock. We hit the lock three times. It finally fell off. We opened the box. It squeaked as the lip came up, the rust rubbing against the hinges. Once the box was completely open, we looked inside. There were various old pictures and letters, but a single note lay on top, yellow and folded, I unfolded the note, and read it aloud:

Rebekah, if you are reading this, your mom isn’t who she says she is. You were kidnapped as a baby. Your real mom lives at this address:  5467 Fawn Lane, New Orleans, LA, 70726.

I was very concerned. If this was true and if Gran knew, why didn’t she do anything about it? 

“Maybe she was threatened,” Ronnie said. 

“By who?” I asked. 

“Heather maybe,” Ronnie said. 

“But why would she do that? She has been super angry with me recently, so maybe she was mad that Gran was actually alive and maybe Gran was the only other person that knew.”

This all frustrated me. I suddenly felt an urge now to find my real Mom. Ronnie was old enough to drive, but Louisiana seemed so far away. What if Heather wanted to hurt us, now that we knew this? All of these thoughts frightened me. 

“We can’t tell her. We just have to go.”