This week’s Fiction Friday prompt:
A covert trip into an attic reveals something unexpected.
I felt the need to pay homage to my favorite author again in this week’s Fiction Friday story. I have been wanting to write a story about this very subject for some time and I don’t know, it just seemed to fit.
And this is what I threw together.
A young freckle faced red head lad crept stealthily from his shared quarters at the Broddick School for Boys that fateful night. He had heard of the mirror in the attic, the one that could take you to places you can only dream to go. It was his mission that night to infiltrate the attic – it was a rarity to ever hear of a student who had – and find this mirror. As he silently made his way down the dark corridor, he imagined the place in his head he wanted to escape to.
It was soon after midnight that he found the stairway leading to the attic door. With much reservation he began to ascend. When he reached the top, he found the heavy oak door locked. Defeated, he turned around on the landing to begin his journey back to his room. As his foot landed on the top tread, he heard the click of the door’s lock unlatching behind him. He spun around, mesmerized by the sight of the door opening on its own.
A moonlit path led him effortlessly to the object of his desires. In the far corner of the attic amid wooden crates stacked as high as he, stood the mirror. It was the kind of full length mirror that one would normally find in the corner of a woman’s bedroom, a piece of furniture in itself, with legs and a stand ornately carved and pricey to buy. The paint on the frame had begun to peel what he estimated to be decades ago but the ash underneath as pristine as the day it was made.
The boy stood before the mirror, staring into its surface, back at himself and thought of the one place he could go to escape the tyranny that was his life. He was in the midst of reading Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story and longed to visit Boo’ya Moon. It seemed such a wondrous place, a place where he could go to truly be free. He spoke the words relayed to him by the upper classman that told him of the mirror “Mirror, mirror. I beg of you. Take me to the place I seek. Deliver me to Boo’ya Moon.”
The surface of the mirror began to fog and the objects in it began to change shape. A short while later, the lad found himself looking into the world of Boo’ya Moon. And it was exactly as King had described. He took a deep breath, gathered his courage, and stepped through the mirror.
Unfortunately for our young freckle faced red head lad, he had not yet come to the part in the book that told of the Long Boy that resided in Boo’ya Moon or of the reasons Scott Landon never stayed there after dark. Unfortunately for our young freckle faced red head lad, he was never seen again.
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I haven’t read it either but can assume something awful happened to him… I want to know what though!
Stacey´s last blog ..
I liked it. Even without having read the story this alludes to, it makes sense, and it works very well. Well done.
C. Janelle´s last blog ..Fiction Friday 166
I was so excited when you mentioned “Lisey’s Story.” When I saw that the boy wanted to visit Boo’ya Moon I actually said aloud, “Why would he want to go there?” It was great to see it play out. Finding out that he hadn’t yet read the truly scary part of the story and knowing what most likely happened to him when he did reach his destination. Great work.
I haven’t read Lisey Story either but I am familiar with most of Stephen King’s novels so I can imagine the ending. The story reminded me somewhat of Harry Potter; a mystical and magical adventure with a sinister twist. Good pacing and I like the way you left the end to the imagination of the reader.
Terry Haferkamp´s last blog ..-
After this piece and last week’s I have a slight suspicion that maybe you kind of dig this Stephen King fellow! That said if the freckly red headed boy had done his research or completed any other of the his novels maybe he wouldn’t have been so keen to visit Boo’ya Moon. I mean, I don’t intend to speculate on any property in Jerusalem’s Lot anytime soon.
Jason Coggins´s last blog ..Flash fiction 4- Shadows inside boxes
I think I know Stephen King well enough to guess at the ending, even though I haven’t read that particular story. Nice touch of irony, and a word of warning to those who always think the grass is greener. Well done!
Shelli´s last blog ..The Good House
Like the others, I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more had I been familiar with Lisey’s Story. But having said that I found it a most interesting read with a delicious open end!
I like how the ending is not laid out, allowing the reader to fill in their own gaps. The description of the mirror is spot on – I had a great image in my mind when I read it.
Well, I’m going to have to go read Lisey’s Story now (coincidently I saw it on sale at the library for 50p yesterday – I didn’t pick it up, but will probably have to go back for it now!).
I love the way you brought another story into your story again like last week. I find things like this very clever!
NewToWritingGirl´s last blog ..Fiction Friday 166 – In The Loft
I haven’t read that book either, but I didn’t need to to enjoy this story. It could just as well have been a fictional book by a fictional author, the twist worked.
mazzz_in_Leeds´s last blog ..Dogfish
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Walt, that was exactly what I was trying to achieve. You have to have read Lisey’s Story beforehand to know what happened to the boy. Or on that same token, you have to read it after in order to find out.
I probably could have been a little less vague with it though.
John Pender´s last blog ..Fiction Friday 166
I kinda feel like I just overheard an inside joke and don’t understand the punch line. Not having read Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story, I don’t know what happened to the boy and can only assume he is dead.
I think this piece was well done and flowed nicely throughout. It just kind of left me in the dust when you tied it into the Stephen King novel.
Walt´s last blog ..Memoirs of an Assassin 6 – Phantom Pain