Chapter 1: The Neal Family | 1.5 Family Dinner

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Laying on her cushy bed, Iris nearly fell asleep, but struggling against her comfort, she eventually sat up. Waving her hand, she tried to use magic but failed. This gave her pause. “Oh…” Disappointed, she recognized that her memories and what the mirror revealed were jumbled.

‘I need to do something about this.’ Looking at her hand, she worried about what she might do. ‘My family would notice sooner or later. I need to try and organize myself.’

Going to her desk, she grabbed a pen and opened an empty journal. Taking a moment to think, she discovered a side effect from the mirror. Future-related information gave her a headache, but her past memories were supernaturally clear as if they had been reinforced.

Thinking back, she understood. ‘That mirror showed my life, from birth to death.’ The thought sent a chill up her spine. ‘So…short.’ It was uncomfortable to know that she had only lived into her early 20s. ‘I-I want to live…’ Her eyes teared up. Recalling the hospital room, it didn’t incite a headache.

Sniffling, she vigorously shook her head. ‘No. I can’t be like this. I need to focus! That isn’t my future. Not anymore.’ Blinking back her tears, her eyes became clear as she looked down at the black journal in front of her. ‘…let’s start at the beginning.’ Holding the pen firmly, she wrote in a trance.

“Iris, dinner!” Hearing the shout, Iris stopped. Her trance was interrupted. Blinking, she came back to herself. Glancing at the page, she read the last few lines and discovered the time period. ‘This… I think this is around when I was three years old.’ Another shout came, so she quickly got up.

Stretching as she walked, she went downstairs for dinner. Everyone else was already at the rectangular table. Uncle Martin was at the end. Her parents sat at the long end while her twin younger brothers sat across from them.

Sitting down, Iris looked across the long table at her uncle. Everyone had already started eating. Her father, Mason, chatted with Uncle Martin about the move. Her mother, Casey, ate slowly while monitoring Iris’s twin younger brothers, Connor and Caster. Given the pressure from her mother, they only played with their food a little bit before eating seriously.

Having time to calm down, she controlled her emotions, but seeing everyone was still hard. ‘I missed them so much.’ With tender eyes, she discreetly looked at everyone while eating dinner. ‘Mashed potatoes and chicken…’ Cutting the chicken into bite-sized pieces, she ate slowly, observing everyone.

‘Dad and Uncle get along well. Mom’s the same as before.’ Holding back a giggle at her serious monitoring. Iris gazed at her brothers next. ‘The twins look so young. When they grow up, they’ll look a lot like dad and uncle… a twin…’ Iris hadn’t gotten along with them because of her jealousy.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

‘I wanted a twin…’ Her heart winced at the lack of an identical companion. She felt somewhat lonely. However, changed by the mirror, her feelings of jealousy were dampened. ‘Having an identical twin… It’s cool, but that’s all.’ She smiled bitterly, not completely convinced, but she had bigger regrets.

While Iris didn’t remember everything yet, she felt regretful. ‘I don’t remember them coming to my hospital room…’ Looking down at her plate, she tried not to frown. ‘How… bad was our relationship? Or maybe…’ No, she tried to stop herself from thinking that thought.

Despite her efforts, it sat on the edge of her mind slowly teasing its way into existence. ‘What if they died like uncle?’ She squeezed her fork tightly and her facial muscles twitched. ‘Don’t look up. I’m definitely frowning. They won’t notice if I don’t look up…’

Playing with her food a little, she tried to relax and think of other things. Having a vivid imagination was a curse in some ways. Doing her best to put on a poker face, she ate a little more before excusing herself from the table.

Looking at her retreating back, Casey spoke to her husband. “…Iris is still upset at moving.”

Mason tried to reassure his wife, “It will be fine. Things will get better once she starts school.” Grabbing her hand, he continued, “Just give her some time.”

Martin offered his time, “I can take her and the twins shopping or something while you two unpack.”

The twins perked up hearing him. “Shopping!” They celebrated despite it not being a certain thing.

“Oh, now you’ve done it…” Casey said while looking at them. “I guess, you guys can go shopping tomorrow while we unpack.” Everyone thought that it was too late to take back the offer.

Alone in her room, Iris had no knowledge of the plans for tomorrow. Determined to organize her memories, she once again started writing. In the zone, her pen continued to move throughout the night and early into the morning. Only stopping just before dawn, she collapsed into her bed exhausted.

Not long later, her mother, Casey, came into her room trying to wake Iris up, but her nudging and talking were ineffective. It was clear that Iris wasn’t going anywhere. Giving up, she left her daughter's room. Returning after breakfast, she tried again, but Iris wouldn't get up.

Going back and forth on different ideas, she left a platter of snacks for when her daughter eventually got up. Iris slept until a little after noon. Finally rolling out of bed, her stomach grumbled declaring its discontent at missing breakfast. With shaky hands from hunger, she found a plate of snacks on her nightstand. Picking one, she unwrapped a jelly plopping it into her mouth. ‘Tastes like a fruit vitamin. Well, it’s better than nothing…’

There were more individually wrapped jelly snacks and a large muffin. ‘Mom usually isn’t this nice. Maybe she’s going easy on me because we just moved.’ Reaching for more jellies, she ate the bite-sized snacks while changing out of yesterday’s clothes.

Seated on her messy bed, Iris looked around her room and decided to prioritize unpacking the boxes. After freshening up, she went on the offensive. Struggling against the tape, she ripped open all the boxes and examined the contents inside. It took her hours to organize the room.

‘In the past, I…’ She frowned recalling the move. It took her weeks to finish unpacking because she kept putting it off. In the end, she only accomplished it because her mother nagged about wanting everything unpacked before school started.