The ghost in the mirror

Elliot looked through the mirror to see if anyone was on the other side. He saw nothing, slowly he put his head down in disappointment. Elliot died of liver cancer 3 years ago. He chose the mirror because, it belonged to his mother. Now he waits for someone, anyone to come and talk to him. The next morning Elliot heard the door open. He started to grow curious. “Who could possibly want to move into this house” he whispered to himself.

Then footsteps started coming up the stairs. A young boy about Elliots age entered the abandoned room. Elliot quickly hid from the boy. He had short blue hair and blue eyes. Elliot stared in awe. The boy was absolutely perfect. He had a lip hoop on the left side of his lip. “CARTER!” the boys mom called. Carter whipped around and walked out of the room.

“Carter” Elliot whispered to himself.  The day soon turned into dark and Elliot kept thinking about Carter. He wanted Carter's attention but didn't know how to get it. Elliot thought about Carter till the morning. He waited for hours, seeing if he could hear Carter's footsteps come up the stairs. As soon as Elliot was about to give up he heard the downstairs door open.

Footsteps ran up the stairs and straight into the room Elliot was in. Elliot quickly hid. He peeked to see Carter. Carter had 2 huge suitcases. Elliot smiled. Carter started unpacking all his stuff. Elliot watched him.

“He is so perfect” Elliot thought to himself. As Carter was un packing he looked at the old mirror. Elliot quickly hid all the way. He admired the old mirror. It was outlined in a silver metal and was cold to the touch. Hours flew by and Elliot just watched Carter, memorized by his every move.

At 9:18 Carter got up and took off his shirt. He took off his Binder and put on a sports bra. Elliot gasped out loud. Carter whipped around at the noise. Elliot quickly hid. “Hello?” Carter asked cautiously. Elliot had a choice. He could show himself to the boy he's in love with or he can stay hidden. Elliot walked slowly to where Carter could see him.

Carter gasped. “W..wh..who are you” Carter stuttered. “Elliot” Elliot whispered. “H..how did you get in there” Carter said slowly becoming more confident. “This was my mother's...i...i died of cancer 3 years ago” he explained shyly. Carter took a minute just to stare at Elliot. Elliot had jet black hair that was gelled up at the front, a black lip hoop, he wore ripped black jeans and a band shirt, he had bright green eyes and had a couple of freckles on his cheeks. “How old are you Elliot?” Carter asked smiling. “14” Elliot replied.

“Same here” Carter said nodding. “Well welcome to my old house” Elliot said smiling at the beautiful blue haired boy. Days eventually turned into weeks and the boys talked non stop. They had a connection no one could understand. “So you know i’m transgender right?” Carter asked Elliot nervously.

Elliot nodded smiling. “Does it bother you” Carter asked with his head hung low. “Not at all, you are perfect Carter, no matter what anyone else says, you are perfect” Elliot said so sweetly. “I love you” Carter whispered. “I love you too” Elliot responded.

It was official. This was the kind of love people only dream of but there is one flaw, they boys can never touch each other. They never will be able too. The morning came and Elliot helped Carter choose what to wear, as usual. He picked out a black My Chemical Romance shirt and black skinny jeans. They sang their favorite song Cancer by MCR together like they do every morning.

As the song ended Carter put his hands on the mirror where Elliots hands were. “I love you” Elliot whispered. “I love you too” Carter whispered back. Carter slowly backs away from the mirror. “I will see you after school Elli” Carter replied then left. Elliot loved his nickname because it was given to him by his favorite person, Carter. As Elliot looked down he saw Carter’s phone. He looked closer to see texts from a girl named Juana.

As he read the texts his heart shattered. Carter was cheating on him. Elliot used all the power he had to jump out of that mirror. He fell to the floor in Carter's room. He looked at his hands, they were human hands. Elliot got up, shook off his jitters and climbed out the window. As he landed on the grass a tear rolled down his cheek. He was fueled by hurt and anger.

He walked down the sidewalk and looked at all the strangers. They all looked at him disgusted. As Elliot found Carter’s school he felt his stomach drop. This was it, he was gonna actually meet the love of his life. He slowly walked up each stair. His heart racing faster as he walked on another step. hen finally he was at the top. The school was made out of bricks and had a stone white roof. He stared for what seemed like hours until he had enough courage to take one more step. He walked into the office to find out where Carter would be. The man sitting behind the tall brown desk lifts his head from the computer screen and gives him a glare, finishes his bite he had taken from his sweet, sticky glazed donut, and says, “Can I help you?” Elliot looks down and whispers softly, “Yes, I’m looking for Carter Nendez”. The man nods and goes back on his computer. “He should be in Mr. Benes’ math class” the man said to Carter. “Where is that room?” Elliot asked playing with his fingers. “Down the hall, 5th door on the right” the man said then went back to eating his donut and typing on his computer with the fingers he just licked glaze off of. Elliot nodded and started on his way to find Carter. As he walked he let his hand slid against the cold, cement  wall. He past the fourth  door, there was just one more until he got to a sign that read Mr. Benes’ class. His heart raced as he heard the bell. Students suddenly flooded the hallways. All the girls stared at Elliot,but Elliot was focused on someone else, Carter. Then, he saw him and all of his perfection. Elliot for a second forgot how Carter broke his heart. He stared until Carter looked his way,Carter could not believe his eyes. His jaw dropped, but he didn’t walk over there, Carter just stood there. Elliot ran up to him and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. Carter’s friends whispered behind Carter. Carter shrugged off Elliot and turned away. “Carter?” Elliot said tearing up with a studer. Carter just ignored him. “Ok...I guess everything you said to me was a lie.” Elliot assumed and quickly ran down the hall while sobbing for what had just happened . He ran up the stairs and just sat there. A tear rolled down his cheek. One tear turned to tens and soon into hundreds. Yet, no one asked what was wrong.

“Being a ghost was better than this” he muttered to himself. He felt someone sit beside him. He looked over to see a boy with blonde hair and dark shining brown eyes. “Are you ok, wait thats a stupid question of course you aren’t ok, what's wrong?” The boy examined and put his arm around Elliot. “Broken heart” Elliot vaguely spoke wiping away a tear that made its way down his cheek. “Well whoever did this to you they don’t deserve you, I would never hurt a boy like you, from what I can tell you are perfect, and do not ever let anyone tell you otherwise.” the boy ranted. “You are honestly the best part of my day so far.” Elliot said smiling at the boy. “Oh i’m Braylyn by the way.” Braylyn stated sticking out his hand. “I’m Elliot” Elliot responded  and shook Braylyn’s hand.

Braylyn took Elliot’s soft, small hand and gave it a little kiss. As Elliot looked up at Braylyn he started to blush. “I have to go to class now, maybe we could meet up again soon?” Softly Braylyn asked. “Of course...I...I mean sure that sounds good” Elliot embarrassedly spoke. Braylyn giggled and wrote something down and gave Elliot the little piece of paper. Elliot smiled at Braylyn as he walked to class. As Elliot started to walk down the stairs he saw Carter. Elliot gave him a look of hurt. “Elli please… ” Carter started. “No, I don’t want to hear it Carter” Elliot raised his voice. “Elli please?” Carter repeats. “Don’t call me that, why...why don’t you love me?” Elliot croaked on the verge of tears. “I do love you Elliot, it's just my friends don’t know about me being trans or that I like boys” Carter explained. “I understand, i’m not good enough, well i’m gonna leave since your friends are so important to you...goodbye Carter.” Elliot slightly shouted then walked past Carter and out the door. Carter collapsed on the stairs in a teary mess. He lost his chance, he lost what made him happy, he lost the love of his life.

Elliot walked into town he stared at all the buildings. His chest hurt more than ever. It felt like when he had cancer, he felt the burning and the hurt all over again. He held back every tear as he walked. He got to a park bench and just sat down. He remembered the piece of paper Braylyn gave him. He dug it out of his pocket along with his old phone. He set his phone down and carefully unfolded the paper. It read ‘remember you are perfect, no matter what anyone says, here is my number, I would love to be friends with you Elliot <3’ Elliot blushed at Braylyn’s sweet words. He then put Braylyn’s number in his phone. He sat there for hours, thinking about everything, Carter, Braylyn, just everything. He checked his phone and saw it was time school got out. He practically sprinted back to the school to see Braylyn.

As he approached the school a wave of students came running out. Then he saw Braylyn’s blonde hair. Braylyn caught a glimpse of Elliot waiting for him. He smirked and made his way over to Elliot. “Hey cutie” Braylyn said smirking at Elliot. “Hey” Elliot smiled shyly.  Then Elliot felt something poke his back. He turned around to see what it was and saw Carter. His blue hair in a mess, his face tired from running. He looked perfect. He didn’t say a word just hugged Elliot. Elliot pushed him away and Braylyn stood in front of Elliot. “Carter I can’t do it anymore, i’m breaking up with you” Elliot said with a straight face, but inside it killed him to say that. Carter looked like someone just shot him in the gut. His eyes glazed over with tears and his face turned red. “Elliot please, I need you in my life...please” Carter begged in tears. Braylyn stepped in. “Look I don’t know what’s going on here but Elliot doesn’t want to talk to you right now so I think you should respect his decision” Braylyn said calmly. Carter looked at Elliot one last time before running away. Elliot so badly wanted to run after him but then he remembered everything Carter did. Braylyn turned back around so he was facing Elliot. He took Elliots hands in his. “I have to go, please text me, bye cutie” Braylyn said then planted a kiss on Elliots cheek then started on his way to the bus. Elliot blushed fiercely. Little did he know Carter watched the whole thing. Carter’s heart broke, tears streamed down his cheeks. He ran home as fast as he could and locked himself in his room. His mind raced, his hands started to shake. He grabbed onto a chair to steady himself. Meanwhile back at the school Elliot felt this knot kind of feeling in his stomach. He knew something was wrong with Carter. He didn’t realize but he was already running to Carter’s house. He bust through the door and ran up the stairs. He slammed Carter’s door open to see Carter crying on the floor. Carter did not turn around when he heard the door open. He felt warm arms around him. Then he turned around to see Elliot. Without thinking twice carter hugged Elliot with all he had. “I love you so much” Elliot whispered in his ear. “I love you so much more” Carter responded not letting go of Elliot.