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Susan looked down into a puddle that was quickly forming in the steady rain. She saw a reflection of herself. Her nut brown hair; her nut brown eyes; her nut brown freckles sprayed across her button nose. Everything seemed so, ordinary, So boring. She thought. Something’s just stay the same, but why do I have to be one of them?

She sniffed, and wiped her nose on the back of her sleeve and looked in the puddle one more time. There she sat. Sad, and lonely, looking sour as a lemon. But then, quick as a flash she winked. Or rather her reflection winked. Susan froze unable to tear her eyes from the doppelganger staring up at her from the watery mirror. There it was again! Definitely a wink! But that couldn’t be possible, Susan hadn’t winked. And then the most extra-ordinary thing happened, her reflection grinned, tilted her head and beckoned Susan to follow her.

“What? Do you want me to follow you?” she asked the puddle, her voice cracking with uncertainty. Her reflection grinned from ear to ear and nodded her head. “But…how?” The reflection smiled at Susan, and then lifted her hand and pointed one slender finger at her. Susan stretched out a finger gingerly touching its tip to the surface of the puddle.

If Susan had been paying close attention, perhaps she would have seen the reflections eyes twitch, just slightly, barely noticeable. If her mother had been there she would have noticed the twitch, she always noticed when Susan twitched; and the twitch always meant the same thing. It meant that Susan was up to no good. But her mother wasn’t in the alley, and Susan wasn’t paying attention the reflections eyes.

Her finger grazed the surface of the silvery water, just for a moment. Just long enough to tell that the water wasn’t water at all. It was something much thicker, much colder, and much more frightening. And with a whoosh, and a splash, Susan was gone.

NaNo WriMo

"Art for art's sake does wonderful things to you. It makes you laugh. It makes you cry. It makes you want to take naps and go places wearing funny pants. Doing something just for the hell of it is a wonderful antidote to all the chores and "must-dos" of daily life. Writing a novel in a month is both exhilarating and stupid, and we would all do well to invite a little more spontaneous stupidity into our lives."

Well, I'm going to do it. I'm participating in NaNo Wrimo for the very first time. Wish me luck!