I made a story that made her cry. Made her smile. Made her laugh out loud. Made her throw the book (or possibly Kindle) across the room. Made her hate me or my characters. Made her love me or them. I inspired her, got her through her problems, made her day, and influenced her.

I never knew the girl, but she knew me.

She could have been the one who sent in fanfiction, fanart, or fan mail. She could have also been a he, or a they. They could be just a few local strangers, or all across the other continents. Whoever they are, they appreciate my work, and despite having never met some of them, they know that I appreciate them too.

I don’t know much about them, but boy, do they know about me!

I never knew the girl, but she knew me.

"Hello, Tara and Monika!!" A dark skinned girl said as we passed by on the street on our way to school.

"Who is she, Momo?" I asked as she and I waved back at her.

"Who? Last time I checked, you knew everyone." Monika, an elven folk like me, said with a smile.

"That dark skinned girl. She said hello and I don't know who she is or how she knows me." I said as we got to the gates of the Elven University.

"Anyways, see you at lunch." Monika said as she skipped off to her class, leaving me all alone.

I sighed and walked through the gates and bumped right into... I knew it. I bumped right into Darius. I lowered my head and walked around him and his group. They grabbed my bag and yanked backwards. I fell to the ground and they started laughing as I sighed.

"Watch it, nerd." Darius said as he laughed.

I ignored him as I stood up and walked to my first class of the day. I walked in and sat down at a desk near the door. The bell rang and got lost within my thoughts.

'Who is she? Who was that who said hello to Momo and I? How does she know me? Have I met her before? I haven't seen her around here lately. I wonder if I have any classes with her. Is she with anyone that I know? Who is she? I never knew this girl, but how does she know me?' I thought to myself.

"Tara!! Tara Lerandor Diera!! Pay attention, now. What do you get when you mix a White Rose with White sage and Aloe Vera?" The teacher asked me with a stern look.

"Ummm... You cannot mix a white rose with white sage and Aloe Vera. The Aloe is a moisturizer and the white sage makes your skin or wounds heal. The rose alone smells good but can kill you if mixed with the aloe vera and the white sage. It turns into either a Death Goop or a Killing Potion." I said as I explained quickly.

"Good, Mr. Diera. That is correct. Can everyone pick a partner and make at least one vial of this Killing Potion?" The teacher asked as she wrote it down on the board.

Everyone else paired up until there was only two of us left. It was a little purple eyed little elf about my size nicknamed tiny. She smiled and went to grabbed the ingredients. I noticed she had grabbed more than what she was told. She came back with 2 Aloe Vera Leaves, 6 Roses, 3 White Sage branches, 4 vials, a Granite mortar and Pestle.

"What is with the extra ingredients?"I asked as she got to my table.

"Well, I thought maybe we could make a couple extra for us. If that is okay with you." She said as she set them down.

"I... umm... It is fine, Tiny. I will do all the mixing and pouring into the vials. Can you take the petals off of the roses and put them onto this paper? Can you also take the leaves off one branch and put them in the mortar?" I asked as I put a paper on the table.

She nodded as I went to get a bowl for the aloe vera. I grabbed two bowls and walked back up to the table where Tiny and I were working. She nodded as she carefully plucked each petal and sorted them out as I scraped the Aloe out of the leaves and into the bowl. We separated the leaves from the branches and put them in the other bowl. I put 10 rose petals, 2 spoonfuls of Aloe Vera and about 3/4 of a branch of White Sage into the mortar. Then, I crushed and and mixed until it turned into a liquid form. I opened the vial and poured it into the vial. I put a spray head in the vial and set it off to one side. I did the same amount of Aloe Vera and White Sage with 25 rose petals. I did the same for all the vials and adding 5 Petals to the rest of them. I ended up with 6 vials, each with a different strength and different scents.

"Good work, Mr. Diera. Ms. Ling, you need to help out a little more." The teacher said as she looked at our work of 6 vials.

"Madam. Even though I did all the work, she helped me by getting extra ingredients and she came up with the ideas to add scents so we can differentiate the strengths of each vial of Killing Potion." I said as I cleaned up the Mortar and Pestle.

"Good job, Ms. Ling. You two are a great team." The teacher said as the bell rang.

I put the Mortar and the Pestle away. I took three of the vials but Tiny stopped me as I went to walk away.

"I don't need these vials. You can take them, Tarantula." She said with a smile.

I nodded and took the other 3 vials. I put them in my bag and went to my next class.

The rest of my classes had that mysterious dark skinned girl with blonde hair and white eyes.

Is this how she knew me?

I never knew the girl, but she knew me. She would peer into the glass and look for me, every day, hoping to find me, to get to me. But she could not. She would have told me she wanted to be me. I never knew the girl on the other side of the mirror. But she knew the boy on this side. She has always known. My reflection sees me now, once again. She is ashamed of me. Of herself. She knows she is the part of me I despise. But she is only a reflection. What can she do?

“The best and most beautiful things in the world can not be seen or touched, they must be felt with the heart, Helen Keller” Mary stared at the quote in her book her 8th grade teacher had gifted each of the students. “What does that mean” She demanded, anger and frustration radiating off her like 400 degree oven. “I’ll show her kind” Mary continued to herself sarcastically, her brown eyes bright with anger. She, then, attempted an evil smirk as her master plan coming into place, she would be so rude and vulgar Ms. Caerleon would see how nice Mary used to be. She left her room to get a snack. “Maybe I should eat the last apple” she thought flipping her wavy blonde hair over her shoulder. “Yes, that’s a good start,” she deduced, but then a cry of fright brought her head down from its dark thundercloud.

Her younger sister, Layla, tripped dropping an ice cream cone. Mary automatically reached her arms out to save both Layla and the ice cream from gravity. She pulled her up and handed Layla her ice cream. Layla threw her arms around Mary’s waist “Thank you, Mary, Your the nicest sister in the world”. Mary suddenly felt surge of bitterness “ That the opposite of the point , I’m supposed to be vulgar!” She yelled, running down the stairwell next to her, out the back door, and into the garden, leaving her sister confused. Mary sat there, fuming, for a few minutes. “How, How can I be cruel if I can’t even be disagreeable to my own sister?” she scolded herself mentally.

Not long afterwards, her older sister Danielle, who had already graduated high school, joined her on the bench. Mary stared at the purple tulips in the flower garden, “I didn’t know I could contain so much anger over such a simple phrase,” she paused to look into her sister’s eyes, “ I thought I knew myself, but the girl, I just was, she’s was a stranger, but she knew me. “I never knew the girl, but she knew me.” Danielle didn’t say anything, she just hugged Mary conveying all of her emotions. “She scares me, Dani” Mary admitted, “because she is me,”. Danielle only hugged Mary tighter “She is your demon, but your angel can conquer her; she already forced her to retreat.”