The musty, unpleasant smell of the store shrouded my nostrils and I coughed violently. I reached out a dainty hand to shift through the dusty clothes that hung on the rusted rack. The cold air from outside started to drift indoors, making breathing a difficult task, and my body shook in response. I continued my original motion: looking through the clothes on the rack. I moved shirt after shirt and then I found what I was looking for - a thick, furry jacket. I grabbed it up from the rack and tugged on the hoody to reveal the size and see if I could fit it. It was a perfect medium size on sale for 20 dollars, and my heart jumped a little because I could not believe that I had actually found a great jacket in this rickety, old and forgotten store. I maneuvered my upper body, draping the jacket over one shoulder at a time until it covered my torso. I then slowly and carefully approached the smudgy and foggy mirror that sat in the back of the store near the cluttered boxes and tacky furniture. I glanced through the almost translucent piece of glass, inspecting the jacket even further. The jacket looked better on me than I had expected. The olive color well-suited my brown skin tone, and the furry layer in the jacket kept me warm. There was black, cursive lettering etched on one of the shoulder pads of the jacket, reading "EJ". 

I moved closer to the mirror and in the corner of my eye, I saw a head of unkempt black hair and wild, muddy brown eyes stare intensely at me through the mirror, as if challenging me. My heart sped up and I glanced back, expecting to confirm this odd sight as a figment of my imagination. Instead, a disheveled woman grinned menacingly at me, seeming to take pride in my fear. I looked frantically to where this woman should have been standing, but no one stood near me. I reached my hand out to the mirror and placed a hand over the woman's place in the mirror. My heart threatened to escape and my legs became noodles, incapable of holding my weight as I could not confirm that she was a figment of my imagination. I felt her leathery skin beneath my calloused fingers, and her wispy hair brush against the backs of my hands. As I let my fingers linger over where the woman appeared in the mirror, she tugged my hand aggressively and fought to pull me towards her. I kicked and screamed, trying desperately to escape the clutches of her ice-cold, nimble fingers. Her fingers turned pale with the effort and I flailed my arms to fight against her power, like a fish writhing in a fisherman's net. She had already gotten a hold of me and pulled me through to a dark, smelly place. 

I felt around this cavern-like area, my hands scraping frantically at sharp rocks until they became bloody. I tried to steady my breathing and I crouched to the slimy, slippery floor beneath me. My salty smelling blood lingered in the air along with the dusty earthy smell. As tears fell down my cheeks and I rocked back and forth on the floor, yellow lights flickered on and blinded me while illuminating the woman whom I had just seen through the mirror. My eyes adjusted to see a cavernous place, jagged rocks jutted out from every corner, and it seemed that green moss was the reason for the slippery texture of the floor. There was no light aside from the overhead bulb that the woman had just turned on and there was no sign of escape. 

"I have been waiting for you," the woman smiled, flashing yellow as she approached me and wrapped her arms around my body, much to my discomfort. 

"Who are you?" I stuttered, scratching my back against the piece of rock behind me as I tried to put distance between me and this woman.

"You don't remember me?" she questioned.

"N-no. Should I?" my eyes shone with fear.

The woman stomped closer and yanked my head up so that my eyes stared into her orbs. Suddenly, her black curly locks looked a little more familiar and the thin lips shaped into a frown reminded me of my childhood. The scarred hands looked like they washed me and nurtured me once in my life. 

"Mother?" I questioned, tears welling up in my eyes, "Why did you bring me here?"

"I had to be with you, but I didn't mean to do it this way. The only way I knew how to was through this jacket," the woman uttered, pointing a thin finger at the now grimy jacket that clung to my shoulders. 

"So you mean when you went missing you were really down here?" I muttered, my voice hitching in my throat.

"I didn't have a choice,"

"So I finished my childhood without a mother, thinking that maybe this "missing woman" would be safe and show up on my doorstep! I had no idea what happened to you, I was practically on my own, and now you're telling me that you were just in some cave!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs.

"It's not like that."

"So then what is it like? Why are you here, and how can I leave? I don't want to spend another minute here,"

"I got stuck here. The jacket opened up a portal, and I was sucked into it just like you. I know how much you hate this, but there is no escape," the woman's eyes glistened.

I missed my mother for all these years, but I did not recognize the woman in front of me. My body shook and I fell to my knees in a rush to process everything. I frantically looked around trying to find any exit, and there was none. I was stuck here.