The Mirror Chapter 1

Chapter 1

As I walked out the door that morning I noticed five police cars parked on the street around my neighbor’s house. The front door was wide open and there was caution tape around the entire front yard. My curiosity got the better of me and I slowly walked toward the tape.

            “Excuse me sir?”

            The police man turned to face me. “What can I do for you?”

            “What happened here?”

            “We’re still trying to figure that out.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “The entire family that lived here was murdered last night.”

            My eyes immediately got glassy at his words. “What? You mean, George and Sam and J.J and Stacy and… they’re all dead?”

            “Yes ma’am, I’m sorry. Who are you?”

            “Sam was my, um, well, he was my boyfriend.” I felt a tear role down my cheek as I said the words.

            “I see, I think we need you to come with us for some questioning.”

            I nodded my head as the tears started to flow down my cheeks. If talking to them was going to help them find out who murdered Sam and his family than I wasn’t going to argue with them.

“So Ms. Taitano I understand your boyfriend was Samuel Stevens, one of the victims.” The detective woman sat down in the chair that was across the table.

            Tears were still rolling down my cheeks. I couldn’t believe it, Sam was gone forever. I was devastated. “Yes ma’am, Sam was my boyfriend.”

            “How long had you been dating?”

            “About 3 months.”

            “Did he have any enemies?”

            “No, not really. I mean, a lot of people at school didn’t really like him, but he never had any enemies that I know of.”

            The detective woman handed me a tissue and I gladly took it. I used the tissue to wipe my tears away. “How was he killed?”

            “We’re not sure exactly. The whole family was found bloody with multiple stab wounds, but not a single trace of ever being touched by anything besides the knife.”

            “I really wish I could help you more, but I can’t. I’m really sorry.”

            “That’s okay Taylor, but if you think of anything just call me, okay?” She slid a card with a phone number on it across the table. I picked the card up off the table.

            “I will, thank you.”

            I looked at my reflection in the one-way glass but it wasn’t my reflection. The girl looked like me, but her hair was all brown instead of blonde and brown and her eyes were as cold as ice. She smirked at me then put her finger to her lips.

            “Is everything okay?”

            With her words my reflection was back to normal. I shook my head from side-to-side to shake off the idea that my reflection was different. “Yeah, everything is fine.”

1 month later

As I walked down the sidewalk I looked at one of the windows and saw my reflection. Again, the girl I saw wasn’t me; she was that girl I kept seeing instead of myself. I quickly turned my head away. I had convinced myself it was just from the shock of losing Sam, there was nothing to worry about. It had been going on for a month and it started that day I was questioned.

            Further down the sidewalk I looked into another window hoping to see myself, but I was disappointed, there she was again. This time I lingered, I stayed looking at the girl in the mirror. She smiled at me but I didn’t smile back. Then she mouthed the words “follow me” to me. Then I saw her run off across the window. I don’t know why I did it, but I started to run the same direction down the sidewalk. I kept looking in windows to see where the girl was going. She led me into a thrift shop and over to a full length mirror. It looked like someone just wanted to get rid of it, there wasn’t anything special about it from the looks of it.

            I looked in the mirror and saw the girl again. She smiled at me again then she mouthed the words “buy this” to me. I had no clue why I was seeing someone else in my reflection or why she was telling me to buy a specific mirror. She vanished just like always once someone said something to me.

            “Can I help you?”

            I turned around to face the man behind me. “Um, yes, how much does this mirror cost?”

            “20, but everyone ends up giving it back.”

            “How come?”

            “Don’t know.”

            “Well um, I think I’ll take it anyway.”

            “Okay, right this way miss.”

I don’t know why I did it, but I did, I bought the mirror the girl told me to buy and I placed it in the corner of my room. After placing the mirror I grabbed the small picture frame on my dresser and looked at the picture inside of it. My eyes got glassy as I looked at the picture of Sam and me. He was quite a bit taller than I was so he was bending down slightly so he was able to have his arm around me and still be in the picture. We both looked so happy together. Our smiles were the biggest they had ever been sense we had gotten together.

            We had been neighbors for as long as I could remember and I had the biggest crush on him for years. There was just something so special about him, I wasn’t sure what it was but he was amazing. His hair laid so perfectly and it was the prefect shade of chocolate brown. Then his eyes, oh his eyes were so enchanting; they were the most wonderful shade of icy blue. I missed him more than anything.

            I placed the picture frame back where it was on my dresser. Then I stood in front of the mirror and at first I saw myself, but then the reflection changed and I saw the other girl. “Am I crazy?”

            “Not at all.”

            My eyes got wide, I had seen her mouth words to me and I had seen her for a month but I had never heard her speak. “What’s going on?”

            “Don’t worry.” She chuckled as a smirk crossed her face. “Everything will be just fine my dear.”

            I was starting to panic; there was seriously something weird happening to me. I had to have been going crazy. Then if things couldn’t get any weirder the girl in the mirror reached out and grabbed my wrist. I froze as I felt her cold hand around my wrist. Then the next thing I knew I was in a dark room and my back was to the mirror. I whipped around to face the mirror. In the mirror I saw the other girl in my room instead of me. She chuckled and then she walked away from the mirror. “Wait, where am I?”

            I was about to put my hands on the mirror when I saw someone behind me in the mirror. Then before I could react there was a needle in my neck and the world had gone blurry and then to black. I was out cold.

When I woke up my vision was blurry but once my vision cleared I noticed I was again inside an interrogation room. It was the second time I had been in an interrogation room in just one month. I looked at the mirror that was the one way glass and I expected to see the girl that wasn’t me, but I just saw myself.

            It didn’t take long for a woman in a black skirt suit to come into the room. She was kind as she asked me questions, but I couldn’t answer any of them, my answers were always “I don’t know” because I didn’t know. Once she left I was alone for a long time. I had no clue what they were even talking about. I stared at the mirror for a long time but I never saw that other girl, all I saw was myself. It was a relief but it was also beyond confusing. I only broke my stare when the door opened again. A man with a very serious expression on his face came and sat down across the table from me.

            “How does the mirror work?”

            “I don’t know.”

            “How does it work Ms. Taitano?”

            “I already told you I don’t know. I just bought it from a thrift store, what’s it supposed to do anyway, it’s just a mirror.”

            “You know as well as I do that that mirror isn’t just some mirror. Now I’m going to ask you again; how does it work?”

               “I don’t know!”

            “Yes you do!” He slammed his hands down on the table and stood up from the chair. “Tell me how to work the mirror or you’re going back into that cell of yours for the rest of your life.”

            “What cell? I have no idea what you’re even talking about.”

            The anger inside him was rising and I could tell, but I had no clue what these people were talking about. I saw the man’s anger take over as he was about to hit me across the face. Before his hand could make contact with my face someone grabbed his arm. I looked at the person who stopped the man from hitting me and I started to stare in shock. The boy looked exactly like Sam except his eyes had anger in them and his hair was a lot darker than chocolate brown it was jet-black instead.

            “We do not assault people we need information from agent Jackson. Get out, now, and that’s a direct order.”

            Agent Jackson pulled his arm from the boy’s grasp and stormed out of the room slamming the door behind him.

            “Sam? I-is that you?” I felt my eyes get glassy as I said the words.

            The boy turned his head to look at me. “How do you know my name?”

            “So you are Samuel Stevens?”

            “Yes, how do you know that?”

            “We’ve been neighbors for like ever and I’m your girlfriend, don’t you remember that at all?”

            “Yeah we were neighbors, but that was like, 6 years ago. And I’ve never dated you Taylor; I don’t have time for dating and not to mention I would never date a terrorist.”

            “A terrorist? I’m not a terrorist; I’m just a normal teenage girl.”

            “No, you’re not. You’re part of the group of people that killed my entire family that have started using that mirror to continue their conquest.”

            “What? I would never do that! I love Stacy and George and J.J and the rest of your family. I was completely and utterly shocked when I found out you and your entire family was murdered a month ago.” I felt a tear roll down my cheek as I spoke.

            “A month ago? My family was murdered 3 years ago and I wasn’t there when they came and killed them.”

            “What?”

            “Oh no.” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “You’re not the Taylor Taitano from here; you’re the other Taylor Taitano. Which means the terrorist Taylor is now in your world.”

            “I’m sorry but I’m not following.”

            He sighed and took the seat across the table. “I’m not really supposed to tell you details but, I think I’ll make an exception for you.” A small smile came to his lips and I almost thought his smile was more amazing than my Sam’s was. But of course it was only a small one so yeah, almost, not quite, but almost.

            “Why? What makes me so special?”

            “You knew the other me, and just lost your boyfriend. I may take my job seriously, but I do have a heart.”

            I couldn’t help but smile. “So what exactly is going on?”

            “Well, first off, there are two different worlds that are the same yet different. All the same people are born in each world; however people choose different paths in each world, so things that happen in one world may not ever happen in the other. For instance, the Twin
Towers were destroyed in your world but they’re still standing to this day in this world. Also, I’ve noticed that even though the same people live in both worlds they may or may not look different, and more times than not they act different.”

            “So that’s why the other me has brown hair and mine is blonde and why the Sam I knew had chocolate brown hair and you have jet-black, right?”

            “Exactly.”

            “And because different events happen in each world, your family was killed 3 years ago and you survived whereas just a month ago the entire Stevens family including the other you was murdered, right?”

            “Precisely.”

            “And also because people take different paths is the reason the other me is a terrorist and I’m not, right?”

            “You catch on fast.”

            Again, I couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you. So what’s the deal with the mirror everyone’s been asking me about?”

            “That mirror is the portal between our two worlds. Of course, we’re not sure exactly how it works, all we know is that’s how the terrorist organization the other you is in is getting over to your world.”

            “I see. What are they doing exactly?”

            “Have you been hearing of a lot of unexplained and unrelated murders lately?”

            “Yeah, I have actually.”

            “Each person in the organization has special abilities, and they want to be the only ones with those special abilities. They’ve already gotten rid of a lot of the people with special abilities here so they’re moving on to the ones in your world. They’re the ones who killed my family and I’m sure they’re the ones that killed the other Stevens.”

            “Oh my gosh! That’s terrible!”

            “I know. But I am going to stop them. We tried stopping the other you before she used the mirror, but she escaped her cell and we were just a little bit too late.”

            “Please let me help, I can help, I have abilities.”

            A small smile crossed his lips again. “I figured. I have abilities too. I just don’t let the people I work with know that. Over here, if you have an ability and the government finds out you’ll be locked up forever because they will think you’re with the terrorists.”

            “But aren’t they monitoring our conversation?”

            “No, they’re not. I interfered with the signal; all they see and hear is static. I have the ability to control machines and to manipulate metal. I assume the other me had that ability as well?”

            “Yes, he did.”

            “Can I assume that you have the ability to move objects with your mind, to create an electric sphere, and to turn into a shadow and make people see their worst nightmare?”

            “Yeah, I have all three of those. Do you have the ability to teleport within a 2 mile radius and absorb lightning and then shoot it out of your hand too?”

            “You bet. Listen, you can help, but if we’re around others no using your abilities. If you do, they’re going to put you in the same cell we had the other you in got it?”

            “Got it.”

            “Good.” He stood up from the chair and reached out to take my hand. I smiled and gladly took his hand as I stood up. His hand was warm just like my Sam’s was but it felt different, I’m not sure how but it was different. He led me out of the room and into the room where the others were trying to figure out what was wrong with the equipment. I look at one of the screens and saw the room came back onto the screen.

            “What are you doing agent Stevens? She’s the prisoner.”

            “She’s not the Taylor Taitano we want, we were too late.”

            “But doesn’t this Taylor Taitano have abilities too?”

            “No, she doesn’t. Different worlds, different people.”

            “But-”

            “No buts agent Jackson, you do not argue with your superior. She’s going to help us. Once we figure out how to work the mirror we can get the Taylor we want.”

            “Yes sir.”

            “Go follow that lead on the organization.”

            “But we haven’t-”

            “Don’t worry about the equipment failure I’ll take care of it, just go, now.”

            “Yes sir, right away sir.” Without another objection agent Jackson fled the room.