Dinner ended up being really quiet. My embarrassed face barely moved from looking at my plate, but I managed to study Donovan, Carmen’s husband. His face had creases around his forehead, mouth, and brown eyes. Thin hair and a thick face completed the picture, along with a bushy mustache. After choking down half of my dinner, I escaped to my room.
I fell asleep after reading just a few chapters of my book. The events of the day wore me out, and I didn’t wake up until the middle of the next morning.
Breakfast was a lonely affair; I was the only person home. Donovan had a doctor’s appointment, and Carmen went with him. Chelsea had been picked up by her friends a little while before. Amanda was on a soccer playdate at a local park.
All alone again, I decided to go for a walk. I put on my raincoat and boots and crossed the main road to the forest there. Everything was dripping from last night’s rain. I followed the lightly worn path, hopping over mud puddles. I strolled for ten minutes or so, until I spotted a huge fallen tree on my left, hidden between the mossy foliage.
I tramped through the ferns, moisture dampening my pant legs. The stump reached at least twice as tall as me and a gully directly below it made it seem even taller. I heard a creek trickling nearby. It would be a good place to build a shelter or fort, if the need arose. I dragged a couple viable fallen limbs to the gully and wandered back to the trail.
For another fifteen minutes or so, all I saw was undergrowth and tall evergreens. Deer stared at me curiously, then bounded away. I crossed a log bridge over a stream, probably the same one I heard earlier.
And then I spotted my other self, just the same as looking in a mirror. Seeing myself like this gave me the chills. I wonder if identical twins, separated at birth, felt this way. Seeing someone just the same as themselves for the first time in years.
The other me, carrying a crude woven basket full of blackberries, turned and ran when she spotted me. I chased her (wow, was I out of shape!) to her camp, marked by a smoldering fire and a makeshift shelter against a huge rock. I chased her for another quarter-mile, probably, all the way to the edge of the forest. Not wanting to get in the open, she gave up.
“What do you want?” she said between breaths, her words laced with venom.
“Just tell me what’s going on. Why you brought me here, how you brought me here, and how you can put me back,” I was just as winded as her. I held my hands up in the international gesture of surrender. “I want answers.”
She smirked. “How have things been going with the Thompson family? Lovable Amanda, selfless Chelsea, close Donovan, distant Carmen? Don’t you just love them all?”
“Actually, yesterday Carmen and I had a nice chat. I think she truly likes me. And Chelsea and her friends gave me a makeover, too. I think we’re finally starting to bond, now that you’re out of the way,” I sneered. I wanted to make her chase me back to the house so that I could return to my rightful place.
I saw her frustration and anger play out on her facial features. First, her eyes hardened, and she frowned. Her lip curled under, exposing her braces. She rushed toward me, hands out, trying to push me over. I sidestepped and she tripped and fell right into a muddy puddle.
She stood up and looked like she was dipped into chocolate, except for the various leaves and twigs sticking out. I couldn’t help but laugh, and steam literally came out of her ears. She charged again, this time taking me out at the knees. I’m not tall, but still have a long way to fall. The wind rushed out of me as she dragged me down.
The next few minutes were filled with wrestling, with a side of hair-pulling and scratching. Finally, I pulled myself free and sat on my opponent, squishing the side of her face into the dirt.
“Get off.”
“Why should I?”
“Get off!” She bucked and I slid off. Rain started to fall, and clouds covered the sun. I needed to get back home (Carmen and Donovan would be home soon), and I started jogging down the trail. A hand grabbed my arm, yanking me back. I hadn’t realized that she followed me.
“You want answers, huh? Let me stir up the fire and clean up a bit, and I’ll tell you.”
“Fine. Hurry up. The adults are going to be home soon.”
I watched as she added dry grasses that she’d stored and skillfully got a blaze going, adding bigger and bigger branches until a full-on log topped it. “Don’t let it go out. I’ll be back in a minute.”
In fact, it was closer to ten minutes before she returned, shivering. Her clothes and hair were soaking wet, which could not be pleasant, though an upgrade from all the mud.
She pulled a log close to the blaze, alternately facing it and facing away, like a pig being rotated on its skewer. “Sorry about the mud,” I told her.
“Eh, I’d have done the same thing,” she replied, her back to me.
“Duh.”
A time passed. I stared at the coals, the center glowing white-hot; the outskirts returning to their original gray.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“So tell me about the mirrors. What happened there?”
She sighed, then began. She seemed to be drawing her words from a deep part of her, one she tries to keep hidden. “My - our- father, as a hobby, researched and developed the special glass. However, a rival company set out to destroy his work. Unfortunately, they succeeded. All of his experimental glass was recycled, and his notes were destroyed. Two prototype mirrors were installed in our dimension. Donovan was a business partner of his, and allowed a prototype mirror to be added to his home. I know because I attended. Mirrors were placed in your dimension, too.”
“Did anyone ever travel across?”
“Dad did, once, and explained everything to your version of Dad, so that he knew about it. But no, no one else.”
“If they weren’t used, then what’s the point of using them?”
“Why did Edmund Hillary climb Everest?”
“‘Because it is there.’ Oh. They just wanted to see if it could be done?”
“Yeah, the scientific community was really excited about it. When they heard about the destruction, they were so disappointed. Most started boycotting the products of the rival company and its dependents.”
“That’s cool.”
“But then no one could reproduce the findings, even Dad. Without his notes, he couldn’t repeat the process. The scientists turned their backs on him. They believed it had all been a hoax.”
“That’s terrible. What happened after that?”
“A month or two later, Mom, Dad, and the boys went bowling without me, because I was sick, and there was a terrible car crash. The engine caught fire, and they all died before an ambulance could get there.” Her voice cracked, and I could see her shoulders shake as she sobbed. “My life… torn apart. Carmen and Donovan took me in, out of the kindness of their heart, and what do I repay them with? An apathetic adopted daughter who runs off and doesn’t get off with her new sisters. Sisters, that she wanted since she could…”
I sat next to her on the log and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, rocking gently back and forth. I wiped her eyes with my shirtsleeve, not realizing how dirty it was. I chuckled (maybe not the best idea, considering the circumstances) and tried again with a cleaner part of my shirt. She chuckled a little, too, and wiped for the third time with her damp sleeve. She blew her nose on a leaf and added another log on the fire, embarrassed that I had seen her tears.
“It’s okay, Taylor,” I told her. Wow, it was weird to use my own name.
“What have you and your whole family been up to? You know, in your dimension.”
“Let’s see, Thomas has shot up like a weed this summer, and he’s probably going to be taller than me.” I told her how I felt about it. “And Tanner is, well, Tanner. He recently learned how to whistle and it’s the most annoying thing in the world. He’ll just stop, look up, and let loose with an ear splitting little trill like a baby bird calling for food. It’s not like he can whistle a tune or anything.”
She chuckled.
“No, it’s not funny. Anyway, Mom and Dad are doing alright. Mom’s busy, as usual, and Dad’s working from home. And I’m just me. The oldest, low maintenance, just a piece of decoration. I feel left out, but I don’t want to join in. So I’m trapped in the middle.”
I didn’t want to burden her with knowing that I had a family and she didn’t anymore, so I wrapped up our conversation: “You know, Chelsea and Amanda aren’t so bad. Just give them a chance.”
“I will.”
We sat in silence for a little while, staring at the dying flame, which mirrored our conversation. So I added a log: “Will you help me go to my own dimension? This is where you’re meant to be, not me.”
“I guess. You want to stay the night here or should I walk you to the road?”
“Eh, the road would be good.”
“Okay.”
“Actually, why don’t you? You deserve a nice bed and a real breakfast in the morning. Also, the mirror that you broke needs cleaned up. What excuse will you give?”
“Amanda didn’t notice?”
“I don’t think that kid uses the bathroom, honestly. She must have a bladder of steel, because I’ve never seen her go in. I doubt she uses her toothbrush much either.”
She snorted. “Yeah, I noticed that too. I could just stammer sadly about how I had a mental breakdown, blah blah blah… I think they would take it, hook, line and sinker. Anyway, dinner and breakfast are in the basket. You do know how to start a fire up again, right? Nevermind, you’ll wake up when it gets too cold. Just blow on the embers, add grass and sticks, et cetera. You know the drill. The sleeping bag should get warm after a little while, and the pillow is there too.”
“Ew! A pillow? In the forest?”
“Calm down, it’s got a garbage bag wrapped around it. Still comfy. Maybe a little loud, but you’ll survive. Any tips on what to say to Carmen?”
“Just be nice, I guess. Try to bond. Play a game or something.”
“Sounds good. School’s in the morning, and I’ll go. Maybe we should take turns or something? Like, every other day?”
“I dunno. If we don’t, I will go crazy with boredom. You go to South? Or Mackson?”
“Mackson. They didn’t want me to change schools. But Chelsea goes to South, and Amanda goes to Orchard Place.”
“Okay. I should know a few people there, then. I’d like to try it, for one day, at least.”
“My friend group has really evolved during the years, but the good people are still there.”
“Oh, I want to hear all about it! You should fill me in tomorrow, after school.”
“Alright. See you tomorrow. Stay warm.”
“Bye.”
Two Hours Later
My brain is dripping out of my ears, I am so bored. The most exciting thing that’s happened since Taylor left has been a squirrel, getting within three feet of me because I hadn’t moved in so long. It’s freezing out here, even by the fire, and the mud on my jeans has dried and weighs me down as I walk. As slow-moving as my body is, my brain is roiling and bubbling like a pot of boiling water over the new information.
That was when I realized she didn’t tell me why she brought me through the portal. Were her actions based on selfishness? There was no way that her bringing me over was an accident, but what were her intentions? If our positions were reversed, what would be my reasoning?
I needed to clear my head, so I went for a walk. The paths were straight, allowing me to walk on autopilot and think, despite my efforts not to. The wind picked up, rustling the leaves and causing some to fall. The tall spruce trees bent and moaned in the breeze. I smelled sap and that iconic evergreen scent from all the branches that had fallen. I heard something crack above my head, ducked quickly, and ran; to no avail. A branch twice as long as I am tall hit the back of my legs, knocking me to the ground.
I gasped for air and panted, trying to get my wind back. My knees shouted at me. I knew they would be sore later. After struggling to my feet, I shoved the branch into the bushes away from the trail. My kneecaps were stiffening by the second, and pain radiated up with every step I took, but I knew I needed to get back to camp.
The wind had subsided indefinitely, and so I rushed as fast as I could to the campsite and wrapped a bandanna around my left knee, which hurt the most. A bruise had formed already. I didn't know what else to do, so I laid in the sleeping bag until I fell asleep.