CHAPTER 9 - DEAL OR NO DEAL?

What to do?

The damn creepy salesman was gone, and I’m stuck with a mirror that introduced me to a version of myself that I don’t very much like.

On his way to becoming a sheriff without his best hand even functional enough for a gun? His James retiring, his Bob dead, and his Jane gone?

Too many differences between his world and mine, and I’m supposed to believe that the only difference between me and him is our dominant hands? Yeah, right.

This guy’s not good news at all. He seems relatively peaceful now, but I can already tell my reflection isn’t all he seems to be.

I need a way to destroy this mirror before he gets any bright ideas.

I need to–

What was that noise?

From inside my bedroom, I heard a thud like an object just got thrown around. Rushing to my room’s door, I busted it open.

Looks like he got his bright ideas.

Standing in front of a mirror that had just been flipped over was my reverse counterpart.

“What are you doing here? We agreed to talk when I woke up,” I said, glancing toward my gun still on the ground.

“Well, after you left, I just had some thoughts. If a bullet of mine can go through, then I should be able to go through as well. I just wanted to see if we could co-exist in the same space or something, ya know?”

“No, I don’t. I’d like it if you–” My voice stopped in its tracks as I noticed the burned hand of his was on the opposite side now. It was on his right hand, matching my own save for the lack of bandages. “Your hand.”

“That’s what I was going to tell you. When I crossed over, my body reversed and now it’s like you.” He waved his left hand, now free of its injuries. “It feels like I’m all healed up here now.”

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Would this mean if I crossed over to his world, I’d be back to– Stop it. Focus on the bigger issue here, William. Your doppelganger just invaded your world.

“Okay, that’s neat and all, but I need you to go back to your world. It’s not right for you to be here.”

He scoffed and pointed to the mirror. “And it’s not right for that to be a gateway to another world, either. There’s a lot not right, but my left hand being healed here isn’t.”

I didn’t like where his thoughts were going, but I couldn’t help my thoughts from going in the same direction.

He continued, “We both met because of a mysterious mirror. We both were the best shooters in Easy Breeze. We both got burned in our dominant hands and, now, we both have the opportunity to get back what we lost. There’s a lot of coincidences that are lining up to be too strange to be ignored… well, it’s fate! And we got to follow it. That’s what my heart’s telling me.”

“And you want to trade places, is that it?”

“Not trade. No, this was meant to happen. It’s not a simple transaction like that. We were born in the wrong worlds, and that salesman of yours must’ve been a god that’s trying to fix it.”

Oh, boy. I mean the idea of being in a place that allowed me to be in the best version of myself was appealing. Really appealing.

But this “god” stuff was giving me some red flags when it came to my reflection’s mental capacity. If that salesman was a god, then he sure didn’t seem like the type to do a good deed for no reason. Or maybe I’m too harsh on judging people for their appearances.

“So how bout it? Let’s swap,” he said grinning. He stuck out a hand. “Deal?”

“Let me think on it.” His grin fell a little smaller, only a slight bit but still noticeable.

“Fine,” he said, laying on my bed. “Tell me when you’ve decided.”

The guy really wanted this to happen. He didn’t even ask about whether or not I met with the salesman again. I knew when someone was hard set on something, so I knew how hard it would be to get them to change their mind.

But did I really want him to change his mind? I’m definitely not leaving Jane behind with this “it’s fate” lunatic, and I’m not going to leave without notifying James of the guy, that’s for sure. I don’t have any real proof, but everything about him just screams bad to me.

If Jane comes with me, she’ll be safe… but would she even want to come with me? It’s a whole other world, similar or not.

Maybe I’m the psycho, but when I look at everything I want to do, the main obstacle is the mirror image in front of me.

I need to kill him.

“Hey, I’ve come to a conclusion.”

“Yeah?” he asked, sitting up.

I grabbed his hand and shook.

“It’s a deal.”