I don’t know how long I was unconscious.

When I woke up, I couldn’t see anything, and my head was spinning. I looked around hoping the world would become clear around me, but it didn’t, it was total darkness. One thing I knew for sure: I wasn’t in the garden anymore.

“Are you awake?” A silent, scared voice broke through the darkness. It was Joe.

“Joe?! Where are we? What is this… are we in a car?” As all my senses started working again, I noticed that the “room” was moving. It was moving fast.

“We’re in a truck. After Mónika… after they shot her…” Joe burst into tears. He was desperate. I was desperate. This whole thing was… unreal.

I wished it was just a nightmare. I was trying so hard to wake up, to really wake up this time. But it wasn’t a dream, it was the cold reality: our friend’s mirror-self was murdered in front of our eyes.

“Even if we didn’t know her… I mean, she was from the 6th region, why would anyone-“ Joe suddenly fell silent as the vehicle stopped. Somebody slammed the door, probably the driver. And now he was walking towards the trailer.

Somebody opened the doors. A tall man with a huge beard, around his forties, was looking at us. Then 3 other men in suits and with sunglasses (even though it was still dark), appeared behind him.

The guy with the beard stepped back, and one of the bodyguards (at least they looked like bodyguards) got on the trailer, grabbed Joe, and just threw him out to the others.

He tried to resist, but they were huge, we didn’t have a chance. I tried to shout and help my friend, but at the same time, he threw me to the ground too.

They picked us up, holding like some prisoners. No words were said, all of them, including the driver just did their job silently, and although we tried to escape from their hands, it was just unnecessary waste of energy.

I wasn’t a big fan of sports (except soccer which I enjoyed occasionally), so I had no big muscles, and even though Joe was quite tall, he was skinny, so he didn’t put up much of a fight either.

As I looked around, I noticed a huge, old-looking building in front of us. It resembled a factory, with two big chimneys.

The construction had two small and one main building in the center.

  When we entered, I saw a few guards with guns. There was some sort of reception, where the driver held up a card and they let us in.

They took us to a poorly lit room, with two chairs and a table in the middle. They released us and left without a word, locking the door behind them.

When I looked at Joe, I let out a few tears. I sat down, ready to be digested by all my feelings, thoughts, worries.

“Seph…” Joe didn’t sound that sad this time, rather than a person who lost hope. I could feel that.

“Right after Mónika… collapsed, you immediately blacked out. When I became fully aware of what happened, that’s when I realized that the guy with the beard, the truck driver, was standing in my garden with a gun.” His anger started to form, the sadness started to fade.

“That bastard… I didn’t know what to do, I was just sitting there in my own vomit, praying that he would just explode or something… Then he came to me, pointing the gun right at my face: “Grab Joseph and follow me”, so I did.” Joe’s sadness didn’t leave completely, and guiltiness appeared.

“I don’t know how he knew your name, or if he knows us at all, or any other things. Just that I ended up carrying you to the truck… I’m sorry Seph, I was fucking afraid, he had a gun and he killed… he…” I wasn’t surprised Joe couldn’t get his thoughts straight, all the things that happened were out of our world.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

We didn’t belong here.

This was a situation where I couldn’t (although I wanted to) let my minds dwell on the horrible things that happened. So I tried my best to be rational, and figure out our chances.

“Did they… did he take Móni’s body?” It was weird to know that my friend I knew, Mónika, was out there, while her mirror-self was murdered in front of our eyes. It was even weirder to know that somehow Joe’s ex, Melissa was involved.

“No. He left the body there. When my parents get home, they will think I am dead. And looking at our current situation, maybe they won’t be wrong.”

“Móni, I mean, the 6th mirror-self of Móni said that Melissa switched places with her, so that means: Melissa is out there, in a completely different universe, and the Mónika we know from this world… is somewhere else, hopefully alive. Maybe she is with Melissa in the 6th region. Maybe someone is chasing both of them.” I tried to put together all the information.

Even the thought that our friends might be in danger made me nauseous.

“Before they killed her, Móni told us something about her computer and something about our 4th mirror-self… that she met them.” Joe was as confused as I was.

  Somebody was whistling, and he was coming to the door. Keys started clinking, the door has been opened.

A man with a very fancy suit stepped in. What was strange is that he didn’t have a beard, and his clothes were much different, but he still looked identical to a man we just saw: the driver who took us here.

“I’m not here to waste any time. I work for the government, I hope we can make a useful alliance” He closed the door behind him, and slowly walked towards us.

“First of all, I’ve got to say that I am sorry for this whole situation you witnessed and lived through. If there was any better or easier way, I would’ve chosen that.” I couldn’t figure out anything from his face, the blue eyes were staring at us without any feelings.

“You piece of shit, you mercilessly shot a 26 years old girl in my garden and then kidnapped us!” Joe’s face was all red from the anger.

The man didn’t even change his tone, as nothing happened.

“Here’s the thing: your “friend” tried to give you false pieces of information. She was an agent. The 4th and 6th universe are trying to start a war against us. She thought we didn’t know her intentions, so we had to act quickly.”

“Why did you kill her? She was clearly defenseless! Why didn’t you capture and interrogate her?” I couldn’t believe there was no other way.

“It would have been pointless. Maybe she looked defenseless, but many of my men died because of her and her superiors. I couldn’t afford to lose sight of her.”

“How the fuck are we connected to all this? We didn’t know this version of her, we didn’t set up the meeting!” Joe asked the same questions I was thinking about.

“Both of you are important for the government. Joseph, in the 4th region, you are the head of the ANPUC, which is an organization created solely for the purpose of destroying our world. Joe, in that universe, you are the richest person alive who funds the entire operation.” He spoke casually like we weren’t locked in a room against our will.

“It’s true that in this world, you are nobodies, but because of your mirror-selves, you matter.”

It was all crazy. This whole room, this man in the suit, this kidnapping, the murder. The fact that we have anything to do with the government and the NPUC.

One more thing was crazy: I believed him because I didn’t think he had any reason to lie.

“Why do you look like that truck driver? Are you his mirror-thing?” Joe and his straightforward questions.

“Well, it depends on where you look from. Since we are in the 0th world, I would say that he is my mirror-self and not the other way around. He is from the 6th. I gathered every “version” of me I could to stop this war.”

“Where is our world’s Mónika? Where-“ I suddenly stopped my second question because I didn’t know if they knew anything about Melissa at all, or if she’s involved or not. I don’t want to get her in danger.

For a second I could see a little, sly smile at his face.

“We don’t know. We hoped you could help us out, Joseph” He sat down to the couch next to the wall.

I just sat there, speechless.

“Let me call my parents” Joe said.

“You can’t. We didn’t take your phones just for fun. I know your dad is a scientist who worked for the country, but this thing is bigger than the government. There are important people even in this world whose intentions are questionable. Anyone outside of this facility can be an enemy.”

“What is your plan with Móni?” I was afraid to ask, but I had to.

The man chuckled as he stood up.

“Don’t worry, we don’t consider 0th Móni dangerous. But don’t rush into things, there is a task I need you to do first. I understand that you don’t trust me, and it’s natural. After you finish, you’re going to know who to trust.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Joe was shouting again. “We are not going to lift a finger for you! Just let us go!”

That chuckle again.

“I’m not asking, it’s not a favor. This is my order.” He went to the door and when he opened it and the 3 bodyguards walked in.

“Take them to the truck.”