.  .  . Wednesday.

  .  . . 7:30 PM .  . .

“Come on.” Ginger’s voice whines on the phone. “Tell me where you’re going this time.”

Joy walks through her apartment wearing a men’s sized buttoned up shirt.  

“Last time I did, you followed me to New Mexico.” Joy said, going to her room. 

On her bed is an open black suitcase with a pair of clothes and some necessities. Among those necessities are two small fake guns placed beside two white boxes that had a warning on the lid which read in red text ‘bullets’. She has one pair of fancy glasses tucked into the suitcase’s roof pocket.

“That was soo two years ago.” Ginger said.

Joy grabs two mystery/romance novels from the bookshelf that is across from her bed.

“I am pretty sure some of the men you ripped off are not happy.”  Joy said,as she places the novels on the fake guns.

Ginger made a fake laugh over the phone.

“I’m not into that sort of thing anymore, Joanna.” Ginger said.

“You still smoke.” Joy said.

“Do not.” Ginger argues.

“I have seen you in the employee lounge smoking.” Joy said, turning away from the luggage to the closet. “There’s a reason why I bring lighters with me. And searching under the couch won’t come up with some lighters. I have a deal with the Janitor to give me the lighters he finds.”

“Since when did you make deals?” Ginger asks.

“A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do.” Joy said, opening the closet doors. She takes out a short blue jacket. She wiggles her nose at the jacket, and then, she puts it back into the closet. “To keep her job going.”

“Does this mean you’ve been in some nasty business?” Ginger asks.

Joy smiles at her friend’s unusual assumption.

“No.” Joy said.  “It’s all messy; because mostly the lighters come from the men who come to have a meeting with Charol, in the employee’s lounge.”

There is a brief pause between Joy and Ginger.

“.  . . Why the employee’s lounge?” Ginger asks.

“All the business rooms are usually occupied.” Joy  said, taking out a long black coat with a furry hood.

“What the hell did you do, Joanna?” Ginger asks.

“Charol owed me a favor.” Joy said, as she walks out her room.  “And he wouldn’t do the favor.” Joy slyly smiles heading down the wall as the phone is not in her hand. The phone is floating beside Joy’s right ear.  “So I repaid him.”

“You’re evil.” Ginger said.

“Better word would be devious.” Joy said casually. Her living room windows are covered by long closed dark brown window blind . “And this is why since 2005, everyone on the 19th floor, eats in the ‘do not enter’ room.” Joy takes off her current pair of glasses then puts them on the kitchen table. She takes the coat hanger out from the coat. “It seemed logical at the time to enter a ‘do not enter’ room.”

“Joanna, you are such a rule breaker.” Ginger said, earning a laugh from Joy.

“I’m glad you finally noticed!” Joy said, as she puts the black coat on the couch.

“Joanna.” Ginger said. “Stop avoiding my question. Where the hell are you going to spend your Tuesday?”

Joy stops in her tracks with this certain smile on her face.

“I don’t have a reason to get into a time machine and go all the way back to Tuesday.” Joy said.

We hear Ginger groan from the other end of the phone.

“Stop avoiding the question, Joy.” Ginger said.

Joy continues walking.

“Glad to hear you calling me by my first name, for once.” Joy jokingly said.  “I am taking a flight to Utah.”  Joy trips over a pillow and lands on the floor. Yet, she kept talking. “And you will not use one of your spare vacation days to come straight down; it’s my business.”

“Family business?” Ginger guessed.

“No.” Joy said as she gets up.

“Vacation business?” Ginger guesses, again.

“It’s not vacation if you’re spending one day away.” Joy reminds Ginger, walking right past the table that had the odd glasses.

“It’s a visit.” Ginger said.

Joy hits the wall and pinches her nose.

“Yes.” Joy said, turning around. This is your house, Joy begins to criticize herself, you should know where everything is without glasses!  “A visit.”

Joy goes back to the table while using her hands as a form of guide.

“Can you do me a favor?” Ginger asks.

“Depend what it is.” Joy said while seeing gray, brown, light brown, pink, and some other colors in her vision. I am getting close, her hands anticipated tap on the table repeatedly. She spreads her fingers on the table carefully enough not to knock over the glasses in case her wrist came against the plastic pair.

“Take pictures of Utah’s mountain ranges, but not from the sky.” Ginger said. “I want it up and close.” Joy’s wrist met the purple pair of glasses that had cat like ears. “You know how often I get distracted.”

“Why?” Joy asks as she puts on the glasses.

“I want to see Paul Bunyan and his wife’s mountain art.” Ginger said.

_                                                     __                                                  _

. . . Thursday .  .  .

.  .  . 1:20 PM  . . .

Joy took a flight to a destination not everyone would think. This location was in Utah; which had cooler weather than Wisconsin.The mountain sight is awe-inspiring from up above in an air plane. It was too bad Joy had to take some pictures on the ground.  But on the other hand there can be a loop hole not to do it.

“Why did I bother telling Ginger?” Joy asks herself, and then shared a sigh. “Oh right.  I remember.”

Joy looks up to the square device attached to the air plane’s ceiling that is currently playing a vampire movie. The main character, as far Joy knew, was named after a swan and didn’t have much character to go off on. After all, proving a point that Paul Bunyan didn’t make the mountain carvings with his wife was worth taking pictures.

She looks down to her phone’s screen, seeing more text messages from Ginger. One of them made her laugh. ‘Did you tell Loki to switch out my rose vase’, ‘Joanna, I know you used my cloak for the play’, ‘Joanna, how the hell did you make my computer keys sticky?’, ‘I know what you did to Hank’s chair’, and two other messages.

“The plane has landed.” The flight attendant said.

Joy lets go of her grip on the air plane passenger seat.

“Thank gods.” Joy mumbles, much relieved as she gets up from the chair.

.  . A scene between Midgard and Asgard  .  . .

.  .  . 2:47 PM  . . .

“Thor, what have you been doing?” Frigga asks.

Thor turns away from the Balcony.

“I’ve been watching Loki’s journey.” Thor lied.

Frigga raises an eyebrow.

“You weren’t the one to spy on your brother, as I recall.” Frigga said.

Thor has a low fond laugh.

“He’s been failing to construct a relationship with women.” Thor said, sounding amused and proud of it.

“And have you had a part in this?” Frigga asks.

“No, mother.” Thor lies to Frigga while shaking his right hand.  “I would never hinder one’s journey as broken as it is.”

“I want you to prove it.” Frigga said earning a surprised look from Thor. “To see what you’ve been doing, not on your brother,” Thor could feel relief travel down.  “But to those around him. It’s time I see why you’ve been coming to this balcony more often.”

“Good.” Thor said. “It’s fun to bother his friends.”

Frigga and Thor share a view of Joy entering a room.

“Who is this?” Frigga asks.

“A friend of Loki.” Thor said.

“Loki has a girlfriend.” Frigga said, observing Joy put two guns into some item that was on her thigh. She watches Joy search the room for some urgent item. “I thought it would take much longer.”

“No.” Thor said. “Not the kind you are thinking about, mother. It is the romance less kind.”

“Ah.” Frigga said, with an understanding tone.  “Do the mirror.”

“Excuse me,mother?” Thor asks, puzzled by Frigga’s request.

Frigga turns her head towards Thor.

“Use the Mirror spell on her.” Frigga said. “And see how long it takes her to get out.”

Thor uses his power to conduct the ‘Mirror spell’. The two watch Joy take out an old book from a drawer. She drops the book on the table as though something had startled her. Joy turns to the mirror’s direction. Joy leaves the book then heads towards the floor mirror step by step with a tilted head.

“She needs a nudge.” Frigga notes out loud.

“That she does.” Thor agrees.

“What is the most eye catching animal on Midgard?” Frigga asks.

“A kitten.” Thor said, and then gets the ‘right’ expression from his mother. “I see.”

Thor’s grip on the golden staff tightens as it radiates a fire like version of gold. The color disappears similar to a lightning zap because it appeared a second later heading towards this light blue star.The flickering invisible golden flames shot through Joy then crashed into the mirror without her attention focused on it. Joy’s reflection disappears off the floor mirror. Joy went into the mirror.

“Start the stopwatch.” Frigga said.

A stopwatch appears in Thor’s free hand. Thor presses the top of the stop watch.

“She’ll be stuck there.” Thor mutters to himself.

 Our scene lowers back into Midgard, into the floor mirror. Joy kicks at the mirror’s reflection of the room outside. Only that was probably her number one stupid mistake because she hurt her foot by this.

“Damn it.” Joy complains. “Kicking doesn’t work.” She lowers her head.  “Damn those cop shows make it so convincing.”

Joy lifts her head up taking out her phone, she  turns it on, and checks for the bars. It had five bars. Thank you Verizon for having service everywhere!, Joy happily thought with a relieved sigh. Perfect conditions to make an emergency call with a good friend in Wisconsin. Joy presses on a button that read ‘contacts’, once in the contacts section she scrolls down, then presses on a familiar name that stood out in bright red.

“Hello!” Ginger answers the phone.  “This is Ginger Cotton speaking.”

“Ginger.” Joy said.  “It’s me.”                             

“Me who?” Ginger asks.

“Lawson!” Joy raises her voice.   “I am stuck in a mirror.”

“Get out with an axe.” Ginger said, playing along with her act. “And then try to smash the mirror into pieces. And then run around on the glass singing ‘Bloody Mary’ three times with a wig on your head.”

“I am not joking.” Joy said.

Ginger slides to her left towards Loki’s cubicle and then stood upright.

“Mr.Laufeysun.” Ginger said as Loki was watching a cat video and his phone was going off but he waved her off saying ‘Not now. I am busy here.’ With this amused look on his face. Ginger looks down to see his desk chair’s wheels are covered in ice. “He’s busy. Perhaps Hank has an idea.”

“Ginger.” Joy said, with a growl in her voice. “I need to get out.”

“Sorry Joanna.” Ginger said.  “I don’t have a bright idea how to get out a mirror.”

Joy’s eyes were fixated on the book on the table.

“Mirror?” Loki said, his attention caught by the last part.

Ginger laughs.

“Yes.” Ginger said.

“Is this a game she’s playing?” Loki asks.

“Good question, I’ll ask.” Ginger said, from the other end.  “What game are you playing?”

“Kick-your-butt-and-send-it-to-the-moon or I think it is  ‘Dracula vampires you’.” Joy said, sarcastically.  “I heard this chime from the mirror, and then, there was this cat sound.” Ginger rolls her eyes. “And I had to see if there was a real cat in there.”

“So you’re stuck in a mirror in the ‘Dracula vampires you’ game.” Ginger said.  “Stop faking the game name.” Ginger turns away from Loki. We can see a couple co-workers wearing winter coats while passing by Loki’s cubicle.  “We all play terrible video games on the Xbox; go ahead and admit you are playing Lara Croft Tomb Raider.”

“Please put me on speaker.” Joy asks, politely.  Ginger presses a button on the phone and holds it away from her ear.  “It is called.  . . I’ll HAUNT YOU.” Her voice startles Ginger.  “Now, give me any stupid idea to get out of this mirror.”

Ginger turns white as she puts the call off speaker.

 “I think Joanna is going loco.” Ginger said, putting the phone to her ear

“I am not going LOCO!” Joy yells loudly.

“She needs a candle.” Loki said, luring Ginger’s attention to him. “And then to step out. Next she must break the mirror with a chair.” Ginger raises an eyebrow at Loki. “It works.” Loki had the cat video on pause. “I once had Houdini attempt this during his tricky stunts. He was an intelligent man.”

“You need a lighter.” Ginger said. “And then walk out and then break the mirror with something hard. That wasn’t me who brought up this nifty idea; it was all Mr.Laufeysun.”

Joy had smoked several years ago. Plus that she knew friends who needed a smoke when stressed out; all the reason to bring a lighter. Joy takes out a purple lighter then presses on the top. A single flame flickered out of the small circular hole. Ripples appear at the big mirror’s present glass. With hope burning inside; Joy walks out.

“Tell Loki I could kiss him right now!” Joy said and then hangs up.

She proceeds to break all the mirrors in the room. Our view backtracks up to Midgard with Thor and Frigga.

“Five minutes.” Thor said, holding the stopwatch.

“Loki helped her.” Frigga said.

“She was talking to her machine.” Thor said.

“There is only one Asgardian down there who understands how to get out.” Frigga reminds Thor, holding up her index finger. Her fingers open up from their first like form.  “She uses her resources to get out a situation. I see some potential in Joy with Loki.”

“Mother, you’ve seen her glasses.” Thor said.

“Being blind is a lot similar to love.” Frigga said, turning away from the star. “And I hope she doesn’t fall to an unexpected death, as should you.” The stop watch disappears from Thor’s hand. “You must find yourself a queen.”

“Mother, I’ll  get to it—“ Thor interjects.

“No excuses.” Frigga said.  “You must choose your queen.”

The two walk away from the balcony while speaking about the topic of queen.