Beyond the Mirror

Word count: 1933

A scream pierced her lips. It echoed and thrummed. Somehow the noise reverberated through the empty space. This couldn't be happening. It all had to be a dream. Her mom always told her never to walk in front of mirrors. Her teacher always told her to never stare in the glossy sheen. But the girl hadn't listened. Even with all of the stories floating around about the evil within the mirrors, the girl still chose to walk in front of one. She had mistakenly believed that it would be a lie. But she had learned her lesson. She was trapped.

The girl, Jilla, her name was Jilla, she couldn't forget. Jilla was trapped inside the white empty void. A place that was beyond space, time, and thought. Jilla had walked in front of the mirror because her girlfriend Saylee had dared her. She figured that it would be fine because she trusted Saylee. Instead, when she uncovered the hidden mirror in her mom's room and stepped in front of it, she got sucked in. It was like a force of multiple hands reached out and dragged her body through the glass. When she turned around, there was a copy of her, on the other side. Jilla had rushed toward the mirror, banging on the pane of glass, shouting out.

She was now realizing the severity of what just happened. Her double just evilly grinned at her from beyond the mirror and then walked away.

After the clone walked away, Jilla panicked. The copy of her had covered the mirror again, and she couldn't see back into her home. She looked around the endless plain of white empty space and broke down screaming and sobbing.

That was where she was at the moment, sobbing and almost forgetting her name. But, Jilla decided that since she still had questions, even in this trapped world, she would look for answers. She had to not lose herself in the endlessness.

Jilla wandered away, knowing that she couldn't just stand there, she had to move, and she had to think. Why didn't Saylee try to save her? Also, what was the clone doing there in the first place?

After wandering away, not recognizing anything, and not knowing how much time it had been, Jilla finally figured out an answer to her question. Saylee and her had been dating for a year now, they had gotten together in their freshman year of high school, and had been together ever since. But, about a month ago, Saylee had been acting strange. Saylee was the kind of person who was quiet, extremely smart, and loyal. Jilla loved that about Saylee, but recently she had been too rebellious, destructive, and self-destructive. Could the reason why this be that Saylee had looked in a mirror? She was newer to the town, and wouldn't have known the true dangers. That would mean that Saylee was around here somewhere.

That empowered Jilla and she ran around looking for something. Anything would do. After who knows how long of running in the vast emptiness, she spotted a figure.

"SAYLEE!" She called at the top of her lungs. The figure turned around to face her and started running towards her.

Finally, the two girls were close enough to see each other, and Saylee ran sobbing into Jilla's arms. Jilla smoothed down her girlfriend's frizzy brown hair, sobbing and relieved to see her.

"Jilla? Are you really here? Or am I actually going crazy for real now?" Saylee cried into Jilla's shirt.

"Yes, I'm really here." She replied.

"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry. Did my double lead you here?" Saylee asked Jilla, a sad desperate look in her eyes.

Jilla didn't want to make her feel worse, but she also wasn't about to lie to one of the most important people in her life. "Yeah."

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm happy to not be alone. I just wish you weren't as stuck as me. Although, I may have a plan." Saylee explained.

"You've been gone for about a month apparently. Also, what is this plan?" Jilla asked her.

"Wow, a month? Feels longer. Anyway, have you almost had any memory problems?" Saylee asked.

"I was starting to forget my name. What does that have to do with anything though?" The question confused her.

"Well, I've been here for a while, and I have forgotten a lot about myself. Everything is going blank, and being wiped clean. What if, the people in here were being, I don't know, somehow turned into copies. I probably should be one by now, but I tried to stay strong, for you and for my parents. We might be able to get someone to look in the mirror, and free us." Saylee explained, putting it together as she went.

"That might work! But how would we get someone to look into the mirror? Since everyone has been told not to." Jilla hoped that her girlfriend had some sort of system step up.

"Well, I set something up." Saylee started to explain. "I told my little brother how I might look into a mirror. He is the more cautious of the two of us, and I told him that if both you and I start acting weird at all he should ask us a code word. If we don't answer properly-"

"He will know something went wrong! Saylee, you are a genius! How will we know which mirror he is looking out though?" Jilla was so excited and proud of Saylee. There was hope for them still.

"Well, this place transports you close to, if not on top of the porthole. I was only transported close, so let's hope since we are the only people in here, that it's closer." Saylee concluded. Jilla smiled in relief. She didn't exactly know how long she had been trapped, but she knew that thanks to the brilliant mind of Saylee, that they wouldn't be stuck in the space for long.

"Oh, we should probably come up with a way to destroy this right? And get rid of the clones. This place is just so complicated." Jilla sighed realizing that they would never truly be safe unless everything was destroyed.

"Brainstorm?" Saylee ventured. Jilla nodded in response, and both girls sat down in the silent white, trying to come up with ways to end this.

Minutes, maybe hours passed with no clear thought leading the way to a solution. Until finally it hit her. She was sure that they weren't the only ones who had been trapped in the white void. In fact, this had to have been started by someone. Meaning someone in their town was the creator, and some were clones.

"I think we have to find the creator." Jilla voiced her thoughts. "However hard that may be."

"Well, has anyone ever, I don't know, encouraged you to go into the mirror?" Saylee prompted, hopping on the idea.

"Well, Mr. Ronie sort of did that." Jilla thought.

"Yeah, he was the one who had me thinking that it would be ok. So he's the creator. " Saylee replied.

"Wait, Saylee, what if one of our parents, or both, have been trapped or cloned?" Jilla panicked.

"I guess we have to hope that something like that didn't happen, and if it did, deal with what it means later." Saylee steeled herself.

"Whatever happens, I'm here for you," Jilla spoke, trying to comfort her.

They both sat in silence for who knows how long until a tingling sensation arose, but it was as if the sensation was underneath their skin. It was dragging them, pulling them. Both girls held on tight, as their bodies, without any force of will on their part, moved rapidly towards a space that was opening.

Jilla saw the hopeful face of Saylee's little brother, Jackie, and then they were pushed through the mirror as if pushing through a current of water. Saylee grabbed on tight to her brother as they went through to the real world, making sure he didn't get left behind. Finally, after what felt like an awful, taxing game of tug-of-war, they burst through on the other side.

"Well, I knew that you two had been acting weird, I just didn't realize the mirror had eaten you," Jackie spoke. He was only eight, but he had been able to save both of them.

"Thanks for saving us, Jackie. Hurry, we have to get rid of the person who created this to make sure something like this never happens again." Jilla thanked him, truly happy to be able to see color, shape, and distance.

"Ooh, a mission! Let's go!" Jackie shouted.

Saylee laughed, grabbed his hand, the three of them started to run.

They gathered that from what Jackie said, it had been two weeks. It was currently a school day as well, and they could count on Mr. Ronie being at school.

Both girls made quite a spectacular entrance into the English class Mr. Ronie taught considering that their clones were in there at the same time.

"Mr. Ronie. Release the mirror prison and the clones!" Jilla shouted.

"But, why would you think I did that? And how are there two of each of you?" Mr. Ronie tried to defend himself, but his first point gave him away, as he didn't seem as shocked as he should have been.

"We know that you created it. Now fess up, otherwise, we are going to have to push you in a mirror." Saylee added on and gestured to the sheeted mirror Jackie had brought with them.

Sensing he was beaten, Mr. Ronie told the truth.

"Well, I moved to this town about 20 years ago to be with my wife. She died of sickness young though, and I had only one wish; to keep her spirit with me forever. I didn't realize the consequences then, I didn't realize she would turn into the mirror prison. But I missed her so much, so it was good to be around her. Every time someone looked in the mirror, she trapped them and her power grew, making her almost able to be with me again."

"Okay, thats really sad, but is there any way to stop or release your wife? I'm sure she wants peace." Jilla tried to reason.

"There is a way, but that means I have to let go."

"Please do it for all the people who have been trapped." Saylee pleaded.

"Do it for all the other husbands or wives that have been separated from each other" Jilla added on.

"Okay." Mr. Ronie whispered. Under his breathe he spoke, "I wish to move on."

After a long minute of awkward silence, there was a woosh. Then suddenly lights flying through the air, and in between each person, making the clones become themselves again, releasing everyone from the prison.

What happened next was life getting back to normal as things tend to do after big events. Families found each other, bonds were rebuilt. People could finally walk in front of a mirror again, but most opted not to. Everyone decided to forgive, but not forget. It was a much happier place, where people felt safer, and welcomed. All thanks to two young girls who were able to save them all.

But the real truth of the matter was rarely talked about. No one was to know except you, me, and the town. After all, nothing can ever be truly erased or forgotten.

Remember, that next time you look in the mirror, you may see more than just your reflection.

Fin.