The Portal in the Mirror

Chapter 1: The Present Day

October 31, 2024, Ashland, Nebraska; Trillions of stars would be seen surrounding the moonlit night, and a slight cold breeze could be felt as street lights would light up the roads and surrounding areas with people asleep in their houses and apartments. A few cars would be seen driving around here and there, stopping occasionally at red lights. A gas station could be seen still open around midnight; inside there was an employee who could be seen stocking up candy, slowly taking his right hand, picking up a hand full of snickers, and neatly setting them up on a shelf.

A few moments would pass as he heard the chime of the door opening; he would give out a sigh as he put the rest of the snickers that were left in his hands back into the open box as he would stand up and walk over to the counter. He would see a woman inhaling and exhaling rapidly while holding the doors closed behind her. He would say in a concerned tone, "Miss? Are you ok?" She would look at him with a terrified expression on her face as she would say in a scared voice, "N...n..no...theres something... out there." He would look at her with a confused look on his face as he asks, "Do you need me to call the authorities, miss?" She would nod her head yes quickly as she ran over towards the counter and grabbed a pen. She would look around as if looking for someone as she asks hastily, "Do you have paper, sir?" He would go over to the office as he grabbed a piece of paper and walked back over to her. He would hand her the piece of paper as she grabbed it quickly from his hand as she started to write on it.

As she was writing, he would take out his cell phone and dial nine one one. An operator would answer, saying, "Nine one one, what's your emergency?" He would speak calmly as he told them his location and where he works, as he would then say, "There's a woman here in distress; it seems she may be in danger or something. Right now she's writing something on a piece of paper, not sure exactly what it says as she has it covered with her arm." The operator would then say calmly, "Thank you, and may I have your name, sir, please?" He would say, "Alex Remmy." The operator would then say, "Alright, Alex, we were sending you someone right now; please remain on the line with me until they get there. Can you tell me what she is doing right now, Alex?"

The woman would stop writing as she handed him the paper back; it read, "I have a gun; do not tell them who I am or what I look like. I disabled the security cameras before I came in here. Give me all your money quietly and quickly; if you value your life, you'll do what I say here. Hurry, you have 2 minutes or... bang." As he read this, he opened the cash register as quietly as possible and started handing her all the money in the cash register. As he would lie to the operator, saying, "She's still writing; I still can't see what she's writing," the operator would say, "That is fine; is she still in distress or is she a bit more calm? If she is, tell her we're on our way and everything will be ok."

He would say to the woman while giving the rest of the money from the cash register to her as he says to her, "Maam, I have help on the way; everything will be ok." He would be seen sweating but trying to stay calm as he had given the woman all of the money. She would take out a bag as she shoves all the money in it and runs out of the gas station and into a car and drives off; he would give out a sigh of relief. A few minutes passed as the authorities appeared on the site, and he then told them all what happened and gave them the paper she wrote on.

The authorities would say to Alex, "We've been trying to catch her for years, though we have no leads as of late. She always tends to have a different description of what she looks like; from what we have gathered, we seem to think she wears a realistic-looking mask to make her look different each time. But she tends to evade us every time; this is the twenty-fifth place she has hit within the last two weeks. We apologize for any inconvenience; we hope you have a wonderful rest of your night, sir," as they say that they get back into their vehicles and drive off. Alex stands there and gives out a sigh as he says to himself, "My boss is going to be pissed when he hears about this." He would then walk back over to the open box of different kinds of candy as he started to restock everything once more.

Morning would come as he is seen just standing at the counter as his manager Matthew comes in. Matthew was 45 years old with a trimmed-up beard as he would walk up to Alex as he says, "Morning Alex, quick question for you: I was watching the cameras last night and it went black for like ten minutes. Care to explain as to what happened within those ten minutes?" Alex would explain to Matthew all that happened last night, and Matthew would say, "I see. Well, I'm glad your safe. We have a new employee starting tonight; his name is Gary, so if you could please train him and show him the ropes, hopefully tonight will be better for you and safer." Alex would then say, "Ya, me too, and I will show him everything he needs to know," as he says that Alex clocks out and gets inside his car and drives off. Alex gets home; as he lived in a 1-bedroom apartment on the 2nd floor, he would walk up to his door and get out his keys and unlock the door. He opens the door and closes the door behind him; he would then give out a sigh as he tosses his keys on his dresser as he falls onto his bed.