•Blink•

•Blink•

As I stood in front of the Mirror, I blinked, which was what they told me not to do. When you blink everything changes, when you blink everything dies.

• ○ • ○• ○ •

“Stand,” the Leaders say, in that strange, misty voice of theirs, “Miss Amelia Stevens.” They call names of the Children that attend the Meeting. Meetings are when they gather thirty-seven Children (they say that thirty-seven is the magical number) and make them each stand in turn, in front of the Mirror. There are few rules when facing the Mirror.

Just don’t blink. They tell us that blinking causes death and destruction. That’s the biggest challenge, the not blinking. Some have trouble with it and tape their eyelids open. Some try to “blink until they can’t blink anymore.” And surprisingly, it works. No one in over three centuries has blinked.

When we, Generate Eight, ask the other Generations "how does it feel?” they always answer vaguely, saying it is almost as if you can’t blink, as if the Mirror prevents you from blinking. That relaxes us.

Because it we were to blink, no one knows what would happen. If we were to blink, the Leaders say it could end the world. And none of us wants that, not when so much is on the line.

Here we are all specially chosen Children. We are handpicked from our respective countries. I from America, one of three kids from America here, my friend, Lani, is from somewhere in East Asia, she told me. She said she doesn’t remember it much.

No one remembers our home much. I can’t remember it at all actually. We just know where we are from. It’s a fact, I suppose, a very vague fact with no memories to support it.

None of us questions the Leaders. They are the all-knowing. They are not to be questioned.

One, Leader Siona, called out another name, “Mister Jeffrey Mayor, please stand in front of the Mirror.”

They call out the names randomly, there is know what to know who goes when. Already seven people have gone. None even had an eye twitch, let alone a blink.

• ○ • ○• ○ •

Twenty-eight. They had chosen twenty-eight of the thirty-seven. I vaguely heard a Leader call out “Miss Rosita Lincoln.” I was distracted. And nervous. That was never a good combination.

I saw another girl my age, I think she was the Rosita girl, scurry up nervously, biting her lip. Her eyes darted to the Leaders, who nodded curtly, and she climbed the steep set of stairs to the Mirror. The yellow/gold walls seemed to shine, I noticed, and the Mirror was encrusted in what seemed to be actual gems. The ceiling was a clear blue, but seemed to vary in shades when I focused on it too hard. The room was amazing, I realized. I hadn’t been here before; it was off-limits to Children except when invited there on Meetings.

I nearly didn’t hear Leader Rimaline called out “Amy Carter, stand.” Lani, she was number fifteen, nudged me and pushed me up from my cushioned chair. I gave her a tight-lipped smile and waited for the nod the Leaders gave to allow me to ascend the stairs.

I saw the nod and I used the single railing on the right to guide me up. I stopped within ten feet of the Mirror, observing it before looking directly in.

It was about 15 feet tall, and five feet wide. There was a gem-encrusted border, which consisted of what looked like emeralds and diamonds and such.

I took a deep breath and stared in the center of it. I don’t know what other people were talking about. I felt like the Mirror wanted me to blink. I fought the keep eye contact with my Mirror-self. The Mirror controlled my gaze, not letting my eyes slip away.

The Leaders told us it would hold our gaze and then let go, but they never specified how long. It felt like forever.

I had trouble keeping my eyes open, my left eye twitching every second or so. I held my hand lying uselessly at my sight. Finally, something made me snap. I looked intently at myself in the Mirror, unable to look away. (That was the Mirror’s magic, it made you see, supposedly made you wiser.) And suddenly, my Mirror-self winked and smirked at me, giving me a “toodle-oo” wave and walked away.

And in my disbelief, I blinked. And then it was all over.

• ○ • ○ • ○ •

Author's Note: Just a quick story I came up with. I plan to write this out, then edit it when it's done. And on and on until I'm pleased with it. It's just a story to keep my writing fresh and as good as possible. By the way, this is more of a prolodue than a chapter. 

I hope this is clear enough for you. If you have any questions then ask. Please comment or something. I like those.

Dedicated to my friend, 16XAphrodite. As always, first person to comment gets the dedication. So please comment.