Mirror, Mirror (On Hiatus)

Chapter Four

A/N:  (oh goodness I'm so sorry if these author notes are bothering you) I'm SO sorry I kind of let this go for a month.  So not lovely.  I'll be updating more often, this summer's been insane and just so much drama jeez.  I hope you guys like the chapter! (and the cover I made for the fic heh) <3

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The sound of the scratching from Dan's pencil scrawling the messy script onto some printer paper we found on the coffee table echoed throughout the flat.  It was taking such a long time to have it all written down and I had to wonder why he couldn't just type it up.  A mirror universe would surely have the same technology, right?  Maybe there was a reason he didn't.

Everything looked normal, but the way Dan had acted put me on edge and the atmosphere was nothing short of tense.  Honestly, though, I was starting to wonder if it was just the intial worry about why Dan wouldn't let me get a word in.  To waste some time as Dan wrote out an explanation--and to perhaps ease my nerves--I wandered about the flat and tried to shrug the feeling of the room.

Everything was in its proper place like in our flat;  each cabinent held the same amount of food, my bed was just almost as messy as I had left it that morning, not a single thing had been organized differently on a shelf we had.  I didn't know what I expected, really.  We were the same people, just in different universes.  The thought escaped me too often, but it was true (and odd).  Another me living in another place at the same time with the same habits and same hairstyle and life.

Despite that, I knew that wasn't the reason behind the uncomfortable sensation I got from just being in the flat.  I couldn't place my finger on it, though.  Dan can't really say someone is listening to everyone, that's impossible.  It made me think of 1984 with Big Brother watching everyone, but there weren't any cameras I could find, and Dan could write anything he wanted.  What's the worry?

"Phiiiiil," I heard my name called from the living room.  I snapped out of my thoughts and rushed to him, almost needing answers.  He passed me a paper with both sides written on in small handwriting and smudges everywhere.  He must've wrote it too quick for the ink to dry, I concluded.  I took a seat on the sofa and started reading.

They are always listening.  Always.  You don't have to stay silent, just be careful of what you say because people disappear.  The mirror you thinks that's what happened to my mirror. 

Anyway, now that that's been cleared up... in this universe, the government was corrupted beyond repair many, many years ago.  From what I understand, people rioted and there was a massive war until a crazy group took control.  It was, and still is, a rutheless dictatorship with figureheads making things seem normal (in a political sense).  At first, only England was under this insane guy's influence, but it spread almost everywhere over the years.  A lot of people saw it as an escape from their bad governments and joined in.. or were forced... But to save you from a giant history lesson, pretty much some decendant of his rules the world.

If anyone talks about revolting, making a resistance, or anything remotely threatening, they're taken away.  Since it was so long ago, all they have to spy on us is microphones, apparently.  The internet too... I'm guessing because it's easier...? 

Rumors had it a long time ago that some mirrors were portals to another universe and they caught on.  People were starting to disappear for trying to help others escape when a special mirror was found and replace them with their mirrors, so it stopped one day.  Now all this universe can do is push against the other side so no one from our universe can accidentally get through.

I don't know everything, there's only so much I was told and there isn't a book anywhere that will tell anything useful.  Plus it's weird to run up to someone on the street and ask them to tell you why the universe is screwed up...

The rest of the paper was a mess of smudges and what I could assume were words that I couldn't quite make out.  I felt my heart race at the thought a reality like that could actually exist and my thoughts swarmed with questions.  I looked up to find Dan staring at the paper with a sad kind of expression.  "Scary stuff, right?"  All I could do was nod slowly and hope it was just a joke, or a dream, or a lie.  I scanned the room carefully, trying to find somewhere they could be listening, but there was nothing.  Maybe it really is a lie and Dan's just joking about us being watched--

And it hit me mid-thought that any microphones were probably in the walls.  Or the floorboards.  Or the ceiling.  There wouldn't be an easy way to remove them, then...  "You can talk, just be careful," he warned, snapping me out of my thoughts.  "I was being a bit dramatic when I said you shouldn't speak more than you had to...  I'm sorry."

My voice came out like a choked squeak when I replied.  "I-It's okay."

"It just takes a bit getting used to.  I didn't want you to accidentally say something wrong, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't worry about it," I managed, sounding a bit more composed that time.  "You were just looking out for me and you."  He nodded and I felt a small wave of relief.  I knew what was going on, though it wasn't good, and things felt a bit easier.  I still questioned my sanity, though...  "What do you think we should do?"

"I really have no clue.  I was trying to work that out with you--well, the mirror you--and we could only come up with getting the other Dan back."

"Do you think we could find him?" I wondered out loud.

"Not without being captured.  We'll have to think about it some more or something--" the sound of a his ringtone cut him off and he scrambled to find the phone.  "Fuck, fuck, fuck where did he put it!?" he muttered.  After a few more moments of searching, he found it and picked it up.  "Hello?"

Within a moment, an unsettling feeling came over me again.  Who could it be?  What could they want?  Did anyone know that that wasn't their Dan?  "Sunday.  Right.  I'm so sorry, we'll be there as soon as we can," he said quickly.  "Okay... okay... bye."  He ended the call and hooked the phone up to a charger.  Sunday.  "We're late for a radio show... we should get going."

"What if they know it's not us?" I asked.  His expression went from slight worry to an 'are you kidding me?' kind of glance.

"We're them, they're us.  It shouldn't be anything too different, just be careful about what you say."  It made enough sense to me, so I nodded and started for the door.