Akina's Reflection

XXXI

We stumbled into the carpeted hallway of the familiar doctor's office. Cody shoved the door shut behind us.

There were several sets of heavy footsteps from the lobby. At least six cops were suddenly in the hall with us.

"You kids," A cop said, noting us.

"Where did you come from? Did you just leave this Mirror place?"

We were all surprised by the sudden arrival of the police. So surprised, we didn't really have much to say, or if we did we were to lost for words.

"Yeah.... We did..." Cody said, slowly.

The cop who had questioned us, probably the captain of the squad, called out some orders to the others. The others tried the knob to the door we just came through, and when it didn't open, they began to attempt to break the door down.

"That door won't break down that easy," called a familiar voice. I was shocked once again.

Aubrey walked up to the captain, he looked like a child next to him, the cop was so tall, and Aubrey so short.

He handed him a piece of paper.

"This should open the door without a problem, I promise, if not, do whatever you could to open that door."

"Aubrey Alstein..." Paul said, quietly.

"What in the world is going on?"

Aubrey smiled.

"Welcome back, everybody. We should probably not disturb them."

He noted the officers, who had just opened the door.

"Worked just as you said," The captain said, mildly surprised.

"What did I say?" Aubrey replied.

"Come on," He said, to the rest of us.

"I'll explain."

So this is how we all ended up in a coffee shop, Aubrey sitting opposite of Paul and I, Cody sitting next to him.

"I realized my burn idea wouldn't work after I got out of the building." Aubrey said, calmly.

"So after I figured that out, I had to think of a way to get rid of the building, or disable it from use. That's when I got an obvious idea, to simply call the police."

"But how on earth did you get them to believe you?" Paul asked.

"You might as well have told them pigs can fly, or that the aliens are upon us."

"That's true, Paul." Aubrey said, calmly.

I was surprised that Aubrey hasn't really snapped at anyone, nor was he acting all grouchy and mean like he used too. He seemed much more at ease.

Aubrey continued.

"If I had just told the cops there was a building under our feet, they would have told me to get lost, but they were getting dozens of calls, calls and reports directly to the police station all about the same building underneath the town."

"I understand," Cody said, thoughtfully.

"By yourself, you could not have gotten our police force involved, but with all the test subjects Sayoki and I freed, they were all trying to call the police as well. One person's report could be hard to believe, but a dozen similar reports are hard not to believe."

Aubrey nodded.

"Exactly."

Paul and I didn't need a second explanation. We tried to talk normally in the coffee shop, but it was hard to act as if nothing happened.

Cody and Paul left us after we finished our coffee. Cody has not been in the general public for around four years, and he doesn't have anywhere to go. Paul was going to help him look for a place to stay the night.

Aubrey stared out the window of the coffee shop. He was the same Aubrey, but somehow different too. Such simple changes boggled my mind, for example, Aubrey's brows were not furrowed, no longer glaring at the world.

He still acts all smart, but he isn't so cold about it.

Most of all, this Aubrey seemed much more open. He no longer seems to be hiding anything from me. Then again, it might be because I learned all there was to know about him.

"I should give you back your hoodie tonight, huh?" Aubrey asked me. He seemed so much nicer, and yet he still doesn't quite smile.

"You can keep the outfit if you want." I joke back.

"I don't know, the hoodie smells weird..."

"Merry!"

Aubrey looked confused for a second, then the corners of his mouth rose into a half smile. He chuckled.

"Well, you better finish up your coffee, we have to get back to our dorm, if we are allowed back on campus."