The other side of the Mirror (boyxboy)

Chapter 7.

Busy? What’s .. that supposed to mean?

“N-No, I ..”

“Great, hold this.” The stranger gave me his dusty vest and continued cleaning his clothes from the dirt on the ground. He looked so concentrated while doing it, as if it was the most important thing right now. It’s not like anything interesting was happening, but .. really?

“Y-You..” I stuttered once more, taking a step closer to the alien. He was now messing his snowy hair with fingers to get the dust off, in the most nonchalant way possible. I’ve no idea what parallel world did he come from, but in my world, such events weren’t a walk in the park and he was acting as if it was exactly this; as if it was everyday life for him to fall out of a mirror and into a different universe. I couldn’t lie, I really couldn’t – this attitude of his was driving me insane. If he panicked with me, perhaps I would’ve felt a little bit better, but no – little Devin’s the stupid guy again, the only person who was actually scared and shocked in this situation. And possibly the only human being.

He was making me so edgy. A stranger – making ME edgy.

I cleared my throat awkwardly and gathered strength to talk to him once more. There was this big, sour lump in front of my throat and I had a hard time getting my words over it. It always happened when I was stressed – my mouth tasted like ink to me. The worse I was feeling, the worse the taste was.

And it got unbearable when I met his gaze. I shivered and clenched my teeth.

“I’m ..s-sorry for interfering your important work, but .. You just fell out of a broken mirror, a-and then you act as if nothing happened .. a-and that volat-..”

“A volat? Never heard of it.” He interrupted me. My eyes widened in bewilderment, as the lump grew bigger and blocked my sound of indignation, giving me enough time to rethink my words and use them more wisely.

“But .. you explained it to me, a volat is that thing which flies a-and-..”

“Nope. Although I'd like to know, tell me more. What’s a volat, why “volat”? Actually, scratch that – you said I fell from a mirror. Which mirror, that one?” He turned around and pointed at the ancient mirror, looking back at me curiously. “Why don’t I see glass pieces on the ground?”

I stood there, wordless. He .. really didn’t remember.

Why? I don’t think he hit his head somewhere; the stranger merely fell on my body! There’s no way he could’ve lost his memory from that. I mean, .. yeah, I’m not the most comfortable, soft creature in the world, but fortunately, you can count on pillows or toilet paper for that. From the expensive one, which people advertised with cute, little kids, stuffing their pillows with the paper rolls, which magically becomes duck down and said children appear in angels’ clothes and fall asleep on their fluffy pillows, after which they wake up with a kiss from mommy, who has the body of a model and the face of a twenty-five year old Angelina Jolie.

Things weren’t like that in real life and I knew it well.

I sighed quietly, realizing I haven’t said anything in a while. I was now meeting two big, green eyes filled with not only curiosity, but a bit of worry, too. I didn’t expect the latter from him .. not only because I didn’t know him that well, but also because he didn’t look like the type of a person who would offer compassion to a stranger like me.

Actually .. were we strangers? He knew my name, but ..

“What’s your name?” I asked suddenly.

“Aabel.” He softly replied, hands crossed. I nodded at his answer, letting the name sink in my brain. Aabel .. sounds Norwegian. At least he remembered his name, which meant he should at least have a clue about the mirror he just left. After all, if he remember his name, he should remember a part of his past, as well .. Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to recall anything about himself!

Right?