The other side of the Mirror (boyxboy)

Chapter 19.

APOV

“You eat this stuff? What is it, it looks weird. Ugh, it tastes weird!”

“It’s … mayo.” Devin quietly answered. He was looking at me as if I was the one eating weird white stuff, with his little, beady eyes and those small, moist lips of his,  now tainted from the … the mayo. What sort of a name is that anyway? Mayo. Sounds just as disgusting as it looks.

“Ugh. Get it away. Don’t eat it.”

“W-Why not?”

“I’m trying to concentrate and you’re just … sitting here, dipping fried meat in mayo and washing it down with some weird, bubbly drinks. Wait, let me taste it.”

“B-But you said it—“

I quickly grabbed the carbonated drink from Devin’s hand and took a big sip in my mouth. We were in his kitchen right now, and it was about … 4AM. The time was insane and I knew it, but it was necessary for the retrieval of the mirror. Good ol’ Peter. Or, as Devin calls him, the Python.

In an instance, the drink started filling my mouth with air and I blinked in horror.

“Swallow!” Devin urged me. What, swallow? How was I supposed to swallow something like this? What if it was poisonous? It was like a bomb, expanding the insides of my mouth until my cheeks explode!

“Trust me, swallow! Come on, I’ve got your hands!” Devin quickly took hold of my hands and looked me in the eyes with an encouraging spark. Was he … comforting me, I couldn’t tell.

Unfortunately, the moment he said that, I puked the carbonated drink right on his face, along with the air which was filling my mouth up until now. I coughed a little bit and swallowed some of my saliva, grimacing at the feeling. Ugh, it was so … so sticky!

I panted a little bit before I regained my composure. Man, that was disgusting.

“Ugh … Jesus, I am never drinking carbonated stuff again. Devin, why did you—.. Oh.” I stopped when I realized what I had just done. I looked at Devin, who was covered with my saliva and the fuzzy drink I puked on him. He was keeping his eyes tightly shut, and his hands were still holding mine.

“W-wait, let me get that off of you. Sorry. I honestly don’t remember that happening. Maybe if I did, I wouldn’t have done it …” I quietly said and swiftly took some paper to wipe off the mess on his face.

“I..It’s fine. Really … i-it’s a little nasty, and I’m trying not to throw up as well, b-but I’m holding up. It’s alright …” He mumbled with his teeth clenched as I kept wiping the puke off his face. I slightly smiled. This was going to be a valuable ability for later.

“Tough boy. Good. I like that.”

Devin blushed and nodded with an innocent smile. If he could keep that smile on his face 24/7 from now, it would be great.

* * *

After our short snack, it was show time. It was currently 5:30AM and we were heading out. Devin looked exhausted, and naturally – he didn’t have any sleep whatsoever, while I was … surprisingly alert. It seemed that, the less sleep I was getting, the better I was feeling. I felt like I was on a diet of coffee, coca leaves and energy drinks. Yes, after my forth month in this place, I finally learned about the new drugs which people used. They seemed to make them feel happy and alerted and even sexually aroused and inspired, unlike the drugs in my world, which made me feel extremely devastated and left me grieving for something I had no knowledge of for a couple of hours.

Well, whatever floats one’s boat, I guess.

“Okay, you get the plan, right? We gotta sneak past the construction workers and get to one of the trucks. It’s highly possible that they loaded the old furniture in one of them. We need that mirror, Devin, otherwise we can’t send the volats back when we catch them, and we definitely can’t leave them roaming around this world for too long. They’ve caused a lot of trouble already.” I whispered to Devin, who nodded obediently. We were hiding behind a few big wooden boxes/crates. The coast didn’t seem clear at all. There were men walking around casually and loading old furniture in their trucks, and they weren’t careful when doing it. If they did something bad to that mirror, then everything would be over.

And don’t even get me started on the ‘everything’ part. Even if the end was close, we still had to stick to the plan. In the confusing connections between the present and the future, when one point in the future is fixed, it can’t be changed, and you have to do everything you can to meet the conditions for it to happen. It cannot be changed. It mustn’t be changed.

“Hey, Devin. I gotta tell you something.”

“H-huh?” Devin looked at me with his big, hazel eyes and blinked.

“Don’t worry. You’ll make the right choice.” I smiled.

“ … have you been chewing coca leaves again, I-I swear to God, stop taking those.” He frowned and smacked me gently. I chuckled cockily. Well, that might be true. A couple of leaves didn’t hurt anyone, though!

I turned to face the men and my feet suddenly charged at them. I couldn’t really think anyway - it wasn’t my style – I just ran at them and hit the one behind the neck with my hand.

“AABEL, WHAT ARE YOU—“

“You know, you and I, we can have some fun.” I smirked at the other guy who was now holding my shirt and threatening to slap me. His eyes immediately turned dark and he smiled.

“Yes, we can.” He confirmed.

“Now, then. Kiss me.”

And so he did. The man joined lips with mine and the next moment, he found himself on the ground, unable to react or move. Well, that’s convenient. I turned to face Devin and waved at him. He frowned and came.

The next few hours were basically the same thing over and over again – we searched for the mirror in the trucks, we got rid of the guys who were guarding them and we repeated. Maybe it was rather dumb of me to do that to the men every time, since it was draining me physically and mentally, but for some reason, I kept doing it. It was like something told me to do it.

I was going to be practically useless if I lost the strength to protect Devin, but if that was one of the conditions I had to fulfill, then so be it.

In the end, we found the mirror. It was hidden in one of the trucks, at the very end. Devin was delighted to take it out and together, we placed it in the same place we found it in school before the whole thing happened.

For some reason, I was quiet all the time. Something didn’t feel right to me. I just … wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy at all.

“H-Hey, you okay?” Devin gently held my hand as we walked back home.

“Me? Yeah, why?”

“You look a little .. pale. Is everything alright? You’re not hiding something from me, are you?”

“Why would you say that?” I asked and stopped, pulling Devin closer to me. We were in the middle of the street, but it was still rather early for people to be walking around.

“H-Hey, don’t do that. I was just … worried. We found the mirror and you’re all gloomy. If I didn’t know better, I would say you didn’t want us to find that mirror.”

“Maybe.”

“Wh—“

I quickly closed my eyes and kissed him, my cold lips crashing onto his. I sealed that question and sucked on his tongue. He moaned quietly. The moment I felt his breath hitching, I broke the kiss and hugged him tightly. The kiss itself was supposed to make me feel better, but it didn’t. In fact, I felt even worse. I felt sour. I felt bitter. I felt ... alone.

God, why do I feel so lonely?

//Sorry for the extremely late update! Chapter 20 will be the last ~