Mirror

Doppelgänger

"Litty?"

I turned to see Danny behind me. He looked better than he did just hours ago in my dream, though numerous bruises and scrapes still stood out on his skin. My leg throbbed, but it had been wrapped well and the wound didn't seem as severe as I initially thought. "What are you staring at?" Danny asked.

"Nothing, I was just taking it all in," I said.

"That's right. This is your first time being here consciously," he said.

I looked at my hands. They looked like mine, even the new burn mark was there. "Yeah. Hey, is the body I'm in right now the one you called a doppelgänger?"

"That's right, but not all doppelgänger's look like their other half on Earth. Do you remember that part of the legend?"

"Yeah, so that means I only have a half a soul then, huh?" There was a melancholy feeling low in my stomach. Most souls would never be reunited. Maybe mine had been the moment I grabbed the amulet. Yet, I felt no different standing here like this.

Danny knelt down by the little creek and let cold water run over his hands. I sat next to him and pulled my knees up to my chest, resting my head on knees.

"When people dream sometimes they see pieces of the life of their other half," Danny explained.

"Hold up," I said, raising my head to look at Danny who was still watching the water flow. "If I can remember both lives won't it be like never getting to sleep?"

"It won't feel like it. For either of us. But your body and mind will get the rest it needs to function. It will just take some getting used to."

"You too? But you don't have an amulet, right?"

"No, I don't have an amulet. There's only one and the other seven pieces of it, none of which I have. For some reason I've just always been able to remember this world as well as Earth."

"For some reason?"

"I'm not the only one," Danny said with a shrug. "I've heard of others like me."

"Why haven't I ever met these people living two lives?" I asked, somewhat shocked.

Danny shrugged again. "It's very possible you have, how often do you talk to people about their dreams? I never brought it up because for the longest time I thought it was just normal. Everyone came to Mirror when they slept on Earth and there was no need to talk about it. For others it might be because they're afraid of appearing delusional."

"Oh," I mumbled into my knees. "I guess I hadn't really thought about it that way. I definitely thought I was going crazy when I first starting dreaming about Mirror."

Danny smiled wryly. "Your case is special. You weren't witness to your normal life here. You were shown specific events."

I felt the deep-seeded sorrow threaten to claw its way up my throat and forced my thoughts elsewhere. I nodded absentmindedly to Danny and focused exclusively on the eddy currents in the creek. Really, I had never seen such clear water. "Where is that village now anyway? " I asked when I finally felt I could speak again.

"It's pretty far from here. Maybe half a day of travel by foot."

"Where are we now?"