Mirrors

Chapter 9: once upon a time

Chapter 9: once upon a time

Zooey:

May 30, 2017

Journal entry:
day: who gives a fuck
Hey fuckers, have ever told you that life is shit?
Well it is.
Don't trust a soul, not a damn soul, it'll only hurt you in the end, every. single. time.
Let me paint you a picture:
Taylor was a beautiful wonderful amazing girl, wavy blonde hair, australian accent, carefree, wouldn't hurt a fly.
She was.
Emphasis on was.
She isn't anymore.
She isn't Taylor, she may look like it but she isn't the girl I fell in love with.
This will be my last entry.
Goodbye.
-Zooey

April 28, 2017:

I freeze.
"Zooey?" she says, I can't speak.
Taylor reaches out to me but I push her away.
"N-no," I stammer, "G-go away"
Her face falls, "Zooey..."
I almost give in, I almost lean in, almost kiss her, but I don't, I do what I'm good at, I run.
The tears fly from my face as I feel the distance between Taylor and I grow larger.
After a while I fall to my knees and wait for the world to disappear.
I don't know what to believe, what to think, who did I fall in love with?
She had to have been lying, right?
I try to convince myself it was just a reflection, lying to me but then I see her face, when I pulled away, over and over, staining my mind. That was her, I know it was.
She was telling the truth, she wasn't lying, I'm not sure if this is better or worse.

Nick:

April 30, 2016:

"Honey.." My mom says to me in the most sympathetic of a tone she can manage, "talk to me."
I push my plate of untouched plate of food away, "can I be excused?"
"Nick.." she sighs.
I stare at the empty chair in front of me, there's a plate made for my mom's boyfriend there but of course, he's late, again.
"Nick, answer me," she says again.
I clear my throat, "I'm going to my room, thanks for dinner mom."
I grab my plate and push my chair out.
"Nick please!" She tries again.
I ignore her and scrape my food down the garbage disposal.
Mom: "why won't you talk to me?! What's going on with you?!"
Drop my plate in the dishwasher, close the door, make my way toward the stairs.
"NICHOLAS!" My mother slams her fork down on the table and stands up.
I stop, I've never heard her yell like that, ever.
"I've had enough of this!!! I'm done Nick, I'm done! You've been so distant for the last few days and I want to know why!" She takes a breath and calms down a bit, "Is this because of what I saw you doing... the other day?"
I run my hands down my face, "No. no mom that's not what's wrong. You want to know what's wrong? Really? We're living in an apocalypse, a fucking apocalypse and you're acting like it's nothing! Mom! We're using plastic silverware! How the hell aren't you freaking out? What's wrong with me?! The other day my best friend tried to kill me! And not to mention herself too, she bit off my damn finger, look!" I pull off my glove and the styrofoam I had in the pinky slot falls out.
My mother's face pales, "Micah did that?"
"No, mom." I sigh, "Micah is gone. Her reflection did that."
She comes forward to comfort me but I pull away, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't--" I start.
Scott, my mom's boyfriend, bursts through the door right then, his jacket halfway off, a bottle of whiskey in one hand, a pistol in the other.
"Janice." He yells drunkenly toward us, "you're a bitch."
Before I know it my mother falls to the ground, a bullet in her heart.
"What the hell Scott?!" I scream at him and try to help my mom, peeling off my shirt to cover her wound, I know it won't do much but it's worth a try.
I figure he's going to shoot me too but when the gun goes off again, I'm left the only living person in the room.

April 28, 2017:

For some reason the day my mother died is all I can think about as I watch the scene in front of me, I still don't know if Scott was possessed or not and I'm not sure what would make me feel better.
"Zooey!!" Taylor yells after her girlfriend, but she's long gone.
I'm so confused by what's happening around me, Taylor's a reflection?
That's bull, Paul's just grief crazy, what's he even going by?
"Guys we have to kill her!" He yells at us, "She's a reflection! She has the dot in her eye!"
Oh, that's what he's going by.
Connor puts in his part, "Paul we can't kill Taylor, maybe she's telling the truth, maybe she's always been a reflection and she's just not a bad one."
Taylor's not talking, she's just sitting, knees to her chin, watching her own death trial.
"But what if she's been pretending?" Molly asks.
"Yeah," Paul adds, "This could just be an elaborate scheme to kill us all."
They all look at Taylor.
Connor kneels down in front of her.
"Taylor." He says, his voice heavy with sadness, "Tell us."
She takes a deep breath and begins to tell a story about how she got here today, with us.

Taylor's story:

After Kyra died I ran.
I took all her money ($78.60) and nothing else, no clothes, no belongings, not even anything to remind me of her.
I planned to never see her again.
Never look like her again.
I didn't know where I was going or how long I would stay there, I was just running.
Eventually, I found someone.
A boy, light brown hair curling like crazy on the top of his head, wearing a Green day shirt, the most ripped up jeans in the history of ripped up jeans and shoes in even worse shape.
He was sitting on the side of the road, legs in the street, ass on the curb, eating a cheeseburger.
I sat down next to him, in hopes of getting some food.
"Hi," I said quietly.
"Hey," He responded, his mouth full of food.
"Can I um..." I started but felt to silly to finish, of course he wouldn't give me his food, he's just met me.
After a moment he spoke again, "yeah, here." and he handed me the last half of his burger.
I stared at him in shock before taking the offer and scarfing it down.
He had laughed at me, "damn."
I raised my eyebrow, "problem?"
"Nah just never seen a chick eat like that, well..." He stopped and I realized he'd hit a sore subject.
I change the topic, "What's your name?"
"Nick."
And it was Nick and I.
I wanted someone to talk to and Nick wanted a shoulder to cry on, as unbelievable as it is Nick is a big baby.
So we stayed together.
We watched civilization disintegrate and we headed to the woods, where we found Molly, Paul, and Connor.
They were sitting around the fire of course, everyone here is always sitting around the fire, there's not much else to do.
Connor and Molly were all too trusting, Paul, not so much, but he came around.
I was so happy to see Nick happy.
So I stayed, I didn't like the idea of staying in a group at first but I couldn't leave him, so I'm here.
So I stayed.

Nick:

I smile at Taylor's story, I haven't thought about back then for a long time.
She's always been there for me, when the nightmares came, when I needed someone to tell me a joke, she put up with me, perviness and all.
Once we got the group we started to grow apart a little, I started spending more time with Molly and Taylor was hanging out with Connor and Zooey, but I've always known that if I wake up screaming she'll be there in a second, to comfort me.
Paul or maybe it's Connor, someone starts to say something but I interrupt them.
"I don't know what you guys are thinking but Taylor is an amazing person, she is our friend, she may be a reflection but who says all reflections are bad? I won't let anyone hurt her." Once I say this Taylor smiles a thank you at me, I nod back at her.
Connor and Molly exchange a look and Connor speaks, "Taylor has been with us for almost a year now and if she was going to kill us I think she would have started by now, Taylor, we love you, no matter what species you are."
Taylor and I sigh in relief.
Paul, however, freaks out, "Are you kidding me?! Are you fucking kidding me?! Did you guys not see what the reflections did to your families?! To Sharlotte?! To the whole fucking world?! And you're going to let her live?! I don't care if she's a been a reflection the whole time, she's still a monster and--."
"Stop."
We all look to where the 'stop' came from and see Zooey standing on the edge of camp.
"Taylor will not be killed unless she attempts to hurt any one of us." She says firmly and emotionless, "If she so much as punches you Paul, then you have permission to end her sorry life. But then, and only then, is her death at your hands okay. If you hurt her under any other circumstances, you will be sorry. Are we understood."
Paul swallows hard and gets an annoyed look as he nods in agreement.
"Good." Zooey walks toward her tent and looks at Taylor, "I'm going to bed. Alone."
With that she climbs inside.