Shattered

Chapter 15

I have two weeks at least. I wasn't sure if that was enough time or not. I noticed Harmony kept looking to me with concern. The room was tensely silent. I was glad that it's just Harmony and me though. She invited herself over which I happily agreed to. "So, wanna go somewhere tonight? Have a girl's night?" I shrug, reminded of the exhaustion I already feel from Emma's earlier clubbing. "I don't know. Emma went out tonight again and danced and drank. I'm really tired already."

Harmony hums at me as if thinking of a solution. "Would you go for food?" Or a strategy. A very obvious strategy that I saw right through but could not resist. I smile and nod. "You know me too well." Harmony returns a smirk and we stand up.

"Where would you like to go?" We walk out into the bitter cold as we talk about where to go. We don't even worry about how much money we're spending considering it will all be back tomorrow anyway. I guess it would be a perk of this stupid curse. Someone can get a tattoo and it'll be gone the next day. Though I can't say it outweighs freedom. "Let's go shopping or something! Let's go buy some random crap!" We jump into my car and drive to the mall. Typically, the mall would be closed in the Reflected world but since everyone has their freedom at night a majority of the time, they open up again so we can at least enjoy our time.

"Where do you wanna go?" We walk around as Harmony and I window shop through stores. After a while, we find ourselves with bags of useless stuff that won't stay long. "So do you wanna talk about what's been bothering you?" Our pace slowed as I'm suddenly reminded of my...predicament. "Yeah, I think talking would be good." She nods and we find a place to sit to talk. We put our bags down and I tell her. I tell her everything. I try to hold myself back from falling apart right then and there but I cracked. Harmony patiently watches as my facade slowly chips away. I opened my heart and the fear poured out.

After, Harmony silently hugs me as passerby's stare at me as if I've become irrational or with sympathy. Harmony ignored all of them anyway. Her focus seems to be entirely on me at this moment. She says nothing. No critical or sympathetic words. She just lets her presence do the work and I feel grateful. I was able to vent peacefully. Well, as peaceful as I could manage at least.

When I've finally calmed down again, I apologize but she seemed to just ignore my apology. "Let's get ice cream!" Her face lights up again as if nothing happened. I nod, following her towards the food court. She told me to find a seat while she got our food. She didn't even ask what I wanted but I put my trust in her. I feel closer to her, even after such a short amount of time, but I don't know if I should be happy about that or not. Maybe Connor was right, maybe we shouldn't spend as much time with each other. It'll only hurt more in the end. "Here we go!"

She places the plastic tray on the table and hands me my food. "I just got you a burger." I look at her food to see she got the same thing. I smile and thank her for the meal before we start to dig in. "You told Connor before, didn't you?" I nod as I swallow. "Last night. I wanted to know the shortest time he's known someone before..."

I trailed off again. I couldn't say it. My mouth seemed to automatically shut itself off before I could sputter out the word. "Ah. Well, I guess we'll just have to work faster now." It kinda stung when she said it so casually but it made sense. I don't have time to dwell on this feeling. There's nothing I can do. I can't beg Connor to not do it. I can't run away. I can't ask for help. I'll have to face this head-on. I have to accept it. "Yeah, but we can't find any ideas. We ran out of them."

"I agree. I even tried looking at it from the perspective of it not being the mirror but ourselves, and I still can't think of anything." I take another bite as I wonder how three people can work together and still run out of ideas. I hear Harmony sigh beside me. "But, it's supposed to be a girl's night. We're not supposed to be thinking about this tonight." I turn to her with concern. "But we on-"

"Don't even say it, Brooke. If you do, I'm calling this friendship off." I knew she was kidding about ending our friendship, but I can also tell she didn't want to talk about this anymore. She just wanted to help me forget. Maybe it's better for both of us. "So, where to now?" We stand up and make random suggestions. Just walking around and getting to enjoy my time peacefully with Harmony made me feel better again. I felt glad to have her as a friend.

***

"I want to be a musician." I turn to Harmony as she blurts her words out so suddenly. We're just sitting down at a table in the mall with cups of frozen yogurts doused in a variety of toppings. Enough to give a heart attack possibly. Even to thin and healthy-looking Harmony. "What?" She looks at me with a serious expression and repeats herself. "I want to be a musician. When we cut this bond, I'm going to try my best and work hard. I want to make people smile and feel hopeful listing to my songs." Her face lights up the more she talks about it. I can't help but feel excited along with her. She talks about her passion for music and how much she loves it. She tells me about learning how to play an instrument growing up when her Reflected, Maggie, had already gone to bed.

I was surprised though. In the short time that I've known her, I hadn't seen her play, let alone be near an instrument. "I didn't know that!" She laughs at my surprise. "Not a lot of people do. I thought it would be nice to tell you as well. Now that we're closer and everything." I suddenly felt happy that she felt the same as me. I started to think I was the only one who thought that. "What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you! Have you ever wanted to do something?" I shake my head almost regretfully. "Really? Well, that's okay. A lot of people don't know what to do either. Who knows? People may create new jobs that will interest you after we finish this." Harmony seems to feel so hopeful about our future. I felt guilty not being as optimistic as her.

***

We continued to walk around and we eventually started to grow tired. We carried bags of stuff around and our hands felt like they were wearing thin as well. "Let's go home. I'm tired and my hands hurt." I only nod in agreement. We stayed out longer than we planned. We got too distracted with everything. "You made me even more exhausted than I was before!" I accused jokingly. She shrugs with a nonchalant look. She pressed her lips to the side and closed her eyes. I saw her slight smile though as she tried to keep her act up.

That's when I see it. Paint. Well, a painted sign but an idea suddenly struck me. It's an idea that I knew would probably fail in the end but one worth a shot. I nudge Harmony and point towards the store. She turns back to me with a raised brow. "Paint. What if we covered the mirror in paint?"

"Paint over a mirror? But-"

"I know, someone probably already did it or something like it but didn't we say it's worth a shot? How would we know someone already tried it though?" Harmony sighs and smiles. "I guess it's better than the no ideas we've been sharing." I nod and we make our last stop into the store to buy black paint and paintbrushes.

When we got home, we take everything in with as many bags as we could carry. We take in the paint last. "So, ready to get started?" I nod. We open the cans of black paint, roll up our sleeves, and grab our paintbrushes. We start to paint the walls without even protecting surrounding things. I wasn't even sure this would work. If it doesn't, everything would just go back to normal anyway.

We paint the mirror completely black. We put layer upon layer of paint. Each layer I brush over, I hope it adds a sense of security that the mirror's or the bond's power over us weakens. I hope that this plan will work this time. I hope and pray and beg that this works despite the doubt that remained in me. "Let's hope this works." Harmony stands back with me as we stare at our work. She turns to me for a second before wrapping her arms around my shoulder. "It's a plan that will either solve it or eliminate one less idea."