Mirrors

Chapter 10: is this the end?

Chapter 10: is this the end?

Paul:

April 28, 2017

I can't fucking believe Molly and Connor are letting her be free, she's a fucking monster! 'It's just Taylor' 'the same Taylor as always' bullshit! There's no way! She hasn't always had the dot in her eye so how could it have always been her? She's pretending! And I'm not gonna let her hurt anyone.
I don't care what Zooey says I'm going down to the water tonight and Taylor's coming with me.
It's dark when I climb out of my tent, the only light is coming from the billions of stars and what's left of the fire. As far as I can tell everyone else is asleep, except for the monster who is sitting by the fire.
I come up behind her and cover her mouth as I begin to drag her away. I mute her screams the best I can but she can still be heard, I hope to god no one's awake. She scratches at me and struggles, she hasn't seen me yet though, she has no idea who I am.
I carry her to the creek and pull her in with me, this is when she really starts to freak out, biting me, screaming in agony. I push her under. I keep her there until I feel the life leave her and I climb back onto the shore, leaving her body in the water.
Tears begin to make their way onto my cheeks.
I don't know if I'm crying because of Shar, or because I thought I could trust Taylor, or because I just killed someone, but either way, I'm crying.
Not long after I hear a voice that I don't recognize.
"Hello?" it says.
"Is anyone there, can someone help me?" it's a girl.
"Hello?!" I can place it now, it's coming from...
I look at the water and see Taylor's body swimming toward me.
How is that even....?
She climbs out and almost doesn't see me, before she trips over my leg.
That's when I strike.
"There's no way I'm letting you live," I say as I flip her over and begin to strangle her, "I don't know how you survived but it's not happening again."
She tries hard to fight me but she fails and I stare into her eyes.
Then I notice that something's missing.
She doesn't have the dot.
I loosen my grip a little.
She doesn't have the dot.
What?
I throw myself back in shock.
She lies there trying to catch her breath.
"Who's there?" I hear Zooey's voice as she rounds the corner and sees us.
Everyone freezes.
"Paul..." She whispers, "What did you do?"
I can't speak so I don't, I just watch as she rushes to Taylor.
She kneels down and talks quick, "I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry, this is my fault I should've let you in my tent, then he wouldn't have been able to get you, I'm so sorry, are you okay?"
Taylor tries to speak but Zooey doesn't give her a chance.
"Oh sweetie I'm sorry, I love you, I'll never let this happen again," she says.
Taylor looks at her confused and starts to respond, "who--"
Zooey kisses her repeatedly while she cries, then Taylor pushes her off.
"Who are you?" Taylor says scared, "Where am I?"
Zooey stares at her, "what?"
Taylor: "I said, where am I? and who are you? and why did he just try to kill me?"
Zooey: "Taylor..."
Taylor: "That's not my... wait."
Taylor rushes to the creek and looks down, something she sees must upset her because she begins to cry and falls backward.
She shoots me a glare, "What did you do to her?"
I stare blankly, "what are you--?"
She rushes at me, "where is she?"
I shake my head confused.
"WHERE'S TAYLOR?!"

May 29, 2015

I wake to the sound of a train on tracks and I know that if I don't get up now I'll never get out of this town, wherever this town is, I've lost track of where I am and who I know, lost track of what I'm wearing and who I look like, but one thing I'll never lose track of is why I'm running.
My parents never came home that night, the night my sister disappeared, they weren't possessed or killed by a reflection, it was just a simple car crash.
I'm not sure what happened exactly but I know they were both killed instantaneously. I heard about it on the radio after I started running, it was blasting from a black '67 impala for just long enough for me to hear their names and the instantaneous part then one of the guys in the car changed the station and some Kansas song started playing ((authors note: sorry guys, I had to)) and I kept walking.
I went til I made it to the trainyard, that's not where I was trying to go just where I ended up and I'd be damned if I didn't jump the hell on one of those trains.
So that's the story, that's why I'm running down the tracks trying to hop on a freight right now, because once you start running you can't stop. I ride the trains until they stop and get off in some town, pick up some supplies and keep going. I don't pay attention to signs, I don't want to know where I am, I don't want to know any details, I just want to keep going.
I've gotten caught on the trains a couple times but no one really cares anymore, just say the word reflection and they leave you alone.
So here I am now, on the train, thinking I'm alone and I lean back. My head hits something soft and I look up.
There's a wide eyed girl looking down at me. I know I should move but I don't, I just stare up at her, she's not overly beautiful or anything, she's just the first human I've really let myself look at in two years.
She's got orange orange hair pulled back into a tight tight ponytail, freckles covering every inch of her -- as far as I can tell. She's wearing a plaid flannel buttoned up over a very see through white tanktop and she has the strangest look on her face. She's looking at me and she seems surprised (as she should be) and she's also looking like I'm about to kill her judging by the amount of fear in her eyes which seems just about right but she's also smiling the biggest smile I've ever seen as if I'm a long lost friend of hers that she hasn't seen in years.
She speaks first.
"Hi." She says simply.
Her voice sort of snaps me back into reality and I bolt up.
"I'm sorry," I rush out, "I uh I didn't see you and I haven't ever met another person on a train and I uh I just uh..."
She giggles as I trail off, eventually she shushes me.
"It's fine," she replies, "it's nice to see another human being."
I smile and lean against the train wall farthest from her, "yeah... it really is."
We sit there for a moment staring at eachother when I realize, I have no idea what I look like and for some reason that suddenly seems like a really important thing to know.
"What do I look like?" I ask abruptly, shattering all of the silence into a billion tiny pieces.
She scrunches up her eyebrows, "what?"
I repeat, "What do I look like? I can't really look in a mirror because you know... but you can see me so um could you tell me?"
She smiles slightly and starts speaking, "Well... you've got scruff all over your face, your hair's kind of shining red right now--"
I interrupt, "It does that in the sun."
Her: "But other than the red it's pretty dark, but I suppose you already knew that. Your eyes are so blue I keep expecting to see a fish swimming in them and you look... you look scarred. You look like you're scared to trust anyone because something happened to you, something bad. You look like you never think you'll trust anyone again."
I smile sadly, "thanks, I'm Paul by the way."
she grins and holds her hand out for me to shake, "Sharlotte."