“Emily?” For the second time that morning, I woke up with the unfamiliar name on my lips, this time not in a scream, but in a questioning whisper. I feel like she was right next to me a second ago… why did she have to leave?
Wait… what the heck am I thinking? Who the hell is Emily!? My eyes snapped open, and the inexplicable thoughts of the past moment were overshadowed by the bizarre confusion inspired by my surroundings. I was in a dark, cold room – if I had to guess, I would have assumed it was a basement or boiler room – large pipes climbed their way up the walls to the vaulted ceiling rising above my head. The only light in the room was provided by a grimy sky light. I was unable to accurately gauge how large the room was – two huge mirrors, one on either side of me, dominated most of my vision. It wasn’t until I saw my own reflection that I realized I was lying flat on my back on a metal tabletop on wheels. My hands were cuffed to either side of the table, only a hair’s breadth away from each mirror. If I stretched my fingers out, I’d be able to brush them against the polished glass. My right index finger had barely made contact with the mirror when someone’s voice startled me.
I jumped, or at least, my body twitched, my shoulders arcing forward and yanking my wrists against their restraints. “Ouch…” Damn all these surprises…
“Oh, good, you’re awake! I probably should have used less of that drug, huh… it took you a long time to wake up. Are you ok?” Rose appeared in the mirror I had been staring at. I jerked my head to the left and found her standing next to my outstretched left arm, in between the table and the mirror.
“Rose, what the hell is going on?!”
“You’ll see in a minute, I promise.”
“Wha –” I began, but stopped when I saw Sharon reflected behind Rose. I flicked my head right, and found Sharon directly opposite from her twin sister. “Sharon, please, just tell me what the hell this is.”
Sharon didn’t look at me, instead staring at her sister. It may have been the poor lighting, but she looked paler than normal, and I could have sworn she was sweating, despite the room’s cool atmosphere. “Are you ready, Rose?”
I looked back to Rose. Her trademark smile had disappeared, and, now that I looked, I could see she was also sweating, even trembling a little. The dark circles under her eyes, left over from last night, had become more prominent. “Yeah, Sharon, I’m ready.” She put her hand on my left wrist, and Sharon grabbed my right.
“Jack, all we need you to do is touch these mirrors, alright?” Rose said quietly, and I was too spooked by this whole freakish scene to be offended by her patronizing tone.
“Why? What is touching the mirrors gonna do?” It seemed like an innocent enough request, but if that were the case, why would they have to drug me and strap me to a table?
“We’ll explain once you’ve helped us out, ok?” Rose gently pushed my fingers toward the glass, but I curled them into a fist.
“Explain, then I’ll do whatever it is you want.”
“Rose…” Sharon muttered. Rose closed her eyes tiredly and sighed.
“One, two, three…” She whispered, and before I could realize what was happening, both girls had grabbed my wrists and yanked them the few millimeters to the mirrors. I pulled back as hard as I could, suddenly and inexplicably terrified.
YOU ARE READING
Blood Is Thicker
FantasyJack is just your average sophomore in college. He's got pretty good grades, a handful of friends, and is comfortable starting his second year of college at AU. That is, until he wakes up screaming a name he doesn't know. Things go from peacefu...
