Reflect // Van McCann

7. I'm Back

*Amy's POV*

26-September-2020

I was on my way home from the grocery store when it happened. At first, I thought I was a bit unsteady on my feet, but then I realized it was an earthquake. I stopped in my tracks like a deer in headlights wondering what to do, and before I knew it, it was over. I looked around and saw an old man across the street who was just as confused as I was.

"Was that an earthquake?" he asked me.

"Guess so!" I shouted back.

That was strange. It's been years since I've felt an earthquake. I continued making my way home and dropped the bags of groceries onto the kitchen counter. I then began unpacking and putting everything away. It wasn't a big earthquake but I thought it'd be best to quickly scour the house and see if anything was broken or out of place.

I started in the garage and made my way through the rooms on the bottom floor. I then made my way upstairs, poking my head into each room. Everything was normal.

I noticed I left my dream journal out on the table so I closed it. Two years of dreams are in that journal. Thank God I don't dream about Van every single day, and I'm glad they weren't dreams of him doing the most mundane things like eating or something. Instead, the dreams were carefully crafted, showing me things of utmost importance. It was by the third dream when I realized Van was doing just fine.

I tried to figure out where he was but couldn't pin it to a certain location. The buildings didn't look like anything found in Oregon. I'd see street names and restaurants and write them down, but my Google search turned up nothing. I had no idea where he was.

Things were tough for him at first. It was hard for him to get used to the drastic change and I don't blame him one bit. He was taken from a place he was familiar with and placed into a new environment against his own will. He had to start over. He didn't know anyone and he didn't own anything.

I'm grateful that two boys—whose names I've come to learn are Austin and Jacob—found him in the woods that day and helped him get on his feet. They've been nothing but kind to him, and I found that Van eventually warmed up to them, now considering them his brothers. He's also met a female friend as well named Irene. I can't tell if they're just friends or if she's his girlfriend. Irene is definitely smitten with him but it's hard to tell how Van feels about her. The day I found out about Irene, I felt my heart break. I've always thought that Jess was the right person for Van, but things have changed with the mirror being broken. But at the same time, it's nice seeing Van happy. I hope that Jess has found someone that makes her happy as well.

.

.

The next day.

I sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I pulled the covers aside and got ready for the day. I've been slowly working through the house, cleaning it room by room. Since I don't have Van around, I've been having loads of extra time I don't know what to do with. Instead of wasting it, I thought I'd put myself to good use and work on projects I've been putting off for a long time. Today's project was organizing the furniture room.

I went downstairs to cook myself some breakfast and watched the morning news which talked about the 4.6 magnitude earthquake that happened yesterday. Luckily there were no reported deaths or damages, though I wondered if it was even possible to die in this world. Some people were still feeling aftershocks but I didn't feel anything. Once done with breakfast, I made my way back upstairs and mentally prepared myself to start organizing the furniture room.

This room was a right mess. I walked over to the window and pulled it open to let fresh air in. There were chairs scattered around the room so I moved them together, stacking them against each other to minimize the space they took up. I then sorted through all the items in the boxes, deciding what to keep and what to throw away. I found tons of toys I've played with ever since I was a child and I wondered why my mom still kept these things. I even found old books I enjoyed reading in the past and I may have accidentally spent half an hour reading one of them. Realizing I was getting off track, I forced myself to wipe the dust off all the furniture and I vacuumed the carpet. I was getting hot and sweaty from all the heavy lifting and cleaning. I was just a tiny girl and that wiped me out. I put my hand on the mirror with the intention of leaning on it but I ended up falling through.