Mirrored Dreams

The Window

Emily stretched, pulling away from the morning light streaming through the window.

Her head ached, probably from too much wine last night. She smiled, remembering last night, and Kevin, who snored softly in the mess of pillows and the thick white comforter.

She stopped mid-stretch, her eyes widening in disbelief at the tousled brown curls of the man beside her in bed. Not Kevin!

Her heart raced as she pulled further away, trying in a growing panic to figure out who this strange man was.

Tanned, weathered skin; obviously someone who spent a lot of time outdoors, in the sun. The muscles were defined, a thin scar on the elbow nearest to her.

Emily stilled, willing her heart to stop racing. Think.

Suddenly, her face reddened. It was Jake. Her brother-in-law. Her sister's husband.

What the hell have I done!

Her cell rang, startling Emily out of her panic, creating a focus outside of this weird nightmare. It was Amber.

Reluctant, Emily answered.

"Hey." The word tore at her throat, which she now realized was sore and her voice scratchy. This was more than a hangover.

"Hey sis. Are you guys still coming over today? It's almost 11." Amber sounded slightly annoyed, but not the raging anger she might have expected had she known who was in Emily's bed.

She felt a hand move up her leg under the blanket, as Jake started waking up. He smiled. She froze.

Realizing both of them were mostly undressed, Emily fought the urge to pull away from him and cover herself more fully with the blanket.

The Call

"Remind me where I'm supposed to be..." Emily managed to say, her voice barely audible, her throat dry and stinging with the effort.

"It's Katie's party, remember? And what's wrong with your voice, are you sick?" Amber was sounding less annoyed, more worried. She would be worried more about her daughter getting sick than how her sister felt. But it gave Emily a temporary way out.

"Yeah I am definitely coming down with something. I just woke up. Sorry I didn't call."

Jake was pulling on a pair of Khaki shorts from the floor. He spoke without turning towards her, loud enough for Amber to hear.

"Morning Amber"

Emily stared at his back in shock. Why the Hell would he do that? Not knowing what to say now, Emily said nothing.

"Tell Jake Hi. And I hope you feel better soon, Katie's going to miss you today. I gotta go, the pizza's here." Amber hung up, leaving Emily frozen on the bed, confused and a bit frightened.

What was going on? Why were they acting normal, like Emily hadn't just slept with her sister's husband, everyone knew it, and no one seemed to care?

Jake threw her shirt at her playfully, smiling, and Emily just stared.

The Cup

Freshly showered to buy time, hoping he'd be gone by now, Emily entered the kitchen.

The man who she had shared a bed with last night, and possibly more, leaned over his phone, a steaming cup of black coffee in the other hand. He was on a stool at the kitchen island, facing away from her.

Emily grabbed her favorite cup, a chipped ceramic mug she's had since she was a teenager. It was one that Kevin had given her. Where is Kevin?

Her boyfriend of 6 years was nowhere to be seen, thankfully. She had no idea how he'd react to this situation.

He had to be at work. Had he come home last night and found them together? Her memory was still confused and fuzzy. The small snippets made no sense. And she didn't remember drinking.

"Are you feeling any better?" Jake was still mostly engrossed in checking his messages.

"Not really" Emily stirred in some French Vanilla, not her favorite, but they were out of regular milk.

She sat down on the other stool, and wrapped her hands around the warm mug. For a second or two, she just stared at it. But the morning's shock blunted her reaction to this newest assault to her already frayed nerves.

Her mug was...different.

It was her mug. But there were glaring differences in color and the chipped areas were somehow in new places, not along the rim, but on the handle.

The Picture

She almost dropped the coffee. This wasn't just a one-night stand that had happened after a couple too many shots of whiskey.

What the hell is happening?

Her hand shook slightly as she brought the foreign, yet familiar, mug to her lips.

It soothed her throat a little, and she managed to relax enough to speak to Jake.

"Are you feeling bad too? How's your throat?" Emily kept her eyes on her cup, surreptitiously glancing in his direction.

"Yeah, I called in at the shop an hour ago. I didn't think to call your sister." I could see now that he looked a bit pale, and tired.

I'll just take this slowly. One step at a time. She noticed the picture of her and Kevin by the clock was now her and Jake.

Something fundamental had shifted in her reality. Jake didn't seem to notice.

When Jake went to take his morning shower, Emily began to scour the apartment, looking for clues, anything that would help her understand this new reality. She then thought to check her cell phone message history.

Kevin wasn't listed in her contacts at all. Messages from Jake were normal "couple" types of messages. Amber's messages mentioned a husband that obviously wasn't Jake. Pictures of her niece Katie were of a different little girl. Her genetics didn't include Jake's, but some other man's, named Tony.

The Shift

Emily was just going to play along until she figured out what had taken her old life away, and left her in this new one. A seemingly normal life, a nice boyfriend, a distant, bitchy sister as she was in the old world. But she didn't know basic things. Did she still have the same job? Pin numbers for her bank accounts? Passwords on her laptop?

There were no children, no pets, thank goodness. She wouldn't have known how to deal with motherhood suddenly thrust on her.

She was brought back to the present when strong, tanned arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Emily stiffened, claiming body aches and pains from the flu.

The Mirror

The mirror was clean and reflected her tired image back at Emily. She looked at the reflection closely.

Her hair was clean, but just brushed a bit and the light brown strands pushed behind her ears. She wore no make-up. She didn't care.

She couldn't detect any difference. Just a strange mirroring effect in her eyes that she hadn't noticed in the old world. Jake's eyes had that mirror effect as well.

Emily had claimed to be feeling sicker than she actually was, and had retreated to the bedroom.

That was days ago, and still she remained in this place. She was reluctant to go to work. She didn't even know where the restaurant that she worked at was located.

Jake was at the garage where he was a manager. At least she was alone.

She thought of Jake. He was playful, fun, occasionally moody. He seemed a bit confused by her behavior, but put it up to feeling sick, and stress at work. But they needed the money, and she would have to go back to work soon.

She felt a bit guilty. She should be thinking about Kevin, with his dark hair and eyes, not Jake.

After she had figured out her password, Emily had scoured the Internet and all her social media looking for Kevin. He was no where to be found. It was as if he had never existed. But her social media also gave her a lot of information about her own life, Jake's, her family, her "friends", her co-workers.

The Memory

She missed Kevin, but she was here.

She was here. She didn't know how to get home, and she need to survive. And eventually, make some sort of life.

The Job

Work was less of a nightmare than she had expected. Her plan succeeded. She claimed her fever had brought on memory loss, and that she still wanted to work at the restaurant, but it would be difficult for her .

Her co-workers an employers helped her out, they seemed to be nice people for the most part. There was a girl she knew from high school, Sammy, who worked at the restaurant too, and Emily at least now had someone she was familiar with.

After a while, she settled into a sort-of normal routine at work and at the apartment.

And with Jake.

The Man

He flirted. A lot. She was reluctant to continue their strange relationship. She had lied about going to see her GP, lied about her fever bringing on cognitive disfunction and memory loss.

Jake was confused, but let her be for the most part.

But she knew he was wanting more, and she knew she was his girlfriend, and neglecting his needs.

The strange thing was, she was forgetting her past.

She could barely remember Kevin's face.

There was a new face she saw every day now.

She had been somehow thrust into this situation, and she was becoming confused by her growing attraction to the man who was supposedly her boyfriend for several years.

In the first weeks she had planned to leave, go stay with her sister, her mom, anywhere but here.

It was her job that kept her here in the beginning.

She enjoyed bartending and waitressing, something she never would have thought of doing in her past life.

And she liked Jake too.

He was funny, sweet.

Sexy.

Then she had a breakthrough in her decision-making process.

She liked this life.

It was hard to remember the old one at all.

She might just stay here.

The Night

Emily stood at the mirror, trying to tame the few loose threads of hair into the style Jake preferred.

She wore his favorite outfit, the yoga pants and tank top that accentuated her curves. He liked athletic women.

When Jake got home from work, he was not expecting her to be there.

"You're home early." He mentioned off-hand as he shut the door, setting the groceries on the side table next to the door.

She pretended to continue reading her book, said something about Sammy needing an extra shift this week.

He shrugged and poured himself a cup of coffee, turned on the TV.

She wasn't sure how to approach what she had been planning to do all day. She got up and got a glass of water, and then sat back down on the couch, much closer to him this time.

Snuggling up against him, she put her hand casually on his thigh.

He did notice.

"You're friendly tonight..." he said sleepily. He'd had an extra-long shift today.

Emily didn't want to ruin the moment with words. He was noticing her mood, and beginning to react. She supposed he wasn't too tired for this.

He leaned over and brought his mouth to her neck, slowly kissing and sucking gently.

Heat stirred inside her, and she decided to let him take the lead...she still had no idea what their sex life was like.

But she wanted to find out.

He was caressing her thigh through her thin yoga pants now, working his way up.

Feeling a surge of excitement, Emily responded with eager passion.

She hooked her legs around his lap, rubbing up against his groin. She felt his cock enlarge, larger than she had expected.

A bit surprised, Jake nevertheless decided he liked this new passion and decided to see where it would go.

He continued kissing her neck, then slid his tongue downwards towards her breasts.

His strong, muscular hands enveloped her from behind, pulling her slightly upwards, and pulled her pants and panties downwards.

Jake slid two fingers inside her wet lips, rubbing her clit with an upward motion. Emily gasped.

This was so different for her, but she needed to keep going.

Emily rotated her hips against his hand, undid his pants, and grasped his cock, mimicking his rhythm and motions.

Jake couldn't help it...it had been a couple of months since they had been intimate together.

He pulled her gently down onto his cock, her lips sliding over his wide girth. Emily gasped again, being close to coming.

She squeezed and pulled and ground her tender clit against his huge, swollen cock. She had never felt anything like this.

The momentum built as Jake thrust himself deeper and deeper. She was so exciting tonight, and he didn't question her newfound lust. He just felt and moved and lost himself in her wet frenzy.

Sweat dripped from the lovers as they climaxed in this strange new, exciting world for them both.

Emily fell against Jake, and they just breathed.