Mirror

Old Barn

A piece of charred wood fell from above as I managed to push some old equipment out of the way. I’d been waiting for this day my entire life, but this was all wrong. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I looked down at the strange key card in my hand and realized I needed to focus. I cleared away some more debris and found the lock. I ran the card through without a clue as to what was on the other side. “Dad needed the green bottle with the blue tape in the black closet”, I whispered to myself over and over. The door opened and lights fluttered on to reveal a stairway. I ran down and came across another door. I typed my birthdate into the keypad, and I was suddenly staring at myself in some sort of liquid mirror. I reached out to touch it and it opened around my hand. Through the whole I could see a small lab. I closed my eyes and stepped through with extreme relief that I passed through safely. Though when I looked behind, the mirror was gone. I quickly scanned the room for the black closet. I found it immediately and within a minute I was holding the green bottle with the blue tape.

I started to run back up the stairs when I noticed a reflection on the steel walls. I turned around to see my face in the silvery liquid once again. “Umm, hi…I don’t know if you’re allowed out of the lab”, I said hoping it understood me, but it soon whipped around me and flew out the door. “Hey!! Wait!” Well, I guess I’m going to be in trouble after this is over. I ran up the stairs only to run straight through it once more. “Hey”, I yelled as I turned back around to face it. But then I was stopped by its beauty in the sunlight coming through the barn roof. It was reflecting sunlight upon everything and just floating there like an innocent energy.

“You’re so…amazing. What are you?”, I asked while obviously forgetting the necessary task at hand. It swirled around my shoulder and into the green bottle where it seemed to consume the liquid. “I needed that to save my world!! My parents died protecting its location!” I collapsed to the ground and the tears I’d been holding back finally came rushing out. It was over now. They would win and the world would be owned by them until they tore up every mountain and valley. Somehow my dad always knew a day like this would come and everyone thought he was crazy. I believed in him because how could you grow up with someone that put their whole faith into their work despite the criticism and not believe them? He always told me I could save the world one day. Looks like he was wrong.

A tear drop was caught by that horrible thing and I turned to yell some some more, but when I looked up, I didn’t see my reflection. I saw children running through a field just past a barn like this one, except it looked brand new. “Hey, that’s me and my little sister Sina. I remember that day. We were trying to sneak into the barn that day when, well, I can’t exactly remember. In the mirror I saw my younger self stray into the woods while my father shouted about losing something. I was backing away from the field and thought I had backed into a tree, but it was the mirror. I fell backward and scraped my hand. The mirror reached out and healed it. My father shouted and I looked to see him, but after seeing he wasn’t near, I turned to see the mirror was gone. The image changed again to when I was 12. Then again to an image I didn’t recognize. It was me, but I was taller and more, well, confident looking. “Is this me?” It nodded. “How are you showing me all this?”

The mirror exploded into a million tiny bubbles floating all around me with images from my past and future all laid out before me. Then I saw it, the playback of me saving the world. I was touching the mirror with my forehead with tears streaming down my face. The mirror eruptively explodes into a mist surrounding the Earth. Drowning out all alien bacteria and stopping their consumption of Earth. I see now that it all works and that life will be able to continue. In my joy, I start to wonder why the mirror was not in any future images past that. “Spreading yourself that thin will kill you...won’t it.” “You will save this world and nobody will know you.” “Well, I see you. I see all of you.” “Thank you for however you helped my father and for everything else.” In a way I could feel it wanting to hold my chin up and stay positive. I began to cry and placed my forehead towards it. As we touched I was blown to my feet and saw a wave of light before I passed out.

Entry 2,589,

It has been roughly 7 years since I lost Mirror, but after examining several locations across the globe, I have discovered residue. It’s tiny, but it definitely has a mind of its own. It flies all over the lab and likes to play practical jokes. Its growing. I’ve found you at last.