There once was a sweet, innocent, perfect girl. This girl had the life everyone dreamed of. She had a great boyfriend and the most wonderful best friend. Her parent’s never fought and her grades were always flawless. Her life was perfect, until she discovered, what truly happens beyond your mirror. I bet you’d never think your mirror is not just a reflection… right? Well, you’re wrong. Your mirror can be a portal to a completely different world! It’s the same world as the one you live in, but the only difference is every person in you’re mirror is exactly the same, but opposite. Like if you’re shy their confident and vise versa, but if you were to switch places with a double then what would happen? Everyone notices how different you are, but they can’t explain why. Then everything spirals out of control, but first let’s hear the tale of Alexandra Nicole Gamble, the girl with the perfect life.


5:30 am. All Time Low’s ‘D*mned if I do ya (D*mned if I don’t)’ filled the room. I reached over and snoozed the music. “Time to wake sleeping beauty” called my dad as he opened my door a crack “I’m up daddy” I yawned as slowly pulled off my pink zebra covers. “Just making sure Al” he chuckled as he closed the door again and walked back to his bed to sleep for another hour or so before he had to leave for work. I stretched a little and headed towards the shower. After I went through my various morning rituals, blow drying and straightening my hair, brushing my teeth, fixing today’s make-up, etc. I headed towards my closet. “What should I wear today” I spoke aloud as I looked through the various hangers at my outfits from Abercrombie & Finch, Hollister, Abercrombie, Hot topic, etc. I soon decided on a soft pink blouse with a black pencil skirt, with my flats. “Flawless again” my mother chuckled when I walked down the stairs. “Ryan picking you up today sweetie?” she asked as she placed a freshly made stack of chocolate chip pancakes in front of her. “Always” I giggled as I poured syrup and covered the pancakes with whipped cream. Soon the tell-tale rumble of the jeep grew louder until they were cut-off in the driveway. “Hey there beautiful” Ryan called as he walked in and sat down for some pancakes. “hey Mrs. G” he whispered as my mother put the pancakes down in front of him. “Don’t eat too fast now Ryan” my mother chuckled at her own joke. Ryan, of course, downed his pancakes and soon we were down the road with the top off the jeep and singing along to the radio.

After pulling into our usual spot we met with out friends before homeroom and chit-chatted some more, with the school slowly filling with students, some half-awake and carrying various sizes of coffee from random coffee shops around town. The day almost flew by before I’d realized it was 8th period and it was almost time to go home. “You ready for the game tonight Aley?” called a voice from behind, “Nate!” I cried, “you scarred the crap out of me!!” Nate laughed “oh I didn’t mean to! Maybe you should get spooked so easily!” now I was laughing “Maybe I would if you weren’t so quiet and always sneaking up on me!”

Nate and I had been best friends for years; I don’t know what I’d do without him. He’s lived across the street from me since I was 9 and he was 10. I had just moved and hadn’t really known anyone. That’s when the spooking began, I had turned around to check out the garden when suddenly a warm breath was suddenly on my neck and chills ran down my spine, I screamed and started to run into the garden to just to get away. I had gotten a good lead on the boy when I tripped on a small flower pot I hadn’t seen and landed square on my butt. I had begun to cry when he caught up and held out his hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to spook you, I just wanted to touch your hair” I took his hand and let him help me up, “well, you could of just asked!” I yelled, still a bit spooked at this unknown boy. “I’m Nate” he smiled at me, showing small dimples in his cheeks and his bright brown eye’s lighting up, “I live across the street… do you want to hear a ghost story?” And from that moment on we were friends, it wasn’t the normal kind of friends either, we always had scary stories to tell, and I knew from that moment on, we’d always find each other to tell a great story if we heard one.

“Soooo, wanna hear a story?” Nate whispered in the suddenly quiet room, I guess my scream had drawn everyone’s attention from whatever they had been doing towards our conversation. “Of course!!” I squealed, I always loved a ghost story. “This is a new one” he smiled wickedly “I read it in that new book of mine” he slowly brought out the Black spiral book with the gold and red letter across the front, it read The Tales of Those Who Only Lived To Tell The Tale “Interesting” I whispered as I stroked my fingers along the satin cover. “It’s defiantly a whole new kind of scary” Nate seemed almost entranced by the books presence. “Well, Let’s hear us a ghost story!” I could wait any longer, the suspense was killing me!
Nate began “Have you ever thought about your reflection? Like there might be actually someone else there not just you…”

After a lovely day at school I quickly rushed up stairs to get changed while Ryan ran home to get his football gear. Tonight was the big Homecoming game and Ryan was Quarter back. Earlier this year I had earned the honor of being cheer captain, I was defiantly excited I could be the number one person to cheer for my baby. Our school color’s were blue and red, separated by a white strip, so our uniforms looked almost the same, we wore blue skits with red tops and a small white ribbon around our waists, although since I was cheer captain I had small gold ribbon braided in with the white. Soon Ryan was outside and I had to dart outside “Don’t forget your pom-poms!” Mom called from the living room, we had about a medium sized house and my mother liked to read in the living room when it was sunny out “because the sun always hit just right through the window” she always said. “I’ve got them!” I called back, “Alright hun, have fun and we’ll be there later for the game” dad yelled from the garage, he was always working on something. I quickly grabbed my cheer bag and hopped into the passenger seat and Ryan took off towards the high school.

Afterwards we had gone out to a bonfire to roast marsh mellows in the cool October air. “To our Victory!” called one of the jocks sitting over by the cooler of beer near the house. Everyone held up their cups and cheered. We’d won with a huge lead of 24 to nothing. I wasn’t much of a beer drinker so I just had a soda, but Ryan always enjoyed a cup or two with the boys, I knew he was responsible so it never bothered me. Later on after Ryan had dropped me off at home and I had gotten ready for bed I remembered Nate’s story about the mirrors. What if you could actually talk to an opposite you? H*ll, why not try to? “What’s the worst that could happen; I look like an idiot talking to a mirror?

“I wonder what life would be like, if things didn’t always come so easily, ya know? Like if things could actually be a little difficult or a challenge.” I confided in my mirror, truthfully, yes I liked how things in my life were “perfect” but I wish for once, I actually had a little bit of a challenge to get to my goals. My reflection still looked the same, just an exact copy of me, no answer to my question, nothing out of the ordinary, just… an ordinary reflection. “Well, I guess I’m just an idiot for talking to a reflection” I sighed, I knew nothing would happen, I had just… hoped. I had started to walk toward why bed when someone called “Who, are you calling a reflection?” I Jumped, “Who, said that? Nate! You better not be trying to scare me again!” I looked everywhere, not another sound. “Maybe, I’m just going crazy” I laughed at myself, I was so exhausted I must be half-dreaming. “Oh, so now you gonna pretend I don’t exist?” that voice again! It sounded like… “Who are you? What are you doing in my room? NATE!” I was frantic now, who could be in my room? That’s when it hit me… The Mirror! Maybe the story was true after all!, I had slowly walked toward the mirror that was also the door to my closet, I saw myself walking closer and closer

*BAM* the door to my closet sprang open and next thing I knew Nate was tackling me and we had crashed onto the floor. “Nate!” I said in a breathless whisper, “what on earth is wrong with you!” Nate was hysterically laughing and rolling on my floor now, “You should have seen your face!” He half-yelled and half-whispered: trying not to wake my parents. “You actually believed it was your mirror didn’t you?” He laughed harder now, but was trying his best to make the least amount of noise possible. I stayed flat on the cool light tan wood that made up my floor as Nate rolled on the zebra print rug I had placed to add some fun in my room. “What were you doing in there?!” I whispered still out of breath “trying to scare you!” Nate laughed again. “Get out of my house Nate” I growled, my face burning with anger and embarrassment. “Daww, come-on Aleyyyyy, you know you love me” He said as he rolled over and stood up in the glow of my small chandelier, “Upsi-daisy” he said as he pulled me onto my feet. “That wasn’t funny Nate!” I half slapped his arm, he truly could be annoying sometimes.

“Well, wasn’t that interesting” a chill ran down my spine, “Nate?” “yeah, Aley?” I shivered, “Did you just say something?” Nate face told me before the words left his mouth “No, I thought that was you…” We slowly turned towards the door holding the mirror that was now swinging freely. Nate walked towards the closet slowly, he was being apprehensible, not making any sudden movements. Quickly he grabbed the door and shut it, revealing the mirror to us. Everything seemed absolutely normal, “Huh” Nate was still trembling “Maybe, were both going crazy” he laugh was forced, trying to calm me, and himself.

Suddenly Nate’s reflection was absent from my mirror and only I was standing in the middle of my room, at least, that’s how it appeared in the mirror. “…Nate?” I whispered, but he saw it too, and was as bewildered as I was. “Took you idiot’s long enough” laughed the reflection. Nate and I stood frozen as my reflection walked closer to the mirror. “What, never seen yourself talk before?” she laughed again at her own joke, she was my reflection, but she wasn’t me. She had almost a sad look about her, the corner’s of her eye’s were turned down in a more depressed manner than mine, she was paler than me and almost glowing in the darkness that was slowly filling the room as the sun finally set below the tree’s outside. “So, are you going to say anything at all?” she pestered. Her laugh was filled with a sort of sadness, one that was almost deprived of happiness. Nate was the first to speak “Why isn’t my reflection there?” he almost growled, the anger at the absence of his reflection startled me, and also my reflection. “Well, he’s at home, we aren’t close like you two. Actually, we hate each other” she giggled again, at some unknown grudge we didn’t know. “What are you?” I finally choked out. “I’m you silly!” she burst into an almost joyful laughter now, slightly twirling as she went to sit on my- or her bed. “So, how’s the perfect life Aley? Gotten tired of it yet, cause I know I’m tired of this one, suck’s I tell you, pitifully” she started walking towards the mirror again, “what do you mean tired of it yet?” She started laughing again “Oh, don’t you remember?” she slowly got closer and closer towards the mirror, “Remember what?” I questioned, I was still in shock of her even talking to try to remember anything near this, “Oh, well you were young I guess, always the forgetful one” she laughed again, “Well, I guess, I’ll have to remind you” She took another step towards the mirror, almost touching but not quite on the glass, as though something was preventing her from coming any closer. “You see, when we were a bit younger, I had thought the same as you, like everything was too perfect.” Her lips turned down on the sides as she spoke, her eyes became more lifeless “I really didn’t now how great I had it, I just wanted to know what it was like to try, to have that small difficulty like every other kid… to have a story.” Nate had moved closer to me know, almost protectively, like he knew something about her I didn’t “That’s when I met you.” Her eye’s turned cold and hard as they looked into mine. “You were crying, you were also in my mirror, I didn’t know what to do, and you intrigued me.” Her eyes softened some as she continued “All I wanted was to help that crying little girl, I didn’t know it cost me everything, not then, I was too innocent.” Chills ran completely over my body, it was like the whole atmosphere was changing as she spoke her story. “You were crying, you told me that you life was sad, even as a little girl, you were hurting, they called you names, you cried, you told of how your parent’s fought, you had no happiness at all, which only made me feel guilty, because I had never known sadness. I didn’t know what it was like to cry.” Her story seemed so true to me, but I still didn’t remember anything like this, could this simply be a dream? “I asked if I could help you, and you said you had no idea how, so I asked if I could hug you, and then it happened, as I touched this very glass… we switched.” She was crying now, the silent tears rolled down her face as Nate and I stood speechless, unable to comprehend what we were hearing. “All of a sudden I was thrown into this saddened world! I couldn’t handle it, I had never knew true pain, till I came here, and completely reached the bottom. The only reason I’m still here? It is because I would stand at this mirror everyday, praying and pleading to go back. To be the girl I used to be, to know what it felt like to have a real smile again. Now it’s my turn, I want my life back Aley, and I’m going to get it.” She went to place her hand against the glass, to again ‘switch’ us as she had described “NO!” Nate and I had shouted together, but it was too late, I already felt the pull towards the mirror and the next thing I knew I was staring at Nate. I banged and banged against the glass, I screamed an almost blood curdling scream, but it was useless. “Enjoy your life Aley, because I know I will” she laughed cruelly. I cried and felt absolutely broken; I didn’t know what I was going to do in this world I didn’t know. The only thing I can tell you is, the last thing I saw, was Nate walking toward my double menacingly and then I only saw my reflection, the reflection of a girl I no longer knew.