“I CAN’T BELIEVE I will be on stage in a few short hours! I’m so excited and nervous I think I might burst. Or vomit.” Alex groaned. She lay on the bed chatting with Jennifer on the phone. Her mom was in the bathroom taking a shower and singing at the top of her lungs. Normally such behavior would irritate Alex to no end but she was too nervous to pay her mother’s awful singing much attention.
“You guys’ll be great. You could probably do this play in your sleep,” Jennifer said.
Alex rolled off the bed and passed in front of her full-length mirror.
The image shifted to the beautiful girl in the house with the red shutters.
“Jenn...” Alex had a hard time forcing the name past her lips. She felt herself moving toward the mirror, unable to stop her movement.
“Alex? Alex, what’s wrong?” Jennifer’s voice sounded worried. “Oh God! Is it happening again?”
Alex tried to answer Jennifer but she could not speak. The girl in the mirror shook her head, and yet moved forward as well, her arm coming up to reach for the mirror. Tears were falling and cords stood out in her neck as if she was fighting the movements with every fiber of her being.
“Alex? I’m on my way. Hold on!” The panic was evident in her voice.
Alex wanted to tell her to hurry but all she could manage was a throaty croak. She reached out with her right hand, her left still holding the phone to her ear. As her fingers touched the strange, liquid glass of the mirror, she hoped that she would be back in her own body in time for the play.