"Come on, it's your turn," Jeffery said.
Jeffery and Charles, two college roommates, stood before a pile of trash, neither was willing to take out the trash.
"Jesus Christ. I just took a shower and changed. Why can't you just go for today," Charles said, rubbing a towel over his long hair.
"We had an agreement. You should honor the agreement," Jeffery said. "There's so much honor in taking out the trash," Charles rolled his eyes "why don't we flip a coin?"
One bad call later, Charles cursed Jeffery under his breath as he took the elevator down to the parking lot. He shivered in the cold air of October as he approached the dumpster.
Something caught Charles' eyes as he flung the bag of trash into the dumpster- a glare of light coming from an almost perfect mirror lying against the wall. Upon inspection, Charles did not find any damage on the mirror except a weird letter on the top edge, which Charles assumed it was from another language and served the purpose of decorations.
I could use a mirror in my room, Charles thought.
Jeffery was nowhere to be found when he came back with the six-feet tall mirror. The television was playing a buzzing sound and showing static. There was a pot of water boiling on the stove. Jeffery must be around he would never leave a pot of boiling water unattended. Charles spotted the dimly lit cigarette on the balcony, it must be Jeffery smoking.
He leaned the mirror against the wall, feeling a bit dazed for a second or two from the coldness that seemed to seep out of the mirror itself. Charles shook his head to clear his mind, then moved to turn the television and stove off. Where the hell was Jeffery? He swore that he saw someone smoking on the balcony a moment ago but only darkness remained on the balcony now. A gust of cold wind rushed across Charles' face as he opened the balcony's door.
"Jeffrey…" Charles said.
He did not finish the sentence. He was stunned by the state of the balcony. Or the non-existent balcony, there was just an endless abyss of darkness in place of the balcony.
"What the hell," Charles cursed as he closed the balcony door.
There was something else more disturbing in the living room. Charles felt a chill on his back when he looked at the mirror's reflection. In the reflection, the television was still buzzing and the water was still boiling while both had been turned off. Slowly, Charles ran his finger across the mirror and he felt the same daze sensation again.
Steam filled the exhaust fan as the television continued to screech the same noise in both the reflection of the mirror and the actual world. A gust of cold wind rushed against Charles' back. The door to the balcony opened by itself. Charles stepped back, a figure appeared through the doorway.
"What's wrong?" Jeffery said as he entered from the balcony.
Charles relaxed a little when he realized the figure was Jeffery. The steam from the boiling water formed an irregular steam cloud under the lights of the cramped kitchen. Jeffery moved to turn off the stove. Charles was relieved when he saw that this time the stove was turned off in the reflection of the mirror.
"Where did you get the mirror from?" Jeffery noticed the mirror against the wall.
"The dumpster," Charles said "do not touch the mirror."
Jeffery looked at Charles confused at his excessive reaction.
"There is something wrong with the mirror," Charles said.
"This is absolutely crazy," Jeffery said " we have tell the police, the government, someone about this mirror."
Jeffery paced across the living room while Charles sat in front of the mirror admiring his own reflection.
"Relax Jeffery," Charles said.
"Look at this thing, like you said it is able to like create a reflection or a clone of the actual world with every little detail. The fact… the fact that you or me is able to access this world of reflection through this mirror… it is unbelievable ! Unexplainable by any science out there," Jeffery ranted " this could prove to be an important asset to the field of cloning."
"Jeffery, don't you see what this mean?" Charles stood up and said " you are playing too much by the rules."
Charles reached out and grabbed Jeffery's wallet on the desk and dropped it in front of the mirror.
"What are you doing?" Jeffery said.
"We can use this…" Charles touched the mirror, the emblem on the mirror shone lightly as he physically entered into the mirror.
Charles bent down to pick up the wallet in the other world, the world of reflection. He came out smiling triumphantly with another copy of Jeffery's wallet in hand.
"…To make money," Charles said.
Jeffery grabbed the wallet from Charles' hand and opened it to compare with his original wallet, there was exactly the same amount of money in this new wallet.
"What the…" Jeffery was speechless.
"All right, let's look at the facts here," Charles said " this mirror is able to make a reflection or copy of our world which we will be able to interact. We can literally walk into the mirror and take things from that place. However, regions that are not reflected by the mirror will be just endless darkness inside the reflected world."
Charles picked up Jeffery's wallet again and dropped it in front of the mirror.
The wallet was not reflected.
"I guess if we take something out from that world, it can never be reflected again," Charles said " still, this will be able to double our income, we will split the money earned from the mirror fifty-fifty, what do you say partner?"
"uhhm…" Jeffery stuttered and took out his cigarette pack" I don't know, I need a smoke."
On a lazy Sunday afternoon, Jeffery and Charles sat in a Pho shop. Decor of the shop was distasteful.
"This is not fast enough," Charles sad " we are not making enough money."
"What are you talking about?"Jeffery said " we are making double our wages right now, what do you want? Rob a bank?"
"That will be too hard," Charles said "but I have something similar in mind."
After their lunch, the two drove to a nearby jewellery store. Charles sat in the car staring intensely at the jewellery store. This particular store was a small independent jewellery store that had been in business for decades. The old store owner sat behind the aged countertop and was inattentive to customers.
"We are going in there with the mirror. I will go inside the reflection world to grab all the jewelleries while you keep a look out, ok?" Charles said.
"It seems you have this all planned," Jeffery answered.
"I've been thinking about it for a while," Charles stepped out the car and said " Come on."
"I don't know about this," Jeffery broke out a cigarette pack only to find it empty and said " this feels illegal."
"We are not doing anything wrong, that old man is not going to lose anything," Charles said "we are merely taking a copy of his jewelleries."
Jeffery paused for a moment, weighting the moral of such actions.
"I will buy you cigarettes," Charles said.
Jeffery threw the empty cigarette pack to the pavement as he reluctantly followed Charles' lead.
The old store owner diverted his attention from his newspaper for an unusual hassle inside his shop. He was not sure if he should be more surprised that there was a customer inside the shop or the customer was standing beside a six-feet mirror that did not belong to the store.
"Hello, can I help you?" the store owner asked.
"Ah… Ah… no we are fine," Jeffery said.
"We…?" the old store owner cleaned his glasses.
"Huh..? I mean I am fine," Jeffery realized that Charles had already entered the reflection world and he was the only one present inside the shop.
"Why is there a huge mirror at my store," the old store owner turned hostile towards this strange man that interrupted his daily routine.
"Well you see…" sweat broke out on Jeffery's forehead as he searched for an explanation.
"Didn't you order a mirror from from Clean and Clear Company?" Jeffery asked " we are actually here to deliver your mirror."
"…" the old man scratched his white hair " I might be old but I am no fool, get out or I will call the police."
"Wait… Wait.." Jeffery stalled for time
Interrupting the reflection of the jewellery store could be a danger to Charles who was still inside the mirror.
"Don't you think a fine jewellery store like this one deserves a fine mirror such as the one here," Jeffery attempted one more time.
The old man squinted his eyes but soon smiled: " Ahh… a sales man I see, you know I started out as a sales man when I was young like you. I had to work hard for all these before your eyes."
"That is really impressive. Why don't you tell me more about your experience while I can tell you a little bit about my product here," Jeffery patted the giant mirror beside him.
"Yeah…" the old man blabbered on while Jeffery skilfully guided him away from the mirror.
At an alleyway, Jeffery lit up a cigarette while Charles counted their stash from the heist.
"You know they put arsenic in cigarettes, apparently it is a common poison," Charles said "maybe you should smoke less."
"What the hell are you talking about," Jeffery lit up another cigarette as he watched gold necklaces and diamond rings piled up in the trunk of the car "free cigarettes taste good."
Charles smiled, smoking kills, he thought.
Robbing a jewellery store was time consuming and risk filled, most of the time they were unsuccessful when passing the security or raised suspicion before they were able to make the move. Planning was the key to success.
"Too much traffic, too many security guards…" Charles crossed unsuitable targets off a long list as he sat in the car with Jeffery.
"This one here," Charles pointed to a store on his list.
"That one?" Jeffery questioned " that one has a security guard."
" Just start driving, " Charles snapped.
"All right, all right," Jeffery ignited the engine.
It was an usual day at the store except that someone was bothering him. The guy with the giant mirror was bothering him. He tightened his belt and approached the guy.
"Hi, Sir. May I ask what are you doing with that mirror in the store?" the security guard asked Jeffery.
"Nothing," Jeffery panicked.
"Let me see that mirror," the security guard raised his eyebrow.
" There's nothing to see, really," Jeffery blocked the security guard.
"Please, move out of the way," the security guard lightly nudged Jeffery on the shoulder.
Jeffery knew he had no choice, his fist collided with the security guard's head before thinking. A loud thud came as the security dropped on the ground. Charles exited the mirror as if on cue.
"What happened?"Charles said.
"We gotta run," Jeffery said as he grabbed the mirror.
"You fucking panicked," Charles yelled in the car.
"You weren't there OK? We should have chosen an easier target," Jeffery yelled.
"Easier, easier…" Charles boiled up " you don't earn the big bucks if you don't take the big risks!"
"Big RISKS?" Jeffery said " I didn't want to do this at the first place. Did you see what happened there? I just assaulted a security guard and we are probably under the wanted list now."
"Grow some balls would you?" Charles said.
Jeffery wanted to argue more but he was interrupted by a series of cursed silently as he lit up another cigarette while waiting for a red light at an intersection.
In an empty apartment, smoke filled the room creating a mist around Jeffery.
You have to kill Charles.
Jeffery jumped off his chair ,coughing, the smoke dispersed at his rapid action. He was alone in the apartment but someone spoke to him.
He is blood thirsty for money and to earn more money he will have to kill you and take your fifty percent share from the jewellery store heist.
A strange light beamed from the mirror against the wall as if summoning Jeffery. Curious, Jeffery approached the mirror. The mirror was "talking" to him.
You are a smart man Jeffery but Charles is just as smart and you know he does not play by the rules, strike him before he strikes you, I will help you.
"What the hell," Jeffery cursed and extinguished his cigarette.
The mirror was a plague, Jeffery grabbed a knife from the knife block. Ever since the appearance of the mirror Charles changed and more importantly he changed. A swift motion was made to destroy the mirror. At the crucial moment, he paused.
Maybe the mirror is right.
"I'm home," Charles arrived at an empty apartment.
The mirror was lying peacefully against the wall, Jeffery was nowhere to be seen but the air smelled faintly of tobacco.
Charles surveyed his reflection, absolute perfection. Someone broke the calmness of the reflection. A familiar face covered with animosity replaced his own beautiful face , Charles noticed a metal object in Jeffery's hand before being pulled into the reflection. When Charles regained consciousness he was tied to the handle of a cupboard inside the apartment. Unable to move, Charles studied his surroundings, there were bundles of money around his feet and Jeffery was smoking twelve feet away. More disturbingly, Jeffery was holding a knife.
"What are you doing?" Charles said.
"Self-protection," Jeffery said.
"This doesn't look like self-protection to me," Charles said and held up his tied hands "more like a kidnapping to me."
"You are going to kill me for the money sooner or later," Jeffery pressed his face against Charles and said.
Jeffery forked a bundle of money with his knife : "all you want is this, I know it and you know it."
"Ha ha…I'm not going to kill you for the money, you ARE going to kill me for the money," Charles laughed " Look at you, the knife , the tie, this is illegal, it is not right. I mean this is not you."
"Maybe you are right," Jeffery puffed a ring of smoke "but I also don't like taking risks. The security guard and everything, your greed is putting me into risk. Your body will be disposed in this mirror, no one will ever know."
"Wait!" Charles yelled as Jeffery attacked with the knife " we can work this out. Look at this, I think it is the mirror playing tricks on our mind, I mean the Jeffery I knew would never, ever hurt anyone."
Jeffery hesitated; his raised knife trembled with indecisiveness.
"Come on…" Charles persuaded.
A series of coughs eased the tension, Charles sighed in relief as Jeffery lowered his knife from coughing. Sweat dripped down Charles' forehead from the intense tension, his rapid breathing became a laugh when Jeffery's coughing did not stop.
"What…have…you…done…to…me…" Jeffery gasped for breath.
"I increased the level of arsenic in your cigarettes, odourless and colourless" Charles said " nobody other than me will know about this mirror after your death, I will be rich."
Filled with despair and anger, Jeffery could not attack or even speak as he gasped for breath.
"I…" Jeffery dropped to the ground before finishing his sentence, his muscle entered a period of spasms as he entered an epileptic stage.
Charles reached for the dropped knife to free himself from imprisonment, luckily it was a couple centimetres away from his reach. At the same time, the edge of the apartment started to disappear, pixels by pixels to endless darkness. After much grunting and stretching, Charles was able to reach the knife with his fingertips. Charles's free hand reached frantically to pull the knife closer as the darkness slowly approached. Jeffery's lifeless body fell into the abyss when the floor disappeared beneath him. Triumphantly, Charles stretched his sore hand after severing the rope.
"no… no… NOOOOO!"Charles yelled in despair.
There was nothing around him anymore, everything dissolved into endless darkness. Ironically, there were bundles of money in front of him but it wouldn't get him to the mirror, to the safety of the real world.
In the real world, darkness descended across the empty apartment as the last of the daylight escaped the corner of the window. Without light, the world of reflection dissolved. Charles held up the pile of cash in front of him as the familiar face of the President dissolved as if fabricated. Everything in the future and past disappeared in front of Charles like the bundles of useless papers around him as his grotesque laughter echoed in the world of reflection.