HA! I've taken yet another hell long hiatus! Beat that loyal fans! *shot* I kid, I kid. I do apologize for the hiatus, but as many of you already know, I'm so lazy, I have month long hiatuses every time I put up a new chapter. I haven't gotten any update complaints in a while, but just saying this just in case.
"Morning Gwen."
"Morning Cody."
"... I'm not sure if it's a good time to say this, but there's a dog all the way there that seems to have taken an interest in you."
"Um, what?" I stammered as I turned my head around.
Well, he was right. There behind me was a golden retriever happily running towards us...and it's huge and slobbering... Have I mentioned that I despise dogs to a great extent?
"Um, how about we go and walk to school?" I began nervously.
"Why? The bus is gonna be here in just a bit... Wait, you're afraid of dogs?" Oh god, I think I see him smiling under that hood. That same stupid grin...
"N-no I'm not! Uh, can we just go...NOW?" Great job trying to sound calm genius. Certainly didn't help by the fact that I pretty much ran away in terror. The only thing that seemed to be missing from this scene were the screams.
... Seriously? That girl's scared of dogs? Well, rottweilers I get, but a golden retriever? Seriously?... Well, I guess we all have embarrassing tidbits...
To be exact, I don't remember anyone even taking role of a dog.
... And those eyes sure are big... Oh, duh.
"Lindsay, what ever you were doing, you failed."
"Uh, what are you talking about?" The "dog" answered in a high pitched voice. "I'm just a dog that wants to go talk to that Goth girl over there."
"Last time I checked, animals don't talk."
"... Oh, right... Bummer... So how have you been doing lately?"
Heh, there's something about her idiocy that makes you kind of look ahead of that sometimes. "You know, the usual. Obeying the idiot's orders, coming up with a full-proof plan... Last night, the idiot called me down to see if I was playing dumb and actually having a plan."
"Wait, so you and On-On aren't planning to save her?"
"What? No! I said I was playing dumb!"
"Oh, whoops, right... Oh, how's On-On doing?"
"Oh, well...On-On's...in a body that's gonna take some getting used to..."
"...Hey, what's with the long face Thir?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing... Just feel a bit guilty that I didn't bother to save you way back when."
"Oh, don't worry about," she grinned happily. "I've got Courtney to talk to, and I get to see you and On-On sometimes, and one of your minion friends looks a lot like my old friend Beth, and-"
This feels endless... "Uh, right. Gwen's probably going to be wondering why I'm not following, so I gotta go now."
"Alrighty! See you!" She cried happily before being patted on the head.
"CODY! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"
Well, that's my cue...
"Lindsay, you idiot! I told you to turn into a cat! A CAT!"
"Cats, dogs, what's the difference? Can't everyone just like them both?"
"Ugh, you're not getting the point here. Some people are afraid of dogs! Cats barely do anything other than stare at you."
"Uh, I think I get it."
"Well, since you screwed things up, I guess it's my turn..."
Alright, that dog can't possibly still be there. Trent and Cody's staying after today, so I gotta be brave about this... Is it still there? What if it has rabies? What if it brought some of its friends over? What if it's a neighbor's dog? WHAT IF IT'S STILL THERE?... What am I doing? I'm not even anywhere close to my block yet. Well, I guess my friends were right when they said that I have a problem with paranoia.
"Mew."
Aw, look, a kitty. Normally, a peppy high school girl would run away at the sight of a black cat, but it's just a cat. I mean, what's the worse it can do? Scratch your leg? Who came up with these superstitions anyway?... Okay, back to the story.
"You're pretty cute," I said as I began to stroke its velvet-like fur. "I wonder if Mom 2'll let me keep a pet."
"Please, I am not a cat that is to be kept as a house pet. I'm here to warn you-"
Holy crap, this thing talks?
And so, I made a mad dash for it slowly after. Shut up, I know you would have done the same if a talking animal just suddenly started to make snarky remarks at you. Really, I thought getting to my house would mean freedom. That dog did go away by this time, but...I have no idea how that cat could still keep up with me.
"Open the door, open the door," I mumbled while simutaniously banging on to the the mahogany door. Have I mentioned that Parents 2 still haven't given me a key to the house yet? Oh joy.
CREAK!
"Hey Gwen. What's with the spooked fa-"
"No time for questions Damien!" I shouted as I ran into the house and slammed the door shut. "Now tell me where's Mom and Dad!"
"Out right now. Why? Do you need them?"
"Well, sort of. I need somebody to help me get back to sanity after running away from a talking cat."
"A talking cat?" He asked suspiciously as he peered the door open. DON'T OPEN IT DAMMIT! Why do you think I shut it after I ran in here?
"... Oh, don't worry. That's just Courtney."
Courtney? Who names a cat Courtney? Come to think of it, that name does sound familiar...so did the cat's voice... I really am crazy.
"Didn't think you of all people would take this long to go and warn the poor girl," he snickered. Who is that freak talking to? "I'd get it if it was Lindsay though." Lindsay?
"Oh can it! Who are you anyway? Thir?" It's speaking again! And he's talking to it? Er, good to know that I'm not the only nut here.
"Naw. Thir's the Goth with the blue and black striped hoodie. I'm On-On." On-On?
"Um, On-On?" The cat named Courtney began awkwardly. "Um...wow. Just, wow."
"Don't remind me," Damien groaned. "Come on inside. I need to get to that minion meeting, or the big guy's gonna get suspicious. Go explain everything thoroughly to her, got it?"
"Sure thing."
Followed suite was Damien's exit and Courtney's entrance... When did everything suddenly go nutty?
"... Um...hi?" I greeted awkwardly to break the newly entered tension.
"Greetings. Thank god I finally get to talk to you. My feet are starting to ache like crazy. Somehow, I'm glad I can no longer walk in my regular form..."
"Er, what are you-"
"Don't worry. I'm not a talking animal straight off of the PowerPuff Girls (6) y'know."
"Uh, care to elaborate on that?"
"Fine." Did that thing just roll its eyes on me? "Guess I should just go to the form you saw last night." In the blink of an eye, a bright flash swept through the room. As my eyes finally began to regain full vision, there in front of me stood, er, floated the "angel" girl that I met last night... Jeez, and I thought that I was just dreaming... Why am I not freaking out? "Remember me now?"
"Uh, yeah, now I remember."
"Good. Now let me explain things."
"Explain what?"
"Ugh, are you really this dense? Don't you notice anything strange going on here? Don't you think that things go a little too smoothly here?"
"Well...I guess you could say that I've kind of been too caught on to the moment to notice."
"... You didn't notice at all?"
"Not really."
"... And you didn't notice that nobody was in the streets? That you so-called "friends" had to "stay after", that your "parents" aren't here, and that your "brother" had to leave to go to a MINION MEETING!"
"Okay, I admit that there were a couple of obvious hints that I may have neglected."
"Alright, moving on. Took too long just to go through that," Courtney groaned while shaking her head in annoyance. "You are this generation's current sacrifice."
... What?
"Every generation or so, someone is bound to get themselves trapped and tempted into the mirror. All but one of them have never made it out alive.
"The people that you're seeing here right now aren't who they're pretending to be. They're all monsters. Every one of them are minions to the spirit of the mirror, a dark and mysterious being who feeds on those with great greed, those who take their curiosity too far and end up in this hellhole.
"You can leave whenever you want, but the process here is much different compared to how you got in, but just in case you do happen to find out, the spirit and his minions are all trying to make you stay. They're posing as people from your world, but represented in the forms that you wish for them to be in. The greed inside your heart will definitely force yourself to stay in this world much much longer thanks to these temptations."
"... So you're saying that everyone here are all poseurs here to milk me up for their boss' dinner plate," I replied with shock. Was all of this true? I've been lied to ever since I came here? "Wait, but why was their a dog here? I hate dogs! And how are they able to know what I want?"
"Mirrors tend to reflect images back to yourself, but this mirror can do much more then image. The first time you encountered the mirror, the greed and longings inside your heart were reflected right back to you, causing temptations to return to the mirror. At the same time, the mirror was able to identify your thoughts, feelings, and greed, leaving the mirror's spirit to know all he needs to know in order to lure you in," Courtney replied, a bit slowly this time as if she thinks I couldn't comprehend words past two syllables. "As for the dog, that was Lindsay. You know, from last night? She was supposed to turn into a cat..."
Oh, right, Lindsay... That figures...
"Any more questions?"
"Two actually," I replied uneasily. "What are you exactly and how do I get out?"
"Lindsay and I are two of the mirror's fallen souls. The two of us have countlessly been warning new victims to get out. And as for how to get out," her pinched, serious poker face lightened up into a grin. "You can just leave that to us."
"... Hey Thir," Chi whispered happily.
"What is it? I'm trying to pay attention to the meeting."
"You? Pay attention?"
"... Good point. What did you wanna say?"
"What was with the whole call down last night?"
"Really? Do you need to know?"
"Oh come on, you can trust me!"
"It's nothing out of the usual Suspicion Drills, okay?"
"Excuse me, but do the two of you have anything to say to us all?"
"U-uh, no ma'am!" the duo hastily replied.
It was going to be a long meeting...
(6) Powerpuff Girls- To those of you who remember PowerPuff Girls, you may be able to identify Courtney's reference to the Talking Dog.