The Mirror
"Geez, Jennifer, you look like crap." Marla said as Jennifer came
down to breakfast the next day.
"Thank you."
"She's right." Genesis agreed, "You have more circles under your
eyes than a vampire."
"I had a bad dream."
"Do tell." Stacy asked.
"Oh, something about mirror, Vanessa, Jendai, Pharaoh, concubine..."
Jennifer mumbled sleepily.
"Concubine?" Janet asked suspiciously.
"Ah, forget it." Jennifer said as she put her head on the table.
Jennifer ate breakfast then watched T.V. She noticed that after she fully woke
up, she was fine. But the whole day she was wondering, Was it a dream?
She could not tell, could not remember. It had felt real; she could reach out
and touch stuff. It had sounded real, and she had had perfect vision, which was
odd for a dream. But still her mind argued with itself. She decided that the
only way to find out was to go back and to see if she could bring something
back.
***
That night Jennifer went through the mirror again. She only wanted to do it to
make sure it hadn't been a dream. Again she found Vanessa, who seemed surprised
at her return. Jennifer slipped a small lily from the vase into the pocket of
her sky-and-clouds cotton pajamas to take home.
She had planned on just getting the lily then getting out, but the maids rushed in again.
"I swear, Jendai. Where do you get those ridiculous clothes?" She maids giggled, "Pharaoh wants you."
So, like the last night, Jennifer had to change and submit to being painted by the maids. And, again, she walked into the Pharaoh's bedchamber feeling as if she were about to puke, but not as much as the first time.