Eh, okay, so because of all the cool reviews I received for this story…I've decided to continue with this story. Yay, goody! Lol, thank you so much for those of you who review before…it made me very excited to write chapter 2. I didn't get it finished quite as quickly as I wanted it to, but…it's here? Haha.

Laura: Lol, thank you! I'm glad that you found enough interest in it to check it out!

Venus: God, I love you…seriously. I was so excited to see a long and descriptive, constructive review; you have no idea. I think that's the first one of that nature that I've received…like, ever. So, THANK YOU! …Hopefully there are less mistakes?

Thanks again to all those who've reviewed! I can't tell you how happy it made me…

But, anyway: time to get to the story, yeah?

Happy Reading,

Doree

I opened my eyes to see my room bathed in a midnight-blue light, compliments (probably) of the silver moon shinning through my closed bay window. I sat up slowly and smoothly to see the rest of my quarters properly. I smiled a little, feeling gitty with the unorthodoxy atmosphere of the room.

The mood of the space was different from how I had come to know it; it was no longer my place with warm pinks and golds. Instead, it betrayed me with cool, mature coloring; Blues, grays, blacks, and silvers surrounded me instead. It was peculiar…mysterious, one might say.

Wanting to walk around the room to observe the changes, I grabbed a hand full of comforter in front of me, and pulled it away from my form, revealing my legs embodied by a beautiful, white silk dress. My jaw dropped in awe as I picked up and fingered the end of the gown between my index and thumb finger. I grinned happily after I had smoothed down the wrinkles I had made in the fabric, swung my feet over the side of my bed, and stood before at it.

I shivered as a chill ran down my spine, and unconsciously, I wrapped my arms around myself, determined to remain as warm as possible. I blinked a few times in bewilderment as to how I had gotten so cold that quickly. The thought of sliding back underneath my sapphire sheets came to mind, however, something within me objected.

Look to the window, it recommended.

Trusting my instincts (as they usually never failed me), I slowly turned my head to the suggested area. Gray hued curtains billowed in from the outside wind; the window had been opened.

Confused now more than ever, I dropped my arms back to their sides, and my way slowly, but surely towards my window. Once in front of it I placed a hand on either side of the windowpane and peered through the flowing curtains, while the hem of my white dress danced playfully around the back of my calves.

The sight before me befuddled my mind's eye; the scene was definitely deceiving. The world had evolved over night from one full of color and adventure into one of bleakness, death, and despair. The thriving trees that had been that of palm were replaced with decaying conifers with a leeching air of obscurity. Grass that had once been green with renewal was no more, and instead swapped with horrid gray perishing pastures as far as the eye could see. The fog revolving in circles on the ground definitely did not improve the image of this new and very disturbing environment. The moon that I had assumed had helped the blue shadow glow inside of my room, no longer shone silver; it had become a black orb oddly set in the hoary starless-sky.

An emotion stronger than depression enveloped me entirely. Was the world ever going to be cheerful again? I thought to myself.

But, just as I was about to turn my back on the disheartening vista for good, a dark figure stepped out beneath the equally sinister aura of a tree worthy of death, and into my view. Immediately my discouraging frame of mind was slightly penetrated with a small ray of light; Jesse's outline loomed into sight beneath my roof gable.

I beamed at the sight of his striking features, and my heart swelled in adoration for him. He did not smile back at me, but there was something about his presence in this repulsive and upsetting new world that made my own a bit brighter.

Still unsmiling, he made a notion with his hand to imply that we should meet, though, it was one that suggested that I should come down to him, rather than him up to me.

My smile faltered, somewhat, disgruntled at his unlikely behavior. Despite this, I placed my bare foot onto the pillows of my bay window seat to push myself through the windowpane, and onto the roof. However, I froze in mid-duck when whispers began issuing from the other side of my bathroom door.

The noise was eerie in a beautifully dodgy manner. It confined me in a way that it mesmerized me into slowly retrieving my foot from the outside, and placing it back onto the floor. I took an unplanned step towards my restroom, then another, and then another until I was facing the entrance. I tilted my head cautiously to the side, skeptical if I should go in. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open entirely with the tips of my fingers.

As soon as I stepped onto the cold tile, my heart leaped in fear, for the whispers had grown to a crescendo. As I looked left and right for the source of the noises, I groped around behind me for the door lest I needed to quickly get back into my bedroom. Nevertheless, my search was pacified when my gaze was directed to my right and to the mirror above my sink.

Never blinking, I reached behind my back to take hold of the door into my other hand so that I could slowly make my way towards the whispering mirror. Once I stopped in front of it, the patronizingly hushed voices vanished, and left me to stare at my own reflection. Feeling immensely embarrassed at the fact that I was afraid to see my likeness, I smirked sheepishly, and made to turn away. Except a second glance was made, and to my utter shock and amazement, I not emerald green eyes staring back at me, but a golden-amber instead. I lent in closer to get a better look; my mind had not betrayed me.

I reached out before me to touch the tawny stare; my reflection reached out to touch my jade. I knitted my eyebrows in puzzlement; my mirror image smirked deviously. I blanched and took more than a few steps back in fright, and the air suddenly became threateningly thick with trepidation.

My breathing quickened, while my eyes widened to their fullest extent when my reflection defied all laws of logic and nature by literally climbing out of the mirror from the wall, dressed in a black silk gown, and never making a sound.

Quietly, she drifted over to where I stood, trembling against the opposite wall until we were a mere foot away from each other. She tilted her head to one side, and pinned me with a nonchalant stare with her amber eyes, while mine were full of immaturity, I was sure.

After what seemed like several minutes of the mirror-Suze searching my features, she straightened up and leered knowingly, all the while holding up between us her up-turned palms. I lowered my gaze to the identical hands and her palms seemed to have produced many small beads of golden light. The droplets of radiance slowly began coiling upward in a tornado-like fashion, and then began running through each other, in turn, creating a very detailed shape. Once they found their correct position, the beads illuminated magnificently, even so that I had to raise a hand over my eyes to counter the luster. As soon as the blinding light disappeared I lowered my hand to find a beautiful thriving orchid levitating half an inch from the mirror-Suze's hand.

Mesmerized by its beauty, I reached out greedily to capture it in my own, but my counter part had snatched the flow away. Disappointed and stung, I averted my gaze back up to see her own dancing in twisted amusement. Her look seemed to cackle and mock me, saying, "Naughty, naughty…" in a sing-song-y nature.

Beaming in a smile so similar but so uncharacteristic to my own, the Suze in the black dress, took my hand in her free hand and lead me out of the bathroom, and to the bay window seating.

Instinctively, I turned around to glance down where I had seen Jesse last standing. Sure enough, he had not moved from his spot and was still looking up at the window, none smiling.

I saw out of the corner of my eye that my lively imitation of had followed my stare, and a moment later, she chuckled darkly. Startled by her behavior I turned back around, to ask her why her actions were so vulgar. However, as soon as I opened my mouth, my question was forgotten the moment I saw that the orchid had been set down between us, standing proud and upright as if it had roots planting it to the ground.

My replica broke my trance when she placed a hand gently over my heart. I stopped dead, frozen from shock and slight fear of the touch. I followed her arm up to her face to see that her eyes were full of deep meaning. Then with her other hand, she placed it over her own heart. There was a slight instant when something – a spark, a surge of energy, a tantalizing jolt of iciness, of something – past through my entire body, then faltered as if the split second hadn't happened at all.

My opposite's amber-eyes glittered for a moment as she removed both of her hands from their current spots and met each other clasp amid the two of us, proceeded to unclasp them and made and arch-like covenant over the radiant orchid; the flower glowed exceptionally dazzling the moment she did. Then she held out both hands palm up, in a gesture that suggested, take them. Cautiously, I obliged.

Immediately a burning white-hot sensation clawed at my insides. I gritted my teeth, and shut my eyelids so tightly that tiny lights began popping in front of them, visible even in the glimmering orchid's rays between us; we were raising from the window seat and up towards the ceiling with the flower. Wind whipped around us ominously, blowing hair into the other's and dress hems billowing after another.

Then suddenly it had become too much; the roaring inside of my head came a crescendo so unmanageable that I cried out, and the light omitting from the plant burst, sending us waves of wind powerful enough to send me flying across the room had it not been for the blossom's unfathomable hold.

And just as suddenly, I was falling…falling….

I bolted upright again, I gasping for air as if I had just come up from a deep swim. My clothes were sticking to my body from the cold sticky sweat currently running down my body. Breathing hard I brushed my matting hair out of my face, and glanced down; my covers were twisted immensely in knots and tangles. Slowly my breathing had returned to its regular pace and so I took this as my cue to clean myself up a bit. Snatching fistfuls of sheets I ripped them away, and I sliding back down on my hard wooden floor, I made my way toward the bathroom. Once inside, I turned on the lights and rinsed my face with cold water.

Hey, give me a break; I was still weirded out by that whole scene. You would be, too, if a duplicate of yourself climbed out of a mirror, The Ring-style, materialize a flower known to be a symbol of death out of thin air, then send you writhing and reeling in pain in mid-air.

My mind was still racking the dream even after about 3 minutes of the rinsing my face, and not daring to look at my reflection. Finally deciding that I had washed my visage enough, I flicked the switch and shuffled back into my room with the full intention of returning back to my bed to catch a few more Z's. But, I couldn't help notice but to take a quick peek outside of my window just to be sure that everything was, in fact, normal.

After it passed my inspection, I continued my walk towards my bed when two things happened at once that made me stop dead in mid-step: the time on my digital had filtered into 12:07; and an orchid incased in a glass sphere on top of my end table materialized in a gold shimmer.

A breath caught inside my throat as immediate thoughts, questions, and theories laced through my brain.

Had it really only been six minutes since Jesse had left, and I drifted off? The dream seemed to have lasted for hours…

Was it a dream? The orchid from it is incased in a glass sphere, here, in reality! –

I continued to bombard myself with inquiries such as these, as I vigilantly and fearfully slid back under my covers to shift on my side, and stare at the glass-incased wonder until sleep captured my senses once more.

Oi, not as good, light, and fun as the first chapter, eh? Ah, well, I had to get this one up because it'll be important in the future, and there was a load of information that I needed to get out ASAP before the story starts to really pick up.

Tell me how you liked it, please? It'll mean soooo much to moi…

Much Love,

Doree