Eyes in the Mirror Read Online Free

something. But I wanted more than that. I wanted a universe I could touch and be a part of it.
    But there was a flaw, of course. Where could this alternate universe be? If it was right under my nose and I had been looking for it the whole time, why hadn’t I found it?
    As I put the key into the front door of my building, I wondered for a moment if Jamie had gone back inside to talk to Cassie. I didn’t think so; he had looked pretty bored when he was talking to her earlier. And he had come outside with me, probably just to get away from her.
    I walked up to the third floor and down the hall. I stood outside the apartment door for a moment. For some reason, I wasn’t ready for this night to be over. There were too many more things to think about. I leaned my back against the wall and heard my phone beep.
    I took it out of my jeans pocket and flipped it open. There was a text from Jamie. “Home safe? Didn’t stumble into an alt univ on your way? Better bring me back something if you did. ;)”
    I smiled to myself, texted him I was fine, and went inside.
    I stuck my head into my mom’s room. She was sleeping and I hated to wake her, but I knew if I didn’t she would be worried in the morning.
    â€œMom?” I whispered. “Mom?”
    I heard her roll over. “You have a good time, honey?”
    â€œYeah, I did. Thanks. Sorry to wake you.”
    â€œThat’s okay. I sleep better knowing you’re here safe anyway.” I heard her move around under the blankets and walked over toward her, my eyes starting to adjust to the darkness. I leaned down and kissed her forehead.
    â€œSleep well.”
    â€œYou too,” she said, and I could tell she was already drifting back to sleep.
    ***
    The unfortunate thing about junior year is that it doesn’t give you much time to go looking for entrances to an alternate universe. I had always been a good student, but with college applications coming up the next year, my grades were especially important. Plus I didn’t want to get to the point where I was looking so hard that I just made something up. I wanted to find something that really existed.
    A few weeks later, there was a really muggy day and I wanted to get into cool bathwater instead of waiting until the next morning to shower. I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed my shirt. My mom and I had decided to paint the entire apartment one weekend. We only got as far as the living room and kitchen before we gave up. Painting isn’t as easy as it looks. Due to a combination of drips and a small paint fight, most of the paint wound up on us and my plain, green shirt had gotten speckled with red and baby blue.
    It was my favorite shirt, and I’d worn it to the party with Jamie. As I looked at it on the bathroom floor, I thought back to the fifteen minutes I had spent in the bathroom at the party that night. I began to think about the alternate universe Jamie had suggested. Something better than my own world, something that seemed just like this world but was actually completely different.
    I used my right hand to readjust my towel around my left shoulder as I sat next to the tub, waiting for it to fill, and I saw my reflection use her left hand to touch her right shoulder. I paused for a moment, absentmindedly running my hand over my skin.
    I watched my reflection in the water making all the same motions that I did, but the exact opposite. I stared at her for a moment. I thought of Jamie. “It’ll look just like this world, but completely different,” he had said. I rubbed my cheek against my shoulder, and my reflection made all the same motions I did, but the exact opposite every time. She was exactly what Jamie had said she would be: something identical and completely different at the same time.
    I stared at my reflection in the water and began to wonder…I took a deep breath and plunged my head into the cool water. I thought for a moment that I had