Reflections

Chapter 2

So that's how I learned about the other world. The better place, as my grandma called it.
Days passed since she told me that story. Days eventually turned to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years until I forgot about the other world completely. It was almost as if it had never been in my mind in the first place.
That was until one fateful night with my friends.
-
"Chug it! Chug it!" My best friends Livy, Kalea, and I chanted as our other best friend, Kenyon, hurriedly chugged a large gallon of Coke. Our other best friend, Karter, tipped the bottle up, causing the sticky liquid to fall even faster down his throat. After a few seconds, he gave up and spat out the soda, his eyes bugging out of his head.
We all laughed in response, Kenyon's cheeks turning a deep shade of red as other tables stared at us.
"Alright, we've gotta go if we wanna catch the movie." Karter said quickly, getting up out of the booth as the cashier stared at us suspiciously.
We threw out plates full of half eaten pizza crusts into the trash, continuing to sip on our sodas as we made our way across the street to the movie theater.
Livy, Kalea and I slowly trailed behind the boys, loudly singing our favorite song, Shake it Off by Taylor Swift, at the top of our lungs.
"You guys need to shut up!" Kenyon yelled at us just-as-loudly, putting his sunglasses on his face. That caused the three of us to forget about the song.
"Why are you wearing sunglasses at night?!" I asked in between fits of giggles as we narrowly avoiding cars.
"What?! I'm a bad boy!" Kenyon yelled back, slowing down so he could walk along with us.
"Yeah. And I wear sunscreen. At night." Karter added, pulling out a small tube of SPF 50. We continued laughing as we made our way to the theater.
-
"Alright, I'm gonna go to the restroom before the movie starts. Save my place." I whispered to Livy as I made my way down the sticky popcorn covered movie theater aisle.
I walked down the hallway, which was pretty much empty except for a couple of employees, and walked into the restroom. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something in the mirror.
It was my reflection, but it wasn't doing exactly what I do. It was glaring at me, as if it would come straight through the mirror and strangle me.
I looked around the restroom. It was empty, except for my reflection and I and a couple of spiders.
Since my messy bun was falling out anyways, I decided to fix my hair and my makeup instead.
As I was in the middle of tying my hair bun, it all came flooding back to me.
The other world. The guardians. The seekers. Everything came back to me.
What was going on with my reflection?
"Hey, uh, guardian of the other world.....I know about the better world. The one you're protecting me from. Is everything alright in Better World?" I asked nervously, hoping I didn't come across as an idiot for talking to my reflection. To nobody's surprise, it didn't reply. It just kept glaring at me.
"Well, okay. I'm gonna go then." I said, fingertips brushing the handle to the bathroom. All of a sudden, an unfamiliar voice boomed from right behind me.
"The other world is in distress. I repeat. The other world is in distress." It chanted, voice sounding exactly like my old study hall teacher in the sixth grade. His name was Mr. Vigil, and on my goodness did he have a loud, deep booming voice.
"What do you mean, the other world is in distress?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. My reflection, er, guardian, didn't reply, it just continued staring blankly at the handicapped stall at the end of the restroom.
Shrugging it off as nothing, I walked back out towards the theater, my heart skipping a beat as a cold, wrinkly hand wrapped itself around my bicep.
"We've been waiting for you for a long time." An ancient, cracked voice whispered as it tightened its grip around my arm. Ignoring my conscience, I turned towards the voice.
The voice belonged to a face that reminded me of Jeff the Killer and the Lych from Adventure Time. It had the same wrinkled, beady eyes as the Lych; but it had the same permanent smile and white, unforgettable face as Jeff.
"W-who are you?" I managed to croak, trying hard to fight off the old hag.
"I'm the seeker, Thaddeus. We've been expecting you, Katie." He mumbled, wrapping his long, marked fingers around my cheek. I opened my eyes in fear before an unexplainable sleepy feeling flooded my body, and soon, everything went black.
-
//Livy's POV\\

"Hey. Where did Lauren go?" Karter asked, popping another M&M into his mouth.
"She went to the bathroom a while ago. Maybe we should go check on her." Kalea suggested, getting up from her seat and leaving her popcorn behind. I followed her down the dark movie theater aisle as movie trailers boomed from the surround sound speakers that were scattered across the theater.
"It's not like her to be gone this long. Maybe she went to grab some candy or something." I suggested, trying not to be too obvious that I was scared.
Kalea shrugged her shoulders as we walked into the restroom, looking for any signs of our friend.
-
"See anything?" I called out a few moments later, searching the handicapped stall.
"Nothing. I don't think anybody's been in here in the last three months." She replied, screaming as a spider scurried across the toe of her sneaker.
I looked at my reflection in the mirror, running my hands under the cold water in the sink.
"Hey. There's a little blood patch right here. Do you think that could be from Lauren?" I asked, gesturing towards the small puddle of blood on the floor.
"Yeah. I bet she was kidnapped and beat unconscious." Kalea replied sarcastically, wiping up the blood with a wet paper towel and throwing it into the trash.
"There's nothing in here. Come on, I think the movies starting." Kalea said, wrapping her hand around my wrist and pulling me towards our theater.
We opened the door, jumping back out of fear when we saw someone standing there.
"Lauren's gone. You're next." It grinned creepily, lifting its hands up above its head for no reason.
Soon enough, an unimaginable sleepy feeling came over us, and we collapsed on the restroom floor.