Mirror, Mirror | ✓

•Day 57• Will

"That's different," I retorted indignantly.

"How?" She challenged. I stared at her unblinkingly, unable to say a word. She'd shot me right in the heart.

"I said how, Will!" She shouted, her voice echoing through the empty street. Tears began to pool in her eyes.

"It's different because I didn't do it to be happy. I didn't do it with a purpose at all! I wasn't thinking," I muttered, angry with myself for not having a better argument.

She was right; I was selfish. I was trying to stitch a bullet hole that hadn't even been shot. I was trying to chase after another train before my own had left the station.

"You're despicable," Ava spat out. I didn't even try to disagree.

"Ava," I whispered, my eyes growing wide.

She stirred, but didn't respond, clearly still mad at me.
"Ava," I said again, louder.

"What?" She snapped.

"The picture. THE PICTURE!" I shouted, rising to my feet. I lent her a hand and pulled her up.

"Speak properly," she said groggily, too done with me at this point. But I knew my revelation would change her feelings towards me, at least momentarily.

"Holly's mom was the other woman in the picture," I said slowly.

"Great going, Einstein." Ava rolled her eyes.

"Holly's mom.... Alora Mills," I finished with a smug smile.

I expected Ava to gasp, clap her hands together in delight or even hug me. Instead, she slapped me. Bloody hard.

"YOU CHOOSE TO TELL ME THAT NOW?" She shouted. "HER NAME WAS ALORA ALL THIS TIME AND YOU DIDN'T ONCE THINK THERE WAS A CONNECTION?"

"Oh, actually Mr. Mills told me there was a connection," I grinned.

"HE TOLD YOU?!? AND EVEN THEN YOU DIDN'T ACT ON IT? WILL, HOW DUMB ARE YOU?" She shouted, pacing in a circle.

"He told him!" She muttered under her breath, then let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Okay I'm not really helping my case here, am I?" I asked nervously.

She didn't appear to notice me any longer as she paced in circles, round and round, muttering to herself rapidly. Suddenly, she stopped to face me.

"Mr. Mills is in love with Ted's mom. Ever since they started dating, we've been seeing less and less of Alora..." Ava started.

"Which means Mr. Mills is slowly starting to move on. The trigger was Mrs. Mills' memory," I said excitedly.

"Bingo! Now you're using your brain," Ava remarked, placing her hand on my shoulder like a proud parent.

"Ava...." I started nervously, a sudden thought occuring to me.

"Yeah?" She asked, her grin fading ever so slightly.

"Ted texted me an hour ago. He's at Holly's house...."

"....With his mom," Ava finished for me.

Instinctively, the two of us ran down two blocks as fast as our legs could take us.

Ava's long black hair billowed in the wind as she ran. I'd never seen her looking so determined. Holly was the centre of her solar system. Everything revolved around Holly.

I knew Ava despised me for what I said earlier, about prioritizing ourselves over Holly, but I couldn't take it back. I believed in it. Holly wasn't going to stay forever. She was a ticking time bomb. The minute she left, we'd all be facing the damage.

I loved Holly, but I had to love myself too. Ava was forgetting that we had lives to live after Holly was gone. We had to finish high school, get into college, find jobs, start families of our own.... This little segment of our lives wasn't everything.

As much as I hated the thought of leading a life without Holly, I knew it was what I had to do. I knew it was what she wanted me to do.

When we reached Holly's lane, we stopped by the sidewalk to catch our breath. "I'm sorry for screaming at you," Ava sighed.

"Don't be. I deserved it," I said honestly.

"Yeah, you do," she agreed, chuckling.

"We cool?" I asked, reaching out a hand.

"For now," she grinned, taking it.

That pretty much summed up our entire friendship. I'd do something stupid, Ava would get mad. We'd have a fight, and then we'd be closer than ever. It was a never-ending cycle of mistakes and apologies.

We walked hand in hand towards Holly's front lawn, ready to crash the party. I wasn't even sure what we were planning to do. Ava looked like she wanted to send Ted's mom home and forbid Mr. Mills from seeing her ever again, but surely she couldn't do something like that. It wasn't in her control.

"You think this is going to work?" We heard Mr. Mills ask from out on the front porch.

"It will if we make it," Mrs. Reed answered, kissing him.

Ava looked at me wth tears brimming in her large black eyes. We both knew what this meant.

Just as that little wisp of hope in our hearts disappeared forever, so did Alora.

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A/N Sorry for this messy chapter! I'll edit it as soon as I can. I was just too eager to publish something so that y'all won't forget my story :)

Let me know what you think!