Mirror, Mirror

Chapter 1

Micky opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by darkness. In the disoriented first moments of awakening from a dead sleep, he was just a little frightened, and cried out before he could stop himself. But then, recognizing the angle of the moonlight shining through the window, he realized he was lying in his own bed in the pad and rolled over to switch on his bedside lamp. He then clumsily grabbed his alarm clock and looked at the time, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the light. "Nine o'clock?" He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked out the window at the moon shining on the ocean. A very pretty picture, but as he was still half-asleep, Micky had trouble appreciating it.

It couldn't be nine o'clock in the morning, and Micky hadn't crawled in bed until half-past midnight. He looked at his clock again- and chuckled. He was holding the thing upside down. Ah, two-thirty. Now, that made more sense.

Micky put the clock back on the nightstand. Two-thirty in the morning. No wonder he was still sleepy. What could have awakened him? He shrugged, yawned widely and noisily, switched off his lamp, and laid down to go back to sleep.

"Micky...?"

Micky's eyes flew open. He'd heard it for sure, that time- a soft, lilting, feminine voice, calling to him. "Who's there?" he asked the darkness.

No one answered. Micky looked to his left, and saw nothing. He looked to his right, and saw nothing. He looked back to his left- and bumped noses with somebody.

Micky jumped out bed, howling, and fell to the floor. He clapped a hand over his chest dramatically. It felt like his heart was beating out the rhythm for "Goin' Down."

"Don't do that!" the startled Monkee growled at whoever it was he'd bumped into. He looked again and saw the face of a beautiful blonde girl, perhaps eighteen years old. (Anyway, he hoped she was eighteen, as the thoughts that suddenly popped into his head when he looked at her could have gotten him arrested if she wasn't.)

Micky smiled at her in such a way that, if he'd been Davy, the special effects guys would have drawn stars in his eyes. "Either it's my birthday," he said, "or I'm in heaven."

The girl smiled back at him in the same way. "Sorry to tell you this," she said sincerely, "but it's neither. Come with me, Micky. I need your help."

A noise downstairs made them both jump. Micky glanced at the door, and when he looked back at the girl, she had vanished. He rubbed his eyes, but she didn't come back. He turned on his light and looked around the room, but she was gone.

Micky scrambled to his feet and ran to Mike's bed, the one with the racecar bedspread. He shook his friend awake. "Mike! Mike!"

Mike flailed his arms around, trying to get Micky to stop. "Cut it out, Mick! You're gonna set off seismic testers all over the state!"

"Mike," Micky said frantically, "you won't believe the dream I just had!"

Mike grunted sleepily, "You won't believe the dream you just woke me from."

"No, Mike, it seemed so real. There was this girl leaning over my bed. She wanted me to come with her someplace. She said she needed my help."

Mike's interest was piqued. "What'd she look like?"

"Ah... long, wavy, blonde hair... eighteen or so... beautiful girl."

Mike's sleepy eyes had closed on their own, but he was still listening, and his eyebrows went up as Micky described the girl. "Well, I'll tell you what you do, Mick. Just go back to sleep and dream about her again." He smirked as he rolled over. "And I'll do the same."