Eisoptrophobia- Fear of mirrors or of seeing oneself in a mirror
“Aubrey, wake up.” I couldn’t figure out who the voice belonged to.
“Why?” I said sleepily, turning over in the large bed.
“You used to never sleep this late,” they said innocently.
I lifted my head up and glanced at Blake through heavy lids, taking a mental note that I needed to decide whether to call him Blake or Charlie. It was hard to decide since neither name completely fit.
“Maybe if I sleep for a few days straight I’ll remember things,” I tried to say convincingly. There was a long silence that I took as a sign of victory. I closed my eyes and turned away from Blake, attempting sleep again.
“Or you’ll put yourself into a self-induced coma so you never wake up, much less without any memories.”
This time I sat up, annoyed. “Where’s Jack?”
“Why do you want Jack?” Blake asked. He was either genuinely confused, or he was really good at acting.
“He’s the only one I’ve met so far that likes to actually give me answers when I ask questions,” I said coldly. I mentally scolded myself for my behavior towards Blake, remembering he was the one I felt was safe when I first woke up in this building.
Blake looked at me with a sorry expression, and made a gesture towards the door, “I’ll go get him.” He left the room without a response from me. I felt almost guilty for not thanking him, but pushed that feeling away. I leaned against the soft pillows and tried my best to stay awake while waiting for Jack to come. In the meantime I looked around the room and found it was pretty bare with a desk to my right and the door Blake just left through straight ahead of me. I sighed at how ordinary this place was. There was a plastic object on the desk, and I pushed myself out of the bed to see what it was. When I held it up, a bitter taste filled my mouth. It wasn’t anything bad, but it was the source of one of my phobias.
A simple, handy mirror. I quickly put it back down on the desk and turned around to find the blonde-hair, blue-eyed Jack watching me pleasantly.
“Afraid of mirrors?”
“How’d you guess?” I asked, still tense.
“Your entire demeanor went from curious to resentful in seconds,” he shrugged and walked further into the room, hands hanging loose by his sides. “Blake said you asked for me. I can’t imagine why.”
“I like you,” I said without thinking.
“Oh?” Jack said with a small smile.
“I mean, you tell me things no one else has, and you answer my questions. I meant it in a friendly way, of course. I mean, I like you, but I like the other Jack in a different way. Like you’re my friend and he’s my…,” My face heated up with embarrassment as I rambled and realized how awful I sounded.
“Boyfriend,” Jack said simply.
“What?”
“Jack’s your boyfriend.” He repeated.
I stayed quiet for a moment. I didn’t know what Jack was to me, and hearing that made it even more confusing.
“I – I meant he was your boyfriend,” Jack coughed, moving towards the bed to sit down. “I don’t know if he still is now that you’re back and can’t remember anything.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” I said sarcastically. It felt good to talk about Jack. He became someone I wanted to see every day just to know things aren’t completely crazy and I haven’t gone totally insane yet.
Automatonophobia- the fear of anything that falsely represents a sentient being or fear of hallucinations
There was an odd noise that broke the small silence that followed and Jack quickly took out his phone and apologized to me for the interruption. He sat on the bed listening to the person on the other end, and I decided to sit next to him, pulling my legs up and sitting with them crossed. I watched Jack intently, and he kept making faces at me, mocking the person he was talking to.
“Yeah she’s with me.” Jack said cheerily. A pause, then, “No we’re in her room. We haven’t moved.” His voice grew increasingly confused, and I became uneasy. I poked his arm, causing him to shift his attention to me. I made a gesture to the phone, silently asking who he was talking to. He mouthed “Blake” and returned his attention to the phone. He suddenly stood up, making me jump slightly. “He did what? He’s here? Where?” Jack only let Blake talk for a few more seconds before hanging up. Jack had almost reached the door when he remembered I was still sitting on the bed.
“Stay here,” he said. His voice was full of excitement, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He seemed anxious about whoever was here.
I nodded and let him get on with his business, but it had only been half a minute before I heard yelling. I was tempted to go to the hallway to see what it was, but I remembered Jack’s orders and thought it’d be better if I took his advice.
“Jack!” A voice yelled. It sounded like Jack Johnson, but I was hardly in any position to make assumptions of people I hardly knew.
“Where is she?” A different voice yelled back, this time with definite urgency.
There was a small thump, and I assumed someone was getting hurt, but I was too shocked to run to help.
“Jack, wait!” It was Blake’s voice this time, loud and clear in the hallway.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do!” It was the urgent voice again, and my heartbeat picked up. I thought I was going to cry or be sick, but nothing came out. I just sat there. “Where the fuck is Aubrey –”
His voice trailed off as he looked into my room and saw me sitting there on the bed. My jaw fell slack as I realized I wasn’t just hearing things. He was here in jeans and a large red hoodie, breathing heavily at the doorway. His dark eyes were almost surprised. His mouth fell open, releasing the tension in his angular jaw. I remembered how to move and quickly pushed myself off the bed and stood there.
“Jack.” I breathed. And he ran towards me, grabbing my arm with one hand and pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around me. “You’re here.” I said stupidly.
He grabbed my arms and held me a few inches away from him, his eyes searching my face and body for anything out of the ordinary. “It took me long enough,” he said finally. His dark eyes met mine and he smiled as if there wasn’t some big dramatic scene that just took place. His face fell for a moment, “Why’d you leave me?”
“Jack, how’d you get here?” Blake was standing in the doorway with Jack Johnson shadowing him in the back.
“I just got her back. Please, just give me a minute,” Jack’s voice was filled with annoyance, but his words sparked something unpleasant in my mind.
I’m not going to hurt her! I just got her back! I remembered Zak’s words when he tried to talk to me yesterday. Was it yesterday? It seemed like a lifetime ago. “Where’s Zak?” I asked anxiously. I was beginning to wonder why he had left in a rage, and why he hadn’t come back, and if he was the one who took me from Jack’s car, and who the hell he was.
“Who’s Zak?” Jack asked, facing Blake and Johnson now, putting an arm around my shoulder and holding me close to him. He smelled amazing, and I was disappointed the topic was about to take a nasty turn rather than get better. I wanted to be alone. With Jack. Gilinsky.
“He took me from your car that night,” I explained bitterly.
“What?” Johnson said disbelievingly.
“And what the hell are you doing here?” Jack pointed the question towards Johnson.
“Zak didn’t take you from anywhere,” Blake said quickly, killing my accusation on the spot.
“Then how did I get here?” I asked, exasperated.
“Wait.” Jack said beside me. “One question at a time or we’ll literally get nothing done.” Blake and Johnson nodded, and Jack looked at me, lacing his fingers in mine reassuringly.
“I want to know how I got here.” I stated plainly.