Alice was completely spaced out in class as her mind just wandered about generally, not particularly sticking to one thing. Not even the bizarre incident that occurred that morning. Heress, it said. Most probably just her wildest imagination. Hallucinations, maybe. There was no way, her reflection was talking to her.
Amidst her spacing out, Alice didn't notice the new kid that walked into her class. "Class, I'll like to introduce to you, the newest member of our class, Kiro Ner," her teacher said. Kiro was tall and had dark hair. His eyes were black too and his face seemed to have been carved around a frown. It was almost like he didn't want to be there. Well, she didn't want to be there either. He simply raised his hands momentarily, when asked to speak to the class. He didn't even mutter a word. "Well, that'll be all. Your seat is over there," her teacher said to Kiro, pointing to an empty seat about two seats behind Alice on her right side.
As he walked towards his seat, his gaze met Alice's and he had a surprised expression on his face, almost like he recognized her. But it was only for a second and his frown returned almost immediately. For the rest of the class, Alice found herself looking behind at Kiro but he never looked back at her. It didn't look like he was concentrating on the class either though, almost like he was looking at something far ahead. But his gaze remained fixed at the board.
As the bell rang, Alice was approached by Kiro before she could leave her seat. "You again. What are you now, my guardian angel?" Kiro teased but with a warm face this time. He looked so different from the kid that walked through the class doors earlier.
"Your what now?" Alice was perplexed. She had not the slightest clue as to what he was talking about and it was well written all over her face.
"You heard me. Thanks for last time. I didn't think I'd be seeing you anytime soon," Kiro replied. He was still unaware that he was alone in this conversation, as Alice had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.
"Sorry, have we met before?" There was only so much crazy Alice could handle. First, the morning incident and now this. And how was it that people were remembering things that involved her that she couldn't. At first, she thought she'd just ignore them, but now it was getting to her a bit more. What was this incident that seemed so important, but only she seemed to have forgotten?
"You're the girl that teleports, right? Alice?"
And how the hell did he know that? She had never shown anyone what she could do with her matchstick, not even her parents. But he knew. And she couldn't even remember how. "What do you mean teleport?" Alice tried to laugh it off. If anything, she'd like to keep it a secret. But deep down she knew that denial at this point was a waste of time.
"Are you playing dumb, or am I talking to the wrong person?" Kiro had his frown back on as he left. He seemed even more pissed than he looked earlier that morning.
***
Alice walked to the bathroom. She needed water on her face to be sure she wasn't dreaming. And it was a less painful experience, when the other options were pinching herself, hitting herself, maybe hitting her head against the wall. Or jumping off the roof? Okay, maybe that last part was a bit extreme but nonetheless, there she was, in front of the sink, splashing more water on her face than she needed to. She stared at herself in the mirror for quite some time, not particularly thinking about anything. "What's got you thinking?" Her reflection in the mirror spoke, jolting her backwards.
"So, you're real after all. Or did my hallucinations follow me to school?" Alice asked, as she regained her composure, but realized that Heress was really there. "What the hell? How are you even here? Aren't you in the mirror in my room?" Alice asked, as she got herself up.
"Mirror? That's what you thought? I'm inside of you. We can only communicate through your reflection," Heress responded.
"Inside of me?" Alice looked behind her to see some of the girls looking at her oddly. There were probably thinking, 'what the hell is this freak doing?' Or something along that line. "They can't see you, can they?" Alice asked after the girls left the bathroom.
"No, they can't."
"I see. Well I guess talking to yourself is less weird than talking to your reflection. Even though people might think I'm mad," Alice chuckled. "You sure have a lot of explaining to do."
"I will, when you're somewhere we can talk," Heress teased as she faded away. Alice heaved a sigh of relief. She stared at the mirror a bit longer, hoping to see if Heress would show again but, nothing. As she walked out of the bathroom, Heress stared at her through the mirror, with a face that screamed melancholy. And Alice was met with more trouble yet again.
"Hey freak, I hear you were talking to the mirror in the bathroom," a girl shoved her into the wall as she came out of the bathroom. Apparently, the girls that were in the bathroom with her had made quite an issue out of it. A lot of people were aware in just a few minutes. Alice was disgusted by the girl in front of her.
"I can take care of them, you know. Seeing as this is mostly my fault," Heress said from the surface of a shiny silver bottle that one of the girls was holding.
"And how would you do that? You're only going to make matters worse," Alice chuckled
"I could let them see me."
"You basically have my face. I can't see how it would make things better for me."
The girl hit her as she noticed Alice was talking to the bottle. "I guess you really are a freak, freak," she said, as they all stormed out on Alice. She struggled to get up and she frowned as she noticed Heress's face on the shiny locker close to her. But then, something else drew her attention. At the end of the hall, stood Kiro, with his usual frown. How long had he been there? And if he was really grateful to her for something she couldn't remember anyway, why didn't he come to her aid?
Kiro started walking towards her. Did he really think he had the right to talk to her after being silent, when she was in trouble? Hell no! He had no right whatsoever. And she was just going to ignore him, regardless of what he had to say. She hoped he'd just walked past. That'd save her a lot of stress. And that's exactly what he did. He just walked past her without muttering a single word. He didn't so much as look at her. But deep down, that wasn't what she wanted. For some reason she couldn't understand, she actually wanted him to care.