Chronological Chaos

The House of Mirrors did not convey what its name suggested at first glance. There were absolutely no mirrors visible from the outside where Emit and the stranger stood, and she doubted that there would be any inside either.

An aged building that resembled a cathedral loomed over Emit and her strange tour guide. Churches in New London, Connecticut were also old and relatively large, but this building was completely different. It had a level of detail and intricacy that Emit was unfamiliar with, though she could guess it was constructed in a Neo-Gothic style.

The walls of the building reached up to speak with the clouds and it was difficult to see exactly where they culminated. Peaks of varying lengths jutted out from the top of the building, looking like a messy, random arrangement of rods when viewed from the ground. It was indeed a wonderful sight, yet it seemed as if the cathedral-like place was asleep. Its weathered and dusty appearance indicated that it had been abandoned some time ago.

Behind it was an even taller clock tower that looked just as old as the primary building itself. The hours on its two visible faces were designated by Roman numerals and the minutes designated by smaller Arabic numbers. The beauty of it was striking; Emit had always had a thing for antique pieces, and old-fashioned clocks were by far her favorite piece to collect. She imagined that its bell would have a vintage chime to it.

The plain, black door sealed shut after Emit and the stranger walked through it, producing a loud, never-ending echo. Promptly, Emit noticed the lack of religious symbols and came to the conclusion that it was indeed not a church. The inside was entirely void of materials. There were no pews, no crucifixion crosses, nor were there steps leading to where the alter would be. All that existed inside this place was empty space and long, clear windows that stretched the length of the building. Through them, Emit could see the darkness that the air held.

So much unoccupied space tempted Emit to practice the dance techniques she had learned throughout her youth. Instead of doing so, she refrained from relinquishing her inner dancer and resorted to looking at the impeccably high and austere ceiling. For a place that looked so historic, there was no indication that anyone have even stepped into it prior to Emit and her guide.

“Shouldn’t ‘The House of Mirrors’ have at least one mirror in it?” Emit was curious as to why there seemed to be a substantial lack of substance in this place, especially mirrors.

Instead of answering, the stranger merely walked further into the building. “One who is curious is one who follows,” the stranger called over his shoulder to Emit, beckoning her to follow.

Needing no persuasion because her curiosity was substantial enough, Emit was already at his heels, eager to see all she can in this strange place. She felt that no harm could come to her in whatever world she was in. If there was, she would have probably been seriously injured when her car collided with the mysterious tree.

Through another large door they went, turning left into a room that was a little less than half the size of the original room they occupied. Now, Emit could easily tell why this particular place was called ‘The House of Mirrors’. Unorganized rows of reflecting glass cluttered the rather large room and Emit began to feel a bit claustrophobic. However, the sight before her was rather impressive, too impressive to pass up exploring.

There were full length mirrors, hand-held mirrors, and mirrors in between. There were beautifully intricate ones that looked like they were used by Victorian queens and others that were rather plain and unadorned.

Emit walked through the collection of mirrors, trying to get a good look at all of them. She noticed that some mirrors were actually part of a vanity set while others stood alone and smaller ones sat atop the vanities themselves. Painted all sorts of colors, the jaunty exteriors of the mirrors made it seem as if you were stepping into a color spectrum rather than a room.

The dimness of the vicinity was interrupted by the flashing of lights, and Emit turned to see what the source of it was. It was a mirror akin to those used backstage at fashion shows, or even concerts where the superstars sat in an official looking chair to get their makeup done. Emit began to walk over to it, intrigued by the fact that it didn’t even seem to be plugged in.

She wasn’t too far from it when another, more interesting mirror caught her attention. Oddly enough, it was actually in the shape of a human eye. The frame was a pretty, white, almond shape, complete with thick, mock eyelashes at the top. A semi-circle intercepted the middle of the oval and it separated the leather black sclera from the pupil which was the mirror itself. This mirror was indeed odd, but something even more peculiar intercepted Emit’s vision. It was when Emit looked into the reflecting glass that she observed something completely startling.

In the pupil of this mirror was a stranger that stared back at Emit with a shocked expression, perfect and arched eyebrows raised in surprise. Her cascading, pastel-blonde hair hung loosely in bundles around her face, her bangs pulled back neatly atop her head. She was rather pale, not in a sickly way, but in a way that made her seem like a vampire with perfect, ivory skin. It was only her rubicund cheeks that were not consistent with her skin, but it did nothing to hinder her beauty. Her slightly parted lips were of a flawless shape; not too large, nor were they too small. Emit studied her oval face even more closely, taking in the woman’s high and shapely cheek bones. Looking further up, Emit’s eyes met a pair of misty colored grey ones that stared at her in shock. Emit gazed at them until they disappeared when the woman blinked, bringing her full eyelashes down to cover her beautiful eyes.

Emit scoped the face of the woman quickly once more, searching for any trace of make-up. This woman was very pretty, perhaps even too pretty to even be true. Again, Emit looked into the rainy eyes, this time to look for anything remotely familiar about the woman. It was then that she recognized exactly who this woman was.

Emit raised her hand to touch the mirror and so did the woman in the glass. An arctic cold feeling ran through Emit’s fingers when she came into contact with the mirror, and both she and the woman jerked their hands away simultaneously.

“That’s me isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question, for Emit knew the answer. The woman spoke the same words at the same time Emit did and it was rather obvious who the woman was, but she decided to voice her statement anyway.

“That is the purpose of a mirror, Emit. When you look at it, it is supposed to reflect your appearance.”

Emit, too flabbergasted to answer, simply ignored the stranger’s frank retort and stared back into the mirror. She wiggled her smooth nose, shrugged her shoulders, stuck out her tongue; anything to see if it was really her in the mirror. She came to the solid conclusion that it was.

“Have I looked like this since I got here?” Emit turned around to face the stranger that had surprisingly been silent throughout most of her adventure.

“Yes, Emit. Do you not like it, because I certainly do?” The stranger quirked his eyebrow while his spoke, looking Emit in her, now grey, eyes.

Emit narrowed her eyes at the stranger. This was definitely not the appropriate time to be philandering, not to mention that his efforts completely were futile. “Of course you would. But, this isn’t me.” She said the latter part to herself, not intending for the stranger to hear it.

“This is you, Emit. I brought you here so that you may realize that. You have been blind and now you can see.”

His tone sounded unusually sincere and it immediately reminded Emit of Gabriel back in reality, wherever that was. She wondered what time it was there and if she should be getting preparing her outfit for work for the next day already.

Emit contemplated what the stranger had said. The only thing she saw in the mirror was what she wanted to be, which was not exactly synonymous with who she currently was. This new interpretation of her mirror image, though, she kept to herself. Emit did not want to allow this stranger access to the depths of her mind and rationales. Instead, she turned away and walked out of the mirror filled room, the grey trench coat she still wore flying out behind her from the strength of her stride.

The sky was still black and moon had not moved when Emit and the stranger emerged from the building. Emit paid no mind to it though, she wanted to leave this dishonest place that made her someone she was not.

“Where is the exit?” Blunt but forceful, Emit’s tone indicated she was not in the mood for playing games. Emit had always had a short temper, and she had already reached the end of her fuse.

“We have yet to finish our tour, Emit. This is only our first destination out of many.”

“Scheiβe! I want to leave now.” (German: Shit!) It didn’t matter at the moment that she sounded extremely childish; Emit was only concerned with finding a way out of this place.

“Entschuldige mich. Ich glaube-” (German: Pardon me. I think-)

“I don’t care what you think. I just want to go home.” To Emit, there was no place like home at this particular moment. If only she could click her heels three times and repeat a chant that would send her home.

“Fine. I’ll show you the way.” The stranger’s demeanor conveyed no sentiment, and Emit briefly tried to figure out what he was thinking. She easily gave up when it occurred to her that she would finally be able to leave this forsaken place.

Emit followed him to a new locale, one that was rather far away from the church-like place. She now seriously pondered over the possibility that the stranger was a perilous threat to her being. He could have been luring her into a trap where he would hold her hostage and she would be completely unaware of his plan. However, he was her only definite source of information on how to escape and she tossed her intuition to the wind. All her survival inhibitions were blocked in this world where she felt invincible, and that was the only thing she found even remotely comforting in this realm.

Not too long later, they arrived at a modest door in the middle of a dry field. There was nothing surrounding the door to provide support and it remained idle in the breeze. The grass was a yellowish-brownish color that evidenced that this was indeed the middle of nowhere where it stayed untouched. The place was desolate, save for the door, much like the previous building had been. A slight gust stirred Emit’s blonde hair as well as her instincts. Something about a dull, freestanding, rusty colored door in the middle of nothing induced a strong premonition in Emit’s mind. This feeling, plus the fact that the stranger had so readily shown Emit the exit was very peculiar. It seemed as if the wind reimbursed Emit with her in natural inhibitions the moment they reached the field.

“This, right here, is the exit,” the stranger said while he motioned to the door. It did not go unnoticed by Emit that he did not speak her name this time in his dialogue. She took this as a negative sign which only strengthened her sense of forewarning. Still, she dismissed the likelihood of it being an omen and continued on.

Emit got closer to the door that potentially hid her freedom and as she did so, she was able to decipher the numbers above where the peephole ought to be.

‘483’

There was nothing else on the unembellished door, no suggestion as to where it led to. It was atypical that such a large number appeared on a door where there seemed to be no preceding doors anywhere in sight. Did that mean that there were four hundred and eighty-two other doors somewhere else in this world? Emit did not even have the slightest wish to find out, for she wanted nothing more than to flee this place.

Emit looked once more at the stranger, straight into his bright green eyes. Her eyes narrowed skeptically, and she tried to uncover any evidence of deceit from merely looking into the stranger’s eyes.

“Auf Wiedersehen.” (German: Goodbye.) The stranger gave no gesture of goodbye, but instead crossed his arms in an obstinate manner.

When he said this, Emit saw past the formality of the German language and recognized an unyielding tone the stranger’s voice carried. It was apparent that the current circumstances had negatively affected him; but Emit, for once, did not care for other people’s feelings.

Without any further consideration, Emit took a few steps forward and aggressively seized the door open by the round, silver knob. Despite her will to leave, she hesitated. There was still one problem that she needed help to solve. Unfortunately, the only person that could even begin to assist her was the man who had not informed her of his name.

“What will happen to my car when I leave?” Tilting her head to the side curiously, Emit placed her hands on her hips.

“Your vehicle is your sole follower.” The stranger sounded like a robot programmed to respond to the human voice. His words sounded automatic and detached which made Emit feel uneasy. Yet, despite all the negative projections the stranger gave off, he still managed to sound rather astute. ‘It must be a German thing’, Emit thought.

She inferred that this meant that her car would transfer to whatever world she occupied at any given time, and that was all the information she needed before she made her leave. Tapping her pocket to ensure her keys were there, she put on a determined face as if it would discard her worry.

Turning once again to the door, Emit twisted the knob and stepped through the silver threshold without another word.

She was elated to travel back into a world where the Sun was not a legend, but an actuality.