"I do, but ... actually I apologize guys. It's my fault. It's just a blurry childhood memory. Or it's bullshit. Sometimes it becomes very dear to me. I just wish I could obliviate & start a new life."
"What? Why didn't you tell us before that you feel this way?" The two men asked mildly raging with pain. "You are now driving us crazy; you know that?"
They try to step out of the house but they don't. "I was 8 years old when my father left me 'Because which I don't know. It was my birthday the day after. On that day, my mother gave me a similar elf doll you got me. I loved it. She said to me it was not a simple doll. It will help you get back to your father. I was so mocked with the doll by my ninth-grade friends.
Those boys never cared for my feelings and also insulted me in grade school. After that day, I started hating that elf doll as it reminds me of my parents and this leads to a loss of concentration and focus. It is like sprinkling salt on the burn. I wanted to tell you guys when we became best buddies, but...my mom stopped me. I was not able to sleep properly for about two and a half years. Those years went very drastic and harsh for me."
"Oh - sorry man, I rudely behaved," The smaller guy who came in tears who was with a mark entitled Lt. Cils Reddraft on his left chest side said so politely that it nearly helped Duke, to which he narrowed his eyebrows.
"Ya, right. By d way, Wassup with u guys?" Duke turning on the refrigerator and giving non-alcoholic beers to the men.
"Nothing much."
"Fooling around. One at a time. I go check out my piano scales, while Mr. Ginell Clangam takes care of our flower shop. Then he goes out for partying with single ladies every single day."
"I made a 'Chocolate Crusty Bubbling Bo' if you guys are hungry."
"Sure, Wa'd hell is that? Looks scary like a big round animal around the plate" Ginell asked.
Duke gazed slowly what sly mirror had said. Why did the mirror say that he may count it in the three lousy mistakes of his life? Being unaware of the mirror's unraveling saying which was going to entangle him in the pursuit of awakening a restraining danger.
"It's a pudding filled with mixed fruit syrup and chocolate chips tucked inside. It looks like a cake and pudding. I love it",
"It's a 'Bubbling Bo' because when hot chocolate is poured on its surface, it gives out sugar steams which deeply embrace me." Duke opens his arms feeling deeply pleasured with excitement that his left hand's middle finger touches Ginell's nostrils from inside.
"Ok. But we would like to know about you and your date. For which we came here," Ginell cheers up a smiley face.
"Ooh...I don't know. What you're talking about?" the Lieutenant asks Ginell.
Duke starts focussing on Ginell's eyebrows which go up and down.
"Yes, I know we made a pact-."
"April 18th. Well, now it's gone. For your concern, we'll never make a pact with you," Ginell bellows getting infuriated.
"Oh, don't say that. I have always gone with you to correct Lt's boot-cut jeans."
"Yaa. Okay, but we anxiously want to know how did it all happen."
"Right. It was kinda 'catch me in your eyes'. I saw her and it rushed my imagination to a spot where we were tying a knot that never unlaces. I am recently working as a second-rate (nearly skilled or between average and intermediate) coder at Pasto-Ca'adet Companies. It is a private company, a research lab which is making intriguing codes very simple so that at any age, one can understand these."
It includes many things like application features, video enhancements, and much more. But this work is hard and baffling due to which an MC is also assigned in the company. It tends to be cautious and concerned about the clarity of work. It's very helpful in games too, an-."
"ENOUGH! TELL US INFORMATION WE GENUINELY NEED; not that how many employees work in that company." the Lieutenant shouts and makes a thud on his writing pad.
"Okay, okay, Calm down. It was a usual busy afternoon but it was a distinct one. I had too many calls for having lunch. I turned my phone on airplane mode. Then, she came in and asked me if I kinda wanted something. I asked who she was and what did she do here. She said her name was Beverly Muskatos and lives in Ceiberg 304, near the Cornvella (it was a market filled with corns of several sizes). Her job was as a waitress before but now she helps in the Binary Input Department.
"Days passed. She winked at me when she and I accidentally met. Then, I see next that she accepts my friend request and asks me for coffee. Then, I feel as if my stars sparkled so hard that they made other stars cry in happiness. After the first date, now I realized that we had a lot in common. But I'll tell you that later.
"Okay. So, it is kinda late now. I believe we should leave as we can sense our home - beacons from here.
"So, See ya. B-bye." the short guy wears his overcoat and leaves through the door.
"Is there anything you're hiding?"
"No. Nothing. I was thinking of my dinner."
Duke replies. The other man leaves his house giving him a suspicious look. Duke was never sure of him.
Present Now
Eyes opened. Grand finds himself in bed. Rolling eyes here and there, he manages to get his clock and checks. It was 5:01 a.m. His history nightmares. Always made his life terrible. Sometimes he hates to come into that dream. Seeing the same dream for so many days made his life so impatient and inflamed. He pushes himself out and makes up his bed. He goes for his routine bladder check and voids it after a few minutes. He brushes his teeth with a yellowish-white toothbrush which had a hidden black layer forming on it. He goes on his writing table for journaling and to make ideas move further efficiently. "Ok. What to start with today? Hmmm..."
"Duke! HELP ME! PLEASE! That green vampire-looking lizard is crawling on my surface!"
"It's just a lizard, Mirror. It will not harm you, but you will be a bit dirty with its excretion."
"I'm okay with dirtiness. I'm not okay but worst to be killed or shattered around like atoms or bigger molecules.
"I am leaving for work at 7 today. An urgent meeting is down there in the office."
"They have brought kind of consultants up to help us improve our research on codes."
"Ok. What about my frame? The mirror gazed; it's shining upon Duke's arms.
"Oh, I need more details. What?" Duke asks, coming near to its small shadow.
"You had mentioned in your calendar to give me today a sanitary bath at 7:00 so to remove the dirt and bacteria who may one day engage their power and infect us severely and harshly."
"That's IT! Look, I care about you but you should also learn somethin' which is a so…. big list," Duke yelps looking at his frame.
"What does it include?" The mirror speaks in a low voice.
"There is just one thing. Withhold your fear from all the belongings of mine and the insects, dirt, dust, lizards, and worst of all, Darkness."
"But how will I do that?", The mirror asks surprisingly.
"Just pretend I am here."
"What am I a kid, I'll do as you say, huh?" The mirror asks unpreparedly.
"Ok. How about if I do...this?" Duke answers attaching a board to flex which had a picture of a man lookalike of him.
"This will work. Thanks, Duke. I love the picture. When will you be back?"
"I'll be back before nightfall, why? I know. I know."
Duke sends a voicemail to Beverly about meeting her at the Party Prisonnea. The restaurant was very simple new-fashioned. It was a colourful one, filled with pink heart-shaped lights. It was a far magnificent place than he had imagined before arriving. A voice message buzzed on his phone. It was from Beverly. She messaged about his dad who gets ill after his voice mail arrives. Most days were terrible. Living with that mirror, he was not able to pee alone. The first days were the worst days of his life.
The neighbours hearing the screams of it started believing tragic things as if he was torturing and beating a girl with sticks. He once left it for a minute but he felt very strange when it started cracking itself. It is believed that making a self-crack (without anyone's help) on an unusual mirror with an ability to speak with unravelling truth never said is very difficult. It requires an honest reason and a genuine one too. It can't be done if it was wished for or for a silly reason like darkness.
Duke believed sometimes that in the real world it was a mirror, but inside that shining glass, there was something fishy he was not sure about it. He always felt some kind of connection with the mirror. He felt as if his friend or a roommate or a family member lived with him. He happily, talked about his sorrows and anxious times. He didn't have many good times.
He once shared a good time with its Beverly when she winked on him regularly which always felt him like trampling on a road or having an unimaginable obsession for her.
Duke feels very helpless after reading that text. He felt more helpless because of his early arrival at the hotel's gate. While leaving, he assumes like seeing the restaurant for a glance but he felt a bonding moment arriving when Beverly showed up from behind. She was wearing a gentle Fawn Selina dress with a zebra cowboy hat. Duke got so nervous as if he was suffering from selective mutism.
"It's ok. I brought this dress today. Thanks for noticing, I also loved it," Beverly says approaching him and often looks up and down.
"Yeah...Shall we?" Duke asks her making an elbow cross.
"Sure," Beverly answers putting her elbow in his coat's pocket.
They approached for their reservation and came to a halt near two chairs and a square table of nearly one meter. They watched their heads for some hanging and shining pink hearts.
"So, how do you wanna start?" Duke asks patiently. He was hoping for a response from her but she didn't give any for a few minutes.
"I am sorry, what were you sayin'?"
"You look upset. What's the reason? Duke asks
hurriedly.
"Oh, like you will solve everything, smarty-shiny," Beverly screams.
"Just tell me." He speaks.
Duke thought if the mirror had some shiny shots with his world at his arrival.
"Ok. But I don't want this party ruined.
"But it will be ruined if my girlfriend is unhappy,"
Duke says in a deep voice.
"It was just a normal evening. I was returning from my spectacular parlour which is the nearest to my house than other ones. While walking down the street, I saw four men talking and laughing stupidly peeping through the holes of magazines they held. I was walking the way to my house when I saw them. Two of them were maybe listening to others and convincing a lot they don't understand a bit of information they were passing to them. They acted sleep-walking and they …
'What?'
"They were eve-teasing me an-"
"But how's that even possible? It has been stopped for three decades."
"Are you listening me? Don't you see how I would have felt? Since it's an ancient issue. That's the reason, Duke. I believe they might have read a paper from history and we're now examining the symptoms. You know why? Because our town Ceiberg 304 being awarded the best town I have ever seen in the world. No alcoholism, no heart attacks, no suicides for nearly a decade and no depressions have been found till date. And, most people have lived till 95 or above I don't know.
The scientists are still confused with the people of our town. I believe this is all jealousy and envious behavior of them after hearing about our town."
"It's also maybe it's the most introverted town I've ever seen. So, what should we do? Do you have any plans?"
"No, you?"
Duke affirmatively hissed, 'Tell me who those guys were. We'll find them and teach a lesson, they won't forget.' Duke said vibrating like a mobile.
"Ok. One was tall like six feet and was having some weird Flower boxes in hand. The other was a short one and was in the army I believe. I know after seeing his dress."
After listening to Beverly's reply, Duke got stunned and doesn't say something for a moment. His looks stiffened with his scarlet ears felt very sick to believe if the guys were fatty Ginell and shorty militant Lieutenant "Mt. Lt.". He was drastically hoping it to be impossible. Devastated to hear about it. He senses that it would be the last disgusting day of his overly achieved life. After his father left him uncared he was other than those men. Sometimes, they would make him so happy in school life, that he never thought about the need for a father.
With a palpitating and trembling voice, he finally asks about them by showing Beverly their photos. She instantly recognizes and desperately asks how he had a photo of them. It was easy to make stuff for him but being said now was truth to Beverly but now he was so thunderstruck that he remained quiet. Then, murmured a little 'there my frenz' with a crispy voice stroking his neck.
"I'm sorry, what?" Beverly responded.
"They are my best friends, Beverly. They were always with me when my father left me with no compassion for his nonsense business. They are my dearly and loved ones. They are like my other parents who treated me as a son. Ginell, the fat one would take my clothes for laundry every other day. The Lieutenant, never knew his real name. First, I would call him shorty which he never liked. But he cared for me so much so I changed to Lieutenant or M. Lt.."
"So, you are saying the guys who teased me are your besties?" Beverly asks shockingly.
"Yes," Duke said calmly. Beverly was not able to get anything of what to do. She loved Duke so much that she didn't want to upset him by doing something crazy over his best friends.
"Ok. Then what should we do? I had thought of hiring some goons and giving 'em a beating, which would teach them a lesson but now they're your besties & it feels unethical, so I'm helpless," Beverly utters with dissatisfaction.
"You're right. I think we should hire some goons, not for a beating but reveal the information or reason for that cheap & idiotic behaviour. We can say the name Mr. Witkins, the landlord. We'll tell our story to the landlord and maybe they will come to us by themselves.
"Great idea, sweetie." Beverly high-fiving Duke goes to her car in the parking. The distance to Duke's house was nearly 10 miles but Mr. Witkins was not very far from the bar. It was nearly 2.5 miles. It took them fifteen minutes to reach the house. The house from outside looked like a royal palace. It had beautiful palm trees in the passage. The huge ten feet gates with spikes were having written rectangular markings that were very difficult to decipher for Duke's android too. Duke took the photo of the gates to later differentiate it's understanding. So, they opened the gates slightly and rang the doorbell. A fat, bald man nearly 5.5 feet wearing circular glasses opened the door and asked, "How may I help you?"
"Hello! did you recognize me, sir?"
"Yaa. Duke, how do you do, young man?" The bald man asked.
"I'm great, thank you, sir...sir, can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Sure, come in. I thought of calling you for that 3D printer which I want to repair from a nerd like you. And also wanna ask about you. How's my junior Will Kateiss?"
He opens the door wide and they follow him inside the house. The house was deceptive from inside. It looked more like a war camp or weaponry shop with the walls which were filled with hanging machine guns, cannons everywhere, rockets, and so many Aks. Less like a steel repair shop. Duke and Beverly started feeling a little uncomfortable. But with a little enthusiasm left and controlling their fears they stood there, the man stoped at a point which he felt was vintage. In front was a three-seater retro square arm sofa. Sat on a one-seater sofa adjacent to the three-seater wide one.
"Please, make yourself comfortable. And, also don't tell anyone about this place. It's an army camp designed to evacuate some citizens from all of the Ceiberg's.
"Ok. We'll tell you a story and we need your advice about what to do if you were in those shoes." They sit on their sofa patiently and start their story. But he was not sure if he was doing the right thing. He never knew what kind of person, Mr. Witkins was? He had never met him. After every part is accepted and being kept in mind, Mr. Witkins tries to go through every part again of his life. Then he calls some names and a black-colored person with a sky-blue hat having a spawn-off shotgun beside from a corner.
"Wanahitaji wanaume wengine. Chukua walinzi wengine wawili pamoja nawe," (They need some men. Take the other two with A-2) he orders in Swahili.
"Two hundred pounds. Information straight to your house. I believe, I would have also done the same," Mr. Witkins replies standing up showing pride.
Duke and Beverly praise the landlord and return to their apartment. Opens the main door smilingly, using his keys kept in his pocket.
"Want a glass of wine?" Duke asks with a few nods.
Beverly smiles and orders 'HIT ME!'
They get steamed in a way and too tired. Duke suddenly urges to ask about his unusual urges, when Beverly holds his hand tight and goes to his bedroom.
Beverly felt a little odd as she approached the door of his house and it rang a big fear horn in his amygdala. She probably thought it was her usual quirk 'being uncomfortable with a single person'. Her choices made her different in social interactions. She observed her thought processes genuinely like million times in considering her or the other person. The one who just peeped in her mind's reference room.
Beverely also had more than a feeling with that house. A creepy little bond made her feel ill at ease, even if she was feeling normal.