Chapter |1|

“Just yesterday, Rubin Heath, scientist best known from his various experiments trying to prove that extraterrestrial life and creatures of mythology are real and observing our human race, has come up with a new theory of an alter dimension hiding before our very eyes. He speculates that there is a whole new society behind our mirror, he is still not sure whether this society is any good but is seeking a way to contact them as we speak. He has declined our request of an interview and postponed it until further discoveries are made. Only thing the scientist has said to us is that from today on he will be intensely focused onto this single research as this might be his biggest discovery yet.”

The television blared through the small apartment, which stanched of alcohol and perfume which hurt the nose more than the thorn walls and the beer bottles on the table, some knocked over and some already in pieces. The apartment was terrible without a single excuse for its filthy look. In the middle of it all, sprawled on the small couch with his legs halfway hanging off was a man, presumably a young adult. He was obviously too tall for the couch but he seemingly didn’t care. He had long hair which was a reddish tint, but it seemed obvious that it was dyed as it was visibly terribly dyed with the bigger part of the roots being exposed as blonde and some strands not even coloured in. His eyes were a brown colour, almost mimicking his hair, which was not that red to begin with. The man’s name was Claude, he was a young Danish man who recently has escaped his parents, who were a rich pair who to his mentality seemed to live in the 19^th century. They were very strict towards Claude and never let him go to a public school, or hang out too much with his friends. This caused Claude to become a troublemaker at a later age and turn him into what he is now. Now Claude is a troublesome young man who resorted to late night drinking and dragging himself along night clubs, his living was the money he stole from his parents, which was beginning to run low and Claude was forced to commit various acts to keep himself from losing his current home. At the moment, Claude was lost deep in thought about the events taking place on television. He sat up and turned the television off in a flash, “Nonsense.”, he muttered to himself, his English being distorted by the thick Danish accent. He looked at the clock, which just passed the 19:00 mark, Claude scoffed and stood up, took his jacket, only guessing it would be chilly outside as he exited the room.

 

. . .

“The new breakthrough of scientist Rubin Heath has shocked all the means of science; the scientist has found visible forms of life hiding in our plain sight! There is a whole secret society living in our homes, in the object we all felt ever so creeped out by- the mirror! We have once again requested an interview with Heath, this time he accepted our request and we have him right here in the studio with us today.”

 

This caught Claude’s attention as he was switching through the channels on his television. He set the remote down beside him as he stared intensely at the screen; on the screen was a man, he seemed rather young, until he started speaking, his voice was the crackliest, most non-understandable English Claude ever heard since his own accent. The man seemed extremely young, his face was clear of any signs of aging, except his deathly white hair and beard. Claude could surely mistake him for a wizard if his actual profession was not mentioned.

“So, Mr. Heath, we welcome you to the studio. Today we have you here to discuss about your new discovery on the society that is living here, in the mirrors of this world. How have you come to this conclusion may we ask?”, asked the reporter on the screen, a bright young woman who seemed both optimistic but also very strict.

“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about my experiments here on live television. The discovery came to me when I was trying out social interactions with the mirror, this probably seems like a gesture of a crazy person, but using common sense if they heard me and knew what I was saying, they would probably answer, at least in some kind of gesture.”, Heath explained. Claude tried to think of any complicated ways this could make sense, as he didn’t really think that this easy of an explanation is a real one. Though Claude snapped back into reality when he heard the woman’s voice speak up again.

“That is fairly interesting-”

As if, Claude chuckled as he could really sense that the woman seemed pretty annoyed herself, he did have to admit that she was good at masking that though, must be a part of the job.

“Can you tell us more, Mr. Heath?”, the woman said, faking her smile as she looked at the camera.

“I told you the basic concept, but I am afraid I cannot tell you more, including the results of the experiment until they are researched more, when that time comes I will be sure to give you a crystal clear vision of things and ask you for your help.”, Heath said with an apologetic smile, which seemed slightly unsettling and pretty fake to Claude, he couldn’t help but hold silent grudges against the man, so for his easy explanation and so for his unsettling lying.

“Do you have any closing words, Mr. Heath?”

“I would like to direct my last words to any of the sceptics out there that are watching the program, if you want to see the results yourself, get a small mirror and talk to it, start a conversation, but also look out for any strange patterns that may be happening while you are. Any extra information and tries of this experiment are welcome and you may submit them to the number below.”, while Heath was reciting the number, Claude was lost in thought at the previous words, this seemed fairly suspicious if you’d ask him. A scientist asking the audience to try out the exact same experiment as him? How could that make any sense? Claude shook his head as the thoughts faded and he realized that Heath has already exchanged his goodbye’s and now the news were rolling on an entirely new story.

Claude shut off the television. He looked around the room that was even messier this time, as his eyes rolled towards a certain object, a full-body mirror that had a scratched up plastic frame and was pretty dirty itself, truly it looked like something out of a horror movie. He approached the mirror rather carefully, looking into his reflection, the eeriness of the mirror and the reflection didn’t help him calm down. Why was he so scared about talking to a mirror? What kind of threat would that spawn? Claude chuckled slightly at his own cowardliness as he looked into the eyes of his reflection and took a deep breath in, “Hello?”, he spoke up to the mirror. Claude held his breath a moment before letting out a long laugh. “What nonsense am I doing?”, he asked himself with a sigh as he looked at his reflection one last time, as he turned around to leave. Mid-step Claude froze in place as a voice emerged from the same place he was just before:

“Hello.”.