White Mirror

The following is an extract of my upcoming book White Mirror (work in progress).

Chapter 1

My name is Connor. Connor White. I’m an ordinary student who has a hard time. Well, at least it was like that my whole life until a few years ago. My parents travel a lot and look for new jobs, so I usually change my school once a year. This means stress. A lot of stress. But it slowly went away because of a new “thing”. A new ability, power, or something that I don’t know what to call.

I discovered that I can read the minds of other people at the age of 11. This helped me in every situation so far. Every year when I change my school, I still get the highest grades and I’m praised for it. This ability is quite exciting, but it also has ist negatives. Whenever this mind-reading ability is activated, I start to get white hair and strands of my hair turn white for no reason. Right now, my hair is half-black and half-white. This is a new style that was discovered by my powers, even though I’m the only one who knows the secret behind it.

That was everything about me that you should know. This year I will change to a new school.

It has been the fourth time so far, but it is exciting that you can fool others and still be victorious at it. Lots of people struggle and study a lot for exams? Not me. I get inside the classroom, sit down, and start reading the students‘ minds. Of course, before this happens, I have to research about the class and find the best student. This takes some time, but I’m not bad at talking and making friends, so I get to talk to a lot of people. After figuring it out, the exam becomes much easier. And so does the school, the hardest school in the city, yet I’m going through it like a breeze. I even get better grades than the best student in class. The reactions are priceless. But just a month ago, I discovered that my hair was getting whiter and whiter every time I used it. It’s like the effect multiplies whenever I use it again. Maybe I should stop and start learning but that is too much of an effort and because I will probably change schools, there is no reason to learn or try hard.

But this new school I’m in has a different thing than other schools. Because it is the highest in the city and the country, this school tends to test the best more than other schools. Before you can go to the next level and to a higher class, you have to show that you have knowledge. They have one important exam taken every half a year. Of course, everybody gets excited and is nervous, but that is not the case for me.

So, the time has come for me to shine again. I woke up, got myself ready, looked in the mirror before I went out and saw that my hair got whiter than usual. It didn’t mind me though, so I went to class, sat down and started doing my usual thing.

But suddenly my ability stopped working.

I couldn’t do anything. I felt a glimpse of fear and doubt for the first time in my life. This exam has to be successful. If not, I will get kicked out of the school.

What could I possibly do?

Chapter 2

There I was. Sitting on my chair looking down on an empty, blank piece of paper. This was it.

It was the end for me. I could not make it through this and somehow finish this school and the exam successfully. I thought to myself that at least I could try reading and answering the questions.

A few points is better than nothing. So I started doing my best, reading through everything but then I didn’t feel confused anymore. I realized that after every mind I read, the information was kept in my brain. I remembered everything. Maybe I could still make it through this. After 2 hours, the exam was over, and we had to go home. I arrived at home and looked in the mirror. My hair. It’s completely white and there is no speck of the color black left. It feels like I’m a different person now.

Well, there was no need for thinking about all of this, it would just complicate things. So I sat down on my bed but then my head started aching. I kept seeing bizarre images and I couldn’t endure the pain. The pain and the tiredness made me go to bed and sleep. I woke up the next morning not remembering what happened last night. I looked at my phone and saw that it was Saturday.

It shocked me after I saw my hair in the bathroom mirror like this again. It feels like I forgot everything that happened. What did I do yesterday? There was no need to think about that.

It’s weekend so I should just relax. But these images kept on popping in my mind and I couldn’t stop but worry. Something was going on but I didn’t know what. I went outside and took a walk in the park. After I sat down on a bench, I tried thinking harder about what happened yesterday.

Slowly but surely the puzzles were coming together. I wrote an important exam yesterday and my power went away. And now my hair is completely white. Everything was so odd. Can I possibly make it through this exam? I hope that all the information I absorbed helped. I knew that my power stopped working and that it would never work again but I wanted to try. Try it for the last time. So I was still sitting on the bench and tried to read the mind of the first person that crossed this street.

There it was. A girl. A teenage girl in the same age as me was crossing the street and went before me. There was my opportunity and I gave it a go. I focused really hard. Something was happening. I think it was working. “Just focus harder,” I thought to myself. And there it was at the end. I was in the mind of another person. It seems like my powers didn’t go to waste and I can still keep on being successful in life. But wait. My ability would usually stop working after at least 10 seconds. This time it was definitely longer. I was sure of it. And it wasn’t only that I could read the mind of the victim but I saw through the eyes of the person itself.

I was the girl. How could this happen? I was in control of the girl’s body. If I thought about moving my hand, it would move. Just like a normal human. Did I awaken a new power? Whatever it was, it felt weird and both exciting. But immediately I went back to my normal self, feeling a lot of pain in my head. It seems like there are side effects of this new ability. I looked at my watch, and I was approximately 1 minute in possession of the girl’s body and mind. My head hurt a lot, so I wanted to go back home. Today I had another odd experience and I felt a lot of pain. There were two streets left until I would reach my house. There was a dark alley just before the last street I had to go through. It’s usually dangerous there but nothing happened before and it’s faster to go through here than take a longer route. I was walking into the alley thinking about nothing more than just going home. But there it was. A big obstacle just before I could reach the finish line. A group of delinquents in the alley. I thought that they wouldn’t notice me and I wanted to reach my house really quick, so I went through very quietly. My plan didn’t work. They noticed me.

They were slowly approaching me with evil looks. 3 tall, strong and evil people surrounded me.

I never fought somebody but I think this was my first time that I would get beaten up.

I should’ve picked the longer route after all. In my current condition, I wouldn’t be able to endure more. I thought it was over for me.

This was where I would I die.

A lonely, dark alley.

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