Mirror Image

“Woah, what’s up with your face in that picture?”

My best friend, Beverly, questioned from beside me, her voice startling me as I dragged my confused gaze away from the image of myself that had been staring back at me for the better part of 5 minutes, and I furrowed my brow as I locked my eyes with hers and say,

“To be honest, I’m not even sure where it came from. I don’t recall taking this photo.”

As I finished my sentence, I slid my eyes back to my phone screen, analyzing the photo of myself, but I couldn’t seem to pinpoint when I had snapped the picture.

My expression was eerily pleasant, as if basking in the silence of a secluded forest, my eyes devoid of any real emotions, though I was staring off into the distance. Perhaps I may have accidentally taken a photo while hastily attempting to shove my phone back into my pocket earlier today since it had been pretty busy in the office and I occasionally would press buttons in my hurry to seem diligent in my work, but this picture seemed too, well, perfect.

“How do not know when you took that picture, Selena? You are always on your phone,”

Bev replied suddenly, her tone both humorous but also quite exasperated, a snort escaping her mouth as she scooched her chair towards me, ignoring her dinner to assess the photo still lit up on my phone, and even without looking at her, I could tell she is creeped out by the expression on my face.

“Well, yes, I am on my phone more than I should be, but I can assure you that I was extremely busy today. I didn’t have enough time to sit down and pose for a selfie, Bev.”

I grumbled in response, clicking the power button on my phone to close the screen, and then I set my phone face down on the table, even though the photograph of myself was still etched into my retinas and I felt uneasy as I tried my best to figure when I could have snapped the photo of myself.

“You must have a twin then, Selena. Ooh, or maybe a ghost! You might be haunted, Sel.”

Beverly started babbling, causing me to scoff and shake my head in acknowledgment rolling my eyes once more at her ridiculous suggestions, and, to stop myself from calling her out on her nonsense, I picked up my fork and immediately shoveled my steak and potatoes into my mouth.

“Oh, c’mon, Sel! I am only trying to come up with ideas for your mystery photo. Stop being a party pooper.”

Bev whined as I ignored her previous observations, finding that they were quite humorous, but I believed they were unnecessary and very unlikely to happen.

My gaze flicks over to my best friend as she pours, my expression akin to a deadpanned one, and Beverly grins innocently as she batted her eyelashes at me. Her silent response caused me to quietly judge her and, once my mouth was clear of the bite of food I had taken, I huffed in annoyance and set my fork down, saying,

“First of all, I am not a party pooper. Second of all, do you believe some supernatural occurrence happened that resulted in some creepy picture of myself popping up on my phone?”

“When you put it like that it sounds stupid!”

Beverly laughed loudly, punching my shoulder in her fits of giggles, the action prompting me to chuckle as well and lift my right hand to knead at the tender spot on my bicep.

“Cause it is, Bev.”

I shot back, though, as I thought hard about it, she was kind of correct. There was no other explanation for this weird, inexplicable photo in my camera roll. Maybe a ghost or spirit or whatever it was did take a picture of me and wanted me to notice it.

“You’re not sure now, are you, Selena? You’ve got that expression on your face that screams uncertainty.”

“That picture isn’t sitting right with me. I’m going to think about it for the rest of the night, now.”

I sighed while rubbing my temples as a headache began to form from thinking too much, and Beverly chuckled softly at my clear frustration and confusion.

“You’ll figure it out, Sel. You always do.”

With that said, Bev goes back to her food, munching on her steak and potatoes, and I choose to push my thoughts to the back of my mind and resume finishing up my dinner as well. Both Bev and I quickly wolf down the rest of our food, then I offer to do the dishes for tonight, and I wash our plates, forks, and cups and set them on a dish towel to allow them to air dry.

After wiping down the counter with a clean rag, I switch off the kitchen light, then head down the hallway towards my bedroom, bidding Beverly goodnight, and heading into my room to get ready for bed. I changed out of jeans and a sweater, slipping into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, and hopped under the covers, getting comfortable to finally get some sleep.

**

Waking up in the morning, I felt even more exhausted than I did when I went to bed, groaning as I sat up, scratching my scalp to inevitably make my hair even messier than it already was, and I shivered as the temperature in my room felt a lot cooler than it had been when I went to bed.

“Selena, wake up! You’ll be late to work if you don’t get up!”

Beverly shouted at me through my bedroom door, which immediately prompted me to scramble out of the covers, and I stumbled around to pull on my work uniform and my shoes. Once that was done, I made sure my hair was done up and out of my face, and I grabbed my phone from my nightstand and shoved it into my back pocket before heading to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

While doing that, I get a notification on my phone, which causes me to roll my eyes and wonder what app would be sending me messages this early in the morning. When I spit out the last of the toothpaste, I set my toothbrush back into the cup that was designated for it, then I reached into my pocket to snatch my phone, and as I exited the bathroom to the living room, I checked my messages and discovered my photo app said that I had new memories.

When I opened my phone up to check my photos, yet another random picture of myself was the newest addition to my collection, and this time, I was staring at a blurry picture of my bedroom but what was different about this photo was the dark, looming mass standing near the edge of my bed, as if it were studying me.

“Dude, Selena, are you okay? Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“Uh, well … I’ve got another creepy photo on my phone. Though, this one is of me sleeping with something kind of standing over me,”

I say to my best friend, both confusion and fear rolling deep in my gut, and I flip my phone around to display my screen to my best friend, and her eyebrows furrow for just a moment before her eyes widen when she notices the dark mass hovering over me.

“Selena, I don’t want to alarm you, but that is not normal. What is that thing?”

“I don’t know, Bev, but I’m starting to freak out now and I’m wondering if I am haunted.”

My voice wavers a bit as I speak and I shut my phone down to slide it back into my pants pocket, more scared than I was last night. This was the second time I’ve had an unexplainable picture show up on my phone and this time something else was with me, and I am starting to believe that some spirit may be following me.

“You need to find out why this is happening, Selema, because what if it’s evil?”

“I know, I know. I’m just not sure what I am supposed to do, Bev. So, right now, I’m going to work, and I will deal with this later.”

Once that was said, I made sure I had my keys and my wallet, and I headed out of our shared apartment to get to work on time. As I headed to my car, I stayed alert, my paranoia getting the best of me, and every little noise that I heard would startle me.

“Get it together, Selena! Nothing is going to happen to you!”

I muttered to myself while clicking the unlock button on my car keys, my vehicle chirping and unlocking, then I swiftly made my way to the driver’s side popped the door open and jumped right inside.

I swiftly locked the vehicle back up, setting my stuff down in the passenger’s seat, and that is when I chose to start the engine of my car, but that was my first mistake. As the engine purred to life, I extended my arm out to turn up the heat since it was still quite cold out, but as I did, a strange scent wafted through the vents in my car, and I was confused due to the fact I hadn’t put a new air freshener in yet.

“What the—”

I mumbled, but before I could think about what was going on, my vision blurred suddenly, and I swayed a little as my head fell back and as my consciousness faded in and out, I noticed a tall, dark figure approaching my car, though I did not see anything else because I slipped into a dreamless sleep in that very moment.

**

“Wake up, Selena. Selena, open those beautiful eyes.”

A deep, soft voice spoke, my hazy mind thinking that I was dreaming, but then I remembered what had happened to me in my car, and my eyes flew open, and I scrambled up to search my surroundings.

“Ah, you’re finally awake. I thought I might have given you too much and killed you.”

The voice chortled, bringing my attention to the towering figure in front of me, and I squeaked in fear, eyes wide as saucers as I gazed up at the intimidating me. Well, at least I think it was a man.

“Who … Who are you?”

“Don’t be scared, Little One. I am here to protect you. If I did not come when I had, you would not have made it to work,”

“What?”

“I saved you from death, Selena. You are meant to do remarkable things, but someone has made it their mission to end you before doing so. Which means that I had to step in to warn you.”

The man replied gently, shifting to sit on the bed I had been lying on, and now that he was closer, I could see him a little better, though I was sure he wasn’t completely solid.

“What do you mean, Sir?”

“I am here to warn you that something is trying to stop your success and tell you to not trust anyone, Selena.”

“Then why should I trust you?”

“Because that first picture of you that you do not remember taking is a sign. It technically has not been taken yet.”

My brow furrows in befuddlement as I think about what he says, then the realization hits me, and I remember the weird photo of myself I discovered on my phone last night which prompts me to scramble around to find the device. Once I do, I open my camera roll, discovering both photos are missing and I snap my gaze up to the man asking,

“Where are those pictures? Why are you doing this!”

“Be calm, Selena. I want you to remember that your life is in danger and within a few hours you will cease to exist unless you stay home from work. I implore you to hold onto that information or all will be lost.”

All of this information hits me at once, confusing me more as the man begins to fade, but then my camera flashes oddly, my expression devoid of emotions due to attempting to process what I was given, and suddenly everything dims to black.

**

My alarm goes off right in my ear, causing me to startle awake, and I shuffle around in search of my phone, then I peek my eyes open after finding it, and I silence my phone to get rid of the awful noise it was producing. At first, I am in a state of bewilderment, recalling the strange dream that I had, and I shimmy out of my bed to get ready for the day.

I dressed myself, brushed my teeth, ate breakfast, and headed off to work. My day went by smoothly, my boss told us all to make sure our paperwork was done, and files were sent to the proper archives, and even though I was not supposed to be on my phone, I did text Beverly that I was going to make steak and potatoes for dinner.

As my day finished, I made sure my desk was neat and I gathered my things to leave for the day, and I headed out of the office to make my way back to my apartment. While driving home, I got a new notification from my photos app that I had new memories, and I ignored it in favor of getting home safely.

Once I was at home, I made my way inside, grabbing my keys to unlock the apartment door, and when I finally entered our house, my best friend greeted me.

“Ah, you’re home! You can finally make dinner, I am starving, Selena!”

Beverly complained as I set my things down, and I chuckled while rolling my sleeves up to keep them out of the way as I cooked. I pulled out all of the ingredients and the pans that I needed, making sure I was prepared, and I began making our dinner.

“Food will be done soon, Beverly. Could you please set the table?”

“Of course, I can!”

With that, Bev pulled out the dishes that we would need, and I cleaned up my mess, allowing the food to simmer for a little bit as I tidied up, and then I made sure to bring the steak and potatoes to the table in order for us to dish out our portions.

When the two of us sat down, divvying up the food to have a healthy helping of both potatoes and steak, I remembered my phone having a few notifications, and I decided to check to see if anything was important. I went through, swiping anything unimportant away, and when I got to the photo app, I was curious as to what the new memories were and I decided to humor myself, thinking it was just a mistake.

But when I opened the app, the picture I was looking at shocked me and memories came flooding back to me as I stared into my own eyes, the interaction with the shadowy man now in the forefront of my mind and I realized it was not a dream after all.

“Woah, what’s up with your face in that picture?”

Beverly’s voice piped out, snapping me back to reality, and that is when I concluded that the shadow man was right … He was there to warn me, and that I had a day to figure out how to save myself.