Subject Zero: CONFIDENTIAL (Short Stories)

Till Death Do Us Part (2)

November 19, 1950
Royal Manor
Mirror World

Third Person's POV
For the last three weeks, Joplin hasn't come across the woman in the mirror (not that he was looking for her). He has been out of the manor, searching for those who are suited for the roles in the hierarchy. So far, no luck.

But little did he know, whenever he's away, the woman is by her mirror anticipating his arrival. She was very curious about what was on the other side. She'd knock on the glass, but received no responses.

Until today.

The woman sat down by her mirror, hoping to see the man out of curiosity. She seemed down that she had not seen him in a few weeks, so she wasn't expecting to see him today. She still waited just in case.

Joplin then walked into his room, and the first thing he saw was the woman on the other side of his mirror. He stood frozen for a moment, and was about to quietly leave, but the woman saw him and her face lit up.

As he backed away, he heard her kind voice say, "Wait-! Wait! Don't leave! I don't bite...!"

He stood for a moment, contemplating on whether he should stay or leave.

     "I'm sorry if I frightened you when we last saw each other..." The woman sighed. "I've never seen anyone on the other side of my mirror before, so it frightened me, as well... But when I didn't see you for a while, I thought I might've been seeing things. But you're real." She softly smiled.

Joplin had no idea what to do. He was caught off guard, but she's only said a few words to him and they are already the kindest things anyone has said to him.

The woman sat up straight in front of the mirror. With a kind expression on her face, she introduces herself, "My name is Aisling Baphomet! What's your name?"

Joplin was sort of taken aback by the name.

     Aisling means "dream" or "vision," but... Baphomet is a deity allegedly worshipped by the Knights Templar that subsequently became incorporated into various occult and Western esoteric traditions... How odd.

His shoulders relaxed and he hesitantly stepped forward, approaching the mirror. Aisling's face lit up a bit more when she saw him.

Feeling perplexed, Joplin responded. "...Joplin Ziusudra."

Aisling's brows rose a bit and she softly smiled. "That's a nice name! I know Joplin means the afflicted, unfortunately... But what does Ziusudra mean?"

Staring dead at the mirror, Joplin awkwardly replied, "...Life of long days."

     "Whoa. We both have quite peculiar names." She gave a sincere look. "It's lovely to meet you, Joplin." But the longer she looked at him, the more she became hesitant about what she was about to ask... "If you don't mind me asking... What are you...?" When she thought he might be getting the wrong idea, a panicked expression shifted onto her face. "I'm not trying to make it sound like I'm judging your appearance! But I... don't think you're human? You're in my mirror, you have grey skin, there are spider legs growing from your back, and you have buttons for eyes..."

Joplin bluntly replied, "I'm not human." He stood with a blank expression. "I'm..." He tried to think. "I... I don't know what I am. I was only brought into existence 23 days ago."

Aisling was a bit confused by his response, but she realized she had no right to judge. The man has button eyes, grey skin, spider legs growing from his back, and he's on the other side of her mirror, after all. But she was still curious and saw no wrongs in simply asking him a few questions. "If I may ask, where are you? How are you in my mirror? What does it look like there?" Her smile grew. "I bet it looks cool. Is everything just a reflection where you are? Or some kind of place where nowhere is everywhere?"