Gimmick!

Chapter 3: Reflected

1

It was impossible, how? She asked herself. She ran out, no matter where she went, she wanted to be anywhere, away from it.

She finally arrived, somewhere she thought she could be safe. Away from it, away from it all. Running made her exhausted, trying to catch her breath, as droplets of sweat fell from her forehead.

The room was darkened, and felt cooler from being outside. Switching on the lights, it was clean, plain, without anything out of the ordinary. Luckily for her, nothing was out of place. She sat down on her soft futon. Taking in the cooling air from her conditioner, sitting above her, mounted in the window. She would look out to see a nest that housed a pigeon. It would annoy her with all the cooing, but she found eggs sitting inside.

She got up, after she felt her nerves settle. Heading into her guest restroom, to wipe off the sweat from her oily face.

A soft green hand towel, soaked with cool water running through from the faucet. She wrung it out to a damp sensation for her delight. Turning off the faucet, and patted it down on her face. She looked up at the bathroom mirror, and there she saw her reflection. But, she remembered something. In it, she could see her face, but it was turning. Turning into something other than human.

Her strong cerulean hair growing, spiraling, choking her. Popping off her two movie reel hair ties. Her eyes growing darker, her eyebrows arching forward. Giving a smirk of something sinister and evil. She could see it reach forward for her face. She screamed and threw whatever she could grab at the mirror. It shattered, as a ceramic toothbrush holder broke on impact. It disappeared from her.

She screamed. It never stopped haunting her.

"Why?!" Juniper screamed.

In a fit of rage, she ran out to every room. She grabbed every hand mirror, including her phone, and she would throw it down with excessive force. It would break, marking the floor with it's plastic and metallic handle. Continuing on with the master bedroom bathroom mirror. Gripping a large, heavy object, and threw it across. The glass fractured, but not entirely removed. She got up to it, and ran her hands threw until it peeled off the wall. The glass ripping her skin, causing it bleed with the sharpened edges tearing through. She screamed, but nothing felt more satisfying than see it fall into the empty floors.

She obliterated the living room TV, making it dropped to the floor, causing it to crash down. The impact caused a little shake, which made the conditioner in the living room tilt. It made the nest scoot toward the edge. She had another one, in her room, and chucked it across the hallway. It was small and inexpensive, so it was not a loss for her. There was one in another room, and it was much more heavier. She carried it, but it was too much weight, and dropped it toward the wall. It broken the screen as intended. The nest tilted toward the edge and dropped two of the eggs. And only one remained.

The last one, her large closet mirror. She had a hammer in her hands. It dripped with her blood, running down the handle to where it could just slip off, but no matter where it landed, she wanted it gone. She threw it, it burst like a heated glass thrown into a cold pool of water. She laughed at the scene of her face not reflected back at her. The glass falling, her hands twitching.

She knelt down on the floor, arched over to tear up, but she could see her reflection on the polished floors. She kept seeing herself. It made her crazy, that she could never get rid of it.

"Leave me ALONE!" Juniper screamed, as she bashed her arms into the floor, until her glasses fell from her face. The last thing she remembered, the glass that could make her see. She picked it up, and punched it down into the floor.

She continued, until she was grabbed by someone.

"Juniper, stop!" Someone said. His voice was heavy, saddened, and old. Her uncle was trying to get her to stop, but she couldn't. He quickly called for help on his mobile phone, and she could see the blank black mirror in his hands. She yanked it from his hands, and bashing it to the floor. "Enough!" As he slapped her across the face, she stopped.

Juniper began to cry, as she touched her burning cheek, unsure of what to do with herself. She couldn't stop seeing herself. He went down to comfort her, but his large bottle capped glasses, made her want to get rid of it.

2

Trixie woke up, she felt so uncomfortable being on the floor. She looked out, and saw it was sunshine outside. She yawned, and rubbed her aching neck.

Picking herself up from the floor, and saw a small hand mirror in her right hand. Trixie barely remembered what happened the night before. All she remembered was the lukewarm taste of her microwaved food. She couldn't stomach it, and threw it out in her toilet. She kept looking into the mirror, and saw her own reflection. The hefty mirror was not so appealing to her anymore.

She took a drink from the bathroom sink, and looked up to the large empty glass of her bathroom mirror.

"Wait a minute..." Trixie examined. She was reminded of her... herself, that is. She brought her hand to the mirror, and was astonished.

Trixie ran out of the bathroom to look around, to see if she was anywhere. There was no one, but an empty apartment. She was slightly relieved given it was too unreal, having someone coming out of the mirror. She looked into again, and it finally hit her of how creepy it was. So, she placed it in her wardrobe, placed in between her soft cotton shirts. It was still a stylish hand mirror, so it could be worth something.

She sat down, feeling the cushions sink into her. She wondered if she was going to continue searching for a thing that would give her powers, but she felt too exhausted to move. Nothing made her motivated to see it through. She had no one to talk to, and felt the loneliness sink in quicker than the cushions.

"What am I going to do?" Trixie said to herself. "I never felt this bored or dreaded since..." She turned toward her phone on the couch. She looked up her contacts, nothing new, besides the last conversation between her and her band mates.

She would have been okay with only making music for a living, but even the Rainbooms monopolized that. Everything about them took over everything, and it only left for her magic career to be the only thing going for her, but everybody only wants to see the magic they had.

Lavender Lace and Fuchsia Blush, Trixie thought. They've only wanted to continue, but nothing felt right for her. In the end, she gave it up.

"C'mon!" Trixie said to herself. "You've got this! You have to keep going!"

Trixie was reluctant to look at any mirror, as she saw her own reflection in the phone. Whatever that was, she couldn't grasp the idea of how?

3

Later on that day, she remained inside her home, contemplating about the girl in the mirror. It was just her reflection, but her color was different. Why? She asked herself.

She entered her room, slowly opening the door, and opened her dresser. The beautiful mirror, she could sell it, but what of the person on the other side?

It made her stomach churn like last night, however it was the food she ate. Trixie was still okay, but she reminded herself in making sure to read the directions on the side of the box before cooking her microwavable entrees. But, she still was a little curious of her.

Trixie sighed.

"Mirror, mirror..." Trixie said, it shook in her hand, and the mirror opened to her face again.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hi..." Trixie said.

"Sorry about, last night..." She said.

"It scared me, but I didn't think anything was going to happen." Trixie admitted.

"Yeah, I had no idea I was about cross over." She continued. "So bizarre."

"Haha. Yeah..." Trixie chuckled. "So... your name is also Trixie?"

"Yeah, and your name is Trixie too, right?" She spoke.

"Yep, the great and powerful Trixie!" Trixie announced, as she held her head up high.

"Maybe we are just a parallel world, the same powerful Trixie, but different place?" She said.

"Yep, and that's great and powerful Trixie!" Trixie corrected.

"Right! Great and powerful Trixie!" She concluded with a smile.

"You know, maybe we should just start with... common questions?" Trixie hesitated, shrugged.

"Sure. But, I don't think anything is really different." She replied.

"Really? Not even having friends, being popular, having magic, or even being the greatest magician of all time?!" Trixie examined.

"Nope, I'm not apparently..." She humbled. "I don't have much of anything... I'm just..."

"Alone..." Trixie interrupted.

"Yeah..." She continued, stroking the back of head. "I actually was surprised to see you, I had no idea what to expect, you know?"

"Yeah." Trixie said. "So, I'm not so sure on doing that again, at least until we get to know each other."

"What do you mean? I'm not so sure if there is anything different between us. After all, we are just reflections of each other, right?" She examined.

"I suppose you're right... should we give it another shot then?" Trixie asked.

"Sure?" She said, her voice raised from the idea. "It wouldn't hurt to try?"

"Alright then." Trixie said, as she turned toward the door.

4

Trixie walked into her bathroom mirror, and pointed out the mirror, facing each other until she saw the reflection multiplied.

"Mirror, mirror..." Trixie said, as they both felt a connection. Once again, she saw herself on the other side of the bathroom. She had the same colors as before, black hair with streaks of orange, light orange skin, and her eyes were bright yellow. She looked completely identical, except for the fact that her bangs faced the other direction.

"Hi?" She said. She was nervous, pigeon-toed, and her hands behind her back.

"Hi?" Trixie said. She too, did the same thing. "So?"

"So?" She said.

She nervously chuckled.

"I understand if we are the same person, but your colors..." Trixie said.

"It doesn't bother you, right?" She asked.

"Not at all! But, what if we gave you another name?" Trixie asked. "Just so we don't confuse each other?"

"Really? I will be okay with that!" She jumped.

"Let's see..." Trixie examined her. She was reminded of something, odd of how it was even brought up, given it was the start of summer. "Let's give you the name... Pumpkin?"

"Pumpkin?" She said. "I like that!" Pumpkin smiled, and was blushing.

"Yes? Wonderful!" Trixie chuckled. "Are you naturally that color?"

"No. I'm normally the same color as you, but I guess... opposites?" Pumpkin questioned. "Funny... I guess..." She chuckled.

"I guess we'll figure that out later." Trixie said. "So, what should we do?"

"I don't know. I'm a little curious of everything right now!" Pumpkin admitted.

"You know what... I feel the same way!" Trixie delighted.

5

She arrived home, before it all started. Being humiliated, being thrown down. Why me? She asked herself.

She walked through her front door, and saw many beautiful, diverse plants laying around. She smell was graceful, breathing life everywhere. Alone with her small shack, filled with herbs. It was all she had, it was home.

She plotted down on her small bed, beside a small cactus sitting above on a shelf above her. If it were to fall it would prick her face, but none of that would ever happen. She thought.

She curled up inside the blankets, she began to cry. Her leafy green hair, tickled her face, being buried in it. She was the most rudest person she'd ever come to know. She thought. Why me?

She got up, she looked to the side of her. It was large aloe plant. The first time she got it, it was no smaller than a muffin. She loved it, as it was a gift from the Rainbooms. Being the first present ever brought to her. Even if it was out of pity, it was special. Watered and fed it daily, until it grew up to almost touch the floor.

Plants, she felt, were the only things in life that felt real to her. Seeing them grow, getting much more healthier and blossoming into a beautiful plant. Growing until it decays all on it's own. If only she could be like them, having being loved and cared for, then blooming into a beautiful woman. A rare flower. But, it's not what she was, or ever will be. Just a common blade of grass on the dirt, being walked over many times, and being polluted on. Only to come back to start the cycle over again.

"Such beauty." Wallflower said, as she stroke a blade of the aloe plant.

6

Wallflower got up, and went to see what was on the news. She sat comfortably on a small couch, having a flavored tea from one of her plants.

It appears they covered some odd event happening over at Camp Everfree. They mentioned it had more than doubled in size, and was asking for participants to help with boundary control.

"Interesting..." Wallflower said.

The camera peered into the Everfree forest, and in a split second she saw a strange sparkling light diving into it. She quickly rewind it, to see if it was real. She paused, and it did look all too familiar.

"No way!" Wallflower shouted. As she was astonished of the video capturing a stream of light into the forest. "I... I have to go there!"

Wallflower stood up, she thought of how to get there? There has to be a way. Wallflower thought.

She remembered earlier that day, she saw Micro Chips, Bulk Biceps, and Ditzy-Doo out on the school campus. They might be interested in going, given they were trying to scope out magic as well. Maybe there was a connection? She thought. She was so ecstatic that she couldn't pass up the time to find out.

She headed out, looking for them.