Three months later, Kirstie was alive and kicking.

She could speak now, but her voice was raspy and hard to understand.

We were there when they allowed her to speak.

These were her first words since the accident...

"Avi how could you be so stupid?!"

Avi was a bit offended, but he admitted he was being a bit of a numbskull.

"A bit?!" Kirstie exclaimed. "You could've gotten both of us killed!"

Avi nods, looking down at his feet as he scuffed them against the tile floor. "Yeah, I know..." He mumbled.

Kirstie rolls her eyes. "Now I wish I did kill you." She laments.

"Heeeyyyyy!" Avi whines.

Kirstie rolls her eyes again.

In the few days that she's started talking again, she hasn't spoken a word to me. She's barely glanced my way.

I wish she would talk to me. I don't care if it's an angry uncouth rant or just a simple greeting.

Why is she pushing me away? Did she betray me because she thinks I'm the enemy? Does se still think I'm the enemy?

I sighed as we left her hospital room, not a syllable uttered between us once again.

~

Two more months go by and Kirstie still hasn't talked to me.

Whenever we visit her, she acts like I don't even exist.

What have I done to her?

I looked back on our brief time together in this life.

Well, I did cuss her out after she betrayed me but hey, I had a right to be angry.

I wish I knew more about our friendship in that other life. Maybe I did something there that she still remembers and I don't.

I died there. Was she mad at me for dying?

How did she even know I was out here on earth? Did that 1 guy tell her?

What was that 1 guy's name? Travis said it. Well, mouthed it.

I closed my eyes and tried to recall his lips as they moved.

"You all right, Mitch?" Scott asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Y-yeah, of course." I lied. "Just thinking, that's all."

Scott shrugs. "All right. Let us know if something's wrong okay?"

I smiled. "Where else would I go?"

Scott smiles back.

We return to Casa de la Homosexual.

"Y'all hungry?" I asked as I walked over to the kitchen.

"Starved." Avi replies.

"Well, Avriel, I shall fix that. I'll make us a nice, home cooked meal made by yours truly." I chimed as I got out some pots and pans. "Gluten-free, of course. 'Cause I am gluten-free."

Avi rolls his eyes, but nods. "Sounds good."

I grinned and tapped into my inner Italian and made spaghetti.

I sat across from Avi and watched him take the first bite.

He chews for a moment, then his eyebrows shot up. He nods. "This is good stuff."

I grinned.

Then I felt my phone buzz.

I pulled it out of my pocket and saw I had gotten a text... from Kirstie.

Kirstie: Come back to my hospital room. I need to talk to you.

Me: On my way

I stood, putting my phone back in my pocket. "There's more spaghetti in the pot on the stove if you want more." I told everyone as I got my keys.

"Where are you going?" Scott asks.

"Out." I replied simply. Then I lied. "Kirstie says I left something in her hospital room."

"All right." My friends say simultaneously.

I told them good-bye and went out the door.

~

"About time you got here," Kirstie says as I entered. She was in her hospital bed, eating chicken noodle soup.

She looks at me expectantly, blowing on her steaming spoonful of the salty broth.

"Well you have to take Los Angeles traffic into account." I replied, sitting by her. "This is the first time you've spoken to me since that night when you betrayed me as I sat in this very hospital bed. Why do you choose know to accept the fact that I, indeed, exist?"

Kirstie puts the spoon in her mouth, slurping, then sighs. "Because the others wouldn't understand, would they?"

I sat up straighter. I licked my lips and shook my head.

"Avi might, but he spent approximately 7 minutes behind the glass." She continues. "You and I, we've spent a whole lifetime there, though you don't really remember."

"Yeah. So?" I replied with a shrug.

"Do you remember what our main purpose was back there?" Kirstie asks, putting her bowl of soup on her bedside table.

I looked back on my memories of my creation. What did 1 say?

You have been charged with an incredible honor. You will cleanse the world of its sins, sanctify the world...

"Something about cleansing the world of its sins." I replied.

"Good!" Kirstie says with a clap of her hands. I felt like a kindergardener and Kirstie was my teacher after I learned something that was apparent in the first place. "Now," She continues, folding her hands in her lap. "Do you remember how we do it?"

I shook my head no.

Kirstie smiles. "We have things called Pools. We dive into them until we find our assignment's mirror." She mimicked diving into a pool and swimming. She leans in closer to me. "Then we wait for the perfect moment..."

I felt my heart hammer in my chest, my blood running cold.

Kirstie grabs the front of my sweater and yanks me forward. "Then we drown them," She whispers in my ear. She releases me with a shove. "Then we throw them back. Like when you go fishing. Except the fishies get to swim around and hang out with their little buddies until they get caught and thrown back out again."

I swallowed hard.

Kirstie's lips curl into an eerie smile. "Those humans end up dead. Like Alexander Kirk."

I clenched my fist.

"And you killed people, Mitch." Kirstie cackled. "Oh, so many people. You used to scratch a tally mark into your wall whenever you killed another person."

I felt like a pot. A flame making me boil.

"I believe you were at 57." Kirstie adds.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed as I pulled on my hair.

"You never got to 58." Kirstie says. "You just couldn't kill him. That man was your downfall. You remember who don't you?"

"Please," I begged, my voice quiet and cracking.

"Scott Hoying."

My hands dropped as my head shot up. "W-what?" I squeaked.

"Number 58 was your own best friend. You had his throat in your grasp at one point. You were going to kill him."

My eyes were wide as saucers. I was panting.

I would never hurt Scott, let alone kill him.

But I tried to.

In that other world, I tried, and almost succeeded.

"But how, Kirstie?" I choked out. "How old was Scott? When I tried..."

"To kill him?" Kirstie finishes.

I nodded.

"He was 23."

I stood, shaking my head. "That's not possible... We've... We've been best friends when we were 10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I was Mike Tevee. He was Charlie. How could I have been trying to kill him when he was 23? How could I have been in a whole other world?"

Kirstie started absent-mindedly twirling her short, blonde hair. "So few memories... Must be awful."

"Shut up," I pleaded. "Please. Just. Shut. Up."

Kirstie pouts. "Well, that wasn't very nice, now, was it?" She chuckles. "Someone's getting coal in their stocking this Christmas..." She sang.

"You're one to talk," I scoffed, my fists still clenched.

Kirstie grins and laughs.

"What's so funny?" I asked, ice laced in my voice.

"I've got you in a stalemate, 24." She chuckles.

"How so?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"You see, if a Reflection enters a Pool that doesn't belong to them, the water will eat at their flesh." Kirstie explains.

I rolled my eyes. "Where are you going with this, Kirstie?"

"Every Reflection has a unique kind of magic pumping through their veins. The same magic rides on the currents of their Pool. If the Reflection comes in contact with a foreign object without an ounce of magic, it leaps like a louse to infect the victim, granting them access to the Pool."

I closed my eyes as I understood what Kirstie was saying.

"If you want to keep your friends alive, you'll need me to enter into the other world and nip everything in the bud.

"If you don't, your friends will eventually find the water from my Pool in their lungs, looking into my face as they lose their sight and fall into death's embrace.

"It's your choice, Mitch. Entirely yours."

"How do I know you won't betray me again?" I inquired.

Kirstie smirks at me. "Well, you're just gonna have to trust me."