Carolyn Penrose spent a morose Christmas morning at her mother’s house.
She could not bare to spend the day at her own profoundly empty home. Her own house had become strange and unfamiliar to her. Carolyn longed to again embrace her husband and precious child. It would be the first Christmas in many years they had not been together as a family. Despite all his constant business trips, Charles usually managed to find some way to get back for the holiday. Annie had been busy in the kitchen preparing a meager holiday dinner. She hadn’t thought it wise to purchase an entire turkey just for herself; and still had hoped an invitation to her daughter’s home was forthcoming. The phone rang. Carolyn automatically picked it up, before realizing that she was still in a quixotic half-real state. “Hello?” The incredulous voice on the other end of the phone was that of Detective Gardner.
“Hello? I…I was looking for Annie Koestler…is this Mrs. Penrose? Who is this?” Carolyn instantly realized her transgression and hung up the phone abruptly. Her mother came running in from the kitchen. “Carolyn, I told you that you mustn’t 189
communicate with anyone while you’re in this state! Who was it?” Carolyn looked up sheepishly. “It was the detective…I think he recognized my voice.” The phone rang again. Carolyn suggested that her mother answer it. “Hello? Yes? Detective Gardner, how are you? I’m fine? What’s that? No…that wasn’t Carolyn, she’s still in the hospital, as you know. That was a friend of mine here for dinner. Really?
How strange! No, I don’t know what happened to Charles. Thank you no, I have dinner all ready here. I’ll be sure to call you…yes, Merry Christmas to you also.” Annie put down the receiver and looked gravely at her daughter. “We’ve got problems. Detective Gardner is beginning to suspect that something is not right...and not just about Hillary. He told me that some security guard saw you at the mall, when you were also supposed to be in a coma. We’ve got to get you back to your body. This has become too dangerous. Charles was expected for dinner at the Gardner’s. Now the detective is going to be looking for him also.” Carolyn was miffed. “Yes…but can’t he help us get Hillary and Charles back?” Annie shook her head. “No…you don’t understand what’s at stake. The more people that become involved in this supra-real world, the more realistic it becomes…the more powerful the Nibiru creatures grow…I know it’s hard for you to understand…you’re just going to have to trust me.” Carolyn stood up and began pacing anxiously. “So what do we do now?”
“We need to get you back in your body. We can’t take the chance of 190
traveling out in the open anymore. As long as there was a mirror in your hospital bedroom, we can travel using that.” Carolyn was confused. “So you mean I just step into the mirror, and crawl out the other side?” Her mother nodded. “In your present state, you can do that. So can I…but I’m not sure I should risk it.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s Samantha…she could be a real problem. She’s able to travel freely between the two worlds now. I don’t think we really have any choice though. The detective is not stupid, he might be on his way over here right now. Come on, we have to get started right away.” The two women raced quickly up the stairs into Annie’s bedroom and shut the door.
Charles and Digby walked along the monotonously uniform white hallway.
“Digby, where exactly are we going? You never did say.” Digby tried to explain.
“We need to try and return you to your own world. You don’t belong here. Left alone, this place would prove too confusing for you. The rules here are very different.” Charles nodded. “I’ll agree with you there. I must admit, part of me still believes this is all a dream.” Digby laughed a little bit. “Part of you would be right!
We need to find a certain door here. Search for a painting of your face. Keep 191
looking.” The two spent several minutes in silence as they examined the passing doors. Finally one particular door caught his the father’s attention. “Hey Digby, is this the right one?” The diminutive fellow was pleased by the man’s sharp observational skills. “Excellent. You found it. Now this door is meant for you only.
Each person that really exists has their own unique door created especially for them. You must go in.” Charles knelt down to talk to the wise boy. “You mean you can’t help me? What am I supposed to do? What if there’s another room full of snakes and spiders?” Digby attempted to ease his mind. “Listen. It won’t be snakes, I can tell you that. You’ve already passed that test. Things are always changing in this supra-real world. That why it’s so much fun, and so dangerous. You’ll know what to do. In there, you will face your darkest fear, if you can conquer it, you’ll be able to return.” Charles wondered about Hillary. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do for her here?” Digby was adamant. “Absolutely not. You were tricked into being here by Samantha. That means she wants you here. I think you can do more by going back to your world. Now go! Don’t forget your little tribesman. He may come in handy.” Charles reached down into his pocket to make sure the object was still there. He was hardly enthusiastic about the choice he was about to make. Part of him felt a powerful sense of guilt for not being able to directly help Hillary. He persevered and opened the heavy black door. After gingerly stepping into the room, the door immediately shut behind him and disappeared. He was standing in the 192
middle of a busy city street. It could have been any run-down urban neighborhood.
He looked down at himself in amazement. He was dressed in the most worn shabby clothes he could have possibly imagined. He had often gazed down at the sorrowful eyes of the downtrodden who regularly begged him for money. He was not one to reward lassitude and thus made a point of avoiding eye contact with the unfortunate souls. He considered himself to be a self made-man, and wondered at the foolishness of those men that seemingly possessed no self-respect or dignity. As Charles wandered aimlessly by a department store window, he realized that he had somehow become the very sort of man he so despised. He was transformed into a miserable vagrant, and a not very clean one at that. He fervently hoped that this was all just some strange nightmare. He could not bare the thought of being a meaningless shadow-person.
Samantha stepped off the elevator from her own Nibiru world. The crimson riders had instructed her to destroy the portal, but she had her own agenda to follow. She walked into the dark, cold basement of the mall. The bluish fluorescent lights flickered on and off. She immediately noticed the strangely dressed mannequin that stood along the wall. Somehow she recognized the face of the figure, but could not recall from exactly where. Samantha looked around for a 193
box, so that she might further examine the mannequin. Finding one, she stood upon it and stared into the sorrowful painted eyes. She touched its face and it suddenly came alive. Samantha looked with interest at Mr. Boggs, who had now returned to his original living form. He exclaimed loudly, “What happened? I was down here, because…because I don’t really know…then I remember seeing Mrs.
Penrose…then…wait, you’re that missing girl everyone has been looking for-Hillary!” Samantha had grown so powerful that she was now able to endow life, with no ill effects to herself. The composed young girl was momentarily at a loss for words. She decided to use his misidentification to her own advantage.
“Yes…yes, of course it’s me! I forget who you are though.” Ronald Boggs took no offence as he was well accustomed to being forgotten. “You remember…I was standing with your mother when you ran away. She and your father must be worried sick. Do they know you’re here?” Samantha thought quickly in her head and devised a plan. “Of course they do…I’m just on my way home to see them. Do you think you could give me a drive?” The assistant manager graciously agreed to her request. “Yes…look at the time! I must have been standing here for hours!” The precocious girl warmly grabbed hold of the man’s hand and led him up the stairs; and through the door and into the mall. Mr. Boggs was pleased to back amongst his familiar material surroundings. The bright twinkling multi-coloured lights, and cheery tunes of Christmas were present throughout the store. They 194
continued making their way through the aisles until a man in a security guard uniform came running up quickly towards them. It was the same young man who had accosted Carolyn earlier. “Hey! You two! Stop! You shouldn’t be in here!” The sentry confronted them and then smiled. “Oh…Mr. Boggs! It’s you…what are you doing here?” As he spoke, he looked down at the little girl. Ronald nodded his head in recognition. “Yes…it’s her! I found her…this is the missing girl- Hillary Penrose. I’m just going to take her home now.” The younger man had a confused look etched on his pimply face. “That’s great Mr. Boggs…but don’t you think you should call the police first? I mean they should know about this.” Samantha gazed up at the boy with her dazzling blue eyes. “Don’t worry. Mr. Boggs is going to call the police as soon as we get home. We have to go now. Merry Christmas!” With that, she pulled down hard on the middle-aged man’s hand. The security guard stood silently as if mesmerized by the girl’s dulcet voice. They walked quickly out the back exit of the mall, and around to Ronald’s car. They got inside and drove off quickly. The young security guard meanwhile felt a dark uneasiness that defied his understanding. He felt severely disoriented, as if someone had altered his prescription. Jeremy had been taking anti-psychotic drugs ever since the unfortunate incident last year. He sat down on the polished floor and stared up at the white tiled ceiling high above. His vision grew blurred. A cascading kaleidoscope of vibrant colours overwhelmed his senses. Every object 195
within the store was now bathed in a swirling rainbow of glowing pastel hues. He giddily cast his eyes around the now richly hued environment. A flotilla of riotously brilliant coloured butterflies came sailing past his eyes. Jeremy was suddenly overcome with an enveloping fatigue and quickly fell asleep.
Hillary stood before the towering yellow door holding tightly onto Rupert’s trembling hand. Neither of them had any clue as to what lay beyond. Hillary reached out and slowly turned the doorknob. Before them lay perfect blackness.
Even the light from the room where they now stood refused to enter the pitch black.
Rupert was unapologetically frightened. “I don’t like this at all Hillary. I can maybe deal with things that I can actually see, but how can you fight something that’s invisible?” Hillary attempted to allay his fears. “You don’t know that there’s anything bad in there. For all we know, it could be nothing at all. Fear of nothing just means nothing to fear.” Rupert allowed her hopeful outlook to imbue him with a sense of confidence. “All right Hillary, I suppose we should get this over with.” Hillary stepped first into the dark abyss and immediately vanished. Rupert yelled for her and followed in her path. As Hillary stepped forward, she felt as if the floor had been lifted from beneath her. She began to tumble head over heels 196
through the empty void. She called out for Rupert but received no reply. Rupert experienced the very same sensation. Unaccustomed as he was to such chaos, he was especially ill-equipped to deal with it. He was overcome with an uncontrollable panic. Hillary found that after several minutes of turbulent and unrelenting free-falling, the peculiar weightless sensation became bearable. The expected fear of suddenly smashing to the ground could not be sustained indefinitely. Hillary began to make graceful swimming motions in the air, and pretended she was diving from an impossibly high cliff. In short, she managed to pass the time rather pleasurably. Rupert could not let himself relax, and so suffered terribly from the torturous unpredictable motion. He became so disoriented that he eventually lost all recollection of time and space. The two friends continued to separately tumble and fall for hours upon hours.
Wallace Gardner could not wait to get home and look at his odd new storybook. He had surreptitiously slipped up to his room while everyone downstairs was preparing for Christmas dinner. He unzipped his backpack and pulled out the amazing book. It was covered in purple and red velvet, with a gilded spine. Strangely, it looked different than he had remembered. He opened up the large curious book and turned to the first page. The story was about a girl named 197
Hillary who had become lost in a large shopping mall at Christmas. The elaborate colourful illustrations added to the grand and inviting nature of the book. Wallace sat in his bed with rapt interest. He immediately noticed the similarity in the book to significant events which had happened and were transpiring around him. At first he chalked up the odd familiarity to simple coincidence. When Wallace read about the detective in the story, who was his father, together with his picture on the facing page, he realized that something was amiss. He began to grow uneasy, and fought against himself to toss the book aside. He found that he was compelled to continue reading until the end. Wallace read at a furiously fast pace. In the background he could hear the sound of his father’s voice calling him down to dinner. He was so deeply immersed in the story that he could not possibly have answered back. He reached the final page and shrieked loudly…then disappeared in a bright flash of light. In the mirror of the boy’s room was the faint image of an amused and satisfied young blond girl.
Carolyn and her mother sat together on the floor in the bedroom. The huge mahogany mirror stood ominously before them. Carolyn looked her mother straight in the face. Her bright intelligent eyes were full of anxiety. “ I’m really afraid, mother. I know I’ve been through a lot lately, and there’s a great deal I certainly 198
can’t explain, but this still seems really weird. So…what is it we do…do you say some sort of spell or something?” Her mother touched her face warmly. “We’re not witches, dear. No, you just need to walk right through, that’s all. Of course, that’s only because you exist in a strange split state. You’re not really yourself, in other words. If you were in your body right now, you couldn’t just saunter through. Now there are a few things you need to keep in mind. You need to focus very strongly upon where it is that you’re going, otherwise you could end up anywhere- I mean anywhere there’s a mirror. Also, there is some danger. We still have to worry about Samantha. As long as she’s not waiting for you on the other side of the mirror, then you’ll be okay.” Carolyn was hardly calmed by her mother’s remarks. “And what exactly do I do if she is there- I mean this Samantha?” Annie merely shook her head wanly. “Well, let’s just hope that she isn’t. You had best get going.”
Mr. Boggs was happy to drive Hillary home, or at least the girl that he thought was Hillary. In fact it was Samantha who sat contentedly in the passenger side of his car. The precocious girl was able to access all of her twin’s memories and was thus easily able to answer any pertinent queries. They reached Mr. Bogg’s apartment building. Inside the door, they passed by the landlady, Mrs. Avignon.
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She cast a sly glance at the unusual pair. She inquired as to the identity of the young girl. “Hello Ronald. I didn’t know you had company for the holidays. Is this a niece of yours?” Samantha smiled brightly at the portly old woman. “Yes, this is my Uncle Ronald. I’m visiting for Christmas. We need to go now. Nice to meet you!” The girl tugged hard on Ronald’s coat before he had time to respond. He looked down with a confused expression. He was about to correct her, but somehow found that himself unable to do so. They bid the woman adieu and walked up the stairs. Mrs. Avignon stared hard at the girl as they walked away.
She was sure that she had seen the girl’s face before, but could not recall where she had first seen it. She walked away puzzling over the identity of the strange girl. Mr.
Boggs and his companion got off the elevator and entered his cramped one-bedroom unit. Samantha immediately made herself at home. Mr. Boggs made her some hot chocolate and opened a box of cookies. He was pleased to have some much needed company, and so did not call the police just yet. Samantha admonished him to relax. They sat together on the sofa looking at the meagre Christmas tree in the corner. Underneath sat a lone present. Mr. Boggs could hardly believe how happy he was to have the lively presence of a young person.
Mrs. Avignon returned to her own apartment and began flipping absently through the newspaper. Suddenly the image of Hillary’s face appeared near the 200
back of the paper. She read the story aloud to herself. “Young girl still missing, parents refuse to give up hope.” The tired, heavy woman picked up the phone and dialed the police. “Hello, I have information on the missing girl, Hillary. Dorothy Avignon. I live on 840 Sauniere drive. Yes, I just saw her with a man from my apartment building. Okay, I’ll wait right here. I’m in apartment 102.” She hung up and rushed to the bathroom to primp. She was not surprised to learn that Mr. Boggs was a kidnapper. She had never quite trusted the single, quiet bachelor. She sat down and flipped through the channels on TV and waited for the officers to arrive.
Charles Harrison could barely believe his eyes as he gazed at his reflection in the shopping display window. He was disheveled and terribly unkempt. His filthy clothes, such as they were, hung in tatters from his gaunt frame. He looked and felt as though he had not eaten in days. A light rain began to fall upon his uncovered head. The day seemed to coincide roughly with what he imagined it to be. He vaguely recalled a dinner date being planned with the Gardners on Christmas day. He had nearly lost all track of time, ever since he had awoken in that strange snake infested room. He gently accosted a busy, successful looking man holding an expensive briefcase. His inquiry as to the time was met with callous indifference. His stomach began to growl loudly. If he was in fact still 201
dreaming, he thought, the pangs of hunger were certainly very realistic. He felt down in his dirty pockets for change. There was nothing there but lint. He looked just up the street to a familiar restaurant with a large arching yellow sign. He had rarely ever eaten there, but he wondered if he might somehow finagle a free meal.
His entry into the establishment was met with cold, hard stares of anger and disdain. He sheepishly ambled up to the busy counter. The normaly friendly greeting was distinctly absent from the young cashiers cold face. Charles leaned in to speak to the teenager. She reeled back in horror at his foul stench. “Please, don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you-really. This is going to sound crazy, but this really isn’t me…I mean, it’s hard to explain. I don’t think this is really happening. I think you’re part of my dream.” The girl simply stared in disbelief at his baffling words. The manager in the back had noticed the odd exchange and came forward to confront the vagrant. “Sir, I’ll ask you politely to leave. It’s not our policy to offer free food. We have a policy also against loitering.” Charles was crushed by the humbling words. He tried once more to explain himself. “Listen, like I said, this is probably all just a dream, but I’m still starving. I swear that once I wake up, I’ll come right back to this store and pay for the food. I just need a hamburger, and maybe a cup of coffee to keep me warm.” The rotund, mustached manger smiled ingratiatingly. He noticed to his great relief that the two police officers who made the usual rounds had walked into the restaurant. He motioned to 202
them surreptitiously and made a twirling motion with his finger towards his temple.
The two burly cops immediately gleaned the meaning of the gesture. They grabbed Charles by each elbow and turned to drag him out. Charles began to struggle against the forced eviction. “What are you doing? Do you know who I am? You can’t treat me like this! I just wanted a hamburger! Wait until I speak with my lawyer!” The two constables smiled at each other and laughed uproariously.
“Whatever you say…Sir!” The sarcastic jab stung Charles deeply as they led him ignominiously from the establishment.
The last thing that Wallace recalled was reading a book, then suddenly finding himself tumbling in the darkness. He could not help but yell loudly out of sheer terror. He had absolutely no idea what was happening. Hillary herself had grown bored of the experience of free falling. She began to call out for Rupert, but received no response. Just then she heard the sound of a boy crying out for help.
She immediately imagined the voice to be that of her royal friend. Hillary called out in turn. “Hello! Is that you Rupert? I’m over here, don’t be afraid. Keep talking, I’ll try and find you!” Wallace was much relieved to hear another’s voice.
He recognized only that the voice was female. He continued to call out loudly for assistance. After several rounds of calling back and forth, Hillary eventually 203
was able to swim her way towards Wallace. She spotted him and at once realized that it was not Rupert. She came to within a few feet of the young boy and introduced herself. “Hello! I’m Hillary! Who are you?” Wallace smiled in appreciation of the girl’s undeniable, magnetic charm. He stammered out a response. “M…m…my name’s Wallace. I recognize you! You’re the little girl from the storybook, and the girl I saw walk out of the mirror!” Hillary shook her head in response. “Not quite. You’re right, I am the girl in the story, but the girl who walked through the mirror was probably my doppelganger, Samantha.” Wallace was completely confused. “But she looked exactly the same as you- just with a different colour dress.”
“That’s what a doppelganger is…it’s sort of like an evil twin. You mustn’t ever speak with her again. She’s very dangerous. Now we need to find my friend Rupert.” Wallace spoke as they both continued to tumble chaotically over and over. “I don’t understand what happened, though. How could I be reading a book, and then suddenly I’m in this place?” Hillary smiled and tried to calm his fears.
“It’s kind of hard to explain. The book you read was enchanted- a magic book. If you don’t know how to use it, and how to read it, it sort of eats you. I’ll tell you more later. Now help me find Rupert. Rupert! Where are you?” The two new companions held hands as they searched for the other member of their falling group.
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The Gardner family had sat down to a wonderful Christmas feast. The huge table was over-laden with turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, squash, green beans and several other festive staples. The wonderful aroma permeated the room.
Gabriel sat at the head of the table admiring and anticipating the tantalizing dishes before him. “Who’s going to say grace? Wait, where’s Wallace? Didn’t I call him down? It’s not like him to be late for dinner. Hold on, I’ll just go get him.” The rest of the family sat expectantly awaiting the commencement of dinner.
Gabriel bounded up the stairs calling his son’s name. “Wallace? What are you doing?” He walked into the boy’s bedroom and saw nothing save for a backpack and a book. He looked around the room in a puzzled fashion. He began to search the entire upstairs floor with an increasingly anxious attitude. He called out the name of his son loudly. His wife came up to join him and grabbed his arm. “What’s happened? Where is Wallace?” The clearly distraught man began to shake his head nervously. “I…I don’t know…he must be up here somewhere…I mean we both saw him go upstairs right?” His wife tried to calm him. “It’s okay, he can’t have vanished into thin air. He must be somewhere. Have you tried the closets and maybe…under the bed? What about the window?” Gabriel Gardner walked back into the boy’s bedroom. He flung open the closet and tossed all contents aside. He 205
lay down on the green carpeted floor and searched under the bed. There was no sign of his son. Still laying dejectedly on the floor, an image in the mirror caught his attention. It looked to him like Hillary Penrose. He quickly jumped up and searched for the source of the reflection. There was no sign of a girl, although he felt strangely as though someone uninvited was in the room with him. Angela joined him and hugged his hips. “I’m worried, Gabe…what’s going on?” The father was unable to offer any comforting words. His cell-phone rang. Flipping it open, he realized it was the precinct calling. “Hello? Yes. What? Where? I’m on my way! Don’t proceed before I get there.” His wife was understandably curious.
“Gabe? What’s going on? It’s not about Wallace is it, dear God!”
“No, it looks like they might have a lead on the Hillary Penrose case, it’s not Wallace…although…no, nothing…” Angela admonished him to elaborate.
“No…what is it?
“Well, I don’t know exactly how, but something tells me that when we find Hillary, we’ll find Wallace too. I’ve got to go, you explain everything to my Mom.
Try to calm her down, hopefully I’ll be back soon. Save me some white meat, and lots of gravy!” He kissed his wife quickly and left the house without a word. He drove furiously towards Sauniere drive as he prepared for the worst.
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Carolyn gazed at the enchanted mirror that returned only a shadowy reflection of herself. Annie stepped into view and stared at her own image. “It’s strange isn’t it…to look in the mirror and not fully see yourself. It’s happened to me also.” Her daughter looked searchingly at her. “So you’ve gone through this too? That makes me feel a little better, I suppose… I’m still not sure about this.” Annie clasped her shoulders warmly and kissed her cheek. “We need to do this. I don’t trust this Samantha. She needs to be stopped. Your body isn’t safe as long as she’s around. You better go, and remember to move quickly. You’re very vulnerable whilst traveling through the in-between state.” Carolyn looked confused. “What exactly is the in-between state?”
“It’s similar to that peculiar place in your mind right between dreaming and waking. I’ve studied the subject extensively. Psychiatrists describe it variously as the hypnogogic state, or more generally as a paralytic state. It’s like being neither here nor there, between a rock and a hard place, I guess you might say. Whatever you call it, it’s a dangerous state to be in…neither fish nor fowl. When you’re between being awake and asleep, between the real and the imaginary, all sorts of demons can capture you. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to frighten you… You need to go now…and please be careful. Remember, before you step out of the mirror in the hospital, make sure you check to make sure that none of the staff see you. I think there’re too many people afflicted by this strange madness already.” Carolyn kissed 207
her mother and stood up stoically. She steadied herself and took a cautious step into the mirror. Like a liquid silvery pool, she felt herself being immersed within the glass surface. She thought the sensation was very much like stepping into a tub full of thick transparent plaster. In another moment she had departed completely from the bedroom, and existed only within the mirror’s shimmering surface.
Charles Penrose was led away from the restaurant in abject humiliation. He was taken into the precinct and questioned. He gazed around the precinct with an odd sense of deja-vu. “I know this place! I’ve been here before. This is detective Gardner’s precinct, isn’t it?” The constable charged with performing the paperwork was intrigued and stopped typing. “How is it exactly that you know Officer Gardner?” Charles nodded impatiently. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for the last half hour. This is all some kind of dream. My real name is Charles Penrose. I k