THE MOMENT
"It's beautiful..," Glenn lied to his wife. As he stared into the mirror, his reflection rolled his eyes. Glenn was too panicked about his wife accidentally noticing that he didn't realize he didn't roll his own eyes. Luckily, his wife was focused on the gaudy red metal frame that supported the looking glass.
"Isn't it?" Betty replied with a bright smile in her voice. "Can you believe this was only five dollars? It looks pristine."
"It does..," Glenn had to admit. The red metal gleamed like new without any hint of a scuff mark. And the glass looked almost too clear, if that was possible. He stared into the mirror hard enough that his reflection crossed his eyes. Glenn shook his head to try and center his eyes again; but, they already were.
"Help me move it to the dressing room," Betty said as she grabbed one side of it. Glenn hurried to the other side not sure of what he saw. But, he was glad to hear it wasn't destined for the bedroom. Glenn and Betty weren't rich by any means; but, they had no children and a two bedroom house. Instead of a guest room, Betty used the space as her own walk-in closet. Glenn spent very little time in there. Once the mirror was in place, Glenn left the room and put it out of his mind.
"HONEY!!" Betty yelled for Glenn from the dressing room a week later.
"Yes?" he poked his head into the room and saw his wife standing in front of the mirror trying to hold a dress up around her.
"Zip me up?" She asked over her shoulder. Glenn nodded and walked into the room. It wasn't an uncommon request; she often spent time trying on different outfits and some of them needed more hands. Glenn walked up behind her and grabbed the zipper.
As he zipped her up, he couldn't help but notice his reflection looking down. He was looking at his reflection; but, it wasn't looking at him. It appeared to be admiring his wife's cleavage.
"Hey!" he snapped out of reflex. His reflection looked up immediately and grinned sheepishly as his wife turned around.
"What?" she asked.
"Uh," Glenn hesitated. Mirror Glenn lifted an index finger to his lips and suggested that real Glen keep quite. He looked at the back of his wife's reflection but hers seemed normal. "I love you," he kissed her forehead, then walked out of the room.
"Love you too..," Betty replied with some confusion in her voice. Glenn wrestled with his sanity for a couple of days until Betty needed to step out for several hours. He waited an hour just to make sure she wouldn't come back right away, then he strode into the dressing room with purpose.
"We need to talk," Mirror Glenn said as soon as real Glenn walked in. He surprised Glenn who was ready to try and coax whatever was happening out delicately.
"Who are you!?" Glenn asked. Mirror Glenn made a show of looking down and inspecting himself. He turned his hands over and wiggled his fingers as he studied them. Then, he focused on real Glenn and shrugged.
"Looks like I'm you," he said.
"That's not possible, I'm me!" Real Glenn said. Mirror Glenn nodded at himself.
"That's what I said, I'm me too," he grinned. "If I'm me, and you're 'me', then we're both me. So, I'm you," he winked.
"Alright smart guy...," Real Glenn said. He wasn't about to let himself be confused. Especially not by himself. "...then how'd you get in my mirror?" Mirror Glenn chuckled and shook his head.
"I could ask you the same thing. How'd YOU get in MY mirror?" he raised an eyebrow at Real Glenn.
"What?" Real Glenn asked. Mirror Glenn nodded.
"You think I'm trapped in a little rectangle about this big?" he spread his hands apart the width of the mirror. "You're in my house, in my bedroom."
"That...can't...," Real Glenn's mind worked for a little bit. "So, what? Are you in another universe or something?" he asked. Mirror Glenn nodded.
"Alternate universes are real, and super easy to get to," he said. "Would you like to see this one?" At some point, Real Glenn accepted that he might be going insane or at least hallucinating. But, the chance existed that he wasn't.
"How... super easy?" he asked. Mirror Glenn smiled.
"It's like a two-step process. You can do it with what you've got already," he said.
"And.. I can come back to my universe?" Real Glenn asked. Mirror Glenn nodded.
"Traversing is simple, and pretty precise. It's easy to find the universe you're looking for," he said.
"Okay," Real Glenn nodded. "I'm game, what are the steps?"