Chapter 1:

Chapter 2: The First Trip

RORRIM


1

It was a sunny day, the birds were singing and no clouds could be seen, flowers were blooming and every animal was singing the nature song. On this beautiful day, Viatorem woke up from his bed, confused at the beginning, but later he realized he was at his old house where he used to live with his parents. His mother knocked on the door and opened it, with a big smile on her face, she approached him.

-Good morning, honey. Today is the day you're finally going to have a big step in life.

Viatorem was confused, all he could remember was being at the old goods store and then he touched the mirror which made him fell asleep. How could have he gone back to his old house? Did someone bring him here? Or could have his college life been only a dream? Viatorem seemed so confused.

-You don't seem happy, for someone who wanted to finally live a different life in the city in a new school! We're so happy that you're finally going to achieve your dream, we're so proud of you, my son. The breakfast is ready, hurry up dear, or you're going to lose your train to London. -said his mother while leaving his room.

Viatorem, not understanding what was going on, jump off his bed and started to pinch his cheeks, so he could make sure it wasn't a dream. After hurting himself on the cheeks like crazy, he left the room and went to the kitchen, where his mom and dad were already there, waiting for him to eat breakfast.

-Good morning, my lazy son - said his father - since you overslept as always, you only deserve a piece of bread with some butter in it! Since you've to hurry up to get the train!

Viatorem, still confused sat down on his chair and started eating. His father, disappointed with his son reaction to this important day, asked:

-Son, is everything alright? You don't seem yourself today.

-Why? - Viatorem asked - Why are you guys supporting all this?

-Isn't that obvious? We're your parents, of course, we're going to support your dreams. Our dream is to fulfill our son's dream! Now, my son! Cheer up! Time to go to the train station, get ready.

As soon as Viatorem realized, he was already out of his home and all set up for the college.

-Now son, we will follow you to the station, but when you get on the train, it's time for you to become a man, and face forward without your old man, hahaha!

Viatorem started to walk, behind him, were his parents following him with an empty smile on their faces, their eyes were emotionless. At a certain moment, the son whose parents were so proud of him decided to stop, as soon as he stopped, his parents stopped as well. They didn't say a word, they just stood there, looking at him with their empty eyes and smiles.

-This doesn't make sense. - said Viatorem turning around to them - My parents wouldn't support this at all, they wouldn't smile at me nor they'd be proud of me. Instead, they'd just spread rumors through the village, telling the village people that their son abandoned them. That he stole all their money and ran away to the city to become a drug dealer. They'd hurt themselves so they could prove to the village people that I was treating them badly. Some people who I used to know texted me, with cursed texts, they believed so hard in my parents, at some point they wished I was dead.

At that point, Viatorem didn't resist...he fell on his knees, and started crying. All those bad memories were starting to curse his mind, each emotion he felt during those times, were coming back.

-Son...- said his father while he was approaching him with a big smile on his face

-DON'T TOUCH ME! - said Viatorem pushing his father against his mother - DON'T EVER CALL ME SON YOU FILTHY DEGENERATES! I HOPE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU ALL, IT'LL BE ON A GRAVE. YOU'LL BE ROTTING UNDER THE FLOOR I STEP IN, WHILE I'M BECOMING SOMEONE I CAN BE PROUD OF.

-But you're already failing that, - said his father while standing up - you're already failing at being someone you're proud of. -he laughed - Just look at you! You're a joke at the college, you once were full of energy like we were expecting you to be! But now you're just a depressed little man, who's always needing his friends to help! You really are a disappointment, my son!

Out of anger, Viatorem started punching his dad with all his force. But as soon as he noticed, all he was punching was a wall made out of wood.

2

-Huh? - he looked at his surroundings. It was the old goods shop where he once was, nothing out of ordinary - It was probably a dream...as expected, these dreams were similar to the dreams I used to have, I can't believe I'm entering a daydreaming phase- signed, while he walked around the store trying to find either the old man who runs the store or his friend, Ricardo. But no one was here, maybe they all left, last time he saw the clock before having his weird dream it was 2:00 pm, but now it was 3:00 pm, an hour has passed. With that concluded, Viatorem decided to leave the store and go to the college dormitories.

As soon as he entered his room, one of his roommates, Jasmine, looked at him.

- Hello Jasmine! Is Ricardo here? I went to a store with him today, but he didn't wait for me.

Jasmine with a confusing look on her face started winking her green eyes, trying to understand what Viatorem just said:

-Ricardo? Our roommate Ricardo? You're the one here who knows Ricardo the best. Ricardo never leaves his room, unless if it's time to go to college.

-What? Why? Are we talking about the same Ricardo?

Jasmine with an angry expression stood up from the chair she was sitting in and left the room. Her pretty long blonde hair left the room in a such pretty way that Viatorem forgot for a second that she got mad at him. Then, after he got back to his senses, he tried to understand why she got so mad at him. Lost in thought, someone touched him on his shoulder, this way of touching...only one person would have this touch.

-Hello bro... - said the big guy with a depressing voice

-Ricardo? What happened to you? What happened after you went to the old goods store? You don't seem healthy at all! - said Viatorem, analyzing Ricardos face

-Huh? What do you mean bro? - said Ricardo while heading to his study desk and then sitting down- You're the one who seems weird, I only went to the college today. I didn't go to any store.

As Ricardo was saying that, Viatorem noticed there was a picture of her sister saying:" Your Brother will miss you..." on his desk, which was weird because Ricardo never had that picture there. While he was looking at the picture, Ricardo just kept studying, which didn't surprise Viatorem since he'd always study a lot, but something seemed off to him today, Ricardo was studying like it was the only thing he had in life.

-Hey bro...How long are you going to keep staring at my desk? Can you stop acting funny, and start to behave like a normal person, please? - said Ricardo with an angry look

-Ok! Ok! I really have no clue, why you started to be in a bad mood after going to the store! Especially because today is Friday! Tomorrow is the day you always go see your sister at the hospital, you usually smile a lot on this day!

As soon as Viatorem said that, Ricardo punched him on the stomach side, leaving him laying on the floor. He screamed in pain, but Ricardo didn't care, with tears on his face he carried Viatorem out of their room.

-I don't know what has gotten to you today, but please don't ever talk about my sister. Please avoid me for today, don't ever step on this room until I fall asleep, please don't ever talk to me. Your face now reminds me of my sister, and I can't stand it...I can't let these memories go into my mind.

Ricardo closed the door, letting Viatorem out in the hallway. Noises of Ricardo crying could be heard outside of the room.

-You alright? What happened was not pretty at all... - said Jasmin with an angry look while giving her hand to him so he could stand up - Have you gone crazy Viatorem? We promised to never talk about Ricardo's sister again or did you forget?

-I don't recall promising that, plus what do you mean by never talking about Ricardo's sister again? He loves talking about her!

Jasmin holds his hand.

- Come here for a second, I think you need some icecream at Johns Good Icecream since your memory is rotten.

3

While they were arriving at Johns Good Icecream, Viatorem was still embarrassed by the fact he was holding hands with Jasmine.

-Jas, can you stop holding my hand? I'm not a kid.

-No! You're not on your senses, you'd probably do another stupid thing if I let my hand go. - said Jasmine while opening the Icecream store's door- Now sit down! I'll order for you since I know your favorite flavor, I hope you didn't forget that, at least.

While Jasmine was ordering the icecreams, Viatorem was looking around the store, making sure that at least his favorite place wasn't different. But then, he noticed that behind him, someone was watching him, however as soon as that person saw that Viatorem noticed, the stranger looked away.

-Okay I just ordered! - said Jasmine while sitting on the chair which was in front of Viatorem- So! First things first, why did you disappear for so long Viatorem? We were so worried about you, you didn't even text us, so we thought you went back to your village or something.

-What?Jas, each time you talk I get more confused than I previously was. Yesterday I slept in our room! Ask Ricardo or Wally! Gosh, you were there as well! I never went back to that place since I said I'd never wanted to see them again...

-Viatorem, I really think you hit your head hard this time, I know you were very stressed because your parents always wanted you to make them proud. Maybe the stress twisted your brain and you're confused! So I'll correct the things you've been misunderstanding since the beginning, firstly Ricardo's sister is no longer with us! - Viatorem was shocked...-And you promised to everyone to never talk about his sister ever again. Secondly, yes you disappeared, ask everyone from the dormitory and they will answer you with: "No, I haven't seen him in weeks". And last but not least, you probably won't make it through this college year since you haven't been attending the classes. Raph will be so mad at you, hahaha. Hey are you listening to me?

Viatorem was lost in thought. Nothing of what Jasmine said made sense to him, which made him start to think that maybe this is happening because he entered that weird mirror from the old goods store. With that in mind, Viatorem ignored completely Jasmine, stood up, and walked away from the ice cream store.

-Hey where are you going?- said Jasmine while chasing him, but she lost sight of him since he was running really fast in the direction of the store.

4

He ran so fast to the old goods store that he only took fifteen minutes to reach there. Viatorem wasn't an athletic type of guy but the thought that he might have stepped into a messed up situation made him so scared that he ran like he was being chased by prey. When he reached there, he opened the door and looked around, the store looked the same as it was, but then again, no one was there, not even the old man. The door was opened, thieves could steal this store easily if they wanted but everyone outside of the store acted like this place didn't exist. Viatorem started searching for the weird-shaped-mirror, but then, sounds of someone entering the store could be heard. Viatorem thought it was the old man, so he started walking to the entrance.

-Good Afternoon! I'm sorry if I entered without permission but- when Viatorem looked who it was, it wasn't the old man, instead, a girl, with short gray hair and blue eyes with a big smile, stepped in.

-Hello!Hello! What are you looking for? - asked the girl.

-Hum, where is the owner of this store? I need to talk with him.

-So you know his existence, I see - whispered the girl.

-What did you say?

-Nothing!Nothing! I really don't know who you're talking about, besides there's only one owner of this store, and that would be me - she said while winking.

At that point, Viatorem was so confused with every event that happened since he entered the mirror that he didn't care who was the owner now, he just wanted to investigate the weird mirror.

-I see...I came here because I got interested in a mirror shaped like a face, do you know if it's still somewhere in this store?

The girl ignored his question and started walking towards him, with her big smile on her face she started to sing:

-We shouldn't change their fate,

We're bound by our destiny,

We shouldn't give away what God gave to us,

We shouldn't rewrite something given by God.

Poor child, aren't you satisfied with the life that God gave you?

-Y-You sing really well...miss owner...hahaha - said Viatorem scared.

The girl kept on smiling, without replying to anything he said. She stared at him, her light blue eyes once were full of life, started to become dark blue and empty, the atmosphere became heavy, and her smile which once was a heartful smile became creepier with each second it passed.

-S-So I'm going to assume there isn't a mirror around here, I'm sorry I'm going to head back - then, as soon as Viatorem walked past through the girl, he started to feel his body really hot, like he had caught a fever. At that moment, he realized there was blood on the floor and a knife on his belly. After realizing that, Viatorem screamed in pain and fell on the floor.

-S-S-Somebody he-help me, ple-please....

-Nop! No one can hear you! Oh also if you're thinking of leaving, I locked the door! So that means you're going to stay for dinner, yay! I'm so happy, I always wanted to talk to a sinner about...sin stuff! But I guess you won't last long so...I brought fried chips - she said while opening the bag of potato chips - Do you want some, well I guess you aren't in a mood since you keep screaming for help, no one's coming, you know. I'll let you die after you answer my questions.

Viatorem, wasn't willing to give up, so he stood up and ran as fast as he could, looking for the mirror. The girl was chasing him, but unlike him, she was walking while singing that creepy song. Viatorem was starting to feel dizzy due to blood loss, and his vision was starting to get blurry. When he was about to prepare to give up and collapse, a mirror shaped form appeared in front of his eyes. It was the mirror he was looking for, as soon as the girl noticed the mirror as well, she started running with the intention to finish Viatorem's life. When he was about to touch the mirror, the girl threw herself against him and grabbed his foot, stabbing it, Viatorem hadn't the strength to scream for pain like the last time.

-You aren't going anywhere, sinner - said the girl smiling with blood on her face.

With his last hope, Viatorem touched the mirror with his finger which was enough for the mirror to pull his whole body inside the mirror.

5

Viatorem, opened up his eyes and watched his surroundings, he was still in the store, but the girl was nowhere to be found. He still was in pain though, which made him faint, but he could steal hear someone approaching him, maybe it was the girl getting prepared to finish him. At last, she could end his suffering.

-Well, Well, I see that the people from the other side were really rough with you. But you managed to survive, so I'll call the ambulance and give them some excuse of how you were found in that state.

With that Viatorem, espaced from death.

Joe Gold
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