Reflection

White.

It was all encompassing in this featureless void stretching as far as could be imagined. But, at the center of it was a small table with two people sitting across from one another. They were two boys who looked identical to each other in every way but one. Their facial expressions. 

The boy on the right fixed his eyes solely on the space below him with a sullen look in his eyes, while the boy on the left wore a satisfied, slight smile. It was the latter who spoke first. 

"Is there anything you regret?"

Silence.

"Come on. Just answer me."

He was met with silence once again, but this time instead of pressing any further, he simply waited for his other to open up.

"...What's the point in asking me that now?", the sullen boy croaked.

"Well, aren't you bored just sitting there? We don't have anything else to do, so we might as well talk, right?"

The sullen boy finally looked up at his doppelganger and then towards the space above him.

"I'd say...

I regret having parents."

*Buzz Buzz*
Blake lay in his bed, ignoring the sound of his phone's alarm blaring next to him. It wasn't because he was asleep, however. His gaze was simply too focused on the ceiling for whatever reason. He made no effort to get up and wouldn't have if not for his own voice practically telling him to.

"Come on. Turn that thing off."

The boy turned sluggishly onto his side, finally silencing his phone and getting out of bed. His room was barren as it only contained the bare necessities, including a bed to sleep in and a desk to study at. 

Perhaps the most eye-catching object though was sitting in the corner of the room. A dresser with a large mirror sitting atop it. 

Blake pulled open one of its drawers in search of a fresh set of clothes. He dug past a variety of outfits including an old high school uniform and eventually settled on a simple t shirt and shorts.

"Showing up in casual wear would be pretty rude, don't you think?" 

Suddenly realizing how odd it was hearing his voice coming from something other than him, Blake looked up towards the source. Nothing immediately stood out as unordinary, but something about his mirror just felt off. 

He leaned in, examining his reflection as closely as he could. And after what felt like an eternity, he saw it. 

A slight smile.

He stepped backwards and then rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. But there was no mistaking what he saw next. His reflection's mouth opened, taking a breath before it spoke.

"I know this is shocking for you, but..."

Whatever he was going to say next didn't matter as Blake promptly fainted and fell onto the floor. 

About an hour later, he awoke to the sight of his ceiling once again. But this time, he immediately sat up and gauged his surroundings. With minimal movements, he took note of a bunch of things; his position in front of his dresser, his phone lying on the floor beside him, and his mother looking down on him through a now opened door.

"What are you doing?" 

Blake didn't respond, biting his inner lip as he looked away from her. She ignored this and placed a folded suit on top of the dresser nearby. 

"Wear this. And don't sleep on the floor." 

Out of the corner of his eye, Blake noticed a distortion in the mirror. He instantly recalled what happened before and right on cue, his reflection showed up to wave at him. 

"Can you look at my mirror?", he exclaimed. 

In response to this, his mother clicked her tongue. She obliged, but it seemed as if she was only willing to do so because of how simple the task was. And in spite of her being face to face with the supernatural, she could only find one thing to comment on.

"It's dirty. Clean it up."

She briskly exited the room after that, but not before reminding her offspring about the suit she left him and muttering something under her breath.

"Stop wasting time..."

The door closed, leaving Blake all by himself. At least, he would have been if not for his mirror's peculiarity. 

"It's frustrating, but you're the only one who can see me."

Still adjusting to the extremity of the situation, Blake remained silent for a bit. And seeing this as a chance to explain everything, his reflection took it. 

"Listen to me carefully. I don't know why, but I suddenly appeared here and-"

"Hold on. Before any of that... Just let me sort out my thoughts."

Blake rubbed his temple furiously as if trying to force all that's transpired into his brain. It was to no avail of course, but it was able to calm him down at least. Enough for him to engage in conversation with his reflection.

"Okay... so what are you exactly?"

"Simple. I'm you but from the future."

"...I'm sorry?"

"I'm your future self."

"Could you repeat that?"

"Well, it's only natural you don't believe me."

They had reached another standstill. But the initial shock of the situation was beginning to wear off. Blake found himself growing more and more comfortable with the situation. What he was hearing was quite jarring still, but he realized that all he needed to do was squeeze as much information out of his uninvited guest as possible. 

After all, he was free to entertain the scenario all he wanted without any consequence. If worst came to worst, he could just ignore everything and carry on with his day as if nothing was wrong. 

"Tell you what? I'll give you a chance to prove your story."

"Hmm... What do you mean?"

"Well, if you really are from the future, then why don't you tell me what happens in it?"

His reflection crossed his arms and closed his eyes, taking a moment to consider before responding. 

"Where should I start exactly?"

"Well how about today's date, June 4th."

"June, huh? That's quite a while back." 

This caught Blake's attention.

"That reminds me. You were saying something before I interrupted you. Something about randomly appearing in my mirror?"

"That's right. What about it?"

"Then, what's the last day you remember being... normal?"

His reflection chuckled slightly at his phrasing. 

"Let's see. It was New Year's Eve, I think."

"New Year's Eve... So, in six months then..."

After pausing briefly to take a mental note of that tidbit, Blake continued to interrogate his counterpart in the mirror.

"Anyways, let's get back to the topic at hand."

"Sorry but just knowing the date isn't that helpful. Anything else you can tell me that can help."

"Well... 

it's my father's funeral today."

He said it matter-of-factly and without much emotion. It almost caught his reflection off guard how dryly he spoke those words. But Blake didn't wait for him to recover before pressing further.

"So? Remember anything?"

"...Yeah, now I do."

In response to this, Blake held up three fingers on his right hand.

"Then, you'll give me three predictions. And they all have to be specific too, nothing general that could be chalked up to coincidence."

"Can't I just give you one?"

"I want three."

"I don't know what to tell you, I can't-"

"Can we stop this already?"

His reflection seemed to feign ignorance. 

Never taking his eyes off the mirror, Blake walked over to his desk and took a seat before elaborating on what he said.

"You're lying to me."

Silence. 

"You already knew what day it is today. I know because of what you said to me before I passed out."

As Blake spoke, he began tapping his desk with his finger in a constant rhythm. 

"You said, showing up in casual wear would be pretty rude."

*Tap, tap, tap*
"I can only imagine you knew where I'd be going to be able to criticize my choice of dress like that." 

*Tap, tap, tap*
"Then there's the fact that you so confidently told me you were from the future. If you really just randomly appeared in my mirror like you said you did, then there'd be no reason to immediately assume you were sent to the past." 

*Tap, Tap, Tap*
"I didn't give you the date until later so the only way you could have known you were from the future is if you knew beforehand." 

As his train of thought came to an end, Blake's tapping subsided, and the prior silence soon returned to replace it. 

He stood up before speaking again.

"Now, just tell me what I want to know."

His reflection raised his hand to his chin as if seriously considering the gravity of the situation. But he couldn't hold it together, his face finally cracking and letting out a tiny smirk.