Jason’s alarm went off with a screech. He slapped around his nightstand blindly for his phone, groaning as the sound sent knives into his skull with each cheery trill. Finally, he grabbed the phone and slid his thumb across the screen, filling the room with silence. He stayed there a moment, drifting between sleep and consciousness, debating whether it was worth it to go to school. Reluctantly and bleary eyed, Jason slid out of bed, treading over to his bathroom. He hardly noticed the dull glow of the clock in his exhaustion, only fumbled for his toothbrush in the semidarkness. Movement of something in the mirror caught the corner of his eye, but shrugged it off as a trick of his sluggish mind.

    “Jay! It’s 7:16, what are you still doing up there?” Jason’s dad called from the bottom of the stairs.

    “WHAT?” Jason yelled, his gaze snapping to the clock now glaring like a sun, not believing he’d stayed in bed so long. He scrambled to get ready and within minutes, Jason was in his car speeding to school. 

His tires squealed as he swung into the parking lot, and parked practically sideways. Leaping out of his car, Jason sprinted into the school and through the halls, still pulling his backpack on. He nearly collided with a girl while skidding around a corner, but pushed on, shouting half apologies behind him. His first period’s door was closing only a few feet in front of him now.

“Wait!” Jason slid through the door, just as the late bell rang, earning a scornful glare from the teacher, Mrs. Leak, who was clearly disappointed she couldn’t send him to detention for being late for the 5th time this week. A few people chuckle. Jason drops into his seat with a huff of breath, not bothering to take off his backpack.

“Now! Class, let’s go over-”

Jason’s thoughts drifted from the teacher’s droning voice. He hadn’t even done the homework, though not because he didn’t want to, but rather because he didn’t really need to. So, he’d spent almost the whole night playing Call of Duty with his friends he hadn’t gotten to hang out with for a while. It was a blast, and he didn’t even realize it was 4am until they all signed off. It wasn’t a big deal though. He wasn’t….even...that………

“JASON!” Mrs. Leak’s shrill voice could’ve rivaled his alarm clock, making Jason nearly jump out of his skin, “Are you going to answer my question or continue napping?”

“Uh…” He panicked and spat out, “Seven?”

The class held back giggles, scared of incurring the wrath of the already annoyed teacher.

“Natalie, what was the derivative of problem thirteen?” Mrs. Leak whirled on poor Natalie, who was still stifling her laughter. 

“Uh, two...x?” Natalie laughed nervously, and a little afraid.

Mrs. Leak sighed deeply, “No, the derivative was-”

Jason stopped listening again. He hardly ever listened to the review at the beginning of each class. He took to staring out the window, and occasionally scribbling writing ideas onto a notepad. A figure loomed behind him in the glass’s reflection, and Jason scrambled to cover his writing with math papers, so he gave at least some semblance of attention to the lesson.

But when he turned, there was no one but Natalie sitting beside him, picking at her nail polish. Jason looked back at the glass, but the figure was gone.

“Mrs. Leak? Could I go to the bathroom?” He needed some water. He must be sleep deprived or something. Seeing things. The teacher turned and gave him a withering glare, “It’s an emergency I swear.”
    “Fine, but if you’re gone for 10 minutes you’ll be in detention after school, and I’ll call home,” Mrs. Leak reluctantly replied.

Jason nodded, and speed walked to the bathroom like a mom from the 80s who just got new ankle weights. He checked to see if the stalls were empty before splashing icy water on his face. Wiping the water from his eyes he looked up to see a girl standing behind him in the mirror. He yelped and spun around, terrified to be found with a sopping wet face, by none other than a girl. But, he was alone in the room. Jason turned back to the mirror. There she stood, wearing a flouncy dress and dirty boots, staring at him with doe-like eyes. Her mouth moved, but the only sound was a muffled flushing from the girl’s bathroom and a teacher playing Romeo and Juliet way too loud in the next room.

“This is from stress. Or lack of sleep. Or both,” Jason reasoned with himself, closing his eyes to shut out the creepy girl, “You aren’t going crazy, and you don’t see people that aren’t there. When you open your eyes, she’ll be gone, and this will be just a mental breakdown you never speak of.”

Slowly, he peeled his eyelids open, terrified to see what the mirror held. The reflection was only that of a crappy high school bathroom, and a terrified boy with bags under his eyes and a dripping face. Jason let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, dried himself off, and walked back to class as normally as he could.

Later that night, Jason’s dad had punched in the directions to Carter-Finley stadium and was pulling out of the driveway, while Jason sat in the passenger seat, trying to scrub the image of that girl from his memory, so he could enjoy his favorite pastime with his father. The State Game Tailgates were some of the best events of the season, second only to the State games themselves. Jason and his dad had been tailgating and going to games since he could remember, and it was the most time he ever got to spend with his dad one-on-one. The only thing was his dad was bound to bring up school, Jason’s future career, college, the military.

Jason’s dad had been pushing for him to join the military almost as long as they’d been tailgating. He was an Army vet, and proud to be one. He expected Jason to follow in his footsteps and continue the family legacy. Jason on the other hand, wanted to get a writing degree or design video games for a living. The two had wildly different views for Jason’s future, though Jason hardly wanted to point it out. The conversation always devolved into a shouting match that ended in his father calling him scared or weak for not wanting to serve his country in the “most honorable way”. Jason learned pretty quickly just to shut up and let his dad tire himself out, or change the subject. It didn’t matter what he wanted, and his dad did point out a lot of the benefits of joining the military. Whether he wanted to or not, Jason would probably end up in the military, especially with his dad trying to network with his old military buddies, selling them on how great he was, how obedient and unquestioning.

They finally pulled up to the stadium and picked a spot between an old beater truck and a prius with a Wolfpack bumper sticker. The tailgate was already in full swing, so Jason and his dad grabbed their food and jumped into the mix. Within minutes, Jason's dad had a circle of Army friends turning their heads towards Jason as he picked at his bag of potato chips and sat in the bed of his dad’s truck. He started to wave Jason over, trying to introduce him to these new, important, and well connected military men, but Jason pretended not to see him. He hopped off of the truck, and wandered towards a table of Bojangles chicken and fixin’s. Jason had just plucked up a crispy chicken thigh from the bucket when a familiar figure caught his eye. His stomach dropped to the floor, the chicken thigh following in suit. It was her. But there was no mirror this time.

She was standing maybe ten feet away, staring. Same outfit. Same eyes. Her mouth kept moving in the same way, like she was on a loop. Jason walked closer to her like he was approaching a wild dog. He was sure he looked insane, he wasn’t even sure other people could see her, but he didn’t stop to look at anyone else’s reaction. If he looked away she might disappear. 

The closer he got to her the easier it was to read her lips. Fellow bee? Fallow tee? Follow…. Follow me. She lurched to the side suddenly, her steps disjointed and unnatural. What else was there to do but follow? It seemed better than facing his father, and maybe she would finally leave him alone. Maybe Jason was just crazy. Maybe the stress of everything finally broke him.

The girl wove through the crowd with surprising ease for someone walking like they’re straight off the set of the Walking Dead, and Jason struggled to keep up with her. She finally stopped at the edge of the parking lot, in front of an ornate floating mirror, whose frame was made of tangled golden vines adorned with dainty flowers and pomegranates. It looked odd for some reason, and he couldn't place why for a moment. Then he realized what was missing from the reflection. The tailgate was bustling in the background, but only the girl was standing on the curb, looking back at nothing. She was very still, just staring at Jason.

He had definitely lost it. There's no going back from floating mystical mirrors in terms of psychotic break hallucinations.

"Why did you bring me here?" Jason asked the girl.

Help. Help. Help. Help.

"You need help? Is that it?"

You. You. You. You.

"Help me? Or I help you? Can you not speak? This is so confusing."

Quick! Quick!

She was looking rather annoyed now.

"What? What do you-" but she was already moving, grabbing his arm and rushing the mirror full speed. Jason had no choice but to be dragged along in her iron grip, stealing one more glance towards where his dad was probably searching for him now to introduce him to the Army recruiters he'd "happened to stumble upon."

Maybe it was better to leave. Maybe being crazy wherever I'm being taken wouldn't be all that worse than being sane here.