Mirror Man by Jacques Kat (ereader for textbooks txt) 📗

‘Can I come in?’ asked Grandad.

‘Yes,’ I said, sitting up. I watched him in the mirror. His mouth sat in a tight line. He’d only ever worn the same look when my dad had been ill. I jumped from my bed.

‘Is something wrong, Grandad? Is it Tina? Is the baby okay?’

‘Tina and the baby are fine,’ he sighed. ‘Sit back down. I need to tell you something.’

I frowned and lowered myself back onto my mattress. ‘Okay…’

‘The man in the accident today—Daniel. He died on the way to the hospital.’

‘But… but he looked okay,’ I said. ‘He only had a couple of cuts. I put a plaster on his finger and everything.’

‘It was all on the inside, John-Michael. Like when your dad was ill. We couldn’t see what was going on inside him, and that was the same for young Daniel.’

Dad died before my tenth birthday due to complications caused by an undiagnosed stomach ulcer. I’d managed to get Tina to tell me a few years later. By the time the doctors had made a diagnosis, it had burst, and he died as a result of the infection that rapidly spread through his bloodstream, destroying his vital organs.

I scrunched up my face and flopped back onto my pillow. ‘Oh, that’s not fair, Grandad. I thought I’d helped him. I told him he would be alright!’

‘Now, listen to me. Don’t go blaming yourself for this,’ he said. ‘What happened couldn’t have been prevented, and from what I hear from PC Williams, at least he had you to speak to before he lost consciousness. You should be proud he had someone with him in those moments.’

My eyes settled on Bruce Lee. ‘Do you really think I helped him?’

‘Yes, I know you did, son. Now, as I’ve said, don’t you go thinking about this all night. It was an unfortunate accident. Okay?’ Grandad said.

‘Okay…’

But it wasn’t okay at all. How could it be? I’d told Daniel he was going to be all right; he was no longer with us, and he’d never get to ride his scooter ever again.

‘I’ll see you in the morning, lad. Rest easy.’

After Grandad left, I got ready for bed and slipped under the sheets. I felt terrible, worse than I’d ever felt, even more so than when Nana B and Dad died, and that had been the worst event in my short life.

I tried to sleep, and when I did, the dreams that had plagued me earlier continued to haunt me. First, I dreamt of my dad, and I watched on helpless as he took his last breath and blood trickled from the side of his mouth. Then I saw Daniel again, with his glassy eyes staring up at me. I ran away, back towards the shops. In the windows, I could see the reflections of everyone I had ever followed behind me. Instead of me shadowing them, they were doing it to me.

‘You can’t do this!’ I shouted. ‘I’m the Mirror Man! I’m the Mirror Man!’

I ran faster and faster to get away, when The Suit stepped out from a doorway. He flashed a grin at me, and I looked him in the eyes. They were dark brown, almost black, and his teeth were too white. It was as though I was shrinking when he looked down into my face.

He whispered, ‘No, I’m the Mirror Man.’ Then he shrugged his shoulders, checked the cuffs on his shirt, turned, and walked away laughing.

I woke with a start, drenched in sweat, and with Grandad and Mum in my room. I could just make them out in the darkness, standing at the foot of my bed.

‘You okay, sweetheart?’ Mum said.

Sweetheart? She never calls me sweetheart.

‘You were shouting,’ added Grandad. ‘What were you dreaming about?’

‘Dad and Daniel,’ I told them. I skipped the part about The Suit. I wasn’t ready to share any details about him yet. At least not until I’d figured out who he was and what he wanted.

‘You’re safe now,’ Mum whispered. ‘I’m going to warm you some milk. It’ll help you sleep better,’ she said and disappeared.

‘Ya mam is certainly better, don’t you think?’ Grandad asked when we could no longer hear her down the hall.

‘I guess,’ I said.

‘I thought I’d told you not to worry about what you’d seen today,’ he said.

I pushed my fists into my eyes, hoping to rub some sense back into me. ‘I tried not to, but the more I tried not to think about it, the more I did.’

‘Alright, don’t worry. Is there anything you want to talk about?’ he asked me.

‘Not really,’ I said. ‘What time is it?’

‘Just gone two,’ he said.

‘Is that all?’

He patted me on the shoulder. ‘I’m off back to bed, if you’re okay. Your mam will be back in a minute. Night, son.’

‘Night, Grandad.’

As he left, Mum came back with the milk and left it on my bedside table. She even took the plate and mug from earlier.

‘Night, John-Michael,’ she said, closing the door.

‘Night, Mum.’

I could get used to this, I thought as I sipped the warm milk. It had a slightly bitter taste to it, but I drank it all, anyway.

Chapter Eleven

The strange dreams had continued to taunt me all night long, except when I drifted back to sleep, I’d been chasing after The Suit as the townsfolk chased after me. We’d make it as far as the library, where he would skid to a halt, turn, and point his fingers at me as his toothy grin turned into a snarl. Mr Phillips’s words would echo all around us like a voice from above: ‘I know you’ll do right by me, John-Michael.’

I woke up panting, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure if I was still dreaming. I patted my bed several times before I was certain I was back in the land of the living. I wiped at my brow before I checked the clock. I was going to be late! This had never happened to me before. I rushed