The House of Grey- Volume 4 (14 page)

On
a
Saturday
evening
a few weeks before the
Solstice,
Monson,
Artorius
and Casey were making plans for the
dance
and
,
to their dismay
,
found out that
they were in
way
over their heads.

“I can’t believe how much this is going to cost,” Monson
scrunched
his eyebrows as he looked at
the
notepad. “Talk about a waste.”

“Well
,
it’s a good thing you’re one of the wealthie
st people here then
,”
Artorius
teas
ed
. “Grey
,
try to be a bit more excited. You
’
re going to
the Spring Solstice
with Taris freakin
’
Green
!
I know any number of guys who’d kill to be in your position. As matter of fact, they probably
would
be willing to kill you
,
giv
en the chance.
”

“So are you and Indigo dressing to match
?
” asked Casey
,
popping popcorn into his mouth
.
“I would remind you not
to
forget the dog collar
.
”

“You know, Casey
,” Artorius
started
,
a wry look skirting the edges of his
mouth,
“
i
f I didn’t know any better I would say that YOU are jealous. If you were interested in Indigo you should have just said so.” 

Casey
’
s
eyes narrowed like they always did before one of
his exchanges with Artorius
.  “Number one, if I was interested
in
Indigo
,
I could probably get her
—
which would
leave
you to curl up in the fetal position and cry. Number two...hmm
…
actually
,
I don’t think I need a number two. Number one pretty much covers it
.
”

Monson
,
sensing danger
,
attempted to divert the conversation. “You know fellas
,
i
t
’
s getting to be about that time
.
W
e’d better call it
a
night
.
I have to meet Taris tomorrow and she’s going to be pissed if I’m late
.
”

“Yeah
,
you’re probably right
.
” Casey yawned as he motioned to
Artori
us
.
“Come on
,
Arthur
. We can finish this tomorrow
.
”
Mission accomplished
,
thought Monson
.
H
is two friends
stood
up
,
collect
ed
their things
, and
said their goodbyes
.
Once again, Monson was alone.

He
cleaned up a little
,
not thinking about anything in particular. More serious topics were ever
-
present at the base of his consciousness
,
but he pushed th
o
se thoughts away
,
distracting himself by cleaning
and trying to enjoy the silence.

After he
had straightened up
most of the apartment
,
he
headed off to bed though he
was not
feeling particular
ly
tired
.
W
hat he really wanted to
do
was just sit and think for a while
.
The subject up for scrutiny
:
Taris Green. Monson had gone from asking a girl to a dance to spending most of his free time with said girl. He was trying to understand how that had happened.

Not that he disliked spending time with Taris; she
was cute,
fun
and at times
,
very
sweet. Despite
all that, however, he felt
a persistent nagging
feeling,
like a scratch he needed to itch
,
and for whatever reason, he could not place his finger on the source
of this uneasiness.  He wished there was
someone
to talk with concerning his reservations
, but in that particular department, most of his friends were lacking. Casey would just mock him
and
Artorius
would rant about how lucky he was. He
didn
’
t particularly
want to
have
the conversa
tion with Brian, as the man
had
an
annoying habit of knowing exactly what
Monson
was feeling even before he did. Monson knew whom he wanted to talk to
;
that
much
was obvious
. L
ittle chance of that now
,
however. Not the way things were currently going.

He
let out a deep breath,
trying to sooth
e
his feelings of
disquiet
. He glowered
,
irritated
by
his lack of control
over his emotions
.
He decided
to sleep and see if he came up with any strokes of brilliance.

***

Monson awoke abruptly as if someone had been blowing
in
his ear. He groped for the clock
, which read 3:00 a.m
.

He stretched
, tensing every part of his body, and
opened his eyes. He squinted as a weird grayish light threw his room into a weird sort of contrast
making the space and shadows appear contorted and strange
. He
again
closed
his eyes trying to understand what was happening.

“
Monson…
.
”

A
s the sound of his ow
n
name
reverberated, Monson
again opened his eyes
,
this time to a completely
dark, seemingly
normal room. No light, no contrast
,
and no
one
around
who
could have spoken to him.
He
sat up in a half
-
daze
.
As he touched the floor
,
he noticed
how warm and comfortable
it
felt.
He
walked to the bathroom and tried to flip on the light
,
grimacing as
he moved the switch up and down with no effect
. He cursed as
he felt around and
proceeded
to turn on the water tap. He splashed a few cupped handfuls onto his face. Eyes closed
,
he groped for a towel.

I must be losing my mind
,
h
e thought
,
still trying to
find
the
towel.
I need to start going to bed earlier
.

Monson
found
the towel and dabbed at
his face
, feeling
better.
His mind was playing tricks on him. He wasn’t crazy….

He finished
drying
his face and squinted at hi
m
s
elf in the
mirror
.
H
is
reflection,
however
,
was not
squinting back.

Monson took a deep
,
calming breath. He stared at his reflection. 
To his surprise, he was calm.

“It
’
s been a while
.
And here I thought that you
’
d packed up and left.
”
H
e attempted to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. 
The two Monsons
scrutinize
d
each other. They looked exactly alike down to the very last freckle
—
with one stark difference.
As before, t
he Monson in the mirror did not have any scars. “So are you the good
witch or the bad witch
?”

Monson squinted again as his reflection mouthed something
;
something that Monson could not understand. The other Monson turned around
,
apparently intending to leave.

“
Wait
!
”
called
Monson
,
reaching
towards
the mirror
.
“
Don’
t go yet!
”

He
intended
to put his hand
on
the mirror
.
But to his utter
surprise
, that very hand slipped through the surface as easily as
through a
pool
of silvery water
. His mirrored self
turned suddenly
and caught his hand
pulling him
,
and Monson Grey slipped beneath the surface of the glass.

The other Monson
spoke
.
“
It
i
s about time you decided to join me. I have been
attempting
to communicate with you for months now
.
”

Monson watched
himself
with some uneasiness
, unsure how he felt about the current development.
“
W
ho are you?”
he asked.

“A very interesting question
.
” The other Monson’s smile deepened
.
“But hardly important at this point. There are things that you need to see and
even more
important things that we must discuss
,
all before you wake up
.
”

“I’m dreaming then?” Monson felt slightly reli
e
ved. “O
h
good
.
I’m just going to go back
through
my mirror if you don’t mind
.
”

The other Monson smacked the original on the head
.

“Ouch
!
” Monson gave his counterpart an angry look
.
“
W
hat the heck was that for?”

“That was for being smart. Now follow me
;
there
i
s a lot that I have to tell you
and not a lot of time
.”

“Follow you where?  We’re in a mirror—well
,
actually
,
we
’
re in one of my dreams
….
”

His voice trailed off as the scenery
around, above and underneath him
changed.
Right before their very eyes, a dream world materialized from black nothingness.

“You were saying?”  Monson’s
clone
grinned smugly.

Monson did not
respond
, but
merely
muttered
to
himself
in
an
annoyingly high-pitched voice
,
“
Y
ou were saying
?
”