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scratching against glass.
I struggled to free myself, but his grip was strong.
“I’m the one to leave,” he told me. “I’ve been waiting so long. Ever since you turned on the light.
And now I’m going to step out from here and join the others.”
“Others?” I cried.
“Your friends gave in easily,” he said. “They did not resist. The switch was made. And now you
and I will also make a switch.”
“No!” I screamed, and my cry seemed to echo through the icy cold for miles.
“Why are you so afraid?” he asked, turning me around, still gripping my shoulders, bringing his
face close to mine. “Are you so afraid of your other side, Max?”
He stared at me intently. “That’s what I am, you know,” he said. “I am your reflection. Your other
side. Your cold side. Don’t be afraid of me. Your friends were not afraid. They made the switch
without much of a struggle. Now they are inside the mirror. And their reflections…”
His voice trailed off. He didn’t have to finish his sentence. I knew what he was saying.
Now I understood about Erin and Zack. Now I understood why they looked different to me.
They were reversed. They were their own reflections.
And now I understood why they pushed me into the mirror, why they forced me to disappear, too.
If I didn’t do something, I realized, my reflection would switch places with me. My reflection
would step into the attic. And I’d be trapped inside the mirror forever, trapped forever with the sad,
bobbing faces.
But what could I do?
Staring at myself, I decided to stall, to ask questions, to give myself a little time to think.
“Whose mirror is it? Who built it?” I demanded.
He shrugged. “How should I know? I’m only your reflection, remember?”
“But how—”
“It’s time,” he said eagerly. “Don’t try to stall with foolish questions. Time to make the switch.
Time for you to become my reflection!”