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And then Erin and Zack dropped onto the floor on their knees, looking dazed and confused,<br />
staring at the pieces of shattered mirror that littered the floor around them.<br />
“You’re back!” I cried happily. “It’s really you!”<br />
“Yeah. It’s me,” Zack said, climbing unsteadily to his feet, then turning to help Erin up.<br />
The mirror was shattered. The reflections were gone.<br />
Erin and Zack gazed around the room, still shaken and dazed.<br />
April stared at me in total confusion.<br />
Lefty remained outside the doorway, shaking his head. “Max,” he said, “you should’ve caught the<br />
ball. That was an easy catch.”<br />
Erin and Zack were back. And they were okay.<br />
It didn’t take long to get everything back to normal.<br />
We explained everything to April and Lefty as best we could.<br />
April went home. She had to baby-sit her little sister.<br />
Erin and Zack—the real Erin and Zack—helped me sweep up the broken glass. Then we closed<br />
the door to the little room. I latched it tightly, and we all carried cartons over and stacked them up to<br />
block off the door.<br />
We knew we’d never go in there again.<br />
We vowed never to tell anyone about getting invisible or the mirror or what happened in that<br />
little room. Then Erin and Zack headed home.<br />
Later, Lefty and I were hanging around out in the back yard. “That was so scary,” I told Lefty<br />
with a shudder. “You just can’t imagine what it was like.”<br />
“Sounds pretty scary,” Lefty replied absently. He tossed his softball from hand to hand. “But at<br />
least everything is okay now. Want to play a little catch?”<br />
“No,” I shook my head. I wasn’t in the mood. But then I changed my mind. “Maybe it’ll take my<br />
mind off what happened this morning,” I said.<br />
Lefty tossed me the ball. We trotted behind the garage, our usual place for tossing the ball<br />
around.<br />
I lobbed it back to him.<br />
We were having a pretty good game of catch.<br />
Until about five minutes had gone by.<br />
Until…<br />
Until I stopped and froze in place.<br />
Were my eyes playing tricks on me?<br />
“Here comes my fastball,” he said. He heaved it at me.<br />
No. No. No.<br />
I gaped open-mouthed as the ball shot past me.<br />
I didn’t even try to catch it. I couldn’t move.<br />
I could only stare in horror.<br />
My brother was throwing right-handed.<br />
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