The Mirrorverse
Chapter 24

Ka

Ka’s head was throbbing as they made their way towards the kitchen. It was the morning after and the sheer volume of alcohol Ka had consumed the night before appeared to be residing in his frontal lobe.

Maya was in a much better state, having switched to water with Rob while Les and Ka continued to drink the rest of the whiskey and beer.

Ka and Maya had slept in one of Les and Rob’s spare rooms, with Ka sleeping the comatose slumber of the inebriated, while Maya tossed and turned all night worrying about whether she was actually losing her mind.

She could never prove conclusively that she wasn’t in a grand delusion and that the comatose Maya was the real her. It all whirred around her head, causing a level of anxiety she had never experienced before. She started assessing her actions and words to see if there was insanity in there, but came up with nothing. Ultimately, she just blocked it from her mind before finally falling into a restless sleep.

Ka followed Maya through the living area to the kitchen table, where Les was sat with his head in his hands.

“Oh no, I thought you were a dream,” he muttered, looking up briefly before settling back into his previous position.

“Thanks, nice to see you too!” exclaimed Maya, making to head back the way they came. Ka grabbed her and pushed her into a chair at the table.

“Coffee?” suggested Rob, busying himself with making a large, and very welcome pot of coffee as far as Ka was concerned. “Sore heads?” he asked pointedly at Les and Ka, before returning his gaze to his task.

“Ugh,” replied Les. Ka also grunted.

“Remember getting to bed?” Maya enquired cheekily, looking from Les to Ka.

“Erm, struggling with the details,” Les muttered, peeping at her through his fingers. Ka groaned, wondering what story of Les and Ka inebriation Maya had got up her sleeve this time.

“Bet you are,” Rob smirked, joining them at the table.

Ka watched Maya sipping her coffee through what the bathroom mirror had assured him to be blood shot eyes, no matter how many times he tried to blink it away. Ka always wondered what she saw in an old man like him, but she made him feel young again, alive.

Maya wasn’t like the Hollywood girls. Ka had long given up with gold diggers and glamour seekers, women who wanted him for every reason except for being him. The party lifestyle had ebbed away over the years, leaving Ka alone in an empty house, with all the money in the world and nothing he wanted to spend it on. Relationships came and went, all dissolving when the novelty ran out for them, when they found just a lonely man living a private life, and none of the things they had wanted him for.

Maya was different. The first moment he saw her, he fell harder than he had ever fallen before. She was radiant, standing up there in a black evening dress being introduced as their pianist for the evening. It was a tedious pre-filming party, in a function room rented out in a London hotel. Ka had landed the misfortune of getting stuck at a table the other side of the room to Les and Rob, the director and producer respectively. The butler dude was introducing Maya in a booming voice that Ka reckoned must have sent her deaf in her left ear.

The beautiful woman took her seat at the piano and slipped off her shoes. Ka had never been versed in classical music, but what she played was the most beautiful music he had ever heard. An irritating woman sitting to his left was pawing his arm in an attempt to get his attention, something she had been trying to do since they had arrived. Ka fobbed her off with half an answer, barely listening as he focussed on the piano and its player.

The lengthy set of pieces he later came to know as the Goldberg Variations ended far too soon. Then Ka realised that Les and Rob were standing at the piano, before moving to block his view of the dark haired beauty. Ka had no recollection of them arriving there.

He jumped up out of his seat, perhaps a little too fast before making his way over to join them. Attempting nonchalance, Ka rested his elbow on the raised shiny black lid, realising the impossibility of that position. He adjusted himself as Les was encouraging the girl to play some Jazz. She beamed a smile so bright that Ka’s heart nearly stopped, as she broke in to some of the finest jazz he had ever heard. Or perhaps it was just that she was playing it.

He stood there staring at her in fascination, something that was not lost on Les and Rob. At the end of the party, they invited her back to their flat, something Ka fervently agreed with, as the three of them convinced her it was a great idea.

Back at their flat, Maya was looking at the high Victorian ceilings and large sash windows framed with cream drapes. Ka nabbed them a pair of armchairs before anyone else procured them. As he slid himself into the chair, he wondered at the homosapien jelly he had turned into because of this woman.

Their idle chatter had turned into relationship talk. He was rattled, an inner turmoil bubbling, something previously unknown to him. He couldn’t let her know how much she affected him, or he felt that she’d run a mile.

“To be honest, I’ve not been with someone in a fair while,” proffered Ka, to Maya’s comment about having never had a serious relationship. She is so young, what am I thinking? Thought Ka. I have at least twenty years on her; I am old enough to be her father.

“So you expect me to believe you are celibate, all monk-like, perhaps?” her eyes were wide with shock, but he could see her mouth twitching at the corners. Ka gave himself a sharp mental rebuke to not say the wrong thing.

“Of course not, I am after all, a man,” replied Ka, his eyebrows reaching for the heavens while his eyes searched for a suitable spot to rest, but not replaceing anywhere. “I just can’t seem to replace the right person,” he continued, much to his internal disgust. “And wading through lots of wrong women is one thing, but spending time with wrong women is something else entirely!”

If the world could have swallowed him up right then and there, he would have been eternally grateful. The phrase ‘Foot in Mouth Syndrome’, as Maya later termed it, didn’t quite cover it.

“Hmm, wading through, that’s an interesting way of putting it...” she mused, grinning.

“You know what I meant, didn’t you? Oh dear,” he sighed, wondering how long before she got up and walked away, lost to him forever. Normally he was so together, so able to talk women into bed when he wanted to. He’d never cared that much whether they said yes or no. This was something new entirely.

“Would you like a shovel?” Maya offered, still grinning.

“I suspect it’s reached the need for a JCB”

“Nah, you could climb out of that hole with a JCB”

“So you don’t think I deserve a ladder then?”

“Well, you get brownie points for honesty, that’d give you a couple of rungs I guess.”

“How far does that get me out then?”

“Haven’t decided yet...”

Their faces were nearly meeting now, having got closer and closer during the dialogue as they each leaned forward in their respective seats. The spell was broken by a Les shaped apparition sticking itself in between them.

“Oh sorry, did I interrupt something” wondered Les innocently, as they jumped apart.

“No, nothing at all,” Ka glared at his apparently oblivious friend. “I’ll go get us drinks.”

Ka realised as he got up that what they’d been smoking had gone to his head. He later found out that Les had taken that opportunity to warn Maya not to break his heart, and that she’d been surprised to say the least, as she had felt it was her heart that was in danger, not Ka’s. He was amazed that hadn’t scared her away.

It was clear that Les realised Ka’s nervous behaviour was highly out of character, and was worried about his falling for a girl so hard. Perhaps he was so nervous because he had smoked so much. Perhaps he had smoked so much because of the nerves. Either way, as Ka entered the kitchen area the world went black on him.

Ka awoke to see what he thought was an angel’s face leaning over his, looking very concerned.

“Hey sweetie, looks like you took a little nap,” said Maya gently, smiling a tender smile. Ka looked around, wondering where he was and what he was doing on the ground.

“I’m good,” he grunted, struggling to his feet. Maya took his hand and led him back to his chair, to a chorus of cheers and applause.

“From six feet tall to flat on his back, we give you...Ka!” yelled Les at the top of his lungs to more cheers and clapping as Ka sank as far down in the chair as he could fit his lanky frame. Maya was laughing at his obvious embarrassment, her brown eyes twinkling as they laughed along with her mouth.

Ka’s reverie was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell, the sound of impending doom. The other Ka.

A familiar voice emanated from the hallway, and Ka rose to greet himself, unable to escape the realisation that it all was truly real.