The Mirrorverse
Chapter 35

Ellie

Ellie was now sitting in Les and Rob’s flat, marvelling at how everything had changed. How up was down and down was nowhere to be seen. She wondered of going back to her past self, and telling her of the events of the last few days. That train of thought grew poisonous, as the guilt of not believing her Maya turned her stomach in a knot. She returned to the present, opening her eyes to the silent room, to Maya and Ka’s vacant forms sat cross legged as if in deep meditation, but she knew they weren’t there, they were on the astral plane together.

It was mission accomplished in the taking Ka too. Maya had expected to go alone, but next thing Ka had gone all vacant. Ke and Ellie had considered poking him in the eye to check if he was really gone, but Brian had refused to let them, claiming it would bring Ka straight back.

Les and Rob were still at work and Brian had nipped out so it was just the four of them. Ke was slumped down on the sofa with his feet up on the coffee table, one large, hairy toe protruding from a hole in his sock.

Ellie’s thoughts wandered to Maya and Ka’s whereabouts on the astral plane, where they had recently gone to.

It was strange being alone with Ke. They didn’t really have anything to say to each other, which seemed strange since their mirrors got on really well by the sounds of it. The other Ellie regularly picked on Maya’s Ka, yet Ke and Ellie were so far separated from them.

Ellie watched Ke out the corner of her eye, watching him keep glancing at the projecting pair, then looking the other way somewhat guiltily. He was wiggling his liberated dactyl in no particular rhythm when Ellie realised he was staring at her with an amused look on his face.

Embarrassed, she looked down, having been caught staring at his big toe. Ellie was not sure how the toe was the catalyst, but she just ceased to be embarrassed all of a sudden. Looking up, she made eye contact with Ke, laughing. He joined in, and they giggled until a herd of elephants entered the flat.

Les and Rob were back from work, and they had Brian in tow who they’d discovered lurking outside, trying to work out which buzzer it was. Ke quickly removed his foot from the table, looking up towards the ceiling and whistling quietly in the guilty manner cartoon characters often adopt. Ellie was chuckling at him when Brian joined her on the sofa, making her heart skip a beat.

Brian had this way of crinkling his eyes when he smiled that just made Ellie melt. She felt like a teenager again, as she became critically aware of the tiny section of Brian’s leg that was touching hers.

Les and Rob retired to the opposite sofa, wondering why there were a pair of human statues over by the kitchen. Ke shifted to an armchair, wiggling his toe at Ellie as he slumped into it.

It wasn’t long before they were debating the laws of physics and the multiverse generally.

“So, if the multiverse isn’t infinite, how do we know the universes even sit side by side?” she asked, racking her brain for school level physics long forgotten and far surpassed by their recent discovery of mirrorverses.

“Maybe that sofa is a quark in another universe,” said Ellie suddenly before Brian got a chance to answer, pointing at the sofa on which Les and Rob were seated.

“Quarks carry charges, sofas don’t,” Brian reasoned. Ellie already knew he wouldn’t win this one.

“I’m rather attracted to this sofa, I’ll struggle to break free of it,” she countered, trying to keep a straight face.

“Perhaps sofas are neutral, they could be neutrons or neutrinos,” interjected Rob.

“Maybe men and beer carry opposing charges,” Ellie pursued.

“Don’t you think they’d feel that they carried a charge?” Brian argued, as she smiled broadly.

“Do electrons? I mean, do they know they’re negative? Do they sit there muttering about how everything is hopeless, that there is no point?” she said, flicking her head dramatically.

“It’s like having a debate with a demented platypus,” Brian sighed. He won.

Ellie felt strangely free in a room full of strangers. She was beginning to pull free of the shadow that had lain over her head for years. Yes, up was down and east was west, and there was no question her world had tipped sideways; but it was oddly liberating.

Maya wasn’t mad, she was alive and kicking, and more importantly, sane. Ellie no longer had to listen out for a middle of the night visitor. She no longer had to look out for her friend, she could look after herself now. She wasn’t in a coma, it was time for Ellie to move on, there was nothing she could do for the Maya in the astral plane.

But there were just some things she couldn’t get over, things the other Ellie clearly hadn’t been through, things she couldn’t pin on Maya. She envied that happy girl, the Ellie who hadn’t had the same experiences as her. The same experience. Ellie’s knew it was where their lives separated, their personalities at least. And there was no need to ever let Maya know what had happened.

Everyone could just continue thinking it was all Maya that had caused it. In reality the people of this world were just broken. Ke didn’t seem too great either, he’d barely spoken a word since they’d met, while Ka talked all the time. In fact, Ellie would go on to suggest that she’d spent more quality time with Ke’s big toe than with the man himself.

Ellie laughed at Brian’s joke, catching Ke’s eye. Neither herself nor Ke were really there. Ellie didn’t know what was running through his head as he sighed, linking his fingers together on his slim abdomen.

Brian was explaining some principles of physics he’d acquired from a more technologically developed world, all of which flew straight over Ellie’s head, and over Ke’s too. Les and Rob were nodding along politely, and Ellie wondered if they’d catch enough to explain it to them later. A quick catch of Les’s eye indicated otherwise.

Brian was beautifully animated, his blue eyes twinkling under his strawberry blonde hair. Ellie felt a pull towards him from somewhere inside her navel, it wanted to be close to him. It had been so long since she had been near a man in that sense. She wanted to touch him, knowing the lightning would strike over and over. She nudged her leg over a touch to make contact, the desired electricity shooting up her leg on command. Brian turned and smiled at her, she thought a special smile, just for her. Or was it only her imagination?