The M Wars pt. 1

We are at war. Not with any foreign countries. Not with any alien invaders. But with ourselves. My name is Donald, and this is how it all began...

We were heading over to research lab B, giddy over the results that we had to show. Suddenly, we heard a scream coming from down the hallway. 2 of our security guards were forcefully dragging someone along the hall.

"They're coming! I'm telling you!"

As the guards passed, I caught a glimpse of the man being forcefully showed the exit. It was Professor Stanton. A lanky man, his lab coat always seemed a bt too large for him. Never thought it could be used to drag him around though. With the muscles on those security guards, they had no problem dragging him around.

Stanton saw me, and looked me in the eye.

"Please, you have to believe me! I know they're coming. If we don't stop them now, it'll be too late!"

I didn't respond to him. In fact, I didn't know HOW to respond to him. This was a man who was always known to be always calm, and calculating. He was the pride and joy of our Fringe Science Research Facility. What could have caused him to end up like this?

Anyway, we put it behind us, and mainly forgot about him. Until recently.

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"Aaarrghhh!!!"

A let out a scream unknowingly. Alice rushed towards me from our bedroom. Even though I was having difficulty breathing, and had cold sweat, I assured her that everything was alright. After all, how could I tell her what I saw? She'd just say that I was seeing things.

After a while, I went back to bed. Alice was already sound asleep. I combed away her red hair, planted a kiss on her forehead, and went to sleep.

I didn't experience that...'sighting' again. Until two months later.

This time, it was much more clear. I knew, I had to tell Alice about it this time.

After dinner, I sat her down at the couch in our living room, telling her that 'we need to talk'. She had this look of concern on her face. Too much TV taught her that whenever married couples mention 'we need to talk', it's something really really bad.

I took a deep breath.

"Honey, recently I've been seeing..."

Before I could finish, Alice stood up and blurted,

"Please please please don't tell me you're seeing someone else."

I placed my hands on her shoulders, and looked her right in the eye.

"Honey, I love you, and I married you. Trust me, I'm not having an affair. Now, please take a seat."

Alice breathed a sigh of relief, and sat back down. Her face, which previously was so full of frowns that her freckles seemed almost invisible now seems as if a huge burden were lifted off her chest. I started again.

"As I was saying...recently I've been seeing...things."

"Things?"

"Yes, things. I can't quite describe it. You remember that night two months ago when I screamed in the bathroom?"

"Yeah? Was it because of this 'thing' that you saw?"

"It was. And what I'm about to tell you now might sound ridiculous, but I want you to hear me out."

She leaned forward, and held my hand.

"Baby, we're scientists. Fringe scientists, to be exact. What is there that I won't believe?"

"Alright...here goes. In the bathroom, I saw that my reflection...it wasn't doing what I was doing."

The moment she heard that, she couldn't help but let out a snicker.

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I fumbled my way into the bathroom. As a result of that conversion with Alice a month ago, I now have to wear those portable mini-cameras on my forehead wherever I go to the toilet.

"This is to prove what you said", she says.

She seems to be having more fun seeing me trying to put that damn thing on than in proving anything.

"But, if this is the only way to prove what I said to her, then so be it." I gave myself a pep-talk, and went to brush my teeth.

As I was finishing, I placed my toothbrush at the side of the sink, as I normally do. But before I proceeded to wash my face (those cameras are water-proof, apparently), I took a peek at the mirror. The camera recorded undeniable proof that what I said was true, that it wasn't just my imagination.

In the reflection, I saw myself, wearing the exact same camera on the forehead. However, he still had the toothbrush in his mouth.

I ran out of the bathroom, yelling for Alice.

"I got it! I got the proof that you wanted!"

Whatever funny comeback that she had disappeared from her mind when she viewed the footage. She could clearly see me putting down the toothbrush, only to see the other 'me' with the toothbrush still in his mouth.

She looked at me with the most serious expression I've ever seen in years.

"Baby, we have to investigate this."

"Investigate?"

"I think that based on the work that we do, there's gotta be SOMETHING that talks about this."

And so, the next day, we went to work as usual. However, during our break hour, we went into the data archives instead, looking for whatever could point us towards the cause of this phenomenon. The archives were vast. Sure, everything was stored within computers and databases, but it was hard to even begin our search.

We searched for whatever was related to 'mirrors'. The results came to anything from spirits haunting the mirror, to our future reflected in the mirror, but none of them matched what I saw. Finally, I found something that could be related.

"Honey, over here! Come look at this!"

She rushed over to my computer as fast as possible.

"Parallel dimensions?"

"Yes, look at what it says here. 'People from parallel dimensions can live exact same lives, but with very minute differences'."

"But it never says anything about actually seeing those people in the mirror, now did it?"

"I think it's as good a place to start as any."

As I read further into the document with Alice, I came upon a link.

"Huh, what's this? 'The Mirror Men'?"

I tried clicking on it. It returned with a glaring red error stating that the record is no longer available.

"Deleted? But we never delete anything, not even junk about spider-ducks!"

"Hey! Spider-ducks might be real!"

I gave Alice a quick hard stare. She gave an awkward smile, and focused back on the screen.

"Wait...here, under the link. Chief researcher...Professor Stanton?"

We looked at each other, both of us puzzled. Of course we remembered him. He was our lecturer. We also remembered him being dragged out of the lab, kicking and screaming. I sighed. With a few clicks on the computer, I managed to find out where the professor stays. Guess it's time we the good professor a visit.