“Get back here you little !” Taekwoon’s father calls after him with a broken bottle. Taekwoon races up the stairs to his room, his dad on his heels. Taekwoon hadn’t known what had gotten into his father this morning; it was too early for him to be drinking. It’s not like he could, the moment Taekwoon stepped into the kitchen that morning he had accused the boy of dinking his liquor. In an ideal world, Taekwoon’s father wouldn’t have owned that liquor in the first place. That aside, Taekwoon was innocent, anyone sane would be able to smell him breath and know he couldn’t have drank all that in one sitting. So what the heck was going on?

“Get out here and be the man you should be!” Taekwoon’s father shouts, pounding on the door. Taekwoon has his back to the door, trying desperately to keep it shut. If Taekwoon’s father wanted to hurt the boy, his wife wasn’t here to stop him; not that she’d be much help anyway.

“Father, I didn’t drink your liquor. I swear!” The boy squeaks as the door opens, sending him face first to the floor.

“Then who did? A ghost? Bull.” Taekwoon’s father spits, letting the broken bottle fall to the ground and smash into a billion pieces. Taekwoon’s father picks up one of the shard and chucks it his son; Taekwoon ducks, only to have his cheek nicked. “Clean that up. The next time you touch my liquor, will be your last” he mutters before heading back downstairs. Taekwoon draws a hand to his cheek, pulling it away bloody. He sighs and gets ready for school.

~

“Hey what happened to your cheek?” Ken asks outside the school gate. “What did he do this time?”

“N-nothing, I scratched myself…by accident” he lies.

“Right…Taekwoon, you know you are allowed to stand up to people, if your life is threatened” Taekwoon could hardly call the morning, a threat to his life; those death threats twice a week; although Taekwoon’s father would be drunk, and wouldn’t remember what he said later.

“I’m okay, don’t worry about me” Taekwoon says, leaving Ken behind at the gate.

“Psst” Someone calls outside the front door. Taekwoon looks around but sees no one until he hears it again. “PSSS” right in his ear. Taekwoon turns to and jumps to find a hooded body behind him.

“Who are you?” Taekwoon asks.

“Don’t go through the mirror” the cloaked man utters.

“What?” Taekwoon could not believe what he was hearing; how did he know about the mirror?

“I said, don’t go through the mirror” the man says more forcefully. Taekwoon squeezes his eyes shut as the cloaked man clutches his collar. “Put it back in the attic where you found it, don’t acknowledge its existence and whatever you do, don’t break the mirror.”

“Okay.. okay” Taekwoon whimpers, bravely opening one eye; the man is gone. That was definitely weird.

“Leo! Are you okay” Ken calls running up to the boy. “You were clutching your neck as if someone was choking you”

“You mean… you mean you didn’t see him?” Taekwoon asks, even he hadn’t noticed he was clutching his own neck.

“See who?” Ken asks.

“T-the cloaked man, he was right” Taekwoon tries to explain, but nothing he says wipes the skeptical look off of his friend’s face.

“Are you feeling okay? Maybe you should lie down for a bit before first period.”

“I’m feeling fine I—”

“I suppose you’re going to tell me you had that dream again as well” Ken interrupts.

“Yes but—”

“Maybe you should get rid of that mirror; it’s given you nightmares”

“It’s not—”

“And messing with your brain” Ken cuts him off once more.

“The dreams are not messing with my brain, they’re real; come I’ll show you” Taekwoon says grabbing Ken’s arm.

“I don’t think we should be skipping schoo—WAH!” Ken yelps as Taekwoon yanks him forward.

~

“Okay, now just wait a minute…” Taekwoon says adjusting the mirror. “In about one moment it’s going to shimmer, and let us through” the two wait staring at the glass; Ken anxiously checking his watch every few seconds.

“Taekwoon, I know you want to prove that you’re not crazy but—”

“Just wait” Taekwoon interrupts.

“We’re already missing first period—”

“SHHHH” Taekwoon whispers harshly. Taekwoon was determined to prove a point; but as he minutes passed by slowly, he was only beginning to believe that he was just crazy.

“Wait I should say the magic words um…” Taekwoon pauses trying to remember the inscription on the mirror. “The uh… the other side…the other side is not far” Taekwoon finishes theatrically pointing at the mirror; no luck.

“Taekwoon, I’m going to school, my mom will kill me if she finds out I’m not at school” Ken says before walking out of Taekwoon’s room. Taekwoon sighs and falls back on his bed; great, now Ken thought he was crazy. The boy sighs before debating on whether making a late grand entrance was worth all the grief he’d get from everyone else anyway. Taekwoon sits up, only to see the mirror shimmering.

“Oh now you co-operate.” He says balling his hands to fists. “Well…there is better than here” he sighs before stepping into the briefly unsolid surface. Just like before, Taekwoon was in his room on the other side.

“I knew all this was real” he says smiling to himself. Taekwoon descends the stairs, two at a time; hoping to see his parents again. Instead he merely sees a card on the table, with a plate of breakfast.

“What’s this? ‘You’re early, my dear. We’ll be back later, I made you some eggs in case you’re still hungry’” Taekwoon reads off the card; his stomach growls on cue. He wondered is his parents still had to work in this other world; his school happened at night here, so many other things could be possible at this point. Taekwoon finishes everything on his plate before heading out the door.

The sun is shining bright, the atmosphere quiet, as usual. Taekwoon walks up the street; it’s mostly deserted, with a few neighbors here and there tending their front lawns. Taekwoon eventually gets to his school and finds himself wanting to explore the empty building. The halls echo slightly as the boy examines every inch of the place he once and still sometimes called hell. The bathroom were abandoned but yet filled with awful memories of swirlies, wedgies and ongoing torture.

The boy soon finds himself walking to his locker, after becoming bored with the empty class rooms.

“Hongbin, you’re here too” Taekwoon observes when he sees the boy leaning against his locker. Hongbin looks at him and smiles, showing off his dimples. Taekwoon can’t help but feel like he made the right decision to come here again; despite the cloaked man’s words.

“What are you—” Taekwoon is cut off by Hongbin’s lips capturing his own. Taekwoon’s heart leaps against his rib cage as Hongbin’s hand’s attach themselves to his neck. Taekwoon barely has a moment or think or even blink before Hongbin has pulled away, will Taekwoon’s bottom lip still in his mouth.

“Why don’t you notice me at school” Taekwoon says suddenly. “I try to wave at you, but you barely give me a second glance.”

“Because I’m not the Hongbin from your world, I’m not going to be same.” Hongbin says smiling. “Hopefully I’ll be the better though” Taekwoon’s cheeks redden as he finds himself leaning in for another kiss; this one slower and more passionate.

This time Taekwoon pulls away, feeling slightly dazed.

“You should go see Ken” Hongbin says, his hands still resting against Taekwoon’s neck. Taekwoon nods and pulls out of Hongbin’s grasp. The boy waves to him as he makes his way down the hallway. Ken is out against the back of the school with a few other people.

“Ken?” Taekwoon calls to the boy with jelled hair and a cigarette in his mouth. Sunglasses where his dorky seeing glasses would normally be and with people the two normally despised.

“Who are you?” Ken says blowing out a puff of smoke. Taekwoon’s heart drops, his only friend didn’t know him.

“It’s me, Leo” he says hoping his nickname will at least ring a bell. “We’re best friends”

“Leo, that’s a sick name but I don’t know you” Ken says putting his cigarette out against the brick wall. “Let’s go guys” he says nodding at the few boys and girls with spiked and coloured hair who were standing nearby.

“How did he not remember me?” Taekwoon asks himself; as much as he often ignored Ken and pushed him aside, he felt jealous that another pack of students were following him around. He already missed the way the Ken would wait up even when told not to; and always try and cheer him up.

“Hey Leo, what’s going on buddy?” Ravi sings wrapping an around his shoulders.

“We were wondering if you’d come early today” N says pinching his cheeks.

“I’m not in the mood you guys” Taekwoon says walking away from the two. Navi simply shrugs and walk off the other direction. Taekwoon walks home staring at the ground; his parents are waiting for him when he opens the front door.

“Hi hon, did you see your friends?” His mother asks hugging him tightly. Taekwoon nods, still hovering under a dark storm cloud.

“Son, are you okay?” His father asks.

“Yeah” he answers, putting on a fake smile for his parents. They at least made an effort to be happy for him hear, it wouldn’t be fair to burden them with his worries.

“I think I’m going to go home now” Taekwoon says quietly. “I’ll come back tomorrow”

“Oh course, dear” his mother says smiling. “We will always be here for you.” Taekwoon nods to his parents and heads up the stairs. Taekwoon crawls back through the mirror without thinking and is in his own room once more. He takes the rest of the day off school, too embarrassed to arrive late for third. But he swore to himself, he would get Ken to this mirror world, one way or another. He needed to see his other self, he needed to see the world altogether.

A/N:

Found this on the interweb^^ totally I don’t own it, wish I did