It Follows (A short Fiction Based on #108 Inkwell Prompt)

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Two strange things happened that Day.

Theodore had a big house in the countryside. He was rich, but the way he got all that money and a house this big was questionable. But, he was smart enough to cover his tracks. He knew what price he had to pay if he were to be found out. What he did to get it all was in an “immoral” way.

On one of the long days of summer, he woke up in the morning to use the bathroom. It was about 4 A.M. As he splashed water on his face, he noticed something strange in the mirror. His reflection was moving as if it had a life of its own. Theodore robbed his eyes, thinking he was dreaming. He noticed an uneasiness from his reflection, as if he wanted to get out of the mirror and enter the real world.

Theodore panicked. Suddenly it happened, his reflection came out of the mirror. He attempted to grab it with his hands and push it back inside the mirror. Theodore and his reflection started to fight.

“Let me go!” his reflection shouted, trying to dart past him.

“Not so fast,” Theodore said, taking his reflection by the arm.

“What's going on, why are you trying to leave?” Theodore said as he knew he was getting out of his grip.

“I can't stay inside anymore, I am suffocating. I need to get out, I need to follow my destiny, he is asking for me, he wants me,” his reflection said in a panic. He managed to get away from him.

“What are you talking about, your destiny is my destiny, You belong to the mirror, you have to get back here. Get back here!” Theodore shouted.

He managed to get away. He was standing not far from him. Furthermore, he looked exactly like him, an exact copy of himself. He had a sly smile on his face. He unlike Theodore knew what his next step was.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. As he was pondering what to do, his reflection ran from the open window. Theodore went to open the door. It was a mysterious woman wearing a black dress and a hat who had an English accent. She was nervous and jittery, “Theo, I know all of your secrets. I know about Celeste and Adeline, I have a deal for you.”

“Who the hell are you?” Theodore asked angry. “No one who knows me knows about my dealings with Celeste and Adeline. So, do me a favor and tell me who sent you to my house?”

“I can help you,” the mysterious woman insisted. “Here, take this box, it will protect you for what is to come, but you have to contain it because it could be dangerous,” she gave a card along with the box to Theodore. He took, and then he watched her as she drove her car away. He completely forgot about his reflection. Likewise, he looked at the name on the card. There was a number and a name: Miss Aubrey.

Theodore knew that he made mistakes in his life and those mistakes can cause him his life or even more his soul. He hesitated for a moment before closing the door. He finally locked the door behind him and went inside. Furthermore, he looked at the box, wondering what was inside it. Likewise, he felt a strange sensation in his chest. An energy was coming straight from the box and going into his chest. He got extremely curious to know what was inside the box. He finally opened the box.

A blinding light emanated from the box and lit the room. There was a small dragon inside. It had wings that shimmered in the dark atmosphere of the room. The creature was in fury and looked at Theodore with curious eyes. He reached out to touch the little dragon, but as his fingers got close to the dragon's wings, he felt a pain in his chest again. The box fell from his hands and the dragon got out of the box.

He kneeled to get the dragon back to the box that he heard a hiss from behind him.

“You shouldn't have opened that box, Theo,” It was his reflection talking to him. He came back.” You've let it loose, now it's going to destroy us both, I am going after it before I get united with my lord,” he continued.

“You have to go back inside the mirror!” Theodore shouted at his reflection.

Theodore went towards him to take him back inside the mirror. This made him run, and Theodore followed him to the woods near his big house.

He was panting and sweating, but he couldn't reach his reflection. As he was moving forward, he heard a group of women chanting.

“Damn, they are conjuring the spirit again,” he knew it because he knew those people, they frequently got in touch in parties and gatherings, and they have asked him to join their cult permanently.

He did join, being influenced by Celeste and Adeline, the twins who were leaders of the cult. However, he was in a limbo state as to continue or not being one of the dark lord's followers. They were pressuring him to choose and no matter today's occurrences was because of him deciding what side he was on more quickly.

He was just a poor worker in the agricultural grounds. He never knew what having riches felt like until he was approached by these twins to do something for their “Dark Lord.”

Now he thinks that it is too exhausting to be part of a cult and there is so much strangeness knocks at your door. He wanted peace and quiet, but he wanted the money, so he did it.

What he had to do was to open a portal and put someone, a Mr. Johnson, a knowledgeable occultist, also the previous owner of the house in an alternate universe. The reason was to get rid of him because he was making annoying comments about the cult's “dark lord” and apparently Theodore has some talent in opening portals and the cult members knew this fact about him. They sense it in people.

However, they weren't allowed to have any sessions in his property, and it was too late to stop them. So, he tried not to be seen, but he saw his reflection go towards them.

They welcomed the reflection as they noticed the texture of his being is very different from those of humans, they quickly noticed that he is not of this world.

“I want him, sacrifice it to me,” the dark lord, which was a hairy creature with thorns, shouted at the women who were chanting and worshiping him.

“What?! Sacrifice?! You tricked me! This is not what you promised me. I want to have a life of my own!” The reflection shouted at the dark lord.

The women took Theo's reflection.

Celeste and Adeline have told Theo before that their “dark lord” can alternate events to his liking. He has power over his followers and Theo is now one of them and there is no going back. Even if he left the cult.

“He must be the one who manipulated my reflection to get out of the mirror, “Theo thought to himself. “But Why? What does he want from him, or better to say, from me?! Maybe he wants to have more powers, maybe he collects humans talents,” He knew that if he approached the dark lord, he would die, but if he didn't save his reflection, he would slowly die. He had to do something.

They grabbed his reflection, and as they were offering him to the dark lord, something happened.

Suddenly, Theo sensed something moving behind him. The dragon who grew a bit older was behind him. He looked like a small dragon. He rode on it, and he flew on top of the ritual. A fire came out of the dragon's mouth and hit the dark lord's head. The dark lord, who was chanting something in an otherworldly language in the ears of Theo's reflection, let him go.

The reflection went towards the house quickly and terrified. The dragon then became small and Theodore took him by his hands and ran towards the house. He without thinking straight opened the portal in the house. He could do it with his hands and just thinking about it.

The dragon went through the portal and was gone for now.

That dragon helped him, but now he was in that alternate world as Mr. Johnson, maybe it brings him back. He didn't think this through.

The worry was eating at him. He didn't want it anymore. He has chosen a path that was of a dark nature, something that he didn't have much knowledge. Furthermore, he didn't know how to get occurrences like this under his control because he knew he was being watched by the dark lord. Not only that, but he wanted to leave everything behind.

As he was laying in his bed, he thought about that woman Aubrey who gave him the box containing the dragon. He called her, and they set up a meeting in a cafeteria that very same day. It was about 11 A.M.

At the Cafeteria:

“Who are you and why did you give me that magical dragon and why my heart hurt when I opened the box?” Theodore asked insistently, while he was amazed by Aubrey's beauty.

“The beauty was out of this world,” he thought to himself.

“I wanted to help you, so you help me! Now that you used what I gave you, you owe me, these species of dragons use the energy of the heart chakra to battle the enemies of their owners! That's why it becomes small after the battle because the energy is used! He wanted to help you! By accepting it as a gift, you accepted it to help you! But now I need your help!” Aubrey asked, looking with her piercing black eyes into Theodore's eyes.

“God! You are beautiful!” Theodore said, not realizing that he said those words out loud.

Aubrey blushed a little and without a proper response she blurted out these words, which confused Theodore, “I need you to get my father out from that parallel universe!”

“What?!!! You're His daughter?! I didn't know he had a wife, let alone a daughter!” Theodore said surprised.

“I know I did wrong to trap your father inside that world, but I can't get him out!” Theodore continued.

“Yes, you can, I can track the dragon and find its location in that parallel universe. I can order him to find my father!” Aubrey said impatiently.

“How can you do this? Is this dragon your pet?” Theodore asked.

“The same way you can open portals and yes it is my pet,” Aubrey replied.

Theodore accepted to help Aubrey, not because he thought he might have a chance with her, but because he was tired of this cat and mouse game with the dark lord. He wanted everything back to normal.

Together, they located Mr. Johnson and the dragon in that parallel universe. He was fighting with his other self in that world.

Theodore took his hand in that world and with much might on his part he pulled him to this world, and then the dragon followed.

He then apologized to him. He was angry at him, but he knew it was all because of the cult. It's something that follows them to their grave because both are outcasts in the eyes of the cult.

Theodore stayed with Mr. Johnson and Aubrey in their house because he had nowhere else to go, and also because the three of them were more powerful against the dark lord. It was Mr. Johnson's suggestion that they stay together.

At The Table:

The day ended with them having dinner.

“We should stay together for now,” Mr. Johnson said to Aubrey and Theodore.

“What a strange day it was, one I will always remember,” Theodore said to Aubrey.

“This is only the beginning, It will get normal, I promise,” Aubrey said and looked at her father with a smile as if they hid something from Theodore.

Theodore knew something was wrong. But for now he decided to stay with them.