The extra girl

A dim light illuminates what appears to be a scientific laboratory, with high-precision tools and artifacts. There is a giant flat screen that looks like a computer, which almost takes up an entire wall; below it there is a keyboard with different signs written in a completely unknown language. To the left of this screen there is a wall made of what appears to be glass or simply a transparent wall where you can see the dark universe with some stars scattered in the blackness. If you get close to it and look down, you can see that the universe and the void are still there. It seems that the room is part of a barracks in the middle of nowhere. But what draws the most attention in that room is what appears to be a naked female human specimen. Her skin is completely white, she has long black hair like the black of space that can be seen through the wall-window; her eyes are closed. She is approximately 18 years old on Earth, 1.75 meters tall, and thin in appearance. She is inside what appears to be a jar with a liquid that keeps her protected and immobile.

To one side there is a machine that seems to monitor and check her vital signs. On the small screen it shows a summary of her condition every minute. Everything seems to be going well. Everything is silent, like every day in that room, where they occasionally enter to check on the human. The creatures that have her there want her for a specific, absolutely secret purpose.

However, this day is the exception to the calm. A loud warning sound can be heard coming from outside the room and running through the corridors. It means that there is an intruder in the barracks and all the creatures must be on the lookout for him and exterminate him. The sound can also be heard inside the room in a softer version.

Suddenly, from across the room, the door slams open and the human figure of a man appears, illuminated by the flickering lights coming from the hallway. Unlike her, he is taller and stronger; however, he looks about the same age; he has brown hair, his eyes are a little slanted, but still expressive. He wears a one-piece suit, made of some strong, light and flexible material, which fits his body perfectly.

He takes a quick look around the room, checking if it’s the right one. It seems he’s done this same procedure several times in the other rooms, looking for something he wants with all his might, ignoring what it could be. His eyes give him away when he notices the jar containing the human girl. He feels confusion and heartbeats coming out of his chest for a feeling he couldn’t explain, as if his instinct knew it without his reason and conscience being aware of it. He presses some buttons located on the side of the door and this makes it close. He walks slowly as if he doesn’t believe what he’s seeing. As he gets closer, he extends his arm forward, wanting to be with her as soon as possible. Although he doesn’t know exactly why. Seeing her more closely and admiring her features awakened a part of him that he never knew could exist, similar to a distant dream in another reality or planet...

-I’m sorry, but I don’t share your feelings, although I really appreciate you telling me. - said Agata embarrassed, thinking very carefully about each word that came out of her mouth. She didn’t want to break Leo’s heart, who had decided to confess his love to her after so much thinking about finding the ideal place to do it and for them to be alone.

-Well- Leo began to say, trying to speak clearly so that his words would not be drowned in the emptiness he now felt in his heart. -I will accept your decision. After all, I was prepared to accept the consequences of no and yes- he said as if to encourage himself.

-You are very nice and a good person. I am glad you think that way. But maybe…

“Maybe?” Leo interrupted before Agatha could finish her sentence. She felt her spirits returning and she could have hope.

-I don’t know, feelings can change direction out of nowhere- Agata consoled him with a smile as she saw Leo come back to life.

-Thank you- she simply said, but inside she thought that it was one of the reasons why he loved her and she wouldn’t let things stay like that. She had to come up with a plan.

“Her comforting smile is one of the main reasons.” And I watched her walk away from there, moving her long black hair from side to side, until her figure, in the distance, looked like a dot. The scent of jasmine from her perfume could still be perceived in the air.

Although it was only a fleeting memory, it seemed as if he had lived it at that moment. A little confused, he realized that that Leo was him and the girl in the jar was Agatha, for whom he still felt love. But where was that place that had nothing to do with this one? Why did his instinct take him to Agatha? Why is she still locked in that kind of jar and he had just escaped from another one just like it?

Moments ago, Leo realized that he was trapped just like Agatha. He opened his eyes in shock and tried with all his might to break the glass. Fortunately, he didn’t try too hard; he felt that he had a greater strength than he ever had before. If he ever lived before, because he understood that he was empty. He didn’t know who he was, or why he was there. The only thing he knew was that he had to leave and look for something that he promised to find in that immense unknown place. He looked away from Agatha and observed the dark universe through the window. Is that place where they were together somewhere in that immense darkness? In that way, the journey began again...

Smiles and laughter can be seen everywhere at the fair they hold every summer in the town. A few months had already passed since the declaration. Leo would take advantage of this celebration to conquer Agata; he is about to complete the plan he made a week in advance, reviewing very carefully and without hesitation what he was going to do in a few moments. First, he went to the side of the stage where the musicians were performing and taking advantage of the fact that they were going to cool off a bit, without anyone seeing him, he went to them and asked the vocalist to dedicate his next song to Agata anonymously. “That he loves her very much in secret, however he has been accompanying her for a long time.” He added to the dedication.

Leo kept a safe distance, but from his place he could see Agata’s profile, which he liked to admire so much. She was excited because it was the first time someone dedicated a song to her. Her friends were elated thinking about who the mysterious man could be. “Roberto, Luis or maybe Hugo,” they all said at the same time. But none of them thought about the possibility that it could be Leo, one of the friends Agata always counted on. The only one who thought about that possibility was herself, who blushed when she went back in time and relived the encounter they had a few months ago.

Blurry memories then become clear again.

After trying and spending all his money on the shooting range, Leo chose a big teddy bear for Agatha. He heard from a reliable source that she saw the bear yesterday and also played to win it, without success. Now she would be happy to see the teddy bear on her doorstep.

-You should have seen her happy face, she looked so tender with the bear- said Claudia, a friend who witnessed the moment, to Leo, with whom she was speaking on the phone.

“I’m glad you liked it!” he exclaimed while in his mind he imagined the scene that had just been told to him.

-So tomorrow is the last phase of the plan, right?

-Yes, I’m counting on you and Lucia to do it. I hope she realizes that I love her and accepts my feelings, or is it because she thinks I’m ugly? Has she told you?

-No, quite the opposite- said Claudia laughing. -We’ll see tomorrow.

The images fade, taking him to another time, into a mental lapse.

Finally, Leo was going to give his last attempt. He would surprise Agatha with another declaration, but not just any one, but one in the house of mirrors. To do so, he would bring a poster asking her to be his girlfriend, written with markers and glitter of all colors, just like she likes. Also, in one corner there was the image of a dog with pleading eyes.

Once inside, she would put the poster board in a place where it would reflect in whatever mirrors she was looking at. “If this doesn’t work, I’m afraid I’ll give up,” she said, though, and would push the negative comments out of her mind and picture her and him holding hands, walking and laughing.

-They’re bringing Agata- Claudia whispers to him.

Leo thanks her with a thumbs up and goes to hide to the side, where he could see the arrival of Agata and another friend who was going to help her guide her to the ideal place where the reflected image of her poster could arrive. A few minutes passed when Leo received a message on his cell phone saying “love is close to the target” with the image of a heart on the side. Leo couldn’t help but smile, both because of the message and the nervousness he felt about the answer he was going to receive after this.

He hurriedly went to look for the place he had indicated with an “x” on the floor. Since the place was confusing and was in some kind of labyrinth, he became more nervous than he was because he couldn’t find it. “I should have put another sign or made the x bigger. At least I should have made a map!” he said to himself angrily. Time was unlimited and if he missed the opportunity, he would have to think of another way. He felt his heart rate calm down when he finally found the small, slightly blurry “x” and when he looked ahead, in the mirror, he saw Agatha. Without wasting any more time, he picked up the sign.

Suddenly, all the mirrors in front of Agata could read the message on the pink card: “Do you want to be my girlfriend?” which moved her and excited her so much that tears could be seen rolling down her cheeks. As if in a high reflection, she began to look for where the image came from.

“This way,” her companion pointed out when she saw her searching desperately, before she ran into a mirror.

It was the most surprising thing she had ever been shown, along with the last time at the concert and the games. Along the way she realized how much she was worth to him and how much he was worth to her now. Now she knew the answer he was going to give her and she should have told him from the first time...

He came back to reality after his mind went through a series of images that appeared and disappeared quickly. They had nothing to do with what happened in the house of mirrors: strange creatures, incredibly large ships, people screaming in horror, a total disaster. Now that everything made sense and linking the facts, he came to a conclusion about why they are in this place: they were kidnapped by them, they erased all memory of their life on Earth and for some reason they have them there; but what got to him the most was that he separated from Agata. He doesn’t remember if he accepted her feelings or not or if that happened before giving her the answer; and if she is the way he was before entering the room, it means that like him, she doesn’t remember absolutely anything. Everything will start from scratch after getting her out of that kind of prison.

He approached the machine that checked her vital signs to see if there was a button that would open the jar. It would be a bad idea if he used his strength to break it and hurt her. Besides, he didn’t want to draw attention to himself, since he remembered that the creatures that had already been alerted by the alarm outside and the mess, he made in the room that contained it could come for him.

-Why can’t I touch her? - he was surprised to see that his hand went through the device. He tried to touch other things, even the same bottle that contained Agatha and he saw the same result. The only thing that remained solid were the walls and the windows. It seemed too strange to him and he was beginning to suspect, until suddenly, in the midst of desperation, Leo felt an electric touch on his back making him fall instantly to the floor, without giving him the chance to turn around and see the attacker.

-It’s not easy to escape from us- said Agata in a language completely different from those on her planet Earth, while she swept her long black hair back- You didn’t realize that it was a simple mirage, however, this is how we realize that you are not useful for our purposes.- she paused and whispered in a comforting way, as if the boy was listening to her- although I can’t forget you just because I remember your face.

She swept her jet-black hair away with the same gesture and looked at him with a cold, robotic gaze. The mirage plan had worked like a hook to catch him.

That was the final farewell.