Chapter Three
(Elizabeth's P.O.V.)

I hadn't heard anything from Rachell for about thirty minutes, and I was still frantically searching the upstairs. The layout seemed vaguely familiar, like I knew each and every room personally, I just didn't know why. I could almost see people in elaborate costumes in the rooms. Ghosts of fantasies, I suppose.

It seemed I was halfway down the hallway when I entered a room that absolutely took my breath away. Its coloring was varying dark blues and black. It was so familiar..
I entered the room cautiously, softly closing the door behind me. The room was about the size of a normal bedroom - possibly larger to accommodate the large furniture and still have room to walk comfortably. On one wall had the bed and two bed stands that held flickering white candles. The right bed stand also had a small leather bound book with a ribbon for a marker. I walked over to the bed and sat on it, grabbing the small book as I did so. I opened it to the last page.

Not surprisingly, it held a diary.

I studied the handwriting. It looked a lot like mine. This girl must be really pretty, then. I thought to myself smugly. I looked across the room at the other wall. It had a dresser and a full length mirror. Next to the dresser on the left was an uncomfortable looking wooden chair. I crossed the room once more and ran my hand over the top of the dresser. It had been cleaned recently, the surface was oily to the touch by wood oil. I wiped my hands on my pants and set the diary down on top of the dresser. I turned to stand in front of the mirror.

"Oh my god!"

In front of me now, in the mirror was me -- except not me. The girl looked exactly like me in everyway, except she was wearing completely out of date clothing, and her hair had been put into curls. I raised my right arm and watched my mirror image lift the appropriate gloved hand. The girl was wearing a light blue dress that went down to about her shins. Then her white stockings were visible, and then her small black button up shoes.

Then something happened incredibly odd. The girl in the mirror tilted her head slightly and smiled shyly at me. I watched the girl mouth a polite

"How do you do?" and clasp her hands firmly in front of her, slightly rocking back on her heels. All I could do was stare in surprise as the girl smiled again. Then apparently something happened, because the girl whirled to face the door and ran out of the room. Which, of course, left me without a reflection.

"OH MY GOD!" I whirled around to face the door, and ran out at the sound of Rachell's exclamation, forgetting the strange mirror as I ran down the hallway to where I hoped Rachell would be.

Long forgotten lamps flickered to life as I ran down the hallway, and once I passed them they guttered and died once more. I came to a sudden halt. I passed her, I know I did. I backtracked a couple of doors and stood in front of a door that did not stand out from any of the other doors. This is it, I know it is it. I tried the door handle. Locked. This being the only locked door I had found so far, I knew something was up. Bracing my self, I readied to kick the door down. With a well aimed kick to where the door connected to the door frame, the door flew open and startled the occupant inside.

"Holy shit I'm going to die!" Rachell exclaimed.

"Holy crap Rachell!" I said wearily.

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed again, running across the room to hug me. "Holy shit, we're gonna die." she told me, breaking the hug and looking up at me.

"What's this "we" business?" I asked her.

"Dude, stop screwin around, I'm not kidding." she told me, nervously winding a piece of her hair around her finger.

"Why'd you scream?" I asked her. She looked at me sheepishly.

"If your in a creepy room all alone that you recognized, and someone broke down a mahogany door, you would scream too."

"No! Before that."

"Holy shit! I forgot! The freakin angel, dude!! The freakin angels gonna freakin kill us all, man!" she grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "Kill us, man!" I grabbed her arms and ripped them off my shoulders.

"You sound like a stoner. Tell me what happened."

"Theres this angel statue in the backyard. It had a sword and a harp, and it was looking up to the sky like this -" she tilted her head back. " - and then it started to rain, and then the lightning flashed, and then he didn't have a harp, and he was looking at me. FREAKING LOOKING AT ME!!!" she nervously ran her hand through her hair and shifted her weight anxiously. "I wanna get outta here.." she whined.

"We can't." I told her. "Theres more to this one than we know," I said, remembering the blue room. "C'm on." I continued, leaving the room. Rachell glanced back into the room a final time, quietly tried to close the door, and followed. "We should split -" I tried to say

"No." she interrupted me. "We just did that, remember? And how did that work out for us?" I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but I'm not done with this hallway. Theres still rooms I need to go though."

"Why is that important? We never did that before."

"I told you, this ones different. Come on, now!" I jogged back to where the blue room was. Somehow, I felt really attached to the room. I hesitated at turning the doorknob. Nothing was in there, I finally decided. I went to the next door over.

"What was that about?"

"Already been in there," I told her. She shrugged.

The next room was decidedly different than the others. Instead of being in the darker shades, this room was a light lavender and white. The room was arranged exactly like the blue room, except this one held more things in it. On the dresser held six carved wooden horses. It also had a brush and a hand held mirror. Somehow, I got the feeling this was Rae's room.

Rachell was standing in front of the mirror, totally engrossed with what she was seeing, not moving, her mouth gaping open. I had a feeling she was having an experience similar to the one I had in the blue room. I crossed the room and sat on the bed, reaching for the small diary that was also in this room. It looked exactly like the one in the blue room, except the handwriting wasn't even close to being as neat.

Sunday, October 30th

I had been bothering Yaroslav to tell me who he loved for some time, and today he finally told me. I guess he did not know my feelings for him, but he told me that whom he loved was my best friend, Eliza. When he told me that, I immediately excused myself. I couldn't stand to be with him, when I knew his heart belonged to another. Later he came to my room to talk to me, but I had him sent away. How can he do this to me? How can Eliza?

The party is tonight, but I think I shall not go. I think I shall sneak out and go to the cemetery. There at least I know where their hearts lie - in the ground.

I hate them.

I shut the diary and caressed the smooth cover. It all sounded so familiar. Not like some cheesy love movie that the church forbids Rachell and I to see. We sneak out to see them anyway.

We, Rachell and I, are different than normal people. The church told us that we had stopped ageing when we reached twenty. The church never told us why, or even when we were born. We don't remember our past. The church told us that the human brain was made to only remember one lifetime. We're not sure how they know that, its not like they are scientists or anything, but Rachell and I can't think up anything else that sounds better.

Rachell's rather bitter about the not aging after twenty. People keep on carding her when she goes to bars. She doesn't take well to over the hill jokes either.

"Whats up?" Rachell asked, sitting down on the bed next to me.

"Something is seriously messed up about this whole thing." I told her. She titled her head slightly.

"What?" she asked me. I stood, handing her Rae's diary.

"Here, take this. Don't read it yet, though." I told her. She traced the simple design that was sketched in on the top of the diary. "I need to show you something." I stood and left the room, and entered the room next door, the blue room. I picked up the diary and handed it to Rachell, and told her to read them both, the second one I gave her first.

When she finished she stared at me in surprise.

"Something's not right here." she told me. "Something unfinished."

()
Heh.. sorry guys!! It took.. forever and a day to put this up.. a sudden inspiration. uuh... hmm.. I didnt know it was gunna turn out like that.. heh... Well, I cant wait to see what happens in chapter four!