Chapter 2: The Glitch's Echo
There was a heavy silence after the lid opened with a metallic hiss. The rhythmic hum from the box grew stronger as the shadows danced on the walls of the storage room. It vibrated through my bones until I couldn't tell where the box ended and I began.
There were no jewels or gold inside. Instead, two things that looked like they didn't belong in the chest were hidden inside a lining of silver-threaded silk. "The first was a small, hexagonal mirror with a smoky, colorful mist swirling across its surface."The second was a heavy key made of a metal that changed colours, from copper to violet, every time I blinked.
I first reached for the mirror. As soon as my skin touched the frame, the "glitch" I had seen on the outside of the box came back, flickering across the glass like a broken video file. The reflection of the storage room behind me started to look weird. The cupboards that had been eaten by termites were gone, and in their place were the clean, smooth walls of a room I had never seen before. It looked like it belonged fifty years in the future.
The same girl I had seen in the woods, but older, was standing in the middle of that futuristic reflection. She wasn't moving, but her eyes were locked on mine, begging me to do something.
Words started to carve themselves into the mist on the glass below her reflection. They appeared in the same fading gold as the writing on the lid:
"The same girl I had seen in the wood's polished surface, but older, was standing in the middle of that futuristic reflection."
The strong smell of jasmine was replaced by the sharp, ozone-like smell of a storm that was about to happen. My phone, which was on a nearby crate, started to ring. It wasn't my usual ringtone; it was a series of rhythmic beeps that matched the hum of the box. The box wasn't just an old thing; it was a bridge. And I had just walked halfway across.