What do you see in the mirror or do you just say "Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the Fairest One of all?" Shadow swirls in the mirror, then coalesce into an image. See what's next for Dana.

What's in a Name?
Chapter 3
By BrandieS

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Please read Part 1 and Part 2 if you have not done so, or just to refresh your memory. Thank You.
 
 
The rest of the day was a dream comes true. I had heard of Murphy's Law, but he must have been on vacation as he didn't bother me. I went to bed that night sleeping on a cloud, a warm comfy cloud.

I woke to the sound of thunder. Lightning flashed and rain drops pelted my windows. My head ached like hell and I had terminal cotton mouth. Uh! I pushed the covers off and stood up. I was unsteady on my feet and fell back on the edge of the bed. Taking a deep breath I felt strange and put my hands on my chest, no boobs! Something was wrong. I know when I went to bed last night I had boobs, now none. I started towards the bathroom to pee and realized that something else was wrong. I wasn't in my room in the boarding house. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

I made it to the bathroom and stood over the toilet to pee. Finishing, I went back to find clothing for the day. My pants were on the floor along with the rest of the clothes from yesterday. Strange, I thought. I dressed and even went so far as to look in my wallet, yup, it as mine. I, then, looked around my room and let out a startled gasp. It was my room right down to my collection of Western Novels. A calendar was on the wall and I looked at it. The date had to be wrong. It should be for 2006, but the calendar was for the first of November 2004. I was taking this in when I heard my name being called. I answered out of habit and went out of the room towards the sound.

"Well, sleepy head, glad you could join us." Mom said, pouring a glass of juice. "Must've been one heck of a Halloween party last night, I heard you come in and thrash around about 2 AM."

I sat open mouthed, looking around. Mom continued. "Oh, Julie came over and picked up her stuff this morning. We didn't want to wake you. She said you were great last night. No one recognized as a girl you till the unmasking."

Stunned I sat there listening to her talk. 'Halloween, Julie, unmasking?' "Dana, are you listening to me. I swear you just go off to who knows where. Well Halloween is behind us for another year and next year you should be in college. Of course I'll miss you getting dressed up for parties, but that what mom's do."

I smiled at her and started to eat my breakfast only to be interrupted by a knock at the door. My bud, Bill came in and after greeting my mom, sat opposite me. "Thought you wouldn't be up for some time yet, man you were sure out of it last night. How's the head?"

Mom looked at us and I heard that patented sound 'tisk, tisk' come from her followed by "I told you no drinking last night. You know you can't tolerate it and end up having hallucinations and nightmares. If you were drinking last night, then I'm amazed that you could get out of bed this morning." Looking at my plate she continued. "Finish your breakfast, and then I need you to clean off the porch. Bill can help."

I heard Bill reply "Yes, Mrs. Carter." I turned my attention to my plate as he exchanged words with my mom. I was taking the last bite of my toast when I saw him look at me in a most peculiar way then smile. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I watched him stand and go through the house to the front door. I put my plate in the sink and followed him to the porch.

The front porch was a mess, pieces of candy, fake spider webs and straw covered most of it. I got some garbage bags and we began cleaning. First the pumpkins and what we could pick up with our hands, followed by sweeping and filling the bags. As we cleaned I felt like I was being watched, but the only one around was Bill. Maybe my paranoia was left over from last night. Dressing up like a girl for Halloween may seem pretty normal, but you never know.

The porch finally clean, it was time to place the trash bags out for pick-up. As I grabbed a couple of bags, I saw Bill pick-up the heavier ones and run them out to the curb. He met me half way back and took the bags I was carrying from my hands and deposited them beside their brethren. A last look around and we were done.

“Thanks for the help, Bill” I said, smiling.

“Hey, no problem.” came the reply, then he flashed his award winning smile and asked “Uh, want to get some coffee?”

I flinched at this offer; something about this was all too familiar.
 

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To Be Continued...