Doc swung the door open, looking towards where Len was, his body spread out on the edge of the bed.
"Good morning Len!"
Doc acted very energetic.
"Get on up and we'll get you some food!"
Len arose from the bed and turned his head towards Doc, confused that it became morning so quickly.
That dream he had, only felt like a few seconds to him.
Doc quickly left the room, then Len veered over to the mirror and looked back into it, and it seemed normal.
He quickly stepped out of bed, and rushed out of the room, making his way upstairs.
He peered over at the windows and he just stared…
The sun was slowly rising above the city, and to Len, the image in front of his eyes was beautiful.
"Amazing isn't it?"
Len nodded.
"Here, follow me. I got some food here, so come over here and eat!"
He slowly walked over to the kitchen and was handed a plate. Eggs and toast. He was used to eating this food, often getting handouts behind restaurants, but it seemed different to him, he had never seen food prepared in such a way.
He took a fork and began picking at the food in front of him, he picked up a small part of an egg with his fork, slowly bringing it up to his mouth. His face widened, and he took a bite. The egg tasted amazing. There were rich flavors, some Len had never tasted before, but despite this, his face didn't change.
"How is it?"
Len just nodded and turned away.
He approached the glass again, looking out to see the city turn gray… suddenly a boy appeared in the reflection of the glass, his eyes stood out, they were blue, like the ocean…
Suddenly a dark figure appeared behind the boy, Len turned around, Doc was standing right behind him.
"What are you looking at?"
Doc glanced up at the window
"Huh, the sky is gray again? Looks like it's going to be another rainy day!"
Doc reached his right hand over Len's head patting it with a smile across his face.
Len veered back towards the glass, noticing the reflection of the boy had dispersed.
Suddenly, Doc shouted from the kitchen.
"I have to go out today, how about you come with me!?"
He peaked out from the side of the door frame that led to the kitchen and noticed Len was looking at him, nodding.
Doc examined Len's body, noticing his torn up shirt, full of holes and tears.
"Your clothes are all torn up, we'll get you some new ones while we are out too!"
Len looked down at his clothes.
"Go clean up first, I'll be waiting for you outside!"
He listened to Doc but didn't move, he didn't know where to go.
He found himself wandering around the house looking for what may seem like a bathroom. He checked all of the rooms on the main floor, but couldn't find one.
He remembered back downstairs there was a door in the room he slept in, maybe that was a personal bathroom for the room's occupant.
He walked downstairs and approached the room, opening the door. He looked around and spotted the door in the corner of the room and walked towards it. He tried grabbing the handle…
Locked…
"hmm"
He turned around, and noticed the mirror from the night before was on the opposite side of the room. Out of curiosity from before he approached the mirror again.
There was no reflection…
He reached his hand out, touching the mirror… The boy appeared again in the mirror this time with a darker presence behind him. Len turned around, but only saw the white door there.
He looked back at the mirror and he was gone.
At that time, Doc peaked around the doorway, seemingly looking for Len.
"Hey Len, what are you doing here? You should wash up!"
"..."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to show you where the bathroom is, follow me!"
He was led to the top floor where there were multiple bedrooms and a bathroom, it was a lot less spacious than downstairs, but despite this, the walls still seemed empty, almost as if they had a separate purpose to them.
Doc left him to wash up, heading back outside to wait for him.
Len headed into the bathroom, where there was a small walk-in shower surrounded in a black tile wall, with marble flooring below. Even though the show seemed to be more characteristic than the walls, there was a small shelf on the wall where three different sized bottles stood, each labeled something different.
He approached the handle, and pulled it towards him, shooting himself with small streams of freezing water…
Soon Len appeared outside and walked over towards Doc next to the car. The two got into the car and drove off towards the city.
"Here, let's go get you some clothes first!"
They parked on the side of the street in front of a clothing store, located in front of the incident that took place the night before.
"Hey this is where I almost hit you last night hah-"
Len stared at him.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
The two headed inside, the place was almost empty.
It was a small store, filled with racks all over, covering the floor with hanging shirts and pants.
Two women could be seen in the store, one hanging up shirts and the other behind a counter near the front of the store.
A sound suddenly rang over head, causing sound to produce itself around the story. Soon a voice played overhead, and was soon followed by a humming that came from the front of the store.
Doc looked down towards Len who was looking at all the clothes around him, noting how different they were from his current torn up clothes he wore day to day.
He made his way around the store himself, and approached the woman who could be seen taking shirts out of a small brown box.
"Wow this is a nice place! Excuse me ma'am, how long has this place been here for?"
"Oh welcome sir, If I recall correctly, we have been at this location for almost 10 years!"
Doc seemed surprised.
"I only noticed this place last night, it doesn't seem that popular to me. It really amazes me you've been in business for so long! Who owns this place?"
"My family owns this place."
She pointed at the counter, to a woman with short gray hair, standing over a small white register.
"See, look over there, that's my mom behind the register."
"That's great, that's great! What about your father?"
"I've never seen him."
The two continued talking while Len listened in.
He remembered what had happened the night before. The man in the street definitely said he was the owner of the store. Just what was happening?
Len started moving again and grabbed a few pieces of clothing, a few white shirts, and a few pairs of shorts, one had a small star lined into the back right pocket.
"You got what you need Len?"
Len just nodded.
They brought the stuff towards the register, and Doc began talking to the woman. Len put the clothes on the counter which stood just below his eye level.
He started feeling a weird pain in his left eye, and he covered it with his hand, attempting to stop the irritation.
"Everything alright Len?"
He nodded.
He put his hand back down to his side, and a gray ghostly figure suddenly appeared behind the woman. Len stared at the figure, and quickly caught its attention. The figure looked back at him, and approached him. The figure stood in front of him and reached his hand out towards his head, bringing Len to close his eyes.
"You ready to go, Len?"
Len quickly opened his eyes, the figure was gone.
"y-yeah."
Doc's eyes opened wide.
"You can talk?"
"yeah," he said quietly.
Doc started laughing.
"Haha, I was joking with you kid, it's not good to be quiet all the time, you should talk more!"
Len nodded.
"While we're at it we should get you a haircut, your hair is very long."
With the notice of a break in his vision, Len grabbed the hair in front of him and stretched it out admiring the length of its greasiness, it reached far past his arm's range, he dropped his hair, and it fell all the way down, hitting his stomach.
Doc suddenly patted him on the back.
"C'mon let's go, I'll drop you off at the salon, while I go do something alright? Don't worry, I'll be back!"
It's not like it mattered to Len if he left, after all, the only moments he could remember have only been, alone.
Doc dropped him off at the salon and rolled down the window.
"Here, take this umbrella, I'll be back in an hour, don't worry about paying for it right away, I'll pay when I return."
Len nodded.
"Welcome kid!"
Inside a woman with red hair stood behind a chair, she wore overalls, covering a yellow and white striped shirt, she had blue earrings in her ears as well, matching the jewel of the aquamarine necklace she wore.
Len stood in the entrance looking around, the place was empty. He looked towards the back of the room where a clock resided.
'10:32'
Suddenly the woman spoke again.
"Come over here kid, take a seat."
He walked over to the chair and got up onto the high seat, allowing him to see himself in the mirror.
"What can I do for you kid?"
Len grabbed his hair again, only stretching it to where it hit his eyebrows.
"You want me to cut all of that off?"
Len nodded.
He looked into the mirror at himself looking at his long black hair, then the boy suddenly appeared again, this time with a white figure behind him. The figure was cutting the boy's hair, and the boy was just sitting there. He continued to stare into the mirror and the boy remained. He stared deep into the boy's blue eyes, admiring the glistening blue of the ocean inside them.
The figure behind disappeared for a second and returned, the boy's eyes turned brown and the figure turned human.
"We are almost done now so sit tight kid!"
He looked back in the mirror focusing on himself. He looked like a different person, he had never seen his hair so short before, his hair stopped just at his ears, and the back, just at the top of his neck.
"Aaaaand we are done!"
He hopped out of the chair and looked at the stylist.
"T-thank y-you."
"No problem kid!"
He looked at the clock, "11:36."
A car suddenly stopped outside, Doc was back.
Len walked outside beside the stylist and Doc slowly rolled down the window at the press of a button.
"Sorry I'm a bit late Len! And ma'am, thank you for cutting the kid's hair!"
"No worries!"
"How much do I owe you?"
"No need to pay me, it's free today."
He gave a stern look.
"Please, I insist."
She continuously denied his payment, but Doc didn't give in.
"Ma'am, we're not leaving until you get your money."
Noticing Doc didn't plan on backing down, she sighed.
"I don't want to waste your time, so If you insist…"
She approached the car window, and Doc took out a couple of bills, and gave it to the woman, she turned around, heading back inside..
"Hop in Len!"
Len looked at Doc through the open window, then quickly scurried over to the car. He opened the door and beside Doc sat a man in the passenger seat. Len felt a pain in his eye again and found a dark figure surrounding the man. The figure looked at him, noticing his presence was found.