The pink light flooded the room as the last traces of the supernatural faded into the air like a sigh held back for far too long.
Nora looked at herself with barely any understanding of what was happening.
"Mom's room," she said to herself as her gaze shifted toward the temple doors. A rose quartz flickered with pulsing light at the entrance.
Connie looked at her without understanding what was going on, but somewhat fascinated by the glow, while her great friend Adrian decided it would be a good time to mock her.
"You don't have to be so dramatic just to stand up. Or is it that you want to play the 'mysterious lady' in front of me?" he said, that mocking smile sliding across his face as he vaguely imitated my voice.
His words shattered any tension that may have existed in that moment, almost like he enjoyed changing the narrative of events themselves.
Apparently Connie found what he said funny, if her stifled laugh was any indication.
A vein began to form on my forehead, and with something like resignation, my words slipped from my mouth before I could think about what I was saying.
"All I'm missing is a blonde dressed as a cheerleader to be my romantic rival," I said without thinking—until reality hit me. I was standing in front of someone who could literally make that scenario happen.
But contrary to what I expected, Adrian didn't distort reality just to mess with me—though Connie certainly seemed entertained, her laughter reaching my ears, while he wore that exasperating smile for some reason.
"What's so funny, you two?" I asked, focusing more on the glow from my mother's room inside the temple.
Adrian just smirked smugly while Connie answered my question in a sarcastic tone that sounded way too much like Adrian's. God, this girl was picking up all his bad habits; where had her straight-laced self gone? And who was this jokester in her place?
"Maybe the popular girl straight out of a bad movie for horny teenagers," Connie said between laughs as Adrian chuckled quietly. I didn't even need her to finish the sentence before realizing there was someone else in the room.
A carbon copy of me stood tall in a uniform of red and white, hair the color of wheat, eyes a pale blue. Everything about her was posed in the most embarrassing way possible. I felt my face heat up from sheer shame and rage.
But I wasn't the only one who had been altered. Connie now wore the stereotypical uniform of a football quarterback, with white face paint stripes and a football in hand, while Adrian wore a cheerleader outfit that, strangely enough, actually looked good on him despite his gymbro build. He was even posing like a princess while Connie carried him in her arms. My mind couldn't process the absurdity of it all, and it only seemed to be getting worse.
My voice came out firm—or at least, it tried—before being interrupted by the illusion Adrian had conjured.
"Come on guys, you can flirt later, right now we have to practice for state finals," it said in my exact voice, perfectly reproduced, while striking yet another gymnast pose, matching pom-poms shaking in the air.
"No more mockery for today," I said, staring at the cheerleader version of myself while my eyes reflected pure emptiness.
"Who's this weirdo? And why is she trying to copy my fabulous style?" the clone said while wagging a finger in a "not bitch" gesture and flipping her hair with the other hand, just as a wave of laughter filled the room.
"I swear I'll kill both of you," I said, my face cycling through secondhand embarrassment, personal shame, and rage, before landing on a vacant expression as my gaze fixed on the two pranksters—mostly on the one responsible for orchestrating this entire scenario.
"You wish" Adrian said, removing a pair of dark sunglasses he clearly hadn't been wearing until he uttered that phrase. Connie just laughed nervously, knowing she couldn't escape from me, and spoke up in an attempt to save herself.
"Truce?" she said awkwardly, shrugging with a strained smile on her face. I hesitated before nodding and setting my terms.
"But only because there's something more important to do than chase you down," I said as my eyes focused entirely on the temple door—more specifically, on my mother's room.
I couldn't understand why it had opened without my will. I didn't have the best memories of that place, but the fact that it opened had to mean something, right?
Though I wasn't alone. Connie stared at the door with awe in her eyes, but also with a trace of familiarity, while Adrian observed it with nothing but a single raised eyebrow, his gaze lost among the sea of pink clouds.
An idea crossed my mind, since these two were here with me.
"Wanna see something incredible?" I asked, trying to mask my voice.
"Sure," said Adrian, turning to look at me—no longer with that joking air, but something more serious, his usual self. A sign that the jokes were over for now.
"Absolutely," Connie nearly shouted, giving a little hop from bottled-up excitement. Adorable.
"Then what are we waiting for?" I said, approaching the temple door, followed by two of the people I trust the most.