Jackpot, Tie Breaker
The first time it happened, it terrified her. She’d been standing in front of the mirror after her shower, trying to see herself in the steamed over glass. Instead, she saw him, with straw colored hair and gray green eyes, gangly as a teenager could get where her reflection should have been.
Her parents and little brothers had laughed it off over the breakfast table. "Jenny screamed at her own reflection!" Jason, the youngest had crowed. She hadn’t wanted to tell them the truth. It simply didn’t make sense.
The first time it happened, it terrified him. He’d been standing in front of the mirror after his shower, trying to decide if today was the day he’d start to shave. Instead, he saw her, all black hair and brown eyes, and a bad breakout. He jolted and backed away from the mirror.
His dad and stepmom had laughed it off over breakfast.
"Was getting your first stubble that bad?" His dad asked. He didn’t tell them the truth. It didn’t make any sense.
Jenny braced in front of the mirror. She’d gotten used to standing with a towel or a tshirt on, in case the boy appeared again. But it had been months. He hadn’t appeared lately. She began to think that it had just been a fluke- she had been really worried about her math test and babysitting for the Peterson’s, so she’d just made up the reflection. Random. But it had to happen, sometimes.
Auggie decided that the girl he’d seen in the shower had been a figment of his imagination, and after a few months he even forgot it, as newer, bigger scarier things replaced the girl in the mirror.
A few years later, Jenny sat perched on the mirror in the dorm’s bathroom. The glass was cooler than the surrounding air. She watched her friend Kelsey getting ready, curling her hair with way more concentration than she’d ever put into her English 101 homework. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him.
He bent over the sink, and washed his face. He’d gotten a buzz cut, but the straw colored hair and the gray green eyes were the same. She turned all the way around to see him better, shocked. He’d changed, grown bigger and filled out his tshirt, which had Army scrolled across it.
She turned back to Kelsey, fiddling with her hair. “Do you see him!?” She asked. Kelsey glanced up from spreading out one of her curls, her brows raising. “Who? Jake from bio? Listen, Jen, you said you didn’t like him…” Kelsey started.
“No.” Jenny fumed. “The guy in the mirror.” She said, angry and a little bit hurt that Jake from bio probably wasn’t going to be texting her anymore.
It was Kelsey’s turn to fume, and she smacked the curler down, her head a mix of perfect doll curls and straight as a pin fine blond hair. “I don’t look like a guy! If you were that into Jake, you should have said so.” Then she stormed out of the dorm’s bathroom as best as one could with a swing door made not to slam.
Jenny looked back at the mirror. The boy, because he seemed to still have that awkward ganglyness about him stared back, brows raised, as if he’d seen everything. Jenny’s eyes widened. “WHO ARE YOU?” She shouted at the mirror, the way one would if trying to call to someone who was behind glass.
He looked like he was about to answer, but he was pushed away from the mirror by another boy, who started to brush his teeth like he was scraping paint of the side of a building. Once he was farther from the mirror, the image faded.
Jenny felt like she had failed, had missed a chance that she would never get back.
Auggie stared as the mirror faded. “What the hell is your problem?” asked Paul, turning from the mirror. “Your time’s up, weirdo.” Auggie flashed him the bird and moved on to start getting dressed. He’d seen the girl again, now she had longer, highlighted hair and… other things Auggie was painfully aware of, after being with sixty other guys for months on end. There were women, but they were so few and far between that seeing two- he’d seen the girl with Jenny. She, the other girl, hadn’t seen him, though. He groaned. Shit was getting weirder.
Jenny ran back to her room. She tried to remember the first time she’d seen the boy in the mirror. She’d been fifteen. She was nineteen. Four years. But what day had it been? She opened the calendar on the computer and tried to remember.
Auggie considered the stress he was under, and dismissed the vision again as he had before.
Jenny, who had started to become a Jen, started to carry a pen and paper in her back pocket at all times.
The first thing Auggie remembered was the doctor saying “Kid’s won the jackpot all right.” It was a fuzzy, in and out moment. Auggie was never sure if the doc was saying it about him, or about the guy next to him, who got off easier with some neck burns. Then again, there were some in Auggie’s patrol that hadn’t even had one number come up in the lottery of life and death. Losing some fingers and gaining some scar tissue was like winning under those circumstances. He thought, once, when the doctor was looking him over, showing how the surgery had changed him, that he saw her, with her hair up, but he considered that another fever dream, some side effect of the drugs they’d used to put him under.
Auggie stood again in the bathroom he’d used when he was a teen. Downstairs, Donna and Pete, his parents, were busy making dinner and setting him an extra seat at the table. Auggie grabbed at the electric shaver, surprised at how easy it was to handle with three fingers. He shut the medicine cabinet and looked into the mirror.
She was looking back at him, and her face broke out in a wide grin. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a notepad, which she held up to the mirror.
MY NAME IS JEN HUNTER. She flipped the page. His eyes widened. She’d planned for this.
I LIVE IN TOLEDO, OHIO. She flipped the page. Why hadn’t he?
MY PHONE NUMBER IS 555.634.7842. She flipped the page. He mouthed the numbers.
WHO ARE YOU????? She flipped the page.
This one was blank, and she lowered the notebook, looking hard at him, over joyed. He dropped the shaver, and it clattered to the floor. Without thinking, one hand went to his hip, where his gun should have been, but wasn’t, and the rest of him crouched to grab the shaver, disarm it.. It buzzed, helplessly, harmlessly. He picked it up.
She was gone. Gone for now. He kept mouthing the numbers as he raced down the hallway to his bedroom, and grabbed at his phone, dialing the numbers. He was surprised he didn’t break it, given how anxious he was, how hard he was jamming the buttons.
Jenny stared at the mirror in disappointment. He seemed to duck the second she’d finished. Maybe he didn’t want to be found again. His left hand was missing almost an entire finger, and there were red streaks and scar tissue lumps from his nose to his cheek, like burn scar. But his eyes were the same, that gray green that was dreamy, with a hint of sharpness to them. Her phone started buzzing.
She grabbed at it, and it almost flew out of her hands. “Hello!” She said, breathless, excited. Just let it be her mom on the other side, and not him.
“My name is Auggie. Auggie Stein. I live.. I live in St. Petersburg, Florida.” He said.
“That’s like a two hour flight from here.” She replied, surprising herself. He laughed.
“Yeah, I guess. I’d like to meet you too. I can’t …. I can’t believe you’re real.” He added, suddenly shy.
“I’ll call when I get there, and you can prove you’re real.” She replied. “Auggie. Auggie Stein.” She said, repeating his name.
“Okay, Jen. Jen Hunter.” He added, and laughed.
There was a moment where they both dangled without talking, not daring to stay more in case some sort of spell, some rule was broken. Then she hung up. Auggie set the phone down. His stomach was turning, and his adrenaline was pumping. But for the first time in a long time, it actually felt good. He looked down. He was still holding the electric razor.
At least now he had a real reason to shave, he figured, as he walked back into the bathroom. Maybe someday soon he’d see her in his mirror again, but on his side this time. That’d be a jackpot he wanted to win.
Her parents and little brothers had laughed it off over the breakfast table. "Jenny screamed at her own reflection!" Jason, the youngest had crowed. She hadn’t wanted to tell them the truth. It simply didn’t make sense.
The first time it happened, it terrified him. He’d been standing in front of the mirror after his shower, trying to decide if today was the day he’d start to shave. Instead, he saw her, all black hair and brown eyes, and a bad breakout. He jolted and backed away from the mirror.
His dad and stepmom had laughed it off over breakfast.
"Was getting your first stubble that bad?" His dad asked. He didn’t tell them the truth. It didn’t make any sense.
Jenny braced in front of the mirror. She’d gotten used to standing with a towel or a tshirt on, in case the boy appeared again. But it had been months. He hadn’t appeared lately. She began to think that it had just been a fluke- she had been really worried about her math test and babysitting for the Peterson’s, so she’d just made up the reflection. Random. But it had to happen, sometimes.
Auggie decided that the girl he’d seen in the shower had been a figment of his imagination, and after a few months he even forgot it, as newer, bigger scarier things replaced the girl in the mirror.
A few years later, Jenny sat perched on the mirror in the dorm’s bathroom. The glass was cooler than the surrounding air. She watched her friend Kelsey getting ready, curling her hair with way more concentration than she’d ever put into her English 101 homework. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him.
He bent over the sink, and washed his face. He’d gotten a buzz cut, but the straw colored hair and the gray green eyes were the same. She turned all the way around to see him better, shocked. He’d changed, grown bigger and filled out his tshirt, which had Army scrolled across it.
She turned back to Kelsey, fiddling with her hair. “Do you see him!?” She asked. Kelsey glanced up from spreading out one of her curls, her brows raising. “Who? Jake from bio? Listen, Jen, you said you didn’t like him…” Kelsey started.
“No.” Jenny fumed. “The guy in the mirror.” She said, angry and a little bit hurt that Jake from bio probably wasn’t going to be texting her anymore.
It was Kelsey’s turn to fume, and she smacked the curler down, her head a mix of perfect doll curls and straight as a pin fine blond hair. “I don’t look like a guy! If you were that into Jake, you should have said so.” Then she stormed out of the dorm’s bathroom as best as one could with a swing door made not to slam.
Jenny looked back at the mirror. The boy, because he seemed to still have that awkward ganglyness about him stared back, brows raised, as if he’d seen everything. Jenny’s eyes widened. “WHO ARE YOU?” She shouted at the mirror, the way one would if trying to call to someone who was behind glass.
He looked like he was about to answer, but he was pushed away from the mirror by another boy, who started to brush his teeth like he was scraping paint of the side of a building. Once he was farther from the mirror, the image faded.
Jenny felt like she had failed, had missed a chance that she would never get back.
Auggie stared as the mirror faded. “What the hell is your problem?” asked Paul, turning from the mirror. “Your time’s up, weirdo.” Auggie flashed him the bird and moved on to start getting dressed. He’d seen the girl again, now she had longer, highlighted hair and… other things Auggie was painfully aware of, after being with sixty other guys for months on end. There were women, but they were so few and far between that seeing two- he’d seen the girl with Jenny. She, the other girl, hadn’t seen him, though. He groaned. Shit was getting weirder.
Jenny ran back to her room. She tried to remember the first time she’d seen the boy in the mirror. She’d been fifteen. She was nineteen. Four years. But what day had it been? She opened the calendar on the computer and tried to remember.
Auggie considered the stress he was under, and dismissed the vision again as he had before.
Jenny, who had started to become a Jen, started to carry a pen and paper in her back pocket at all times.
The first thing Auggie remembered was the doctor saying “Kid’s won the jackpot all right.” It was a fuzzy, in and out moment. Auggie was never sure if the doc was saying it about him, or about the guy next to him, who got off easier with some neck burns. Then again, there were some in Auggie’s patrol that hadn’t even had one number come up in the lottery of life and death. Losing some fingers and gaining some scar tissue was like winning under those circumstances. He thought, once, when the doctor was looking him over, showing how the surgery had changed him, that he saw her, with her hair up, but he considered that another fever dream, some side effect of the drugs they’d used to put him under.
Auggie stood again in the bathroom he’d used when he was a teen. Downstairs, Donna and Pete, his parents, were busy making dinner and setting him an extra seat at the table. Auggie grabbed at the electric shaver, surprised at how easy it was to handle with three fingers. He shut the medicine cabinet and looked into the mirror.
She was looking back at him, and her face broke out in a wide grin. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a notepad, which she held up to the mirror.
MY NAME IS JEN HUNTER. She flipped the page. His eyes widened. She’d planned for this.
I LIVE IN TOLEDO, OHIO. She flipped the page. Why hadn’t he?
MY PHONE NUMBER IS 555.634.7842. She flipped the page. He mouthed the numbers.
WHO ARE YOU????? She flipped the page.
This one was blank, and she lowered the notebook, looking hard at him, over joyed. He dropped the shaver, and it clattered to the floor. Without thinking, one hand went to his hip, where his gun should have been, but wasn’t, and the rest of him crouched to grab the shaver, disarm it.. It buzzed, helplessly, harmlessly. He picked it up.
She was gone. Gone for now. He kept mouthing the numbers as he raced down the hallway to his bedroom, and grabbed at his phone, dialing the numbers. He was surprised he didn’t break it, given how anxious he was, how hard he was jamming the buttons.
Jenny stared at the mirror in disappointment. He seemed to duck the second she’d finished. Maybe he didn’t want to be found again. His left hand was missing almost an entire finger, and there were red streaks and scar tissue lumps from his nose to his cheek, like burn scar. But his eyes were the same, that gray green that was dreamy, with a hint of sharpness to them. Her phone started buzzing.
She grabbed at it, and it almost flew out of her hands. “Hello!” She said, breathless, excited. Just let it be her mom on the other side, and not him.
“My name is Auggie. Auggie Stein. I live.. I live in St. Petersburg, Florida.” He said.
“That’s like a two hour flight from here.” She replied, surprising herself. He laughed.
“Yeah, I guess. I’d like to meet you too. I can’t …. I can’t believe you’re real.” He added, suddenly shy.
“I’ll call when I get there, and you can prove you’re real.” She replied. “Auggie. Auggie Stein.” She said, repeating his name.
“Okay, Jen. Jen Hunter.” He added, and laughed.
There was a moment where they both dangled without talking, not daring to stay more in case some sort of spell, some rule was broken. Then she hung up. Auggie set the phone down. His stomach was turning, and his adrenaline was pumping. But for the first time in a long time, it actually felt good. He looked down. He was still holding the electric razor.
At least now he had a real reason to shave, he figured, as he walked back into the bathroom. Maybe someday soon he’d see her in his mirror again, but on his side this time. That’d be a jackpot he wanted to win.