The two boys stepped through the mirror and blinked in the sunlight as they stared around at the camp. Two boys in their mid-teens came over and grinned. “Twins! We don’t see that much! You guys just get changed?”
Charlie and Jacob nodded their heads in unison, still gripping hands. Jacob knew they should separate, but was curious and even excited about this sharing with his lifelong friend. Somehow he was sure that when they did separate, whatever was happening would stop. But – just what was happening? It was already way more than a physical link. He was ‘remembering’ things from their past but now from both perspectives. And in the background, he could feel something, a presence. Charlie was in his head, just a faint ghost now, but getting stronger. At the same time, he was feeling connection to his friend in new ways as his own mind linked to Charlie.
“You guys can stay naked if ya’ want. A lot of us don’t bother with clothes. But you can find stuff in the cabins.” The older boy, a dark-skinned Indian or Pakistani about 16 or 17, grinned with bright teeth. The other, a lean redhead with piercing green eyes who looked maybe a year younger, peered at them with interest. “You guys still got something going on, right? Some special experiment, I bet. Half the kids here are sponsored because they did something special.”
Once again Charlie and Jacob nodded in unison. The dark boy shrugged. “I’m Ahmed, and this is Brian. There’s a bunch of empty cabins here. When you want to talk, just ask any of the guys. “ The teens tuend and went back to the main camp.
Jacob was torn. This was bizarre and scary in some ways, but he wanted to keep going. Maybe if they held both hands and focused on merging? As he turned toward Charlie, the other boy matched his movement and they grasped their other hands. Locking eyes, they stared into each other’s minds with a growing intensity. The exchange of information was much faster now, the sense of connection even more intense. Jacob was no longer sure what was him and what was Charlie. Memories were merging, their core identities altering to be as identical as their bodies. They were becoming two examples of the same person, not just twins, but one soul with two bodies.
The dividing line between Charlie and Jacob was starting to falter when the two boys suddenly released their handholds and stepped away from each other – confusion and disorientation overwhelmed them, and they fell to the ground, unconscious.