Alter Ego
By: Mary Marineau

This is the story of a twelve-year-old boy, Jacob, with asthma whose family moves to an old house in the country for his health, deciding it would be better for their other two children, sixteen-year-old David and five-year old Kristie too.
     An old bed and mirrored dresser remained in one room and it was decided to vacuum the bed and cover the mattress so Jacob could rest there while they readied the house for moving in. It happened to be in the room Jacob chose for his own.
     He looked into an attic space at the end of his closet to find a box of books and brought one into his room to read while he lay on the bed.
     Hearing the rattle of plates downstairs, Jacob realized he was hungry and he placed the open book face down on the dresser before going down for lunch.
     Upon his return, as he opened his door, his book was now face side up, the pages flipping and his image right in front of it though he was nowhere near the mirror. He hesitated briefly and then walked directly to the book, picked it up and went to the bed to read but was unable to concentrate on the book.
     He approached the mirror and asked his image who he was. He was told it had to be kept secret and if he promised then he should place his hands on the hands of his image. When he did, his image stepped through the glass as though it were water while Jacob backed in shock to the bed.
     His image explained this had been his room as Tony. He had been confined to a wheelchair all his life but always looked out his window to a lane that ran to a river that he always longed to see. When he died he was given a strong healthy body and still wanted to run to that river. He could only get that chance if someone freed him from the mirror.
     Jacob learns that Tony cannot go back now until he himself dies or Tony dies again, though both are tied to the same lifeline. Only Tony must return through his mirror so it becomes necessary to save the mirror from destruction, as both lives need it now.
     The secret is kept and Tony learns there are more important things he has missed in his lifetime than a run to the river. He begins to experience some of them until tragedy strikes.