Robert's Mirror, chapter 15, www.jeannesbottle.com, by J.M. Stevenson

In the liquid form of reflective glass I traveled. I was a drop, a section of rain hurling towards the earth. City lights below glistened and danced about, bouncing off the tiny pebbles of water suspended around me in the downward plunge. The experience sent shivers within my spirit and for the first time in many years I felt the exhilaration of being magical.

I landed not with the softness of a feather, but the act of dropping a stack of books after hours of study came to mind. For several moments my surroundings remained uncertain. Light was now absent rendering me blind and all hints of the falling moisture had evaporated.

It was interesting this moment before melding, a fraction of a break delaying the next assignment. I was in a pause, a slice of time without use. As was the tradition I meditated and relaxed.

Popping noises filtered through and I sensed that within seconds the environment would fade in.

The gray fuzz shifted and I appreciated the view of my new location.

A young woman was perched near a large window. Her aura reflected intense pain, the color of dried rose pedals. Thirty six tiny frames were squared within the large window casting crisscrossed shadows over her. Her eyes appeared weighted as if her life was almost more than she could endure.

A lace gown was fitted loosely around her. There was something familiar about the dress, not so much in the particular style, but more so the symbol of what it represented.

The longer I stared, the closer I approached a mental breakthrough. It was at that moment I realized there was something important lacking from within me. A puzzle piece absent from within the core of my heart.

"A woman?" I whispered to myself gazing at the depressed figure.

The woman curiously glanced in my direction. Confusion lined her brow. There was something about her appearance, a vulnerability, a desperation.

"Who are you?" Crisscross asked in an urgent tone.

"I am Robert." I replied.

"Well Robert," She spat. "You men are all alike and I'd prefer to be alone right now...so if you don't mind..."

"I'm sorry to invade your privacy, I have no choice as to where I'm sent."

The young woman shrugged her shoulders and shifted her attention to the yard outdoors.

It was then I realized the room was lacking any type of furnishings. In fact, the adjoining dining room was empty aside from an array of wall hangings displaying a mixture of silk flowers and candles emitting a fragrance of cinnamon.

"Can I ask you what happened to cause you such grief?"

The woman responded with a deliberate inhale of air. "Today everything was stolen from me... and I mean everything."

"I don't understand." I responded.

"Two months ago I met a man... a man with the most stunning blue eyes that I'd ever seen and he charmed his way into my life. I fell for him, believed every line he fed me... gave him everything including the soul of me."

The woman stood and sauntered across the room. Crisscross gazed at me within the confines of a long mirror on a pedestal, the only object remaining along the floor in either room.

"He looked nothing like you Robert."

Tears began to stream down her face and she began to gasp in sobs.

"The odd part about the whole mess is how he jump-started everything within me... awakened me to how incredible life was and the wonders of actually living it."

"What happened?"

"We were to be married, married today in fact."

The woman was beyond herself.

"Why didn't it happen then?" I asked finding the entire situation perplexing.

"He conned me for everything that I owned. My parents died in a car crash a few years ago and this was their house. They left me financially privileged since I was their only child. Antiques that had been handed down for generations, an enormous savings account, my grandmother's ruby bracelet."

"Scott convinced me to move out of state with him. We put this house on the market and flew to Ohio shopping for new homes... he convinced me a fresh beginning for our future together was imperative."
"We decided on a house. A nice Tudor style home overlooking Lake Eerie. I contributed my entire inheritance and with the sale of this home, it would've been paid for in full. The place was absolutely magnificent."
"I signed off on this house last week and we were supposed to close on our new house on Monday." The woman's chest began to rise and fall with emotion. She pulled a tissue from her sleeve and proceeded to wipe away tears.

"I have less than two weeks to vacate the only place I've ever lived. When I checked with the bank this morning, nothing was left. Scott had taken every last dime, stole everything then vanished."

"Are you certain he's gone?" I asked feeling the enormity of her grief.

"Oh he's gone all right. No one has seen him since Thursday. I checked the storage building where we rented a space to hold all of my furnishings... that was stripped bare as well."

She fell silent a moment as if collecting her thoughts.
"I reported this to the police. It seems Scott's profession is taking advantage of naive young women. It appears as if I'm not the first of his victims and unfortunately it seems as if he'll do it again."

"I'm sorry." I whispered, not knowing what else to say.

"I suppose I can start over, but he's stolen something from me that is irreplaceable...trust."

"Not all men are like that." I said with assurance.

"No? What can you tell me about love and how men act, Mr. Robert?"

"I don't know." I said feeling a strange discomfort from her question.

"Have you ever been in love?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have." I said with a sudden instinct awakening me to this fact.

"Who was she? What was she like?"

I sat a moment feeling stale. "She was...." I said finally reaching the point of recall.

"She was magnificent." An image flashed within my mind. A woman, a beautiful green eyed goddess. "Lizzy!" I said fighting off the laughter. "Oh my Lizzy was the most difficult, challenging, lovable woman that I'd ever laid eyes upon!"

Tears were now falling from my heart. "Oh my goodness I remember! I remember her!" I was suddenly faced with the question: What happened to my Lizzy? I sat a moment pondering this, savoring the spark that I had finally managed to realize.

"You were lucky, as was she." The woman announced.

"When love is pure, there is no deceit." I proclaimed. "You must leave this experience behind you.... you must force yourself to move forward and find love again!"
The woman nodded in a slow apprehensive way.

"Without love, life is lackluster, dull. Remember that!" I added.

"Yes." She said gazing at the mirror. Her face became animated with a sliver of hope. "I won't let him steal that part of me. He can have everything but that, you know?"

"Good for you!" I replied.

I began to laugh, laugh like a child given a simple toy. "Lizzy!" I whispered overflowing with promise.

"The only thing I wish for now is for that idiot to be caught and thrown in jail so he can never hurt anyone again!"

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes, really."

"I never caught your name." I said feeling the pressure build and roll from within the glass.

"Tammy Maddox." She responded as I catapulted through the thin section of mirror and upwards towards the magnificent blue sky.

A moment later I stood on the front porch of a large home in an upscale neighborhood. Instinctively, I balled my fist and began to knock on the door. Footsteps approached from the opposite side. The carved door swung open and a fashionable woman holding a toddler eyed me with surprise.

"Is your husband at home?" I asked with a sudden knowledge of their situation.

"He's out in back enjoying a swim in the pool. He's just returned from a long assignment. We're so thrilled to have him home once again!"

"Assignment?" I asked.

"Yes. He's gone month's, sometime years at a time. He works as a newspaper reporter overseas."

"Really?" I responded with an incredulous tone.

"Yes. We're very proud of his career and how well he's provided for us."

"Can I have a moment of his time, this is rather important?"

The wife gazed at me with uncertainty and I smiled in a reassuring way. "Sure." She finally responded.

The woman led me through the house and to a long deck. I stood for a moment watching this man, this thief of hearts dive into an Olympic sized pool. There were toys from the girl lining the perimeter. I focused on a shabby doll whose hair was caked with mud. The man gazed up, then waved in my direction.

"Hello!" He screamed above the hum of the water filter.

"I need a moment of your time sir."

The man stood from the water and his chest was rippled in pure muscle. Water dripped from him as he hurried to a chair and pulled a soft towel. He began to dab himself and gazed behind me nodding at his wife who was watching us from the bay window with curiosity. I could sense that he knew how to use his good looks and many women had been stung in his trap of deceit.

"What can I do for you?" He asked.

"I believe we have a mutual friend." I said.

"Oh?"

"Yes. She told me to look you up if I ever made it out this way."

"Who's that?" He questioned flashing a sly grin.

"I believe her name is Tammy, Tammy Maddox."

The smile that had been plastered on his face slowly transformed to a scowl.

"How and the heck did you ever find me? It's simply not possible. I left no trail."

"Impossible for most men perhaps, but not impossible for me!" I declared. With a snap of a finger, a man materialized from behind. The police detective's face twisted in confusion as his new surroundings registered.

"What the heck?" Scott questioned.

"Detective Green." I said with the privilege of tapping into Tammy's memory from reporting the incident to the police.

"I'd like to introduce you to Scott Trenton, except I suspect that isn't his real name."

"This is just not possible." The man who called himself Scott responded.

Detective Green chuckled a moment, then retrieved handcuffs from his pocket.

"I'm not going to ask how or why here." The detective whispered. "I'm just going to say thank you mister... mister..."

"The name is Robert, Robert Wright. I'm an officer in a very secret service." I said chuckling.

"Right-a-way Robert!" The detective joked.

As I meandered away, the detective had secured Scott in handcuffs and was leading him towards the street. A squad car sat in wait with lights flashing from above.

I paused a moment gazing at the swimming pool. The water rippling across the surface stirred memories from my past life.

"Elizabeth Fenmore." I announced. "I'm not sure what ever became of you, but I intend to find out."

With that, my surroundings faded and I found myself catapulting across the mid afternoon sky. I was a rocket with a stream of exhaust trailing from my feet and the fuel of love igniting my heart.