Mirrors by Ted Dekker Read Free Book Online Page A

otherwise too busy spinning through complicated thoughts to come up with a reasonable answer.
    “If you want to live out this day, sit.” Fisher held his gaze. “I won’t ask again.”
    Austin did the only thing he knew he could do. He took a tentative step forward, turned around slowly, and lowered himself into the wheelchair.

Chapter 11

    CHRISTY FELT herself being pulled from a dream—one in which she was a student at the Special School for Advanced Placement, which ironically, was best known for its football team. And its cheerleaders.
    As the law would have it, every student had to participate in a sport. The problem was, Christy wasn’t exactly cut out for sports. And, worried about morale, the faculty had come to the conclusion that putting her on the cheerleading squad would dampen school spirit. She was too ugly, you see? The fans in the stands would spend the entire game wondering why such a prestigious school would put such an ugly mug directly in their line of sight. The fact that she often broke down in tears didn’t help matters either. They couldn’t very well have a weeping cheerleader.
    But a solution had been identified. Christy could be of great use to the school by helping with the sports field.
    “How?” she asked the board.
    “Why, by watering the grass,” an old board member with a crooked nose said.
    “Water the field? How?”
    “With your tears, of course. Every night while the rest of the world is sleeping, you will come down to the field and water the grass with your tears.”
    Christy opened her eyes and let the dream drain from her head. She was sitting on a floor. The bathroom floor.
    As if dumped from heaven, the events of the prior night thudded into her mind. She’d seen herself in the mirror. In the bathroom, which had become a room of mirrors that she could not escape.
    Her pulse quickened. White walls. Tiled floor. One mirror above the sink. Only one.
    She lifted her hand and saw with great relief that her fingers, although far too stubby, weren’t as thick as those she’d seen last night. Scrambling to her feet, she lurched to the mirror and stared at her face.
    At Christy’s face. Still one pimple, angry red, but not perched on a fat face that would scare away fans in the stands. It had been a dream then?
    She twisted to the door. If so, what was she doing in the bathroom?
    Because it wasn’t a dream, Christy. You were awake and delusional.
    Maybe.
    She took several calming breaths. Maybe, but maybe just a dream.
    Then why is the door locked? From the outside .
    Christy hurried to the door, reached for the knob, and twisted. Locked.
    Oh no… Oh no…
    Knuckles rapped on the wood and she jumped back, thinking that maybe it wasn’t over.
    Oh no… Oh no!
    Her heart was thudding in her ears as the door swung open. She stared up into the face of the Kern Lawson, who was chewing on a toothpick, expressionless except for what might be slight curiosity.
    He glanced at the room behind her, then fixed his eyes on her again.
    “Good morning, Alice.”
    She blinked at him.
    “You look like you could use some sleep,” he said.
    “I…” She wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m fine.”
    “Better now?”
    “Not really. No.”
    “No,” he said. “Not really. But you will be. Let’s go, shall we?”
    “Go where?”
    “You have an appointment with destiny, my dear. A little ther-I-py to help you see your way to the ugly truth.”
    He walked into the room and Christy followed, not sure what to make of the man. Somehow, he didn’t seem as strange to her. More like the man she’d first met than the one who’d spoken to her last night.
    Lawson walked to the door, waved his hand over a pad on the wall, and pulled the door open, facing her.
    “Tell me, Alice. Did you see anything last night?”
    She stopped in the middle of the room, at a loss. Play along, Austin had insisted. She had to get out, but right now she was helpless.
    No games, just play along.
    “I had a