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Mike deliberately changed the direction of his pace and walked to the door across the hallway, grabbed the door knob, turned it and the door opened. He looked at them with a relieved look as if he figured something out. He looked in and smiled then he made a motion with his hand for them to rejoin the class.

Pete couldn’t wait and without a thought entered the room. He saw the teacher looking the same since the last word she spoke, motionless.

Molly beaming with joy followed Pete and went to her seat in the front looking around in the class. Yancy and Sheri were right behind her. The door closed. Suddenly the class became alive and the teacher completed her interlude by finishing the sentence. The teacher seemed disturbed by what she didn’t know or understand. To her, in the middle of a sentence, several students who had been seated suddenly entered from the rear of the room. “I will tell you that part of my introduction was to warn you to never leave this room. There are dangers in the hallway that can harm you. I will not be able to protect you out there.”

Sheri thought Josh entered after her, but when she turned in her seat realized he was not in his chair while Yancy was distracted by another student speaking up in the front, “What kind of danger,” the student asked.

Josh not aware the door had closed facing away from it asked Mike in the hallway, “What is the room ID of your office garden setting?”

“It is XG99 but don’t consider coming again because I assure you the room will be locked in the future.”

“Why is our class on the wrong side of the hall,” he went to the door they came out off and enabled the glass window by holding the door knob. When he looked in he saw a duplicate classroom and everyone inside were still paused or frozen. Then he said, “Two classrooms?” He was puzzled.

Mike had a look and scratched his head. He said, “I haven’t ever work with this application software but many designed by AI create a mirror. An exact duplicate that interfaces bidirectionally. What you experienced was a broken mirror which halted the program. Broken mirrors repair themselves. That is why the door of the second room was left unlocked. You and your friends are missing in this original class therefore you were also missing from the mirrored class. After you close the door or file as I call it from that room, the other room will update your presence and should start running again in parallel.”

Josh was sure they checked that door first before heading out looking for other unlocked doors but he also figured it could have been a timing thing.

Mike said, “Come Brutus, time for us to get back to work.” The dog took off running like he couldn’t wait to get back. Maybe Mike gives him a treat or something. Mike ran after him dropping his zapper and not noticing it.

Josh bent over and picked it up. He called out, “Wait. You dropped something,” but Mike was too far away and didn’t hear him. He put it in his pocket watching him disappear with distance. Then he noticed the door to the alternate classroom was shut.

Inside the classroom the teacher locked the door and they all heard the buzz sound and the loud snap of the electronic door lock.

Josh panicked and ran to the door, grabbed the knob and tried to turn it. It was locked. He couldn’t believe it. While holding the knob he looked through the glass. What he saw scared him worse then anything that happened that day. The teacher and students were still, not moving. Sheri, Pete, Yancy and Molly were there, but frozen like the rest. He went across the hall and looked in the original classroom. The classroom was still frozen but now his four fellow adventurers were updated and sitting in their seats like the rest. The only one not present in either class was him. He was locked out for hours. He checked the room every so often and the teacher seemed to be changing positions ever so slightly. She must be moving really slow like glass in a window dripping for a hundred years.

In the class Sheri spoke up, “Josh is still out there.”

The teacher mumbled something and unlocked the door again.

It seemed like an entire day passed before that buzzer sounded and the lock opened. He was sitting on the ground. He got up and opened the door to hear the teacher say, “Joshua, get to your seat immediately.”

Josh relieved went in and sat down. He guessed that time might be running normal for those in the classrooms, but compared to his reference in the hallway it was so slow that it appeared as if they were not moving at all. His mind was swirling with unanswered questions about Mike’s explanation.

He wondered if he was now in both classrooms in parallel. It probably looked like he was worried to the teacher and students. Sheri was turned in her seat worried about him. She placed her hand on top of his on the desktop. He couldn’t help losing his concern. He smiled back at her letting her know he was alright. She turned around when the teacher began speaking. Her sleeve knocked his pen to the floor and he bent down under the desk to retrieve it when he noticed Sheri’s shoe was still missing. She had one on. He didn’t think it would be a problem. Maybe the mirror would repair their shoe problems for them or maybe exiting and coming back in.

As the teacher went on with class Josh was near exhaustion. It felt to him like he had been there for several days instead of six hours. That was not all he was feeling though. Ever since the first event in class when the teacher froze in her speech while the class was still moving around, something seemed terribly wrong. Although everything seams back to normal, he can’t lose the feeling that it isn’t.

“OK class, that is it for today. Your homework assignment will be available and you can do it in the pod or on your home computer. See you tomorrow.”

Kids started disappearing from their chairs as they exited the program. Sheri looked at Josh and said, “See ya.” He nodded to her and she exited.

Josh was the only one left in class and the teacher was facing away fixed on something in the front of the room. Josh slipped out of his chair and moved toward a closet while watching her. She didn’t notice him at all while he disappeared from view. It was dark inside the closet so it was hard for her to see him peeking out. First she pressed the unlock door button, grabbed a bag from her desk and went straight to the door. Josh saw part of her movement then heard the door close. It was unlocked. He wondered why she would leave the door unlocked so he went to the door, opened it and peeked out looking both ways. The hallway was empty in one direction. He looked the other way. What he saw caused fear to run down his body like cold water being poured over his head. He shivered, trembled and shook. He felt like his thoughts backed away from his body like zooming out on a map disassociating them. He decided that Miss Ursbrook was not a digital twin like the students or she simply would have logged off like we did. She left through the door on a network traffic route so she is probably completely digital. She told us we would answer the question ourselves in time. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FɪndNøvel.ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

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