Perfectly Reflected by S. C. Ransom

would be doing this to me. What have I done to them?”
    “I’m sure you haven’t done anything. It’s someone else with the problem, not you.”
    I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but I wasn’t sure I believed him. “It can’t be a coincidence though, not all of it.”
    “Well, maybe it’s someone from school. What about Ashley?”
    “That’s another thing! She gave me a slap the other morning – I didn’t even tell you about it. It can’t be her doing the rest of it, though. Slapping is about as sophisticated as she gets.”
    “So that’s at least two different people with grudges. Why did she slap you?”
    “Oh, it was just nonsense. She thinks I still like Rob. As if!” Callum’s lips pressed together in a thin line as he considered that fact. “Come on, don’t you get all grumpy on me too! You know that he’s no competition for you.” To prove my point I reached up and in the mirror saw my fingers gently stroking his face from the cheekbone to his jaw. He leaned towards my hand, shutting his eyes briefly, and the lightest of tickles traced across my palm. My heart melted again as I looked at him. Whatever the pain and the problems, I loved him and wanted to be with him. “Hey, enough bad news; I need to be getting a shift on. Mum has offered to take me to the station as she thinks I’m going to Tate Modern. Meet me at the dome?”
    A gentle smile appeared slowly on his face but his eyes stayed sad. “My favourite place. I’m not sure that the Golden Gallery will be shut though. I didn’t have time to check this morning.”
    “Come on! Don’t look so gloomy! After all this nonsense I could do with cheering up, and the best way to do that is to have a proper cuddle from you.”
    “Even with everyone watching?”
    “I won’t notice them for a second, not when I have you.” In the mirror I could see his free arm tighten around me, then he dropped a kiss on the top of my head.
    “See you there then. Give me a call when you get to the Tube station.”
    I looked quickly at my watch. “Two hours, that’s all. See you soon.” He gave me another quick squeeze and was gone.
    I spent the time on the train trying hard not to think about all the bad things that were going on, but it was difficult not to keep coming back to it. I had somehow accumulated a lot of enemies in a very short space of time. As I turned them over in mymind yet again I started to fidget with the amulet on my wrist. It was such a beautiful piece of jewellery, with the mysterious stone that was exactly the same colour as Callum’s eyes, held in the cage of finely twisted silver ropes. I still couldn’t believe my luck in finding it, whatever the other problems. I sat and traced its outline with my finger as I thought about the matching one on Callum’s arm. Soon we would be together, his strong, smooth fingers laced together with mine as we watched the London skyline. Whatever was causing my other problems, I could deal with them all if I had Callum.
    The suburbs of London streamed past my window, slowly turning into the industrial parks and markets, and finally the snake-like structure of the old Waterloo International came into view. At the station I found that the Tube link directly to Bank was shut, and the woman at the information desk directed me to a bus. Sitting on the top deck as we drove over Waterloo Bridge I could see St Paul’s in the distance, the late morning sun glinting off the Golden Gallery, which encircled the very top of the dome. That was my special place, where the amulet and my new talents allowed Callum to appear to be real, where I could touch him and hold him. And kiss him. The thought made me smile again. Whatever else was going on at least there was the chance that I might get to kiss him again.
    But it was a Saturday, so I wasn’t sure how practical it was going to be. Even from the bridge I could just glimpse people up there, enjoying the view from one of the best vantage points