Read Online Mirror in the Sky by Aditi Khorana - Free Book Online Page B

times, the cat lives half the time, and dies half the time.”
    â€œOkay . . .”
    â€œSo according to quantum mechanics, before we look in the box, the cat is simultaneously dead and alive.” He looked at me to make sure I understood.
    I nodded. “Go on.”
    â€œThe cat’s reality is tied to the experiment—it either sees the radioactive poison released and it dies, or it doesn’t see it released and it stays alive. But our observation of this experiment forces the outcome of it to collapse toward one reality or the other, so we’re part of the experiment too now—if the cat dies, then we see it dead, but if the cat lives, we see it alive . . .”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œSo if we apply this thought experiment to us, one has towonder: Is there someone watching us, trying to observe the outcome of our reality? We live in a world of choices too. Does life for us move in one direction or the other? Or do both possibilities exist?”
    â€œHow can they both exist?”
    â€œIn parallel within a larger multiverse. Possibly alongside many other possibilities.”
    â€œSo . . . do they all exist? All those possibilities?”
    My father shrugged. “No one knows. It’s the biggest question in quantum physics.”
    I wanted to keep discussing Schrödinger’s cat, but my father got up abruptly and rubbed his eyes. “I think I’m going to leave early today. I’ll have someone else close up. Let me check the register, and I’ll meet you out front in fifteen minutes. We can throw your bike in the back of the car.”
    â€œOkay,” I told him, following him out of the storage room. I watched him duck into the kitchen as I tried to piece together everything he had just told me. I was so distracted that I didn’t even notice the tall figure standing in front of me.
    â€œOh my God, Tara! I was hoping I’d run into you!” I looked up to see Veronica’s lean frame pressed against the pink wall of the corridor, a concerned look in her eyes.
    â€œVeronica . . . what are you doing here?”
    â€œJust waiting for the restroom.” It took me a moment to register that she had mentioned coming to the restaurant earlier that day. It felt like ages since we had that conversation.
    She turned to face me, blocking the narrow hallway, aconspiratorial look on her face. “I heard about what happened! Nick called me.”
    At first, I couldn’t understand what she was talking about. My brain felt like a broken calculator, unable to add up the information before me. But the mention of Nick surprised me. I realized that he had talked to her about this afternoon, about the dog, about me.
    I slowly nodded, unsure of what to say. “It was . . . yeah, it was awful.” I hoped that this was the end of the conversation, that I could just walk away, but she went on.
    â€œHalle’s pretty fucked up over it. She loved that puppy. Her housekeeper was, like, driving all over Greenwich looking for it. They didn’t think it could get off the estate and make it to the main road. And Sarah . . . oh my God, I don’t think she has any idea what’s coming. Nick said it was definitely a red Porsche—he saw it, and Sarah’s the only one in our class with a fucking red Porsche.
And
she has a free period before lunch, so she was definitely off campus.”
    â€œI . . . I guess. I don’t really know.”
    â€œDidn’t you see it? You should report her to Mrs. Treem.”
    â€œNo. I didn’t actually see the accident. And telling on Sarah isn’t going to bring that poor dog back to life.” Tears began to pierce my eyes as I thought of it.
    â€œAre you okay, Tara?” She looked around uncomfortably for a minute.
    I closed my eyes tight, shaking my head, certain that I didn’t want to start crying in front of Veronica. First