BIZARRE DREAMS: a collection of short stories

Mirror World

'It's a wonderful world.'

He always told me that, each time we met. He was me, and I was him. But he had white hair and my hair was black. He wore his shoes weird--left pair on his right foot, and right pair on his left foot.

I always wore my shoes properly. Mom and dad always shouted at me whenever I make little mistakes like mismatching my shoes and all.

I always see him in my room, through my mirror.'It's a wonderful world over here, I promise,' he'll always say to me. I was curious. I'd sit down in front of the tall mirror in my room. It had been grandma's but she's dead now and mum kept it in my room because she was scared of it. That's what dad says, anyway.

There's nothing scary about that mirror. If you stand in front of it and look hard you'll see strange things. That was how I met him, and that was how he was going to show me the wonderful world he lives in.

'My world is not wonderful,' I said to him sitting on the floor in front of the mirror. He also did the same, but sat on a field of the greenest grass I've ever seen, surrounded by flowers of yellow and blue and pink, and white. The clouds were very blue and calm.

'Why?' He asked, his brown eyes glowing. It looked like I was staring at my reflection, and sometimes it felt a little bit weird.

I opened my mouth to answer when my door burst open and dad stepped in. He looked angry, his eyes wide and his lips.pressed tight.

'Who is going to wash those plates eh, stupid boy?' He bellowed. 'Your mother is sick and all you do is sit down and...' he bent his head and stared at the mirror and then at me.

My lips shook as I looked up at him expecting him to ask who the boy with white hair was, but he said nothing and just left, slamming the door behind him.

I sighed, my eyes welling up with tears. 'Mother is sick. I think she'll die, I heard the doctor say that.' I looked up at him. 'Father is bad. I hate him.'

'Then come over here, take my place. You'll love it here.'I wiped the back of my hand across my face and blinked away the tears.

'Really?'
He nodded.
'It looks beautiful over there.'

'It's a wonderful world,' he repeated. I sat back down and frowned. 'Why should we switch places, don't you like it there?'

The boy nodded. 'It's a wonderful world. Come, I'll show you.'
'But mother...I'll miss her. I can't leave her just yet.''Okay. Why not come in and play with me. You can go back anytime you want.'

I smiled. 'Really?'
He nodded slowly and stood up, stepping closer. I also stood up and stepped closer to the mirror, our steps synchronized.

'Just take my hand,' he whispered and stretched out his hand.
'Okay.'

I slowly reached out and pressed my hand on the cold face of the mirror. I could already feel the gentle brushes of the wind on the other side and even smell the flowers.

'Come on, reach in further,' he urged and I pressed harder. My fingers soon slipped in through the glass, ripples spreading out as it would on a stream. My hand went in deeper, then I noticed something different.

The cool breeze was gone. Well, not entirely. I could feel it brushing against my arm--which was now halfway into the mirror--but my fingers felt hot as if inches away from an open fire.

I gasped and looked up. The blue sky was now black, the green grass ashen and burnt and the flowers shriveled into dust.

'What...what is happening?'

He looked up at me, his brown eyes now red and his skin white. His face had a slash running across his nose, tearing into his upper lip, the pink of his livid flesh glaring.

He smiled, showing yellow teeth, each pointed at the end.

'It's a wonderful world,' he growled. I screamed and tried to pull my hand away but he held me, his fingers digging deep into my flesh.

I thought about mother in that last moment, right before he pulled me in and I became lost forever.