Walking out into the hall, Martin turned back, seeing Jose emerge behind him, look around, scream, fall to his knees and begin to sob. As Sam and Jamie quickly followed, something even stranger happened - if that were possible.

         “What the hell!?” Martin was confused. His friends began to fade and become transparent. Martin wondered if he were about to be the first witness of someone vanishing. That notion changed as reason took over; people didn't disappear in groups. Martin was being taken, but where?

         “Should we go to a counselor?” Jamie asked, putting an arm gently over each Jose and Sam.

         “No, fuck that, not yet, I need to calm down. Besides I just sent Martin . . . to go see a counselor . . . and now . . .” As Jose fell into another sobbing fit, his voice and image faded, as did everything else. Martin was in a strange daze that washed over him like rapids as if pulled into some sort of dream state without actually falling asleep.

         Yanked from reality, Martin reasoned he must have been brought to whatever place was native to the thing he'd seen the previous night. Martin was again gripped by an odd combination of curiosity and fear as his new surroundings came into focus. It was as if Martin had been looking though a window previous night, when he had seen whatever that thing was and was now immersed in the same strange world that birthed it.

         The scene surrounding Martin was the antithesis of subtle. Ornate mirrors so fine and so polished you couldn't discern reflection from reality hung as if arranged down a hallway. The mirrors appeared to hang mid air, though Martin could see nothing beyond them, only empty space. Martin could see no ceiling and no end to the hall in either direction. The floor beneath him was made of some kind material Martin only knew was there because he was walking on it. Martin reached out and felt the space between mirrors and found a slick surface, so slick that his hand could not stay upon it, slipping off. The whole experience was beyond disorienting.

​

         As he examined the first two mirrors, they made Martin laugh, showing him in some circus style way - the third was opposite funny. A more disturbing image Martin could not imagine: a version of himself looked back - this one warped in an entirely non-comedic manner. Martin's reflection was wasted away from what could only have been lack of food and water. Visibly shaken by a force unmistakable to any who've known suffering, this version of Martin knew violence all too well. As he stood staring into the eyes of his reflection, it seemed to look back. Stunned and in disbelief, Martin began to feel his opposite's pain more and more keenly by the second.

​

         “Don't travel the roads I did,” the doppelganger advised, as it reached out, placing a hand against the other side of whatever type surface this was. “Still, I will not be taken.” As Martin's reflection went on, it looked down sadly and began to raise a gun.”

          A bolt of shock went through Martin as he forgot it was a mirror. Fear quickly gave way to another kind of panic as his opposite's intent was not hard to guess. At that moment, Martin forgot what was reflection and what was real and lost himself in the mindset of the other. It was as if Martin had broken some empathic barrier and could see totally the plight of another.

​

         “No!” screamed Martin, reaching forward in an effort to save his counterpart, as if anyone could save someone from such a far-gone state. He touched his side of the glass and closed his eyes. Seconds later, Martin was gripped in new horror, when he opened his eyes and fell to the ground, unable to muster the will to stand in his opposite's body.

​

         Hours passed before Martin adjusted to his new body and environment. Struggling to his knees Martin faced a mirror opposite the one through which he'd come. As Martin viewed a scene even worse than that which he'd entered, he recoiled. In this mirror, Martin stood in a luxurious penthouse - behind him countless buildings burned. As black smoke billowed forth filling the sky and blotting the sun to a tiny sad dot, this doppelganger sipped fine wine and readied himself for a gourmet meal with an impossibly beautiful woman.

​

         Another type of fear gripped Martin, the fear accompanying the pain Martin endured to this point was so preferable to the existence he had just seen, his hasty retreat quickly progressed into a fall. Tumbling over, Martin likely would have broken several bones; Instead he stumbled moments later into what should have been the mirror through which he'd come. Rather than glass however, Martin hit only air until, a half heartbeat later he struck the pitch black floor - again his former self.