I do not remember how I got there, to that hollow, bright room. It was just me, standing in utter oblivion, unaware of where I was or more importantly, how to get out. I was just suddenly there, like an apparition. The bright emptiness swallowed me like the vastness of space. My head swirled, my brain trying in vain to think up a reasonable explanation, but getting nothing. “Hello?” I called out. “Hello?” echoed back at me, bouncing around the endless white room. My eyes adjusted and focused on the only other thing there besides me. In the middle of the room was a solitary mirror, hovering silently, just as alone as me. I stared at it. It stared back. But there was something strange about this mirror. It was not ordinary by any definition, yet I could not place my finger on it. I silently approached the solemn object, having a sudden deep desire to discover everything there was to know about it. I no longer thought of my escape from this eerie room, just thinking of the peculiar mirror, unbridledly enchanted by its powers that drew me in like a siren call, unable to resist its powers.

As I was pulled toward the object, I expected my reflection, yet the figure in the mirror did not move, but seemed familiar all the same. I immediately felt uneasy, knowing that whatever that was that laid beyond me wasn’t something good. At last I arrived at the mirror, or whatever this unearthly object was. A cold wave of shivers shot down my spine as my eyes widened and mouth gaped open in now more horror than curiosity. I stood, unable to move or speak a word as I was frozen by fear of the creature that stared back at me in the mirror. That creature was indeed myself, but not myself as I was now. A distorted, nightmarish version of something that had been me. My other self was a sad, ugly creature with tear filled eyes and a sad looking frame, quivering and silent. She wore ragged, faded clothes that had once evidently been colorful and bright, now torn and worn from time.  She had a smile on her face, but this smile was unnatural, and the most horrifying part of it all was that it was stitched on, quite literally, the sides of her mouth pulled up and sewn in place, yet she was not happy. I did not know how this version of myself existed or where it came from or what to do. “Who are you?” I asked, but the creature remained silent, staring, smiling. She put her hand out and beckoned me to come closer to her, curling her disfigured fingers towards herself. I silently obeyed, not knowing why. All of a sudden, her hand outstretched through the mirror and I had no choice but to take hold. In a flash, light shot across my vision and I felt my body being tugged into the other dimension where the mirror girl resided. 

****

I tumbled hard onto the ground, tumbling and falling, having no control over myself. I rolled over a bumpy and rough terrain, feeling myself becoming badly bruised and beat up from the fall. Finally I rolled to a stop, standing up and coughing dirt that had been caught in my throat from the fall. I took a second to ground myself before I attempted to take in my surroundings. I looked down at my hands and clothes, covered in what I thought was dirt, when in fact I had been coughing up dust. A white, powdery substance like clay that covered my now torn and dirty clothes. I brushed it off as I looked up to gather my surroundings. I was frozen by shock and unable to form words and hardly a thought as I realized where I was. I was on the moon. A deep, vast and empty outer space surrounded me, endless and open in every direction. Earth could be glimpsed from where I was standing, a plaything in the distance. Billions of twinkling stars dotted the inky purple space all around me. Turning my head, I discovered a house, a solitary house, standing alone on the moon, a plain looking suburban type house with a white- picket fence and a green-grass front lawn. I turned in a circle and looked, searched for other houses or a sign of life, but to no avail. The lights in the house were off and no one appeared to be home. “Hello?!” I attempted to shout in a hoarse voice. The sound of it stopped short, and I received no answer. “HELLO??” I tried again. The wind howled back at me in response.

I walked up to the house, feeling light from the lack of gravitational pull, but somehow there was enough to keep me grounded. On the other side of the house stood a lonely advertisement, a smiling family in 1950’s style promoting moving to the moon. “When the Earth is gone and you’ve got no place to go, come to the MOON, your brand new home!” The family in the advertisement had the same sad eyes that the creature had, filled with sorrow and tears, and their stitches were visible on their faces, holding up their smile. I felt unnerved by the appearance of the billboard and decided to search the house in hope of answers. I pushed open the picket fence and it creaked loudly, making my stomach turn. Fake green grass made up the yard on both sides of the path that led to the front door. On my way towards the entrance, I passed a cardboard cutout of a dog that barked upon me passing him, a pre-recorded audio that was motion activated. I continued walking up the front steps onto the porch where two porch swings stood empty and still, waiting for a companion. I wondered if anybody had ever sat there. I pushed the front door gently and it swung open, as if it were waiting for me. 

I stepped in cautiously, not knowing what to expect. “Hello?” I called out again, half-expecting a response, yet only silence answered back. The two-story house was nothing special inside, not modern by any means. I walked throughout the house, each room perfectly set up for someone long ago who never came. I entered the living room, where a couch faced a large box TV. As I came closer to the room, I saw the TV playing static, its grainy white noise creating a bubble in the silence. The old TV cast a disconcerting light over the room. I searched for a remote that would change the channel and found one on the couch. I clicked the channel button, and the static was switched to an ad. A sappy jangle rang through the screen, the same verse sung on repeat by the sad people with smiles. “Come to the moon, it’s nice and grand! Don’t you worry, we’ve got it all planned! Things are great here up in space, leave all your worries and bring your happy face!” the chorus sung over and over in an forced, cheery tune. With each verse, the volume increased, the people singing louder and louder, their intensity increasing. I scrambled for the remote and tried to change the channel again, finding only the static channel. I switched back and forth and back and forth, each time the volume growing louder and louder. I switched off the TV and dropped the remote, feeling perplexed and a bit scared. Well, maybe more than a bit. I found nothing else in the house that gave me any information. Everything in the house is what you would expect it to be: toys and posters in the children’s rooms, a basic kitchen full of pots and pans, the living room with the couch and TV. I searched everywhere, tearing the place apart. There had to be answers somewhere, a clue, some note saying that I could go home now and whatever this was would be all over soon. I looked everywhere, for what seemed like an eternity, but to no avail. No note, no secret message, nothing. I became frantic, stressing and hyperventilating. There just had to be an escape. I couldn’t be here for eternity! 

I had no track of time whatsoever. It was as if time didn’t exist. I had no concept of how long I’d been there, going in circles around the house, repeating myself, going mad.  I ran back out through the front door and shouted into oblivion. “SOMEBODY! PLEASE!” Only the wind howled across the dunes of the moon, making it feel emptier than before. I turned to the billboard, which was now yellowed and peeling away in aging strips. How long had it been? I didn’t know what to think anymore. I sat. I watched. I walked around in circles, waiting for something, but I don’t know what. Maybe I would grow to like it here. You know, this wasn’t such a bad place. I sort of missed home, though I didn’t exactly remember what it was. Had I always been here? 

I continued to wander around the desolate dunes of the moon, almost giddy, but saddened at the same time. I felt a smile slowly creep onto my face, a placid feeling washing over my emptiness. I grew more melancholy and lonely, forgetting who I was and what I was doing here. I became content with my current state, not happy, but not too sad either. What did I have to be sad about anyway? I went back in the house sometimes. Moondust covered the objects in a thick layer, still and unmoving. My only company were the singing people on TV and the dog in the front yard. I decided to walk around the moon. Broken statues littered the moon, some larger than the house, some just fragments of a hand, a face. “Where are you from?” I wondered aloud. The statues did not answer me. The wind howled. Dust blew across the dunes. I continued to walk around the moon until I was upside down. My ratted hair hung above me as I continued to walk. 

I approached what seemed to be a large glass bowl, the size of a house. It was a fishbowl. The water stayed in the tank, swirling around, drops falling out occasionally. A large goldfish floated in the water, his big eyes staring at me, uninterested in who I was, bored by my presence. “Who are you?” I questioned the fish. The goldfish swished his tail. “You know, it’d be nice to have somebody to talk to. I’ve been longing for some company. It’s quite lonely up there, in that big old house with the stupid singing people and the dumb dog. I’m ever so lonely. Don’t you get lonely?” I asked the fish. It only stared. “You know it’s really rude not to answer people, especially when they’re trying to start a conversation. You’re not a very friendly fish, or whatever you are.” I looked at the goldfish, craving interaction, but receiving the silence to which I had grown accustomed. I sighed and started to walk away, back toward the house. Right as I was leaving, the goldfish said in a melancholy voice, “You’re right. It does get lonely.” I turned back, but the goldfish just swished his giant tail and continued to stare with his large, vacant eyes. I walked on without a word. After what felt like an eternity, I came back upon the empty house. I approached the front door, but a glimmer caught my vision. Turning my head to the side, I saw a rectangular object hovering in the air. What was that thing? I approached the strange object to realize it was a mirror, and what seemed to be a figure standing in the distance. Drawing closer, I realized that I could not see myself, but something that seemed familiar. Walking toward the mirror was a creature that appeared to be me, but not me as I was now. This version of me, whatever it was, was standing in a vast white emptiness, clean and neat. The thing approached the mirror when a wave of shock and horror filled her face, observing me. Interested, I beckoned her to come closer. She obeyed, drawing in. I outstretched my arm in invitation. Would she take it? Slowly, the girl extended her own hand toward mine, and in an instant, our fingertips touched, and the world swirled around me...