The room I occupy is plain and forgotten. Neglected. The worn, wooden walls that surround me sit, collecting dust. It reminds me of myself. dull and monotonous. I am alone. I always will be.

I dream about the what life could’ve been. The vacant bathroom in the pub leaves me alone to my thoughts. I could have made something out of my existence. I could have been placed in any world. Yet I was placed in this one.

I guess you could say I don’t exactly believe in fate. It just has never been on my side. And in attempt to at least experience one of these things in my lifetime, I read. Oh and I guess drink and party. With my friends only, as I much prefer to remain at home, curled up with a book on my lap. Leaving only myself and the fantasy world I wish to escape to alone.

Books are my escape. The words, although no more than ink, paint pictures in my shattered mind. The characters, my inspirations. I aspire to become one of them. To experience what they could.

And that’s when my wish somehow became reality.

I am blinded by lights shooting out of what once was the mirror. My heart races, pounding so hard I fear it will jump out of my chest. What is happening?

The mirror that once held my gaze has spread into a portal, a kingdom, a fantasy world.

Oh my gosh. A fantasy world.

I think I had too many drinks. I stand with my mouth wide open, gaping at the realm that awaits me.

I stand. Motionless. Thoughtless.

And as soon as it had given me a glimpse of what everything could have been. How everything could have changed, my friends find me, slamming the door away from it’s rusty hinges.

“Why are you just standing there with your mouth wide open?”

I blink. “There- there was a portal. In the mirror.”

They blink back. They’re speechless. Yet they look at me like I’m the crazy one.

***

I wake, my tired eyes blinking to bring myself back into the world. I don’t remember anything from last night. Gosh, what happened that now has all my friends messaging me?

I shrug it off, picking up a book to escape this confusing world. I sigh as the words pull me in, as I enter a fantasy world, for real this time.