“Put it down.”

I don’t like her tone, so I continue holding it.

A firm grasp on my wrist appears, strongly suggesting that I do not continue opposing the suggestion.

“Violence doesn’t solve anything”, I say, as I begin removing her iron grip finger by finger.

“If you’re not going to listen, I will be forced into other means of communication. Including interfering with your blood circulation.”

She lets go, turns around with a sigh and continues down the path.

I understand her irritation. We fell into wherever the hell this is a few hours ago because she picked something up. So now she doesn’t want me to pick anything else up.

But two wrongs make a right, right? Shouldn’t we be picking more things up?

“Oi. Stop dragging behind. I don’t know if a tree will suck you into the ground or something.”

“Alright, alright. I’m coming.”

I begin walking towards her, but she can’t see I’m still holding the mirror behind my back.

It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Weird colours refract when the light hits it. It hums quietly, but ever so slightly when I touch it. I can feel my thoughts looking back at me.

“If I have to ask you to— why are you still holding that?”

A corner of the mirror peaks out from behind my not-so-vast frame, betraying my otherwise seemingly obedient behaviour.

“I like it.”

“I liked the stone I picked up earlier. Now we’re inside some alternate dimension or whatever the hell you call a surreal place like this.”

“I’m not putting it down.”

She makes a face, as if both aggravated by my petulance but slightly curious as to what’s causing it.

“Fine. We’ll sit down and stare at it, then drop it. Deal?”

“How do I know you’re not going to take it and run?”

A subtle grin appears on her mouth. “Fine. I won’t take it and run. We will just sit and stare until you get bored.”

So we sit. We stare. Nothing happens. But my legs feel funny.

Whoa. My legs are really, really long. Like they extend into the mirror. I can hear her breathing next to me quicken.

Something’s going on, obviously.

I see flashes of foreign memories in the mirror, as our bodies morph and twist in response, seemingly reacting to the supercharged stimulus pouring into our eyes.

I kind of like it. But I’m also terrified. I don’t remember any of this and these aren’t my memories so why I can see this and why does this feel so weird-

The stream of consciousness becomes a frenzy. Images blur together.

Smiles. Anger. Triumph. Destruction. Saviour. Demon.

FASTER FASTER FASTER FASTER

It stops. There’s a crack in the mirror, running across from corner to corner in a nice, clean straight line.

“Hey look! I’ve found the stone!”

We’re towering above the trees and almost into the sky, our completely out of proportion bodies barely able to hold our balance.

In fact, I’m pretty sure the stone is in the sky.

“My arms are floppy. Can you reach it?”

I extend my furry fingers into the hole in the sky. I can just about brush my nails across the stone-

A bursting cacophony of noise releases, followed by a piercing blinding light.

And we are…

Oh.

Back where we started. I’m still lucid enough to remember that.

Our breathing starts to slow down. I feel really dizzy.

“Ok. Ok…”

“Yeah…I’m ok…”

We both slowly slump to the ground.

“No…”, she says, trying to sit upright but returning to the carpet.

“I meant…ok…no more funky stones…”

My mind is blanking out. I smile for no reason. “Aha, ok…”

She doesn’t reply, and I wouldn’t be able to hear her anyway. The silence sounds really loud.

I’m gonna pass out now.

I don’t think I’ll touch any more mirrors. Or stones.

Or anything with a face.