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. _