“It was right here. The eggplant hit the pizza guy square in the chest. He made fun of Hanna and I when we asked for just one slice cut in half, remember? So we walked out and you grabbed the eggplant from the fruit stand, and sent that sucker flying.”

Charlie cackled. “You’re a hoot! I’ve sent some things soaring through a room before, but never an eggplant. You don’t want beef with the pizza guy.”

I glared at him indignantly and waited. He glanced back at me and went back to painting his window mural, completely indifferent to my presence.

“Okay, and what about the time by the lake, when we came across that pack of dachshunds, and the dappled one bit my thumb? I was crying and you wrapped your sweater around it, holding my hand the whole time. You’re gonna tell me I made that up too?”

“Listen little lady, any other day I’d love to play along, but I’ve got to finish this by four p.m. Can’t you find someone else to harass?”

My mouth dropped open, and then I closed it. This jerk wasn’t worth my time. Being cold is one thing, but pretending that he never met me was a new low. It figures he’d be painting on the stupid coffee shop window where we’d sat giggling and people-watching over and over all those years ago.

Having woken up with a massive headache that morning, running into a crappy ex was just the cherry on top. I kept walking and tried to shake the fog that hung around me all day. I pulled out my phone to dial my best friend. “I hope she’s free now,” I thought.

“Amy? You’ll never believe this. I just ran into Charlie, you remember him? The one with all the tattoos on his arm. Oh my god, he was so mean. I’m shook!”

“I’m not gonna ask you again, please stop calling me. I don’t know who you are.” She hung up.

My blood ran cold. What did I do to her? I’d thought she was messing with me earlier when I had called to see what she was up to and she wanted nothing to do with me. But this was going too far.

Growing more anxious, I speed dialed my mom and walked faster, pushing past strangers in my way without looking up at anyone.

“Mom? Mom it’s me again. I’m freaking out. Something weird is going on! Did you get my voicemails earlier?”

“Stop calling this number!” blared my mothers voice on the other end. “Is this some kind of a sick joke? I don’t know you! Good-bye!” And then it was just me and the dial tone.

I started to wheeze, panicking. What the hell was going on? I sunk to the ground and leaned against the corner store wall for balance, then started rooting through my big blue purse to find my wallet. I wrapped my hand around it and removed my ID. My heart dropped to my stomach.

It was blank. Just white plastic. I snatched out my credit cards - blank. I looked across the street at the library, and had an insane idea. Half of the outer wall was a mirror! I ran across the street in a daze and parked right in front, looking myself dead in the eye. Seeing it was my own eye I was looking into, I breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, a chill came over me. Looking to each side of me and back at myself, I realized there was still a problem. None of the people walking by me were in the reflection. “Hey Charlie…” I uttered a terrified whisper to myself…”Can beef with the pizza guy land in you in another dimension?”