• I awoke one morning from a deep slumber in the same fashion as I always have. Groggy and disgruntled as I sat up and swung my legs to the side of the bed, then when finally I stood up, perhaps a little too quickly, a spell of dizziness washed over me. After I managed to stumble over and turn the irritating, buzzing alarm clock off I pulled my zip hoodie from a chair in my room and slipped into it. I was finding myself to be strangely cold in the mornings lately, and I just blamed it on the weather. However, as I started to make my way up the stairs to continue my morning routine, I had failed to notice something in the mirror of my room as I passed by it. But, as I slowly climbed those stairs, and clutched onto the stair rail I found something odd. There was this feeling deep in my gut, a feeling of pure paranoia, guilt, and worry. Also there was a feeling of remorse. When I turned into the bathroom to continue my routine, pushing those feelings back into the depths of my mind the best I could, I suddenly found myself afraid to turn on the lights and to gaze into the mirror. After I built the courage to do so my eyes met the dead gaze of a similar girl staring back at me. This girl had the same features, the same eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin, and hair. But something was amiss, her eyes that had once been a light blue gray that shined with joy, were dead, tired, and lost. Her skin which was always pale but healthy now was transparent and greasy. This girl’s teeth were yellow and her lips paper thin. Also her face seemed sunken in from being deathly thin. Next I noted her hair was greasy and in a matted mess, so it seemed as if it had been unkempt for a long time. Then finally I noticed that she was not dressed in the same clothes as I was, she was in a light blue robe and what looked like a gown they required you to wear at a hospital. Also, behind this girl was not a bathroom but a plain white wall.
    As I stared at the girl in pure disbelief because I could not understand what I was seeing, didn’t mirrors create an image of what is reflected in them? I asked myself and continued to ponder this until I watched the girl in the mirror lift up her right arm and pull down the sleeve of the robe to reveal thin fresh cuts and the blood seeping from them making small trails down her arm, and then finally dripping to the floor. As I watched this a strong stinging sensation became evident on my arms. In pure shock of the sudden pain I pulled up my sleeve of my black zip hoodie to find that the skin on my arm was smeared with dried blood. With a sinking feeling, I slowly washed the dried blood from my arm to reveal the same cuts the girl had. But, I also noted now how pale my arm was and how skinny it was, just like the girls. The breath in my throat froze and in a frightened rush I ran from the bathroom, down the stairs. However, as I ran through my home, it began to melt away around me. The light blue from the walls seeped onto the floor deluding into a white, the soft carpet that was cushioning my feet vanished, and I found my feet stinging as they hit the now concrete floor. The comfort of my home was soon completely gone and I stood with my back to a wall in a white, cold room. In this room there was a desk, and a bed with a steal frame. The room had no windows but a flickering light, and the door was steel with no handle on my side.
    Where was I? I had not remembered how I got here, where my family was. Had they been the ones that placed me here? As these questions raced in my mind something hit me. I was dreaming, there was no way this could have happened to me, that I had become that girl. That answered had to be right, I was dreaming and having a nightmare. All I would have to do is wait until I woke up and everything would be okay. Just as I came to that conclusion, I heard a soft click then an aggravating squeak as the steel door opened, and a nurse followed by a few men entered the room I tried to speak to them. But, I found my words to be incoherent screams as the men grabbed me and the nurse injected something into me from a syringe. I begun to feel heavy and sleepy, and I heard the nurse say everything was okay, but as she continued to speak I could not make out what she was saying. Then finally, I drifted into a deep slumber.