The air in our sleepy village always felt thick with boredom, but when that traveling carnival rolled in under the cover of fog, I knew my chance for adventure had finally arrived. The villagers whispered about curses about how no one left the same but I, I being the craving, restless soul that I was, ignored their superstitions. Once my parents slept, I slipped out. The fog was a suffocating blanket, and the carnival music sounded thin and strange. The place was wrong; the lights were weak, the rides moved like dying things, and the workers’ smiles were just pale, empty stretches of skin. Still, I walked toward the central tent, the one that dared you: “Enter if you dare.”
Inside, the noise died. I stood before a circle of mirrors, and they showed me lives I hadn't lived: the successful businessman, the passionate artist, but also versions twisted by greed and despair. Then, the reflections moved. They stepped out, their eyes gleaming, and surrounded me.“Choose,” a worker hissed. “Choose one to replace you.”
My heart hammered. I scanned the sinister gallery of myself until I saw one—a reflection that looked just like me, no obvious flaw. I reached out, touching the cool glass. The moment our fingers met, that reflection’s face snapped into a grotesque grin. It grabbed my wrist with unnatural strength and pulled.
The world dissolved into a sickening swirl. I landed in a nightmare version of the carnival—dark, decaying, filled with wails. I pounded on the mirror, but it was stone. On the outside, my other self the one that looked normal stepped out into the real world. It stretched, gave me a final, mocking sneer through the glass, and walked away.
Now, I am here, watching the fog roll into the next town from behind this cold, unbreakable glass. The villagers will see someone familiar walking their streets, but the real Sam is lost forever in this eternal, groaning twilight.
stake; fastothitter