Otherworlds 3: The Safe Place
Hector was exhausted. He was exhausted from being a nursing student, exhausted from his job washing dishes at a restaurant, and exhausted trying to balance his own finances and still have enough money to give to his mother to help keep the household afloat.
This is what brought Hector in front of the old mirror. It had been in the family for at least two generations. It's ornate appearance and size always made it seem ludicrously out of place in his family's apartment. For whatever reason, it had ended up in Hector's room, and now he was staring at it.
He remembered his abuela used to brush her hair while sitting in front of the large mirror. She loved this mirror and would always say that with a mirror like this you could see the best side of yourself, but that it also revealed the flaws. Now Hector was wondering if he could sell the mirror.
It seemed useless to the family; probably why it had been placed in his room. Out of the way so it wouldn't dominate the living room, but in a place where it could still be used. Obviously no one cared about it that much anymore, and if he could find the right buyer, it could be hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars and one less delicate antique to worry about storing.
Hector suddenly felt a wave of guilt. This mirror was a family heirloom! It was one of the few heirlooms they bothered to keep around all these years, he couldn't just tell it out from under his family; Hector started to feel discomfort that he'd even considered it.
As Hector looked in the mirror, he realized his abuela had been right. He was only 23, but he was starting to look older and tired. He knew it was because of the lack of sleep, but he had to work evenings at the restaurant for money and then wake up early for school, which didn't leave as much time for sleep as he'd like. Not to mention helping out with his younger sister. Lucia was 14; not quite old enough to be independent yet. A single working mother just didn't have the time, so in addition to helping financially, he was helping with his sister. It had all started to wear on him.
Hector remembered when he had been younger and hadn't had so many conflicting responsibilities. It hadn't been easy street, but he felt like everyone was depending on him and he was just slogging through life, too tired to even dream of better times that might come ahead. It was this line of thought and frustration that led Hector to say:
"I'm too young to be taking care of everyone. I wish there was someone would take care of me for a change."
Hector had spoken softly, but there was suddenly a feeling in the room the same as when someone has yelled something very loudly. Hector looked around the room, trying to figure out the source of this odd stillness. It was then he noticed the mirror.
In the dim room, the surface of the mirror seemed to be giving off an odd light. It was like having a television on in a room at twilight. Something seemed vaguely off about the glass. It somehow was reminiscent of the curve of a drop of water on a flat surface. The surface of the mirror was flat of course, but for some reason Hector felt that there was now a...surface tension to the glass.
Hector reached out his hand to touch the glass and dispel the illusion. He was shocked to find that the glass did have an odd sort of tension to it. It still felt like glass, but it rippled under his touch. Entranced, Hector pushed his hand into the glass, wondering how this was possible.
Suddenly as if gravity had momentarily changed direction slightly, Hector was unbalanced and tumbled forward into the mirror. He felt himself pass through the cool malleable surface of the mirror, which gave little resistance, then suddenly he was falling.
He wasn't falling through air, he was in something because he felt no air against his skin and he wasn't falling as fast. Hector suddenly was brought back to a moment in his youth at an amusement park. He'd been riding a log flume ride and this felt exactly like the moment when the log had just crested the hill and begun to fall. It was a sensation like falling on a gentle cushion of water.
He was not falling through darkness, but there was no making sense of anything he saw around him. If it was wet he might have thought he was being pulled through water, or a cloud, but whatever strange ether this was seemed perfectly dry.
Just as Hector had begun to get over his shock and start to wonder if he was going to go splat on some otherworldly surface he tumbled through a rectangular opening and onto the ground. Luckily the point of impact was relatively soft. He felt very jostled, but essentially unharmed.
As Hector righted himself, the first thing he noticed was that he was wearing a strange one piece garment that he hadn't been wearing before. It was soft to the touch and zipped right up to the neck. The light blue garment reminded him of those footed pajamas kids wear on Christmas mornings on old TV shows.
Only sparing a moment to look at his strange new clothing, Hector looked at the world around him. He was greeted with a softly lit room with an incredibly high ceiling. Everything seemed to be done up in soft pastel colors, but he barely had time to think about that because of how bizarre the contents of the room were. It looked like a child's bedroom, well more like a child's bedroom might look in a cartoon. A dresser, various toys, and even an enormous crib.
In fact, Hector noticed that everything in here was scaled up, making him feel small. Then Hector noticed the only thing that seemed slightly out of place, the oversized mirror! It was the same as the mirror in his room, it must have been the opening he came through to get here.
That thought unsettled Hector. Thinking of the mirror like a door made him realize that there were no doors and windows anywhere in this room. It was less like a room and more like a box. A box that he happened to be in right now.
Hector walked over to the mirror and touched the glass. It was cool and solid. He had just come through it moments ago. Hector again took note of there being no doors, and started banging on the glass, trying to get it to open up again.
The glass was solid. After realizing that was a futile effort, and reluctant to break the glass of what might be his only escape, Hector looked around the room again.
The enormous toys, the high ceiling, the huge crib. He realized the crib and the toys were only huge because they looked like things that would be for a baby. They were just the right size for Hector.
Hector suddenly remembered before he fell through the mirror. His wish. He wanted no responsibility, to be taken care of. Hector looked at himself in the mirror, standing there in footed pajamas in this bizarre caricature of a nursery. Well here he was, being taken care of and having no responsibilities just like a baby.
At the moment of this realization, there was a pop and Hector felt a large pacifier was suddenly in his mouth. It had appeared as if by magic, as if to confirm his understanding and say:
Welcome to your new life.
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