Nightmare

She pulled her head out of the mirror with more force than intended. This was a nightmare. She was panting by now, staring at the blank spot on the mirror like it was the root of all evil. What was that? Why did this have to be the gate to hell?

She had never believed dreams or nightmares would become reality – unlike many of her coworkers, it seemed – but this was the worst she could have ever imagined happening.

Her cat was still in there, though, how would she ever be able to find it? It was a living nightmare. And it didn’t seem to just be a large box someone had built up behind this mirror to troll people. This was real.

She took a couple of deep breaths. This was the last thing she wanted to do. Whatever had screamed at her was clearly going to swallow her whole or at least eat her soul. Why did it have to be her cat? This wasn’t fair! Her cat had never done anything to deserve this nightmare.

She didn’t want to do this. Her every instinct told her not to. It was definitely going to kill her. She closed her eyes and stuck her head into the mirror again. Only once she had definitely passed the mirror, she opened her eyes.

It was dark in here. A pair of green eyes was watching her. Could it be? She called out her cat’s name.

Who- or whatever these eyes belonged to screamed in a tone that no cat could ever produce. She wanted to retreat back into the bathroom and out of the mirror but her every muscle was stiff and unmoving. This nightmare was far from over.

“Shut up! Is this your first day here?” Someone grunted. The screaming stopped.

Slowly her eyes adjusted to the dark.

“It is!” Some wrinkly creature with dark purple skin shouted. “What is that?” It pointed at her.

Her heart was racing. Was it about to eat her? She wanted to move or run away or do anything at all, but she found she was frozen in place. There was no getting out alive of this one.

The other creature – one with equally dark purple but much smoother skin – grunted. “That is why you are here. Go ahead and greet it. This happens every few years.”

“Greet it? This is what we are supposed to take care of?”

The less wrinkly one pointed at her. “That’s not an it, it’s a she. Now, could you please just do your job?”