"Have you ever been at some place, recognizing everybody's face, until you realized that there was no one there you knew?"
-The Offspring, Have you ever?


"I’m taped in my mind and my brain is my cell. But I have a key, it’s called insanity, I put it in my brain to un-lock eternity…" Is this just a simple song lyric, or is there a deeper meaning to this line? Is there a "motive", for lack of a better word, behind insanity? Science blames it on the brain, and the chemicals and workings (or wrong-workings) of it. Perhaps there is more? As always, I'll let you decide.

 

"No, I'm Wendy! I'm Wendy! ME!" Wendy screamed, suffering from the same nightmare as she had the days before. It started out a normal, peaceful dream. Wendy and Stan had attended a festival. It as a happy place, with shows and a few rides. They decided to go into a funhouse. Inside, there was a room, entirely full of mirrors; the walls, floor, ceiling, everything covered in them. Stan suddenly disappeared.

Wendy was alone, facing her many mirror images. She watched them; they did as she did. All but one. This one just stood there, watching Wendy wherever she went. The image began to frown.

"Why do you insist upon pretending to be me?" It asked her.

"What? I'm me. You’re the imposter, you're just a mirror version of me!"

"My dear," It began, as an evil smiled formed upon it's lips, "My dear, sweet, innocent Wendy. Wait." She paused, then walked over to another mirror. "That is what you have other's believing, isn't it? Oh, if only they knew the real you. If only they knew how truly evil you are," she once again jumped over to another mirror, "They wouldn't wish to be within the same state as you. Impersonating me. Shame on you. Tsk Tsk." She was now on a mirror on the ceiling, looking down upon Wendy.

"Who the Hell are you?!"

"I do believe I should be asking you that question. I know who I am. I'm Wendy. You’re an imposter. It's very simple. Really, it is." She was now on the floor by Wendy's feet.

"No, I'm Wendy. You're not real. You're not!"

"Oh, but I'm very real. You're talking to me, aren't you? If I was not real, how could you talk to me?"

"You…you could be all in my mind. I could be imaging you. It might have been something I ate! You could possibly be a piece of toast…"

"Oh, enough Dickens!" The girl was once again standing in front of Wendy. "Now, why don't you look into that mirror over there?" She pointed to a mirror in front of Wendy. All the others except the one Wendy walked over to and the one the girl stood in disappeared. Wendy walked over to the mirror, and all she saw was her self, as she always did when looking into a mirror.

"Ok, now why am I looking here?"

"Look. That girl in the mirror is exactly like you. She looks like you, she acts like you, she thinks like you."

"There's no one there it's just me, this," Wendy pointed to the mirror, "is just my image." The girl sighed.

"Humans. You are all so sad. You all must have some profound meaning in this life. Everything must have some deep meaning to it. Don't you think it could simply be you’re here to live, reproduce, then die? Of course not, animals do that. But your not an animal, you're above that. You can think. You are just so wonderful. Really, what separates you from these creature you believe to be bellow you? Because you can walk upright and kill your wonderful?"

"No, I mean, some people think this, but I don't, I…"

"I know, your better then them, right? Everyone thinks they're better then someone else. Now, this girl, in the mirror, what if she's the real you?"

"How can that be?"

"Well, what if there's really a whole world on the other side of that mirror, and you, your whole world, are really the image. What if, at this moment, she is really the one looking in on you, thinking you are simply an image?"

"Well…"

"What if we are all really images, in some creature's mind? You've had dreams featuring people you've never met, living what seams to be a normal life, correct?"

"A couple times…"

"What if, those people you dreamed about, were existing, in their own little world, feeling that the small time you dreamed was really a whole existence, like yours?"

"You mean, like that Game Boy game?"

"Perhaps. Or maybe, just maybe, there're millions of alternative universes. In one, this one, you're with Stan, Bebe's your best friend, your smart, pretty. In another, you're with Kyle, a fourth grade girl is your best friend, and your pretty, but not smart. In yet another, your with Pip, who's cool, and your best friend is Kenny. In another, you don't exist, your parents had a boy instead…"

"No, only this universe exists…"

"How do you know? Are you sure of that? Think before you answer my dear."

"Well, I mean...I don't know." Wendy tried to take this all in. She hated things she couldn't get a concrete answer for. Math she liked; do a problem, get an answer, it's either right or wrong. Science was kinda the same. Sure, some things were a mystery, but most could be explained, history was basically strait answers. English, well…she liked writing, because you always knew what was going to happen next. She had complete control. But now, she had no control over anything. In fact, it looked more like this version of her had control…

"Think."

"What…why are you doing this?"

"Because Wendy my dear, I can. I want you to think. Yes, you think, but not in the way you should. Get over the pointless school stuff. Go deeper. At least try."

"I…"

"Just try."

With that, everything was gone. There were no mirrors, no images, nothing. Blackness. Wendy placed her head in her hands, and sobbed.

To be continued…..