The line differentiating the reality from a dream seems to fade away for Alan. Alan realised that he is not living in the world he used to know. His family, his friends , his love are similar in looks physically to the one he left behind but they were not the people he knew. They were different to them .

  Alan was determined to make things right. He started with trying to understand what kind of person Alan was in this world. What his relationship was with everyone and most importantly,"does Vanessa even exist in this world?", words roaming in the mind of Alan repeatedly like echoes trapped in an endless space refusing to fade.

  Alan looked for the contact number of Samuel. He remembered that Samuel was the one who introduced Vanessa to him. Alan called Sam and waited for him to pick up the call which felt like an eternity for Alan.

  As soon as Sam picked up the call , Alan said in a desperate tone ," Do you know Vanessa? Tell me!".

  "What.?" Sam replied totally confused with Alan's words.

  Alan came to his senses and realised he must act normally in front of others, they didn't know about the events Alan had just been through.

  "oh! I am sorry bro! I was just wondering, You have a colleague with the name of Vanessa, right?" Alan asked nicely , trying his best to sound sane in front of others.

  "Yeah! Yeah! Ven.. she is my friend. Why do u ask? Is everything alright?", Sam replied.

  Alan took a sigh of relief. He found support to cling to in the storm in which he was trapped. He found out that Vanessa exists in this world. A tear formed in the eyes of alan and travelled along the side of the nose of Alan. Alan regained his composure and asked sam ,"Can i get her number please?". "Why? What business do you have with her?" Sam replied jokingly. Alan replied in an annoying tone ,"Just do what i told you to do. I will explain everything later."

  Sam said,"okay bro calm down! I will forward it to you. Jeez bro!"

  Alan now had a means to talk to vanessa, the one person he was dying to talk to , the one person's voice he was longing to hear ,but he stood alone in his room staring at the wall ," what will i say to her?" "You were my girlfriend till this morning?" "We loved each other" "we were soulmated in a different reality."

  "How will she believe me? Even I don't believe in myself right now", Thoughts begin to race in the mind of alan like wild horses running in the forest .

  "I should just talk to her and try to understand what she knows about me and what she is doing in this world." alan thought. Alan practiced several times before calling vanessa. Alan finally called vanessa.

  The phone started ringing. Each ring felt heavier than a mountain to Alan.

  "Hello", venessa from the other side of the phone.

  Alan's body started shaking. His breathing becomes heavy. As he stood there with the phone in his hand the words seemed to stuck Alan's mouth.

  "Hello? Is anyone there?", vanessa asked on the phone

  Alan regained his composure and replied with a broken voice ,"Hello vanessa this is Alan."

  "Who? Sorry i didn't recognise you"

  As soon as Alan heard this alan burst into tears. Tears started falling from alan's eyes like water flowing through a river down through the mountain cliff. His body was shaking. Alan seemed to be lost in this world. His lips stuck together like someone had sealed them shut, as if even the air around him conspired to silence his words.

  Alan was not able to comprehend the feeling of becoming a stranger with Vanessa.

  "Hello? Is anyone there?" Vanessa asking repeatedly. Alan hung up the phone and wept to tears like an infant.

  "What kind of cursed world is this? Why is this happening to me? What this world is conspiring against me? "

  Alan's mind wandered in a state of desperation to find answers.

  "Funny, isn't it? This morning, I was ignoring Vanessa, and now I'm desperate just to hear her say she loves me." Alan thought in his disturbed mind.

  Alan gained his composure taking a hold of himeself. Alan went out of the room and walked outside the house. Maybe a walk will clear his head, alan thought.

  As alan started walking his mind began to work through all the possibilities of this reality , "Maybe this is a simulation, Maybe i am in an alternate reality, Maybe i am in a coma and my mind is playing a trick on him"

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  Alan's maind racing from one possibility to another.

  As alan was walking he gazed upon an old man staring at him. This was a tall man with silver hair and beard. He was wearing overall black clothes. His eyes staring at alan like he was not seeing alan's physical body but alan's soul. There was something wrong with this man. Alan had felt a similar feeling about something. "This man is giving me a similar feeling to that broken mirror i saw in the house."

  Alan was wondering about this man looking at him. The man started approaching Alan. His emotionless face, his weird facial features like eyes too wode apart. Long nose, made alan deeply uncomfortable.

  The man approached alan. Alan stood there quietly , the strange feeling of watching this man was too overwhelming for alan to speak anything.

  The man stood beside Alan, his voice calm yet unwavering. “This is real—not a dream, not an alternate universe. Every answer you seek is within you… but only when you stop resisting the truth." "Not everything can be fixed."

  "What am i resisting?" Alan asked the man but the man ignored Alan and started walking away. Alan thought of stopping the man but as soon as he went to stop him his body froze. Alan was not able to move a muscle let alone stopping a man. Alan stood there like a statue, observing the man as he vanished in thin air right by his eyes.

  As soon as he vanished alan started moving normally , his body now free but there was no sign of this man. " What the hell was he talking about? How did he know what was happening with me? None of this makes sense. Even my life doesn't make sense right now?"alan muttered. "None of this makes sense but I will make this world come to its senses ",alan thought.

  Alan thought that if this world was different he would make it similar to the one he used to live in. Alan devised a plan for making everything right.

  Alan opened his Phone's gallery and started looking at pictures on his phone. He started to piece together his life he lived in this reality. His phone was filled with pictures with his friends. "Okay! So i am certainly more social in this world than my old world." Alan thought. "Yeah! I am single too, That's a relief". " I am certainly more friendly with everyone. I must adapt to this world and adopt the personality of this so-called Alan ".

  So the plan was simple , Alan will make vanessa fall in love with me. Make everything right with his brother and family and ,all done, he is back to his old life. Alan took a sigh of relief for the first time in a while. Alan seemed confident that ge will get his old life back.

  "I will start with vanessa then my family." Alan thought while standing in the street. He was so consumed in all this that he forgot he was out of the house. Alan went straight to his room. Alan sat on his bed. Alan started to think that he knew vanessa too well, her favourite flower , her favourite movie ,her favourite colour, her favourite food ,everything, it will be easy to impress vanessa , he thought , giggling slightly like he figured the secrets of the universe.

  Alan's plan was simple, he will ask Sam to arrange a date with vanessa with him and then he will impress her with everything he knows about her and they will be together again. It was a simple task, perhaps too simple.

  As alan picked up his phone to call for sam he picked something from the side of his eye. A similar eerie feeling swept into the subconscious of Alan. Alan looked at the "thing" and it was the same broken mirror resting along the side of the wall of Alan's room. Alan looked at the mirror with this strange eerie feeling , which continues to grow inside alan.

  The mirror was broken obliquely from the centre. As alan looked at the mirror he saw 2 faces of him staring back at him through the mirror.

  The mirror felt like it was there to tell something. It was not there to reflect the physical world but something much more. It had a much deeper purpose.

  As alan stood in front of the mirror, strange symbols vegin to form in the mirror. Alan looked at the symbol and his heart started racing wildly. His hands started shaking out of fear. It was not just random symbols but a lamguage. A language that alan seemed to understand completely.

  "Not everything can be fixed with resistance" written in this unknown language which alan was able to read. Alan was now totally confused and spooked. ,"what resistance?" Alan thought. As alan was trying to make sense of all this, a loud noise came from the other side of the room. Alan reflexly looked at the source of the sound but found nothing there. Alan then looked back at the mirror and there was nothing there. " What the hell is going on?" Alan thought in his mind completely confused with the events that were going on.

  The eerie feeling left along with the mirror. Alan recovered from this event and began calling sam....

  As he pressed the button to call sam a thought echoed in his mind "Was he fixing everything or was he merely resisting the truth he refused to see?"

  To be continued.......