Review Summary: The Magical Mystery Tour is coming to take you away...
Before doing this, let’s get one thing straight. Look at yourself in the mirror and answer these simple questions: Who are you...and what are you doing here?
7:30 pm on a hot summer evening. Counting down briskly from three to one, he ingests the mysterious substance, experiencing a slightly bitter taste as he prepares for the change. It won’t be long.
…
‘We'll be over soon,’ they said.
Now they've lost themselves instead
…
Changes start occurring, albeit slowly, but these changes become more and more prominent as the setting sun slowly starts to fade in the west and the flood of light dims in the room. An almost indescribable, low rumbling starts occurring inside him, almost like a pit-in-the-stomach feeling that he recognizes as being similar to the one you might get before taking a test or public speaking, but this feeling is slightly different, less painful, more like his body questioning what he has just done and trying to make sense of what to do now. The fading light begins to create long shadows across the room – objects that were once stationary – objects that he knows for a fact should by all means be stationary, at least according to all the laws of science that he is now beginning to doubt, and begin to slowly pulse, in and out, side to side. Tilting his head presents a whole new view of the objects that are around him. He starts to take these objects apart piece by piece inside his mind, staring endlessly at the glowing screen in front of him, trying to keep track of the floating words, pictures and cacophony of sounds. All of the little details that surround him every day that he has inexplicably, somehow, never noticed before, begin to take prominence. He finds himself snapping out of his endless gaze after what feels like a few minutes, but in reality, it has only been a few seconds. Maybe it is time for a change in scenery.
…
“Let me take you down…”
…
He eventually raises his head and gazes into the panoramic view of the city that surrounds him. It is a view that he’s seen countless times before, but now the small details are what fascinate him endlessly; the garden on top of the apartment building to his left, every turn of his head, every careful movement brings a new, exciting twist. He sees the flag dangling from the crane doing construction – and instantly he places himself hanging on the edge of that crane, imagining how others would see him. He would only appear as nothing but a small, barely moving dot on an otherwise busy skyline, dangling precariously, clutching the hook on the end of the crane for dear life, hundreds of feet above the maze of concrete below. The change in perspective terrifies him, but the thoughts in his imagination are so vivid, so clear, so naturally and terrifically real that it becomes increasingly difficult to pull away from any thought that pops into his head.
He builds the skyline around him up, like tinker-toys on a child’s play set, only to tear it back down again within his mind, the building slowly crumbles and deteriorates as he plays around with the thought of time, moving backwards and forwards, like an instant replay in his mind. The smells of the bustling city circle in a whirlwind around him. The colors that emanate from the milky sun begin to wash together with the clouds, colors and hues that he never knew existed or had even dreamed of being visible to the naked eye paint the large palette that is the early evening sky. Oranges mix with yellows, blues, and purples as the wind shifts, and the large puffy clouds roll by, eventually melting in the distant horizon.
…
“Don’t you think the Joker laughs at you?”
…
The sun eventually sets – and he carefully climbs back down the spiraling, creaky wooden staircase to his apartment. The once shadowy yet alluring apartment has transformed into something else completely, something more…sinister. He turns back suddenly, thinking he heard something in the long hallway behind him, but only darkness remains.
“Hello?” he whispers into the darkness. No response.
A shiver runs up his spine. Suddenly, he’s emerged in the everlasting dark – no light, no sound. The quiet softly reverberates and vibrates around him. A feeling of suffocating in perpetual nothingness. But he knows there’s nothing there…right?
He briskly stumbles into the bathroom, suddenly feeling pressure from all around him. He flips on the bathroom light that illuminates the mirror where he stood not that long ago. The light pierces his eyes to the point of near pain. Tears roll down his cheek in response to the suddenly blinding light. But he finally gains enough strength to speak: “Who are you…and what are you doing here?” he whispers to the reflection in the mirror that stands in front of him.
…
Expecting no response, he’s stunned to hear what the reflection has to say back.
“Doesn’t matter…” the wide-eyed, shape-shifting reflection on the other side responds in a low, foreboding growl.
…
“...It won’t be long.”
