A soft light blinded Sam as he stumbled up the cold, concrete stairs on the way to his apartment. The hallways of his building lingered with the scent of old stains and dust. Sam made his way to his door and leaned all his weight on the old chipped paint as he struggled to get it unlocked. Last night had been a long one. He finally made it through the door and past all the trash lining his floors to flop onto his old, worn-down futon. As he lay there in the cold of the day, he felt sad. He had always felt that he had no purpose in life but didn’t know what his purpose would even be if he had one. So instead, he laid there on that futon after every regretful night and waited to sleep. As his eyes got heavier and heavier, Sam began to feel like he was falling, faster and faster. The morning light turned into the dark of sleep, and the dark soon burst into a blinding light. Sam realized now that he actually was falling. He felt the wind of the open-air below him rush past. He looked down and saw nothing but bright light. He tried to scream but nothing came out. He was just falling for what seemed like hours. Finally, the end was visible, but Sam wasn’t slowing down. The ground got closer and closer as Sam hit the ground. When he hit, though, he was caught by a cushion of long, soft grasses and flowers. Sam could smell the fresh grasses and clean air. The sun was shining brightly above him, and there were birds chirping happily in the trees. As he stood up, he saw a giant castle sitting in the middle of a lush land. The castle had very intricate and large carvings making up pictures of something, but Sam couldn’t quite tell what they were. Large towers protruded from the center of the castle, and there were little fires burning at the tops of each of them. Sam’s attention shifted from the castle to the animals surrounding it. There were huge beasts grazing the tall grasses, and little ones jumping through them. As he looked closer, Sam realized that these were creatures he had never seen before. The huge beasts resembled Buffalo, but they had the stripes and legs of a zebra. Sam had thought the little creatures to be mice, but they looked more like little monkeys with huge ears jumping around. There were large birds circling around the castle whose feathers flowed ten feet behind them as they flew. Sam was amazed by everything around him. All of it was unknown, but he was not afraid. He had a strong sense of urgency, he felt that he needed to make it to the castle as fast as he could. Sam began running through the tall grasses with his eyes on the castle. It looked a lot closer than it was, and Sam got tired very quickly, but he still ran with all his might. As he got closer to the castle, he also got closer to the large beasts that were peacefully guarding. His plan was to be as quiet as he could be and slowly make it past them. He stopped right before he got into their territory and bent down to be discreet. He crept his way through, and he believed that his plan was working. All of a sudden, Sam heard a piercing screech coming from below him. He looked down and realized that he had accidentally stepped on the tail of one of the little monkeys as he was making his way through the grass. He slowly looked up to see the heads of the huge beasts raised, looking directly at him, and they were mad. Sam jumped up and started sprinting towards the castle, and the beasts followed. They roared as they chased after him. Sam dared not to look back, he ran and ran as fast as he could. He saw a moat lining the castle. He had no idea how deep it was or what creatures may lurk in there, but he figured it had to be better than getting trampled by the beasts. He leaped off the ground into the freezing cold water. When he surfaced he saw the beasts standing at the edge of the water. He must have just escaped them. The beats turned around and went back to their peaceful grazing. With Sam’s heart still beating at the speed of light, he quickly swam over to the other side of the shore to escape whatever might come next from the depths of the water. He hoisted himself up onto land, and there he stood at the gate of the huge castle. He made his way closer to the barred gates, and as he approached them they swiftly opened up, allowing him to pass. There was one long hallway in front of him, and he began following that for a long time. After a good while, Sam was able to see the end of the hallway. It led into a large oval room filled with mirrors and windows, and Sam couldn’t really tell which was which. As he entered the room he noticed a small lady with long white hair and a ball gown on, she was obviously some sort of royalty. She was staring at him, so he stopped and stared at her.

“Hello, Sam,” she said, “We’ve been expecting you.”

“You’ve been expecting me?” Sam confusingly pointed to himself.

“Yes, you. Even though you did take much longer than we were hoping.”

Sam looked around for other people but saw no one.

“Who is ‘we’? You keep saying ‘we’.”

“Well me, and the castle of course.” The lady smiled and held out her hands, almost as if she was presenting the castle to Sam.

“Right… the castle,” Sam remarked.

“We need to show you something Sam.” Said the Lady, “Follow me.” 

Sam followed the white-haired lady over to the center of the room where they stood in front of the mirrors and windows. Sam could see himself in the mirror, he was dressed in his raggedy old clothes from the night before, he looked like a wreck. 

“This is you, isn’t it?” asked the lady as Sam looked at his reflection.

“Yes, that’s me.” Sam sighed.

“Look closer.” The Lady said.

In front of Sam’s eyes, his reflection turned from looking tired and worn down, to clean and polished. Sam didn’t think he was smiling, but his reflection was. He looked over at the lady and then quickly back to his reflection.

“Wait, what the… who is that?!” asked Sam.

“That is still you, Sam, but it is who you could have been,” replied the lady.

The mirror changed once again, but this time it wasn’t just Sam, it was a family. It showed Sam with a wife and two kids, all together laughing and having a good time.

“That’s my family?” Sam asked.

“Not yet,” Replied the lady.

Sam looked back to the mirror and this time it showed him in the cockpit of an airplane. Flying had always been his dream. Sam could not take his eyes off of the mirror, but all at once, everything that had been there disappeared into his same old raggedy reflection. At the sight of this, Sam noticed that he actually was smiling, but then it quickly dropped after seeing what he really had become. He turned towards the white-haired lady.

“Why did you show me this?” Sam said angrily.

“All of those things that you saw in the mirror was who you could have been, Sam, and I showed you this because it is not too late. You can turn your life around, you have purpose, Sam.”

All of a sudden the magical world disappeared into darkness. In a moment, Sam shot awake to find himself still laying on his old futon, but this time, the light coming in from the windows wasn’t blinding, but invigorating. Sam laid there for a second and then stood up with a smile on his face. He decided right then and there that he was going to turn his life around, he was going to be happy.