There is a portal in the room where I take baths. The world on the other side looks remarkably like my own. It has the counter I sit upon, the brown and silver curtain that hides the bath tub, the post that hold towels and even the particular (white) walls that mark my house as my own.
Daily my mother takes me into this room, not for a bath like expected but so I can look into the portal. What she seems to be oblivious about is the fact that she disappears into the portal every time we look at it.
I hear her as if she is still beside me but she is there on the other side, smiling and happy. But the child in her arms is not me. I do not know who this person is but they have tricked my mother into believing that I am there with her.
I have made every attempt to get on that side of the portal with her. I have smiled at the other child, reasoned with it, yelled at it. I have tried everything conceivable to pass through the portal. Even my mouth could not penetrate the cold hardness that is in the way.
I have started to pound upon the portal to see if there is a weak spot that I could travel through, but the child who has bewitched my mother stops me continually. Every time I put my hand upon it, she blocks it with her own. This is how I know I am doing the right thing, there IS a way to get through.
Now I must figure out how to trick this child into missing my hand as I try to get through to save my mother. Wish me luck!