It had been years since Joseph had attended the annual town show as they weren’t something he was interested in. The only reason why he was attending this year was for work. Though he had arrived over an hour before his shift because he caught public transport and his bus arrived early allowing him to catch the train before one he intended. He had initially gone up to the area he was working to see if he could start early but was told they didn’t need him yet and to explore the show in the meantime. So he did.

He walked past the showbags and didn’t see anything that interested him so kept going until he found himself where the rides were set up. He idly walked past, weaving in and out of the growing crowds until he saw an attraction with no line up. ‘Altered Perception’ Joseph read as he got closer. ‘A Life Changing Experience’ Joseph scoffed as he continued reading.

The old man with white hair and a bushy mustache, who was managing the attraction, watched Joseph and smiled when he saw him scoff. “Well son, why don’t you step inside and find out for yourself.” He said as he stepped to the side inviting Joseph in. Joseph hesitated for a bit, unsure what to make of the man and his invitation. “If you don’t believe the sign what do you have to lose, except time?” He prompted.

With nothing better to do, Joseph walked by the old man and into the small building. Inside he found himself in a small corridor surrounded by distorting mirrors with a closed door at the end. He ignored his distorted reflections and headed straight to the door. He opened it and stepped through finding himself in a maze of mirrors. Before he could step back through the door, it had shut and locked itself leaving him with only one way forward. With everything reflected he found it confusing to navigate the maze. He knew he was heading in the right direction when he saw a large man in his mid forties walk by in one of the mirrors but soon lost him again. Next he saw another person with a bald head and large beard but lost sight of him as well. The further he went inside the more he saw other people trying to navigate their way through the maze but never never came across any of them.

Joseph began to hurry wanting to find a way out but for all he knew he had been running in circles, though he stopped once he felt something pull on his arm. He turned to face a mirror, and saw a woman with a tattoo sleeve, half long and half short black and pink hair, staring down at her arm like he was looking at his. They both then looked at each other, their eyes locked and he raised his other arm the same time she did. They both took a step forward perfectly mirroring each other. Joseph came close to reaching out and touching her but he thought he heard something on his left and turned to face it. Once he looked back where the woman had been, he saw his own reflection.

“This place is starting to mess with my mind,” Joseph said aloud, as he continued to walk through the maze. He began to hurry but soon found himself slowing down as he felt a huge weight below his belly. He looked beside himself and saw another woman, one who was at least six months pregnant, like the woman from before he was mirroring her actions or she was mirroring his. It went beyond mirroring this time though as he felt as she did. He looked down at his own body and felt the weight vanish as he saw that he wasn’t pregnant and as he looked back at the mirror the woman’s reflection had vanished.

Joseph touched his relatively flat belly and breathed a sigh of relief. He hated what this place was doing to his mind and wanted to get out as quickly as possible. He decided instead of taking it carefully he’d just brute force it, not caring if he ran into a wall. The strategy worked for a minute until he somehow found himself surrounded by his own reflections. He turned back to where he came from only to find another reflection staring at him. Not knowing where to go, he turned on the spot a couple of times until he locked eyes with another woman. She had green eyes, and red hair with lots of freckles and he noticed a small scar on her chin. She was wearing a dark green dress with a brown cardigan.

Like the other three women Joseph saw before, she mirrored him perfectly or he mirrored her. He had to look down at his body to ensure himself that he was still him and relaxed when he saw he was. He looked back up and saw his own reflection standing in front of him once again, though now the three other reflections matched the woman in the green dress. His original reflection moved on its own, turning its back to him and walking away. Not knowing what to do, Joseph followed his reflection until he was back in the original corridor with the distorting mirrors.

On one side of the corridor he saw his original reflection but on the other side he saw the woman in the green dress. He took a step forward and in the next mirror they had switched sides, they switched sides again as he passed the next mirror.  Fed up with this mind bending experience Joseph sprinted towards the exit. He stepped out of the building and instantly felt something was wrong.

“Well Miss, as you may have noticed my sign told the truth. Now the real thrilling adventure begins,” the man gave Joseph a wicked smile.

Joseph stumbled forward past the man feeling dazed and confused. A moment ago he had been wearing a polo shirt and jeans. Now he was in a dark green dress with a brown cardigan. Strands of red hair covered parts of his vision and his body felt strange to him. He found an empty bench and sat down before looking down at his new body.

“This more than makes up for you not getting me a mother’s day present,” Joseph heard a young woman say to an older yet similar woman walking stiffly behind her.

“I was planning to get you something when I went up the coast this weekend…” the older woman groaned.

“Right your trip, I guess it’s mine now,” the younger woman smiled with realization. The older woman looked mortified. They continued to argue about it but Joseph tuned the rest out, as he began to truly grasp his situation.

He looked around again and saw the other two women he saw in the house of mirrors, they were on opposite sides of the path but approached each other frantically as they spotted each other. Both seemed equally concerned about their exchange as one was no longer pregnant and the other was. The more he looked around and listened he noticed more pairs of people now in the same predicament.

Joseph now realized the depth of the situation and looked around for his body and relaxed when he found it. He got up from the bench and proceeded to approach when he saw his manager intercept his body before he could.

He didn’t hear the start of the conversation but it seemed like he was late to his shift. His body seemed to be making excuses but the manager was having none of it.

“I’m well aware of that but it’s only for the duration of the show,” Joseph finally heard. His old body went to say something else but his manager stopped him. “Let me put it this way, you don’t know how much he needs this job and given it’s a temp job at a three day show I’m pretty sure we both know the answer to that. It’s an easy enough job, you’ll figure it out.”

Joseph wasn’t impressed with the manager making a judgment about his financial situation especially since he got it wrong. He didn’t actually need the money as he already had a job though didn’t work the weekends and had Friday off due to the show. He applied for the position just to earn some extra money he intended to put towards upgrading his computer. He was happy to do the work but felt guilty because now she was being roped into doing his job instead.

“Claire there you are,” he heard a female voice say as someone grabbed his arm. Flinched for a moment before turning around to face the person who handed him a small handbag. “You just said you were going to the restroom, that was over half an hour ago,” she said, equally concerned and annoyed.

“Sorry,” Joseph apologized for his current body’s behavior. “On my way back I decided to go into the hall of mirrors and now I’m a little disoriented from the experience,” he answered as truthfully as he could. “Actually it’s a little bit more complicated than that, but you’re not going to believe me.” Joseph didn’t know anything about who he was and this person appeared to be a friend. He didn’t want to do anything to mess up Claire’s life so he told her the truth.

“So your name is Joseph and you’re now stuck as Claire for the next three days?” She clarified once he had finished explaining it. Joseph nodded. She didn’t believe him and thought that Claire was playing a practical joke, anything he said he didn’t know about Claire’s life she accused him of faking and the details he told of his life he was accused of making it up. He took her to the house of mirrors but it was now closed and the old man was nowhere in sight.

Joseph had almost given up trying to convince Claire’s friend about the situation, who had still refused to give up her name, when he spotted the pregnant woman sitting on a bench by herself. “Sorry to disturb you, but I need your help explaining my situation to my friend…” Joseph tried to prompt the woman in giving out her name again but she didn’t say anything and continued. “You were the woman with the pink hair on one side and shorn black hair on the other side correct? You also had the tattoo sleeve on your left arm.” The woman looked at him confused but didn’t confirm his story just yet. “I was in the maze with you, I was the guy in the polo shirt and jeans, I walked through the maze and felt a tug on my arm and turned to find you in the mirror, we copied each other's movements until something distracted me and I looked away.”

“Oh?” she finally said. “So how did you know it was me in this body?”

“I saw her in there too, I had a similar experience to when I saw you except more vivid. When I saw her I felt what it was like being her but I broke free from it like I did with you. I then saw the both of you outside as you spotted each other,” Joseph explained. “I’m in the same situation as you, in a body that isn’t my own and I’m trying to explain that to her friend so she can help me get through the next three days.”

“This is only for three days? Thank God!” She relaxed a little more. “I was worried it would be permanent,” She looked down at her borrowed belly and back at Joseph and the woman standing next to him. “He’s telling the truth, that hall of mirrors swaps people’s bodies. I was here with mine, until my friends snatched her away, leaving me on my own.”

“So a guy really is in my best friend's body…” the other woman put her hand to her face frustrated at the situation. “I’m Bianca and I will be watching you like a hawk,” she introduced herself, giving Joseph a death stare.

“I understand, I don’t want to do anything that harms your friend more than being each other already does,” Joseph assured her. “That’s why I was trying to tell you what happened, so you could help me with that.”

“I appreciate the honesty and convincing me,” Bianca said. “Thank you for your help and I hope you get through this as well,” she said to the now pregnant woman. Before grabbing Joseph’s arm and pulling him away.

“So what do we do now?” Joseph asked as he followed her lead.

“I have no idea, I did plan to spend the day at the show with my friend but now that’s not going to happen. So let’s get something to eat and discuss our options.”