It's a Thursday,
December 19th, 2023,
0820 am,
The location: City of Chicago.
I just parked my Car that I rented in the parking garage and I am now walking to a nearby gas station for a refill.
Not for the car that is, but for me...because I'm in a desperate need for coffee right now~. Brr cold!
Yes, it's that cold this early morning compare to New York and the museum won't open for another 10 minutes.
My coat is somewhat protecting me from the cold winds, but my ears are beyond frozen.
Looking at the nearby window, God, my ears are beed red!,I really need to warm up.
The gas station's automatic doors slide open and I make a beeline move for the coffee machine nearby.
Only a man who seems to be in his early fifties is mopping the floor using a mop. Janitor or owner perhaps?
I point at the coffee machine and ask him "Mornin. Can I get a cup coffee?"
"Help ya self, it's in the corner over there." He doesn't look at me directly, but still points to where the coffee machine is located.
"Right, thanks." I already knew where it was, thank you very much. But you never know if it's self-service or not  here so. This one apparently is.
I walk over to the coffee machine and pay with some small changes that I have for emergencies like this. I choose "extra strong, extra sugar, medium cream." The machine then takes care of the rest and beeps to indicate it's done creating the divine holy nectar for me.
You know,
I used to grew up in a small town, and am used to always saying "hi!" or "bye!." But I somehow always forget that city people don't have the time for these kind pleasantries nowadays. But still anyways, I wave goodbye and say "thanks" as I usually do.
But Just before leaving the gas station, I can hear a "see ya" behind me.
This makes me smile for a moment, and then I finally decide to head for the museum.
After a five minute walk from the gas station to my destined location,
I find myself standing in front of the Chicago History Museum,it was big and grandeur, having that 'History' feeling, 
Waiting for the museum doors to open.
Just a few more minutes before I can wait inside for my next interview subject to arrive.
The weather here is kinda cold this time of year, including some unexpected breeze.
Luckily for me a big delivery truck hadJust conveniently parked in front of the museum, and is sheltering me from one tormenting cold gust of wind after another.
Guess they were spot-on calling this the "windy city." Heh.
Sure, it's more winter cold, a little snow here a little snow there, plus frozen puddle of ice how convenient...,.
But that's not important!. The Important thing is the fact that my cold hands are now being warmed up by a cup of coffee I got only minutes earlier.
Oh god~ this is great~.
So warm and toasty ~.
Sip *gulp* Hmmm!~.
Life slowly starts to return to my previously frozen hands and the remaining contents of my coffee makes its way down to my stomach way faster than I had hoped it for.
After finishing the temporary bliss,I throw away the empty paper cup in the trash can near me and decided to finally enter the museum, In the exact moment the museum doors open for a new day today.
The doors slide open and I enter the museum. Instantly I feel better now as it's nice and warm inside. Well, compared to outside at the very least.
"Good Morning, welcome!" a young lady at the ticket window said, smiling at me. I wonder if she will still be so cheerful in the afternoon.
"Yes, Good Morning. Uh um, a ticket for one, please," I said, while taking my wallet out of my jacket.
After paying for my ticket, the still smiling young lady gives me the ticket and a receipt for me, then recommends me to a  an exhibit about Egyptian influences on western art.
Which I don't care
I thanked her for her suggestion while showing a smile, knowing that I didn't really care for art at all. But she doesn't need to know that.
Still, I'm honestly somewhat surprised that nobody here seems to care that an adult enters the museum in the early morning on a working day when they should probably have more important things to do.
Well, I am doing a job at the moment, technically speaking, so I don't feel guilty about it at all.
Could have been my day off too, ah whatever, don't think about it, Roland.
After a few minutes of warming myself up, I open up my coat and put my scarf in my coat's pockets. My official Unexplained series' Badge is proudly decorated the front side of my coat, so she can't possibly miss me.
While waiting for her to show up, I find myself lost in thought in the Abraham Lincoln exhibit memorial, the place where we are supposed to meet.
Honestly,
Civil War history has never been my favorite subject during school, but I'm still fascinated by how many people willingly visit this exhibit every day. I'm more of a dinosaur history kind of person. As I always try to imagine myself standing next to such an enormous creature,
kinda feeling lucky they are the ones who went extinct first.
A security guard walks past me and we make eye contact for a brief second, I nod and decide to move on.
He probably thinks that I'm a history nut for standing almost motionlessly in front of a painting for ten whole minutes already. Yup Definitely time to move on...
After showing a fake interest in a few more paintings here and there, I slowly get the creepy feeling
that I have been set up here today.
Did I?
Really?
Seriously?
Maybe the guys in the office pranked me?
*Sigh*
My gut tells me the lady won't show up for the interview for some reason, don't ask me why or how. Well, the boss paid for the ticket, so I might as well enjoy myself  here while I can,right? And if she does show up, I will still have some entertainment to look forward to later.
°°°°
After thinking that, I realized,
Half an hour has passed.
when I notice more and more people entering this section of the museum, including a group of school children who are probably on a school field trip.
I pity them really, most of them seem to be thoroughly bored of this.
A guide is overloading their brains with history facts and knowledge, while some of their teachers is making sure that they are paying attention.
One little rascal escapes the teacher's grasp and approaches me curiously.
"Hey, Mister. Do you really like looking at those big paintings?"
The boy must be around seven or eight years old. "Ah! um, morning. Well...not really. I am waiting here for someone though".
"Yeah, I don't like this place either."
Huh? Wait wait, I didn't say that! "Maybe the other exhibits are more interesting?"I said while trying to look around, for that interesting something.
The kid looks at me in the universal way while frowning 'you've got to be kidding me' and says "no way, mister!. This place is boring!. They told us we would have a great day on a field trip. They lied!"
But before I could reply with a smile, I could hear one of the teacher's call him "Pete!, get back here right now!"
The kid named Pete ran back to his teacher and said something that I was unable to hear..... "must be great to be an adult huh. No boring school......" He muttered
At the same time I said, without anyone hearing me "it must be great to be a kid huh. Nothing to worry about except for school."
After that,I move over to a rather large window and try to see if I see someone matching the description approaching the museum.
Nothing.
Just a another school bus dropping off more kids. I can't suppress a smile when I see a female teacher forcefully dragging and picking up a crying little girl who is definitely not interested in leaving the bus. She puts her on the sidewalk where the other kids are waiting and seems to be scolding her for her behavior.
Well, I feel kinda sorry for her, not!, but can't do anything about it.
Deciding that this is my cue to get the heck out of here,
I walk to the art exhibit which is in the adjacent room. But right before leaving this room,
I pass by an 'antique looking mirror'.
I stopped walking and took a closer look at it.
It's a full length standing mirror of a somewhat peculiar design. Along its edges are strange symbols that I have never seen before.
They kinda remind me of Egyptian hieroglyphs of some kind.
Let's just say that I would never want to have that ugly 'thing' anywhere in my home.
But in the end a mirror is just a mirror, no matter how old or ugly looking it is.
Still ugly in my eyes though.
I take some time to straighten my coat while observing myself in the mirror, and make sure that my badge is visible.
Then I tried fixing my disheveled hair a bit and after only seconds later decided to just give up and go with the "windy" look.
I wish this were a magic mirror from a fantasy story in those novels that shows you the real 'you' or something similar.
This one however only shows me that I wasted my time shaving this morning,
I definitely need to buy a new electric shaver soon when I get back.
I see some dust forming on the topside of the mirror, must be old so I decided to be a nice person and do a good deed by helping the museum's janitor a bit to keep this place clean.
My scarf appears to be an excellent duster for this situation and the dust vanishes in no time from the mirror.
Ta-da~ see? Good as new.
Nobody has noticed my little cleaning,
until I accidentally touch the top right edge of the mirror.
ZAP!
"Ouch!"
I shake my head when I realize that I was sitting on my butt on the floor, feeling my heart beating at an insane rate in my throat.
Did that thing just 'electrocuted' me!?
Before I could comprehend what the heck just happened,
Everyone around me suddenly is now looking at me.
The children are screaming and pointing towards me.
The guard has witnessed the event earlier, runs towards me and almost shouts at me
"sir, are you alright?!!"
I gaze upwards and my eyes meet the guard's eyes who is looking down at me.
"Yeah, I think I just got zapped from that mirror," I point to the not-so-innocent-mirror in front of me and accepted the guard's hand to get me up to my feet again.
"Do you want me to call an ambulance? Just to check if you are okay?" The guard seemed truly concerned for my well-being.
Or trying to prevent me from suing them...
nah forget it, he's genuinely concerned yup.
"No need, thanks. It just scared the hell out of me, I think I will be fine," I said, still trembling a bit on my feet. damn 
"Thank god. *Phew* Then at least join me for a cup coffee in the employees room as an apology. I will definitely have this room closed for inspection." The guard said, while checking the mirror.
I nod in agreement after which the guard addresses the other folks in the room
"people, people listen!, attention please!. This area in this exhibit will be closed for the day!. Nothing to see over here, the man's just fine. Nothing happened!, just go to the next exhibit please!." He's using his hands to guide them to the next room, just like those people who guide taxiing aircraft to their destinations.
"Aaaah~..." a teacher said, sounding honestly disappointed.
The students however weren't sorry at all, "yaaaaay!" they left the room before the teacher did happily.
That's probably my first good deed for today.
I look around the room, everything looks normal. I feel normal, like nothing happened at all. Thank god for that.
At least I have a story to tell my colleagues though! That'll teach them to send me on a fool's errand! Damn them!
The guard returns to me and asks " so how about that coffee?"
I ignore him and ask while pointing at the mirror "is there something special about that mirror? Is it supposed to be an attraction or something?"
"Nah, that's just an old thing from the Egypt exhibit we had years ago. The management, well" he looks upwards for a moment and continues,
"thought it looked better here. Kids are touching that ugly thing all day long. You should hear the janitor complaining about the fingerprints he needs to clean everyday.
Anyway, I have no idea why it zapped you for some reason. Maybe you are just positively charged?" He smiled when he said that, no he grinned when he said that.
" Really Is that supposed to be joke? Like.... seriously?" I asked, smiling and looking impressed by this person's wit.
" Haha Yeah, I just tried to cheer you up there. Hey...what is that!?" He points at the mirror.
I turn around and face the mirror....which shows a security guard smiling at a good joke and a surprised looking visitor who has a new electric hair style, all hairs standing up, like I used too much hair conditioner.
"Oh, for crying out loud!" I said.
Then we both laughed really loudly,
until....
the mirror....
....it changed.
"What the f...!?." we both said at the same time. Looking at each other, then back at the mirror.
We both see an image in the mirror.
It's more like a television screen than a mirror now.
There can be no mistake, we see a presumably live image of
Times Square, New York?.
"Please, tell me that this is part of the exhibit," I asked, looking genuinely surprised right now at the guard.
"No sir... That's not supposed to happen at all...." His expression is serious, but also shows interest.
This really wasn't supposed to happen. He's also confused as I am.
We both inspect the mirror from all sides, and  all angles but there are no cables or any places that could hide a TV set or power source.
"You're from that spooky magazine, right?" the guard said.
"If you mean The Unexplained Magazine Series', then yes. Have you read it before?" I looked surprised.
"Eh, no. But I guess you have something to write about again today huh?." The guard said, while grinning.
"Yeah, it's probably just a prank though. Hmm Can I have a closer look at that? I want to take some pictures, nobody is going to believe me otherwise so. Maybe I can even interview you as a witness?"
"Little old me? Sure, by all means. Nothing exciting ever happens here anyway. But not here, I really need to close the exhibit soon now. Safety first, you know? Just don't touch that thing." He points at the mirror, which still shows the same image.
"Sure, I understand. Just some pictures and then time for coffee."
The guard went and blocking access to this room by placing exhibition barriers here and there. It makes the place safe and still appear 'normal'.
I approach the mirror again, and carefully take pictures with my phone and record a video as well.
Then I notice that my scarf, a.k.a. "The Duster" is still attached to the mirror. And...of course a few strands are stuck in the frame.
I tried pulling at the scarf, but it's stuck, so I pull with a bit more force
...but I overdid it.
The mirror suddenly leans forward and falls right on top of me,
pushing me to the floor, again.
*Bam!*
"Ouch!" This thing is heavier than it looks!
My hands are trying to protect myself from harm in a reflex, but surprisingly...there's no sound of glass breaking.
I can feel the cold surface of the glass on my hands. Then, just when I'm about to push it away,
I got zapped again...
*Zap!* 
Without any warning,
In the blink of an eye,
I see a fast delivery truck passed me by, then I suddenly hear the familiar loud sounds of cars passing me by one after another while the drivers are honking their car horns.
I stand up in a split second and see that I'm standing right in the middle of Times Square, only inches away from death by bumper's.
Drivers are slamming their breaks and the sound of screeching tires can be heard all around me.
WTF!?
What just happened!?
I find a way between the cars while people are giving me the finger and some are shouting some remarks like "freak!" and other remarks which I don't particularly care to repeat such.
Finally I make it to the other side and feel out of breath instantly wanting to sit down on the curb, but I can't.
There's people all around me, I feel like I am squeezed like a lemon.
Nobody seems to care about my near death experience. Then I hear a police siren coming closer and a loud voice is asking people to stand back, leaving me standing all alone next to a barber shop.
What happened?
It's so cold out here.
I look down
...are those....slippers?
So that's why I'm freezing earlier.
I feel around for my pockets,
but then I realized
...where's my coat? Wait....My phone! It's gone!
Suddenly, A female police officer steps out of the police car and approaches me while I'm standing with my back flat against the wall,
still scared to death while my thoughts are racing everywhere.
The officer says "miss, are you alright? Do you need an ambulance?"
I make eye contact and shake my head.
Then I just realized what she said.
Did she really just say "miss,"Just now?.
"Maybe you should come with me? You know, maybe talk a little bit at the station..all nice, warm and relaxing than here."
I nod, still unable to talk due to the stress.
"Alright, get in there please. People!, nothing to see here, step back."
The crowd already wanted to walk past us, not caring what had happened here for a bit.
The officer scans my appearance from head to toe and back for a moment, then helps me to get in the back of the car,
pushing my head down so I wouldn't hurt myself. She closes the door and then also enters the car. She signals her partner to start the engine, and then turns around to look at me.
"What's your name, miss?"
"Miss? I'm a guy!" But now that I have stated this fact, I realize that my voice is off, so I cough and try to speak again. "I'm a guy, officer!" But that again isn't my own voice.
It definitely sounded much higher than my old voice.
"Really? So...cosplaying then, huh?" The officer is probably only trying to help me relax.
"Wha???? No way! I'm definitely not cosplaying officer!." Then I look down and see something...different.
Why am I wearing some weird dress??
And...are those....??
My thoughts are interrupted when I see the police officer focus on top of my head.
Curious about her gaze I touch my head at that same spot.
WTF!?
Something furry is..."Ouch!" It's firmly attached! Is it glued on!?
"Officer, you have to believe me!. I was in a museum just a minute ago!, and then POOF! I ended up in the middle of the road!"
"Sure you are honey. Just try to relax, okay?" She uses the radio "Officer 4041 to dispatch. We have a 10-56." (intoxicated pedestrian)
"Dispatch to officer 4041. 10-4. approved for 10-19" (Copy that. Return to station).
"Officer 4041 to dispatch. 10-4." (Copy that).
"Hey, please don't throw up back in there," said the driver, a male police officer.
"What!? I'm not drunk!, officer!" I said, feeling insulted as I would never throw up in a car, let alone in the back of a police car!.
The police siren activates for a few seconds so bystanders can get out of the way, then the car joins the other traffic on the road.
My mind is racing to piece together what has happened to me.
But nothing is making any sense.
First I was in the museum and then I appeared in the middle of traffic. Now I seem to be wearing some kind of weird dress. Did somebody drug me? Did I really lose my mind earlier today and somehow started dressing like a woman??
My thoughts are again interrupted by the female officer talking to me.
"Are you okay back there dear?"
"Eh...no,not really....officer.... I don't know what's happening to me." Without me realizing it, tears started falling from my eyes.
Must be the stress, yeah sure that's probably why.
"Just hang in there, I think it's better if we go to the hospital instead."
"Yes officer." I say meekly.
"Officer 4041 to dispatch. 10-76 to hospital." (proceeding to hospital).
"Dispatch to....officer 4041... 10-4."
The police car's sirens activate and we rush through New York's crowded streets, heading for the nearby hospital.
The hospital is then notified that we are en route to them, while the officer keeps checking if I'm remaining conscious.
While thinking about whatever has happened to me, I feel some pressure on my back.
But it's more of a warmth feeling, nothing hurtful.
Maybe this dress or whatever it is, is just too tight?. But what could that stuff on top of my head be? And why would someone glue that on top of my head? Most importantly....when did they even do that?
After a few more minutes of me preoccupied with my thoughts, the sirens stop and we stop directly in front of the emergency entrance where medical staff is waiting for me.
The officer helps me out of the police car and helps me to sit down on a wheelchair while the hospital staff rush me inside to the emergency room.
The male officer parks the police car to give her some time to discuss the situation with the medical team.
"What happened?" A man, presumably a doctor, asked the female officer while we were rushing inside.
"We found her walking through heavy traffic on Times Square earlier. She seems very confused so I thought of a possible stroke or something. She really believes she's a guy and moments ago started crying back in the car."
Really!? They are talking about me as if I weren't here! I'm not going insane!
"But I AM a guy! Why do you insist I am not!?" I then start shivering in the wheelchair as my dress or whatever it is, is not suited for December temperatures.
"See?" the officer added, while one of the doctors blinded me by using a small flashlight to check my pupil's response.
A nurse put a plain gray blanket around me, for which I was very grateful for this.
"Okay officer, I understand. There seems to be no immediate danger, she's probably only in temporary shock. Thank you for the assistance and we will take care over from here. We will contact you later today."
"Okay, thank you." And the officer turns around to join her partner in the police car soon after.
The medical staff then push me inside a room, but at a more relaxed speed.
Then all sorts of things start to happen at the same time.
People are asking me all sorts of questions while others are drawing some of my blood samples for analysis.
"Miss, what's your name?" a female nurse asks.
"Eh... Roland." I cough because my voice sounds strange again. Probably a cold. "Roland Mouse." I say with a lower tone of voice.
I am still a bit confused, trying to make sense of all that is happening to me.
The nurse looks surprised at the strange name, as she probably also assumes that I'm a woman, but decides to just go along with things.
"Ehh I see. Roland. Do you remember where you live?"
"Sure. I live close to here and I work for Unexplained Magazine Series'."
"Okay, so can we leave you here for a minute while we wait for the results to come back?"
"Sure, nurse. Sorry to be a bother to you...."
"Don't worry honey, it's part of the job."
She's really nice to me, huh? But calling me honey? I'm at least ten years older than she is!
She then leaves me alone between other patients in the waiting room, while a receptionist keeps a watchful eye on the people here, me included.
After waiting for about fifteen minutes in the waiting room, the nurse from earlier returns and says
"alright Roland, we have some results. Let's talk in private, shall we?"
I wanted to nod, but she's already pushing me into a nearby examination room after checking that the room isn't currently occupied.
Then she sits down next to me on one of the chairs against the wall. She makes eye contact, really staring into my eyes, and then starts explaining.
"Roland, your pupil responses, blood pressure and oxygen levels are all normal. We found no alcohol or other foreign substances in your blood. Your white blood cell count is unusually high. Your body might be fighting an infection and you should be running a fever, but you really seem fine.
Your vitamin and iron levels are also substantially higher than average. Are you using any supplements?"
"No, not at all." I shook my head. It makes no sense, I honestly don't really eat that much healthy food. So I would expect lower levels, but higher? Never.
"That's strange,hmm. Anyway, those levels are not dangerous to your health. Be sure to follow up with your doctor.
To summarize...you are in no immediate danger.
The both of us can have a normal conversation, so it's more likely that you were only in shock earlier. So...physically you seem to be alright. Just relax and take it easy for a while...and..."
I nod, waiting for her to continue.
"And..regarding the relaxing part. The doctor wants to at least have you monitored for another twenty-four hours by other medical staff. You see, you are in the emergency room right now and don't need any emergency treatment. Do you understand?"
I nod again. "Of course, I don't want to be in your way."
The nurse then gives me something to drink and again sits next to me, smiling and telling me that all will be fine.
"Thank you for understanding. This stuff will make you feel a bit sleepy, but I promise you will be fine, okay?"
I immediately nodded and said "of course. I'm really, really grateful for your help. I'm so relieved thank you."
She smiled, which made me smile as well.
But then.... feeling something strange started happening to me.
I started feeling really really cold and woozy.
I can hear strange whooshing sounds all around me.
The room starts getting eerily quiet and I feel a warmth sensation on the front side of my head, slowly expanding.
I can barely hear the nurse say something to another person nearby, "those ears seem to be implants. But she also has..."
At this point my vision slowly becomes darker and darker until finally I pass out.