Alan now lies in an unknown world. A world in which everything was there to explore but this was not the reason alan was worried about.

  Alan was only worried about vanessa at that moment. So he started putting all of his efforts towards vanessa.

  Only if vanessa loved him again he would gain a string of hope in the void of this alien world , alan thought.

  So alan thought of starting the string of events similar to the one that was created when him and vanessa fell in love. Alan thought of organising a party. A simple house party and he will invite sam and ask him to bring vanessa as well because he knew that him and Vanessa first met at a party.

  Alan picked up his phone and called sam. The phone started ringing. The ring echoed in the mind of alan like sound echoing in a tunnel repeatedly, Alan was not having any thought while calling sam.

  "Hello", a voice from the other end of the phone. "Hey sam this is Alan, I am thinking of having a party in my house tomorrow and you are invited and you have to come.", Alan said to sam. "Oh! Okay sure!", sam replied but in a low tone. "I will try", Sam added. Alan was desperate for meeting vanessa, he needed to be sure that sam comes to the party along with vanessa.

  "Bro i need you to be there",alan said to sam in a desperate tone. "Okay okay bro i will be there. "Bring vanessa along" alan said almost abrupting sam while he was talking.

  "Vanessa ? Why?", sam asked confusingly. Alan replied,"No particular reason just brings her along." Sam replied ,"You are acting weird man." "Just bring her along", Alan replied and hung up the phone.

  Alan's eyes were lighting up with hope. He was confident that he would make everything right.

  Alan began preparing for the party. He told his mom and dad that he was having a party the next day. He prepared the house. He bought flowers for decoration and carefully selected vanessa's favourite flowers. He picked up vanessa's favourite dress of him. He even selected vanessa's favourite perfume for himself.

  The day of the party came and guests started coming to the party but none of them was of interest for Alan. His eyes were eagerly staring at the door waiting for Sam and vanessa.

  Then he came, not Sam but the weird old man from the park. Alan's expression changed from desperation to surprise and confusion. The man didn't come empty handed, in his hand was a gift wrapped in an old worn out gifting wrap. An eerie feeling flooded Alan as man entered. The man nodded at Alan but didn't talk to him. The man disappeared into the crowd. There was something about this man, something strange , alan thought.

  "Maybe he is an old family friend", alan thought and shrugged off the strange appearance of man to the party. Alan then again started staring towards the door. Then finally Sam came and Alan's eyes lit up like a lost ship captain finally found a shore after staying in the sea that felt like eternity.

  Sam entered but where was vanessa? There was no sign of her. Alan quickly ran towards Sam. As soon as Alan reached near sam he asked Sam while catching his breath,"where's vanessa?". "Woah! Slow down you weirdo, look behind me.", Sam replied.

  and then there she was , a beautiful young woman entered through the door, she was wearing a fine red dress the one Alan used to love. Alan' s eyes filled up with tears. For the first time in a while it was tears of joy not of sorrow. Alan breathing became heavy , he started sweating profusely. For Alan she was the most beautiful more beautiful than heaven itself.

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  In a state of desperation  alan forgot everything and ran towards vanessa and hugged her. Sam was shocked by the action of Alan he just witnessed. He started crying like a baby, tears falling down his eyes like water flowing down a fall. " I missed you , more than anything, I felt like my soul was separated from my body" Alan said to vanessa in a cracking stuttering voice. "Excuse me, who are you? I don't recognise you and please don't touch me", vanessa replied in a confusing and angry tone.

  Alan came to his senses and realised what just happened. He stopped hugging vanessa and realised "I fucked up".

  Then something happened that broke Alan from his core like the broken mirror he was hallucinating about. Along with vanessa was a man. A tall lean man dressed in all black clothes. His presence almost felt unreal. The man approached Alan and said ,"Bro, that's my girl, don't ever do that again." in a threatening voice. Vanessa stopped this man and said to him," Let's just leave this place."

  Alan wanted to say something but his words were stuck in his mouth. Vanessa left but Alan just stood there like a statue, A man that gazed directly into the medusa's eyes. His tears soon turned that of sorrow from happiness.

  Alan stood frozen, the bass from the party thrumming dully in his chest. The lights pulsed in shades of gold and crimson, but he saw none of it. His gaze clung to them — Vanessa leaving the part with -- Her boyfriend. The word curdled in his mind.

  He exhaled shakily, but it felt like there was no air left to breathe. Around him, people danced, drank, and shouted over the music, but it all blurred into static. His limbs felt heavy, too heavy to move. So he sat. Slowly. Lifelessly.

  The ground sank under his weight, but no one noticed. He stared ahead, eyes unfocused, as the world carried on without him.

  The old man came out of nowhere and told alan ," Something cannot be fixed my son". Alan snapped back to reality. He again started experiencing this eerie feeling. "Who are you?"alan asked him. "It doesn't matter, but tell me if you know who you are?" "The morning in which everything changed you didn't even want to talk to her and now she means everything to you, why?"

  "I...I don't know, she is the love of my life, what will i do without her." Alan replied. As soon as alan replied he realised something, the man was not speaking English but a different language , the one alan clearly recognised and understood. It was the language he heard during the morning of the doomsday. "Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?" Alan asked the man in a loud tone tearing through the music but none of the others seemed to notice that.

  The old man stood there smiling silently and handed alan the gift. Alan quickly opened the gift and it was the same broken mirror alan was seeing everywhere. The mirror was cracked in the middle. In the mirror alan saw two faces. Both faces were of alan but slightly different. One seemed happy like a person who has everything in his life but the other one seemed lost, lost in this cursed world.

  "You had everything Alan, a loving family , a loving brother who would do anything to protect you , a beautiful girlfriend, but you didn't have a bit of gratitude for them and now you have nothing" The man said to alan in a calming voice. "What is all this? Who are you ? Tell me what have I done to deserve this?" Alan shouting to the man. "Nothing! That is your problem, you did nothing, you always complained about your life so now you have something to complain about." The man replied.

  "You just have to accept your life as it is and now you complain about it as much as you want."

  Alan threw the mirror in anger shattering it. None of this was evident to the people in the party.

  "You can do whatever you want, none of this will change." The man said to Alan.

  Alan finally realised that he didn't really appreciate his life. He took everything for granted. Alan cried and cried. " I had everything, everything a man asks from his life but all I ever did was take it for granted, I always wanted more from my life, but now i have lost everything."

  As alan said that , the time stopped. Everyone around him froze like statues. The time on watch forze. The watch started oscillating back and forth and then everything went dark and a voice in this unfamiliar language spoke "it's time"...

  To be continued........