Another boring day at work.

Drowsily, the oh-so-typical company worker dragged himself to his desk, a pot of coffee in his hands, to do his job. He didn't do anything special, he was just a stock manager for a goddamned toy company, after all. It could have better pay, but it was what he was practically programmed to do, and it was able to keep a steady income. He was relatively new compared to his fellow workers, but that didn't bother him at all. What did, however, was the company's mascot.

It was a purple cat with pink highlights in its hair, with a tiny star clip in its hair. It wore a red-and-yellow polka dot dress with green frills. Well, officially, 'it' is a 'she', but he was so crept out by it he just referred to her as it. It was just so… happy-looking, despite the melancholy world out there. Was it made as some sort of drone to spread positivity in a depressing world? It did have a fan base, some of which were adults. Or was it merely just made to appeal to children, the primary targets of the company? He questioned it daily, but not during work. Work was more important than his stupid conspiracy theories. "Work first, thoughts later," as everyone always said. He didn't quite agree with it, but he and no choice but to put up with it.

But he was beginning to notice something. Something peculiar. Everyone around him was so optimistic, despite the gloominess of the outside and what he radiated. He got the courage to ask someone about it, but they just said they had been "changed" by their job. Changed? What did they mean by 'change'? Did they smoke weed or do drugs on the job? The possibilities were endless, so he decided to do some research after a bit of thought the next day.

But there was nothing. For days, he was frustrated by his fruitless efforts every time he searched again and again. What were they hiding from him? he thought to himself. Each and every time he stepped into that goddamned building, with its pastel rainbow and 'kawaii'fied exterior and interior. It was getting to the point for him where it was becoming sickening. How could these people even put up with this? It was baffling to him.

He decided to try and relax a bit by having some coffee and washing his face. Coffee always reduced stress for him, and for just a second, was able to remove all the cutesy bullshit the company was drugging everyone with. After he drank it all, he went to wash his face. But there was something different about the bathroom.

The air was eerily still, and it was all too quiet. Normally, there was a whole ton of chitter-chatter amongst the pissing or shitting coworkers. He knocked on all the stalls, plastered with that fucking demon cat's face on them, and there was no response. He wondered if his coworkers were playing a prank on him, but his thoughts were cut short when he noticed the cat. Its smile was wider than normal.

Quickly, he walked to the sink and began to wash his face, beginning to panic. When he dried off, he looked at himself for a second in the mirror. He wasn't smiling, but his reflection was. It was a sickening grin, full of a scary sort of happiness that seemed to derive from pain. Appalled, he touched the mirror, and it copied his movements. Except for that goddamn smile.

He leaned in closer, to check if it was really him. And upon closer inspection, it was also a much cleaner version of him, the bags under his eyes almost completely gone, but he still had his growing moustache. Was this a future version of him, or more to the prank his coworkers were playing? He was too stunned to speak, and was too afraid to shout for help.

The reflection began to lift its hand, as the company mascot popped up behind him, leaving a trail of sparkles. She pulled out a wand as his finger got close to his lips, and it let out a happy blast of positivity, hearts, stars, sugar, and everything else that was considered 'happy', despite the fact it felt like a billion daggers being thrown into his body.

The last thing he heard was the shoosh of his reflection.