Introduction
My name is Mikey, and I shifted realities.
No, seriously. I know how it sounds - crazy. It sounds absolutely wacko, but I can assure you that I did, and still do. Shifting realties, I mean.
I saw it all over TikTok one night on my nightly scroll before bed. People were shifting to Hogwarts, taking classes among Harry and the crew, and living a life totally away from the world we were in now. At first I thought, "Surely this is just lucid dreaming?" But the more I read, studied, and talked to people, it became very, very clear:
This was real.
The world as of recent sucked. Between a pandemic, mind-numbing politics, and a world literally on fire, I couldn't blame anyone for wanting to be literally anywhere but here. The idea really sounded appealing, considering the pandemic had taken my job and college was kicking my ever-loving ass. But as convincing as post after post, comment after comment made it seem, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
Weeks went on. It continued to show up everywhere on social media - I couldn't escape it. Now, people were going to places other than Hogwarts: other books, anime series, video games, you name it. Now it really seemed fake. But guess what?
I finally caved in and made a script.
I decided to try and go to Hogwarts. That seemed easy enough - everyone was making guides and tips for it, so surely if it worked, this would be the easiest one to get to. I designed my perfect self. I had beautiful blonde hair, blazing green eyes, and was the most badass Quidditch beater the world had seen. Proud of my work, I read it over, turned on some meditating sounds, and started to count.
"How often was I supposed to say affirmations? Was it to 100 0r 1,000?" So many thought raced around my head, and the thought of this whole thing being bogus came back. No way anyone could meditate and relax enough to jump quantum portals when there was so much you had to remember to do.
After about an hour, I gave in to my heavy eyelids and just went to sleep.
As I drifted off, I thought about how nice it would've been to wake up somewhere... better. I had been depressed for a solid six months. My hair had grown matted, my skin dry, and my face constantly puffy from the ridiculous amount of tears I had cried. The current state of it all left me feeling so alone. It would've been nice, even for just one night's sleep, to get away...
I didn't know if I really believed in reality shifting, or if anything would come of it besides one good dream. I just knew that at this point in my life, I was desperate enough to try.
And then suddenly, I was home.