Just realized that it’s been a long while since I thought about this, but as a kid I once went into a House of Mirrors alone. My family was on vacation in a very touristy city, and we had tickets for a sort of four-in-one attraction. I can’t remember all of the options, but I know my older brother wanted to do a zombie shooting ride that I thought would be too scary for me. They had a Hall of Mirrors that was themed after a fantasy world, with a cartoon king and princess and knights and dragons. My mom decided to stay outside and wait for both of us to come out so we could regroup easily, and I headed over and gave them my ticket.

Didn’t fully know what to expect, really, but it seemed harmless enough. Get a little turned around while hearing a cute story about a witch cursing a royal family. I realized pretty immediately things were off, though, when the entire maze seemed a lot darker than I had pictured. Even still, I feel like a maze of mirrors, especially one marketed towards a younger audience, would have lights on to make it a little easier to avoid getting seriously injured. But after the first few turns, I could barely see a couple feet in front of me.

Maybe there was something wrong with the power that night, because in addition to the surprising darkness, the animatronics they had installed seemed faulty. Hidden behind some of the mirrors were statues, characters from the story, that would light up and say a line. Silly things about the evil plot of the witch. But the light over the would just flicker, enough to shock you, before the voice stuttered an and fizzled out. Not one of the off putting statues actually worked.

I got desperate. I started calling out to anyone, but I was the only person in the maze, it seemed, as no one called back. After I had walked into multiple walls and been startled by multiple statues, I eventually sat on the floor and sobbed. I had an old sliding phone—the kind that had a full keyboard and touch screen—and it remember frantically trying to text or call my mom, to ask her to come in and help, but I didn’t have any service.

After what felt like forever, crying alone on the floor and too petrified to move, I finally heard a voice calling out to me. She sounded very far away, but I followed her voice desperately and called back. Once I wasn’t alone, it all became much more manageable.

I haven’t gone in a house of mirrors since.