[ TT ] One day you wake up to find that the entire world is mirrored . What was left is now right and vice-versa . You on the other hand have stayed the same .

The first thing I noticed was the way my hands trembled. Holding the phone, my right hand shook with an uncharacteristic weakness, then as I blearily opened my eyes, it gave up completely, dropping the phone squarely on my face with a solid *thwock. * 
 
 I had considered many things. For example, I was n't exactly young anymore - and the trembling could be the first signs of Parkinson's. Additionally, some of the chemicals I worked with - they could be the cause too. One whiff too many could cause temporary neurological symptoms. It was a cause for concern, but it was n't until I got up, and looked at my bedside table, that something really strange began to happen. 
 
 I could have sworn the table was on my *right*. It had to be, since I was right-handed - yet it was distinctly on my left. And right there and then I sat bolt upright, sweating in the darkness, then fumbled for the light switch. 
 
 Everything looked normal, but reversed. It was as if some alien being had folded my room in half and switched around all the contents. Symmetries and chirality had formed a big part of my life, of course - but I was sure I was n't simply seeing things. 
 
 Carefully, I walked unsteadily over to my bathroom. There would be a while to sort out this mess, but I had to get dressed for work. My feet felt so awkward, almost as if I were walking on moving ground, almost as if the tiles before me were shifting and shaking at every stroke. And when I turned on the lights in my bathroom I got such a shock that my head spun a little. 
 
 There, staring back at me in the mirror, was the mirrored version of me. 
 
 I walked closer to the mirror, transfixed like Narcissius, not daring to take my eyes off me. Slowly, I raised my right hand. Mirror-me raised its left hand. Which meant... 
 
 Everything else in the world had been mirrored. And I had been left untouched. 
 
 -- - 
 
 I put on my tie and suit as best I could, and looked out my window. The sun was just beginning to rise in the west, and the stray light beams lit up the road before me. And all the cars were on the *right* side of the road - which might have impressed my American colleagues but freaked the hell out of me. 
 
 Oh God, so it is true, I thought. Everything but me is flipped. 
 
 Downstairs there was a slowly ticking clock. I rushed downstairs, past my sleeping kid's snores, and I stared at the clock. All the numbers had been mirrored, so to me, they seemed like some strange alien language. But no matter. I kept staring at it, trying to divine some meaning from the numbers, as I willed the second hand to move. And eventually it did - *counter-clockwise*. 
 
 Was time running backwards, or did the clock *appear* to move backward? 
 
 I pulled out my phone from the pocket and held it up to the dry air, dimming the screen. In the mirror-like reflection of the glass the clock appeared to work normally. So it was the clock too that was reflected, everyone and everything else seemed to be flipped. 
 
 Did physicists know yet? 
 
 It was then that I spied a letter. 
 
 The red letter on the table seemed symbolic enough, and I had to use my phone as a mirror again to read the contents. Inside the envelope lay a brand new, glossy piece of paper - so shiny I could n't believe the watermark. 
 
 *Timescape*, it had said. *For all your time travelling needs. * 
 
 This was followed by a hastily-scribbled mirrored message on the paper. Again, I put my phone to the message, and it stating only: 
 
 *As you might have guessed, your world has been replaced with the mirror image of itself. You are one of the people we suspected might suffer from chiral shock - this idea that left is right and right is left. For the next few days, we advice you to stay away from driving anything, or from trying to operate any heavy machinery, and give yourself time for your body to adjust. Under Alderaanian law, this experiment will take no longer than twenty-five days of your natural suncycle. * 
 
 *Best wishes, etc: TimeCorp. * 
 
 Gently, I started looking at the clock again. Tick, tick, tick, it went - but in reverse. In reverse. TimeCorp. For all your time travelling needs. For all your- 
 
 Oh God. 
 
 The second realisation struck me like a lightning bolt. 
 
 The world had become a time machine. 
 
 -- - 
 
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