I will tell you what is at the poles - 'mystery'.

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Have you ever wondered what is at the poles?

If you think and say with full of confidence that there is snow, icebergs, and lots of strong, cold winds blowing, then think again.

I will tell you what is at the poles - 'mystery'.

"Mystery?!" you will shout with an unbelievable tone, and your stomach will start wriggling with excitement, I know that.

I am about to tell you the darkest secret of my life, so don't go around screaming about it. When I was about nine or ten years old, I had to study several lessons. The subjects I studied were maths, science, English, and social studies. I did not like social studies, and tried to ignore it a lot. But alas! My exams came and thus, I had to sit and study the boring subjects of geography and history.

Studying geography means learning about different countries, their temperature, their physical features, and so on, and especially about the poles. I had a habit of surfing the Internet to read up about whatever I read. So, as usual, I started to search for information on the poles.

I was glad I did so.

A news piece I came across said:

A giant hole has been found at the North Pole. NASA is deliberately trying to hide it. This giant hole can lead you to the centre of the earth.

I thought, “Nobody really has the guts to go to the centre of the Earth. What if they get burned even before they covered half of the distance, or if a monster ate them?”

My head was full of silly and stupid ideas.

I picked up a globe, and, God knows what came to my mind, I started to unscrew the metal screw and the rod. There was a hole, into which the metal rod went, and acted as the axis. I looked through the hole and what I saw nearly gave me a heart attack!

It was the universe! With the solar system and the seven planets! I could clearly see the earth. I wanted to go there so much! I pointed my finger towards the hole, and I got pulled in like a bubblegum that bursts and gets sucked into the mouth.

Suddenly I was inside the globe. I could clearly see the hole through which I had come. And believe it or not, it was a black hole, and only black holes pull you towards themselves with such force.

I discovered that I was breathing, right in space, where there is no oxygen! I found myself getting closer to Earth, which was giving off a bluish light. I entered Earth’s atmosphere, got the shake of my life, and shot toward the ground at the speed of a rocket.

I could not believe my luck! How did I manage to enter Earth’s atmosphere without burning? All of this was a mystery, and I still haven’t managed to discover the real reason.

Now back to the story.

So, after having entered the atmosphere, within eight to nine minutes, I reached the surface of the earth. I could not believe the smoothness with which I had landed. This was also an additional mystery to me, aside from the one before.

I felt a slight movement behind me. Turning around, I found my own self watering the plants. I stood there, aghast by what I had seen. How can there be two of the same persons at a time in different places?

My replica had also seen me. She let out a scream, dropped the watering can, and ran inside the house. I looked around and noticed that all the surroundings and buildings were the same as I had seen on Earth. Suddenly, a person who was a replica of my dad emerged. He looked around cautiously, as though to make sure nobody was watching, and then carefully led me inside the house.

He said “Would you like some cookies?”

I nodded.

He came back holding a bowl full of cookies. It was then that I noticed a sickening sight. My father was wearing a woman's dress! And before I could say anything my mom, rather, her identical twin, appeared in a police officer’s uniform, which should have been my father’s outfit. Mom said, “Today was one of the busiest days at work. Following an investigation, I put one murderer and two thieves in jail.”

I also saw my duplicate wearing a boy’s dress, although she was supposed to be wearing a girl’s.

“Well, have you noticed your reflection in the mirror?” asked my duplicate mom.

I could not stand the sight and started shouting, “Why are you all wearing dresses of the opposite gender?? If you think this is fashionable, then I must say that you have got very bad taste , and it is very sickening!!”.

All the three copies were looking at me with an amazed expression, which soon turned into something calm.

My mom’s replica said, “Are you new to Mirror world?”

“Mirror world? What Mirror world?” I asked, still not daring to believe the scenes floating in front of my eyes.

“Well, have you noticed your reflection in the mirror?” asked my duplicate mom.

I shrugged clumsily, and with a lot of difficulty managed not to roll my eyes, “Of course I have.”

My duplicate mom said, “The image shows lateral inversion, doesn’t it? The left side appears to be the right side and the right side seems to be the left side. Just like that, this planet Earth is called the ‘Mirror world’. Everything is opposite. A man does all the work of a woman, and a woman does all the work of a man. A man wears a woman’s dress, and a woman wears the dress of a man as it happens on your Earth. A foolish man becomes a clever man, and a clever man becomes a foolish man.”

“What?!” I said, shocked.

My duplicate mom said, “Yes. And you’d better return to your own planet. All the scientists over the news were saying that this could happen.”

After that I don’t remember how I got back to Earth. I found myself lying on my bed.

When I told my dad all about my adventure, he gave me a deathly glare, and blew his top, “Don’t try to give me all that nonsense! Go and study.”

That day I realised that as people grow old, they dismiss the stories we children tell them as rubbish.

Well, all you children out there, I told you this in the hope that you will believe me. I am sure you will not brush this aside as rubbish.

And finally, I want to tell you that I have tried several times to go to mirror world again, but I have been unable to.

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