Time: - 8:30AM

Place: - University of New York

  There was a rush on the college campus early in the morning.  Even the backbenchers who had bunked the class several times were rushing to reach the class on time today.  There were only two mornings in a week in which the attendance of students in the first lecture was 100%.  Professor Stein was the person who showed these two miraculous mornings to the college. It was not that the students were interested in their subject so even the naughtiest students would come to their lectures.  There were only two major things that the students were interested in, which was Professor Stein's personality and the rumors about him.

"There are so many things in our lives that we need to try to understand but can't understand. As more and more information were obtained about each of these things, different types of scriptures were formed in which science was differentiated in a way that could be easily understood, such as chemistry, biology, physics, etc. The funny thing is that every human being who understands or discovers science also had to create a separate scripture for themselves because there is no other thing more fickler and stranger than the human mind and that is why we study psychology to know this unruly human mind. Professor Stein looked at the students and spoke.

Every student sitting in front was listening to the professor without blinking an eye as if they were waiting for the professor's permission to ask a question and they would raise their hands high in the air and ask professor a question about their life.  However, it was not easy to ask any question to professor stein as it was almost impossible to get a straight answer from professor ,moreover he did not answer the question outside the curriculum so each student read every topic of psychology to know about professor's life so they may ask questions comparing this topic with the rumors heard about the professor.

"Why are you all sitting like an owl? Anyone have any questions?"

"Sir, sir, sir ..." The Pindrop silence in the classroom, changed drastically and all the student raise their hands up in the air with loud shouts.

"as I anticipated ... the way everyone raise their hands, it seems like all of you have the same question. ok! go on, one of you can stand up and ask me that ..."

Immediately the whole class calmed down as everyone was able to make noise in secret but only a few people, one of whom was Alex, had the courage to stand up and ask question face to face.

"Alex, let's just ask and all the time will be saved ..."

  "Sir, everyone wants to know about illusion."

"We've just finished five of our lectures. That's how far you've gone, oh yeah! You've even beaten me in the course!" professor spoke up.

"No, sir, nothing like that, but we read it out of curiosity ..." Alex said in a trembling voice, looking into Professor Stein's shining eyes.

"As a teacher, it is my duty to satisfy your curiosity. Let's talk about illusions. Illusions are misperceptions of external stimuli."

"Sir, is mirage also an example of illusion?"

"In a way yes and in a way no, you can talk about this in physics class with Sir. Any other questions?"  Seeing the mirage talking, the professor spoke furiously.

"Sir, sir! One last question. Doesn't the appearance of mirage at night come in illusion?"

"You'll never see a mirage at night, son."

"But sir everyone says you saw ..." Alex, in a hurry and out of curiosity, suddenly spoke.

"Class dismiss." Mr.  Stein picked up his books from the table and walked out of the classroom

The professor never shared his personal stories with anyone.  Professor Stein's name as a madman was very popular throughout the city.  When he saw the mention of mirage a different feeling arose in his heart but he immediately walked out of the class because of the feeling of anger over it. There is no doubt that even though people called him crazy, his knowledge was respected throughout the city.

"Professor Stein's fame was worldwide a long time ago but people have been avoiding his company ever since he went on a trip to the Sahara Desert."  Rachel spoke to Alex, sitting in a noisy classroom without a teacher.

"But why? What happened in the Sahara Desert?"

"No one knows for sure, but after coming back professor said he had an encounter with mirage of the night. people says that professor had been lost in the Sahara Desert and He was considered a victim of witchcraft. "

"So, there's no one who knows about this?"

"No, not even trying to find out. All of our parents were against giving Professor Stein a job in college. They barely got the job. Our generation is only interested in storytelling, but they don't know that a man can lose a job because of them, stay away from them. Alex, you are not my best friend, but you are a sensible person. Don't get astray by people. "

Alex calmed down a bit after listening to Rachel but something different was going on in his mind.

Before they both could talk further, Professor Stein suddenly returned to the classroom and the whole class fell silent.  The professor walked straight to the table without seeing anyone and lifted his forgotten glasses and looked at Alex with an angry look.

"Come meet me out of class right now."  And in a second, he walked out of the classroom as if he had disappeared.

Everyone was shocked to see the anger of the professor but it was Alex's condition to see, he was drenched in sweat.  Courageously, he took his feet out of the classroom.

   As soon as he went out, he saw a professor with a tall, muscular body, standing with rolled sleeves of his shirt, the spectacles were not on his eyes now, but there was expression of concern on his face.

"Yes, sir what happened?"

"I'm not your professor and I don't have time to talk right now. I'll explain everything to you along the way."  Professor Stein spoke holding Alex's hand.

"One minute? What? What? Aren't you a professor? Are you kidding me?"

"No idiot and I don't even have time to explain everything to you standing here. Shut up now and come with me, soon I'll explain everything to you, did you want to know about the mirage of the night?"

Realizing that the professor's madness had come out for a moment, Alex, hearing the mirage of the night, immediately started walking with him. Suddenly his eyes went dark and the next moment he was standing in front of the professor's house. What just happened? He was in college right now and now he's in front of the professor's house. Maybe he fainted and was brought in the car! But even how that is possible? why the clock is still showing the time when he was in college? professor's house was about an hour away from him.

"We still have time. We arrived early. It will take another 10-15 minutes for him to arrive."

"How did we get here? You look at the clock and you don't notice that we've come to your house from college in a second, Professor?"

"I told you before that I am not your professor, I am the same but not the professor you know."

"Are you drunk? What kind of weird talk are you doing? My mistake was to listen to people's gossip and come to know about the mirage of the night with a madman. Why did I forget that a madman can say anything?"

"The mirage of the night is not a gossip. It is an event that every human being can believe to be true or false in his own way. You want to know about it? So, listen now." The professor spoke loudly, grabbing Alex's shoulder.

"About four years ago today, I went with my wife on a visit to the Sahara Desert. There was an unimaginable event one night. I was sleeping in my tent when suddenly I felt the presence of someone there. At first, I thought my wife, she may have woken up to drink water, but as soon as she spread her arms on me, she seemed to be sleeping next to me. I woke up with all my six senses. I had heard many cases of robbers breaking into the tents of travelers at night, killing them and stealing them. I was Frightened, I had goosebumps but There was no time to be afraid. If I did nothing, my wife and I would have died for sure because now I could feel the presence of 8-10 people around me. I thought I should take a fight with my stick because even if it doesn't work, I can die in peace that I did try. Courageously I stand up but I missed a heartbeat seeing the faces standing in front of me. The face of everyone standing in front of me was the same as me. It seems like I was facing myself. Before I could say or do anything, they tied my hands and feet and lifted me up to the desert.  My eyes were still open I had no idea what was going on.  Even at night the desert was shining in the moonlight.  I was reluctantly drawn to these people like a dumb animal being taken to a slaughterhouse.

       These people were not talking to each other in any way, even the steps of those people were being erased from the sand after a while. I noticed they walked in a particular formation and one person is constantly leading them. Who are these people?  What do they want from me?  Why they all look like me?  I had no answer. After walking like this for a while I felt cold and suddenly, I was knocked down to the ground. My mouth filled with sand but suddenly all my bonds disappeared without anyone touching me, I stood up.  I saw them standing around me.  Still in confusion before I came out of it, the sound of water came to my ears.  Immediately I turned in that direction and found a beautiful lake behind me.  I ran towards it spitting sand out of my mouth and dipped my mouth directly in the water but found nothing but more sand in my mouth. This lake was an illusion of my mind.  A mirage that made by me.  Was this a dream?  I just kept thinking that but suddenly they all started beating me up and There was a moment came when I died. "

"Are you a ghost? That's why I came here from college so soon ..." Alex said in a trembling voice.

"No, but if you speak again, I'll make your ghost.I was certain to die but the next morning I opened my eyes I was thirsty for water somewhere in the desert alone. Since then this incident started happening every night. Every day I would go to that mirage in thirst for water and those people whom looks like me would kill me, but one day I made something unreal happened, I drank the water of mirage. All those people whom beats me are nothing but just an idea in my mind whom kept me tied up. Do you ever dream Alex? In a dream we can do anything. Nothing is impossible in dream but Are you sure in which you living it's a dream or a real world?  The mirage of the night is something similar.  That mirage showed me the full power of my mind. Now I can do whatever I want to.”

"I didn't understand anything."

"Mirage is both true and false in a way, its presence cannot be considered real but we also can’t deny it’s existence. Right now, you are also living in a dream of which you are not aware. Everything in this world that we believe is out of our control.  It's all a myth we've created to control our self. "

"Why did you tell me all this?"

"I can't prove anything to the people because the professor who is coming out right now is the leader of the same people who killed me every night. "

"Yeah, then you can take your revenge. There are so many powers you have. I'm just living in a dream. What can I do?"

"I have powers but I'm in captivity. All you have to do is take the professor in front of the mirror and break the glass."

"Why should I help?  professor is not doing anything wrong with me or the world."

"Alex, will anyone have the strength to stop him when he does something? You just go there and do as I say, he won't do anything to you. Trust me. The professor is coming. I'll send you to him. You just break the mirror in his house. "

The next moment Alex was standing in the doorway of the house.

"Hey Alex why are you here?"  The professor looked at him and spoke.

"Sir I wanted your book. Can I come in to read?" Alex felt hypnotized.

Seeing Alex's strange gesture, the professor thought for two minutes and spoke.

"Come inside the house."

As soon as the professor took Alex inside and closed the door, the next moment Alex courageously grabbed him,alex was out of control .he felt like someone else is controlling him,alex took professor to the front of the mirror and smashed the mirror by banging professors head on it.  The professor fainted from being hit on the head.  While Alex was watching this, suddenly another man came from behind and turned the paddle over his neck.  Alex's eyes began to darken and he fell to the ground next to the professor.  Standing in front of him was the same man with the paddle who had sent him to break the mirror. Alex fainted and he’s eyes closed.

"Alex wake up! You will be late for college?"  Mrs. Smith spoke out loud.  As soon as he heard the sound, Alex woken and fell out of bed.

"Was this a dream? Thank god, I'm alive. I don't know what kind of dream comes in the morning."  Alex got up from the ground, styling his hairs while looking in the mirror, and spoke. Suddenly he felt pain over the neck, he saw there is a deep wound which is healing much faster.

"Alex, there's a letter for you. Get up early and get ready. Breakfast is ready."  Mrs. Smith spoke as she slammed the bedroom door.  At the sound of which Alex immediately took his hand off his neck and opened the letter scrolled down the door.

It was written in the letter that.

"You choose the wrong person, kid. Even though you didn't have the power of the mirage of night, you survived that person’s attack. Now you have to correct this mistake. Find Arthur he will help you in this."

      From- will recognize me in times of need.

was it a dream or reality??