Chapter Three: She Takes My Night Shift

If the woman had been real, why did she wear my clothes? If she was not real, who had brought home the blood? I examined myself. No wounds. Dry soles. Temperature normal. My watch showed that I had remained home since 7:12, except for three minutes of missing heart-rate data beginning at 12:45. Were three minutes enough for someone to step through a mirror? Police knocked before dawn. He Yuanshan had been found in the underground hospital garage at 1:03. He was alive, but two fingers on his left hand were broken and his forehead had been cut. More troubling, security footage showed his attacker wearing my coat. Onscreen, “I” emerged from the fire stairs, face uncovered. He saw her and moved from anger to primitive terror. He backed into his car.