The next time Lina returned to the City, it seemed unusually alive.
The streets were full of people.
They were laughing.
Greeting each other.
Talking.
At first glance it was the most beautiful place she had seen so far.
No one was arguing.
No one was rushing.
No one seemed lonely.
She thought:
Maybe I’ve finally found a place where people have learned how to live.
A huge palace stood in the center of the square.
White.
Windowless.
Only tall doors.
An inscription was carved above them.
THE HALL OF MIRRORS
The moment Lina stepped inside, she realized the name was misleading.
There wasn’t a single mirror inside.
Only people.
Hundreds of people.
They walked slowly.
Calmly.
As if waiting for something.
A young woman approached her first.
She was extraordinarily beautiful.
– Hello.
She smiled.
– How are you feeling?
– Fine.
– Everyone feels good here.
She said it so naturally that Lina didn’t even doubt it.
The woman walked on.
A few seconds later another one approached.
She was almost identical.
The same hair.
The same voice.
The same gaze.
– Hello.
How are you feeling?
Lina was thrown off.
She walked deeper in.
She met a man.
Tall.
Athletic.
Neatly dressed.
– Hello.
How are you feeling?
His smile was perfect.
A minute later another one appeared.
Exactly the same.
A third.
A fourth.
They all differed.
And yet were all identical.
At one end of the hall stood the artists.
They were painting.
Coming closer, Lina saw that all their paintings were nearly identical.
Only the colors differed.
On the other side sat the writers.
Hundreds of books lay on the tables.
Lina opened one.
Read the first page.
Then another.
A third.
The ideas in all the books were the same.
Only the sentences differed.
Further on were the musicians.
One was playing.
Others repeated it.
Then more and more joined in.
Until finally no one remembered who had created the melody.
She approached the psychologists.
One was speaking to a patient.
– You need to love yourself.
The patient nodded.
– How?
The psychologist fell silent.
A moment later he repeated it.
– You need to love yourself.
The patient asked again.
– But how?
The psychologist repeated the same thing once more.
Lina felt a strange emptiness.
The words were correct.
Only…
There was nothing inside them.
Further on stood spiritual teachers.
They spoke of freedom.
Of love.
Of consciousness.
They all used the same sentences.
The same gestures.
Even their pauses were identical.
As if they’d all studied from one invisible textbook.
Suddenly Lina understood.
She hadn’t heard a single new thought.
Only echoes of old ones.
A girl stood in the middle of the hall.
She alone wasn’t painting.
Wasn’t playing.
Wasn’t talking.
Only watching.
– Why aren’t you doing anything?
Lina asked.
– I’m waiting.
– For what?
– For someone to come up with something of their own.
– And?
The girl smiled sadly.
– I’ve been waiting a long time.
– What’s going on here?
Lina asked.
– They’re learning to be alike.
The girl answered.
– Why?
– Because being yourself is very dangerous.
Lina walked on.
Suddenly she noticed something strange.
No one in the hall looked anyone else in the eye.
Everyone looked…
Over their shoulder.
At the others.
One man straightened his jacket only after seeing another man do the same.
One woman laughed only after those around her laughed.
Even their emotions arrived with a delay of a few seconds.
As if they weren’t their own.
– What happened to them?
Lina asked quietly.
The girl answered:
– They searched for themselves for a long time.
And grew tired.
So they started searching for each other instead.
At the far end of the hall stood a single door.
Above it was written:
ORIGINALS
Lina approached.
Pulled the handle.
The door was locked.
– Why?
She asked.
– It isn’t locked.
The girl answered.
– Then why won’t it open?
– Because no one tries to open it.
Everyone looks first…
At how the others open it.
Lina turned around.
And then she saw what she hadn’t noticed until now.
All the people in the hall were gradually becoming more alike.
Their faces slowly changed.
Noses.
Eyes.
Smiles.
Movements.
Until finally the differences almost disappeared.
There was no single person forcing them.
There was no ruler.
There was no demon.
There was no command.
Only…
A constant glance toward the next person.
– Who created all this?
Lina asked.
The girl shook her head.
– No one.
– There must be someone.
– There isn’t.
She fell silent for a moment.
– Imitation has no creator.
It copies itself.
One person copies another.
The second copies the first.
The third copies the second.
After a while, no one remembers anymore…
Who was first.
At that moment applause broke out in the middle of the hall.
All the people started clapping.
Lina looked around.
There was no one to clap for.
There was no reason at all.
A few seconds later everyone was clapping.
Because the others were clapping.
A minute later everyone stopped.
Because the others stopped.
Lina felt a chill.
For the first time in the City, she was truly afraid.
Not because of demons.
Not because of shadows.
But because of a thought.
What if this is how the whole world lives?
When she left the hall, it was already dark in the square.
The people were still smiling.
Still talking.
Still looking happy.
Only now Lina noticed one small detail.
Their shadows were different.
Only their faces were identical.
She woke up early.
She sat in bed for a long time.
Then opened the black notebook.
She wrote for a long time.
Crossed things out.
Corrected them.
Finally she kept only three sentences.
A person rarely becomes who they want to be.
More often, they become whoever they admire.
After a long silence she wrote the final line.
It isn’t lies that build the world. It’s people who copy each other for so long that they forget they were once originals.