I was the type to keep ‘important’ files on a separate storage drive. You never know when something might get deleted. Or when you needed a backup of an assignment. Plugging in said external storage I went browsing through my collection.  I went searching for the image I would use. After a quick look through I decided on a peculiar image. A tasteful selfie of an Asian woman. She was dressed up in tights and a sports bra taking a pic in a mirror. I came to this decision having a few questions. If I pull out a person would they be a clone of the original? Would there be a language barrier? How would they react?

Wanting to keep the original, I made a copy for this test. It might also be interesting to compare the difference between a picture I interacted with and one I didn’t. Opening the copy, reaching my hand towards the screen. I touched the screen and it felt like the strange membrane I was starting to grow used to. As my hand sank deeper into the screen I noticed that I wasn't touching anything. By the time I was shoulder-deep, I realized something. Since the picture was a selfie taken in a mirror, the camera was facing her reflection. This was an odd interaction. 

The photo's view was from the reflection in the mirror while my interaction came from the camera itself. Since she was facing away from the camera I wouldn't have been able to touch anything no matter how far I went. I was going in the wrong direction. I sat for a moment in reflection, a part of me wanted to stop but the parts of me that wanted to know more were stronger.

I placed my other hand on the screen and watched as it sank in. With both arms in the screen, I continued to sink my head and upper body further and further through the screen. I pushed in deeper; I could feel the screen wrap around me as I pushed in. Soon enough, I came out the other end. “Well, this is strange”. When I appeared inside the picture, I could feel the floor of my apartment with my legs. And the most curious, I was currently sticking out a phone. To be more specific, I was currently sticking out of the phone's camera in her hand.

Looking around, felt rather disorienting. Aside from the fact I was suspended midair sticking out of a phone. Everything was mirrored. When I tried to look around, I got different images reflected in each eye. When I moved my right hand my left hand was the one I saw move. This is really disorienting.

Was there a way to fix this? Maybe by turning the phone around? “Heh,” I couldn’t help but chuckle at the idea. Even so, if I moved her fingers would she drop the phone? Curious, I decided to try it out, moving her fingers one at a time. I sat there stunned as the phone stayed suspended. What? Did gravity stop working now too?

Grabbing hold of the phone, I found that I could move it. Doing so, however, was jarring, to say the least. The scene before my eyes would shift and spin as the phone moved. I wondered if there was a way to ‘unmirror’ everything. “It couldn't be as simple as flipping the phone around. Right”?

Turning the phone around, it sounded like a simple action. With the fact that just shifting the phone side to side caused significant movement. I should have realized not to do it all at once.

Upon flipping the phone away from the mirror, I felt everything in the room shifting. I do mean everything, the walls, floor, even my organs, it felt like my brain just twisted and untwisted all in the span of a second. Immediately I pulled myself out. "Oh god, I think it gave me vertigo," I said slumping to the floor my muscles unwilling to cooperate. I waited a few minutes for the nausea to subside. It really was that simple, but I never want to do it again. (I was probably going to do it again).

After taking more than a moment to recover. I returned to the now-flipped picture. Once again inside from the middle up.

Even with everything I had done in the picture so far, there was no reaction from the woman in question. Wondering why this was, I wanted to see if there would be any reaction. Waving my hand in front of her face caused no reaction. From admiring her body or touching not even touching her chest (which did feel nice). Nothing I did caused a reaction, she remained static.

“A picture is a moment in time. Huh.” Taking a deep breath. “Alright, should I see what happens if I bring her head out of the picture”?

Since the camera seems to be the reference point for the image, If the camera is contained within the image, I can move it? Change it? How would this work in a video or a movie? What about other formats? I’m going to have more to figure out later.

Because, in this case, I can move the camera I positioned the phone in front of her face. Afterward, I pulled myself out of the picture. Back in my apartment. Looking back at the picture on the screen, it had changed. Now displaying her face and a part of her upper body.

Okay, time to try pulling her out... Slowly. Reaching my hands back into the screen I grabbed her head on each side and slowly began pulling. As I pulled her head out of the laptop, her blank expression started to change.

I watched as her face was filled with expression. First, her eyes darted around the room, then a face of abject horror, then she tried to scream. Well, that might be the normal response. Appearing somewhere you don't know through what could only be magic...

(Ya, I'd scream too…) before she did, I shoved her head back into the screen.

End