© 1990

Green palms surrounded by bark chips, encompassed by treated pine logs gave the impression of cool relaxation inside the bathroom. An enormous lagoon set in the slightly raised heavy blue carpeted floor, slowly bubbled noiselessly, a spa hidden deep within its blue waters.
A white wall adorned with posters including a beach resort, a flock of birds nesting in a hidden tropical sanctuary, a mass of shiny buildings comprising a futuristic city centre and many others stood directly opposite a huge plate-glass window, overlooking a dense tropical rainforest of life.
Light came filtering down through unseen skylights lost above the thick mats of green fernery hanging from the blue tinted roof, high above the floor.
Beyond the thick greenery clustered on the floor, cleverly hidden by an attractive latticed wall of green-white Ivy, a door lay expectantly open, waiting for a candidate to enter. Beyond, a small, bland shower recess and toilet. Nearby, another door, this time a well tanned Oak door, lay closed: The entrance from the adjoining hallway.
Somewhere, lost in the masses of greenery, a plain white wall lay an eyesore. The wall eminated a faint luminescent glow, mainly from the inset mirror.
The oak door gradually opened quite effortlessly and the lagoons' activity increased, as an infra-red sensor detected a body emerge from behind it.

"Get ready for this, Pauline. I hope you like it. It really isn't your average, everyday, run-of-the-mill type bathroom."
A flicker of movement: A light-skinned, smooth hand absently brushed aside a strand of light blonde hair, dangling loosely over two brilliantly deep, blue eyes of an evenly built man. The woman, behind his mass wandered through the door after him.
Pualine was beautiful. There was no doubt about that. Her slightly raised top lip indicated that her white teeth had had, at one stage, a brace to retain them. Her casual hair, a mixture of brown and gold, gently cascaded her slim shoulders. It was her eyes, though, that captivated her guide. He felt lost within the two inset orbs of incredibly deep blue, lost in love.

"Nick! Nick, it's..." Paulines hushed voice sounded, then resounded to nothing. Lost in the fantasy of the tropical room, her eyes scanned the room, finding only an abundance of beauty. Suddenly, she saw the bland wall with its inset mirror. Her wonderous face twisted as her expression became that of puzzlement. "I see you have noticed the wall." Nick's voice sounded for the first time. His smooth voice broke the astounded silence throughout the room. "Different, isn't it?"
Pauline turned her head towards Nick: A questioning glance. Nick smiled back, looking squarely into the womans' face. She felt his affectionate gaze apon her, and momentarily looked up to meet his eyes. Nick reached over to her face and brushed an imaginary spot from her cheek. Paulines face reddned as a blush crept up into the soft tissues. She averted her face quickly, looking into the swirling waters of the lagoon.
The subject changed; Pauline asked a question and then walked into the separate section of the room to change into a more comfortable outfit - She was going to try the delights offered in the massive spa. Nick quickly departed to prepare some refreshments.
The one-piece swimsuit may have been a little small for Pauline, but she thought Nick wouldn't mind.
All of a sudden, a dizziness overcame her and she felt herself falling. A blackness clouded her vision momentarily. She recovered just as Nick entered the room and she followed him as he dived into the swirling waters of the pool.

Pauline's laughter stopped and she looked at the wall with a quizzical glare. She knew there was something different about it. In disbelief, her memory reminded her of the fact that was so obvious: The mirror had gone. Not a trace of it's existance lay on the wall.
"Something wrong?" Nick's head appeared above the waters' surface next to Pauline.
"Um." She stated, and inclined her head towards the wall. "Nick, where has that mirror that was on the wall gone? I mean, there was a mirror on that wall when we came in."
"That mirror? Well, it's about time I show you the real use of that wall." Nick answered. "Watch this." He turned towards the wall and straightened his shoulders.
"Command: Unlock." He stated solidly. An undetected light shone across the length of the room and onto the wall. Pauline's expression was one of astonishment as Nick's next command came into view.
"Command: View. Rainforrest. Life." The wall actually changed to meet his demands. An whole area of living rainforrest, teeming with life merged with the whiteness of the wall in the same way a picture forms on a television screen. With her eyes wide, Pauline gaped at the now beautiful wall. Just as if she were actually there, she thought.
Most suddenly, a brightly coloured parrot lifted from its perch, deep within the picture and flew towards the screen, gradually gaining speed as it did so. A momentary flicker went unnoticed as the bird touched it's first taste of the other side. It flew across the room and dissapeared into the roof, somewhere above the mass fernery.
Pauline gaped at the smiling Nick.
"Command: Off. Lock." He stated drily.

Nick returned to the room carrying a tray of coffee. As he placed it beside the great spa, he looked over to the wall - A scene of a somewhat dry desert. Pauline was trying to reach out to the picture but found only a wall where the image should be. Inevitably, she turned back to Nick, who was sitting in a vigourously bubbling spa drinking a brew of coffee silently and reguarding her slim figure. Before she could ask any number of questions brimming inside her head, Nick started to answer the unasked quiestions.
"It's a computer-generated image cleverly manipulated by a LCD screen." He paused, waiting for Pauline's attention before continuing.
"Holography plays a big part in the effects on that screen. It enables an image to be displayed in any part of the room and even in three dimensional figures. It's years ahead of its time!"
Paulines mind spun. She could only smile and sink under the swirling blue.

Nick had left the room when she surfaced. A heavy silence burned through the room, and stillness reigned. It felt too quiet - too still. A glimmer of uneasiness grew within Pauline's mind. She thought she heard a noise behind her, but when she turned, all to be seen was a blank wall and the luscious greenery of the room beyond her still lake.
An idea struck.
"Command: On." She stated. Nothing happened.
"Please?"
The screen eminated a dim glow, and following her next command, a display of Nick's face appeared on the wall.
A movement near the door attracted Pauline's attention. Something that existed only at the edge of her vision, bordering on her own imagination. She glanced at the door, gently brushing her wet hair from her eyes, as if to see better.
It was the image of Nick on the wall that jerked her attention back. The image was changing gradually. Nick's body was becoming more grotesque, harder. His face was gradually melting as a gruesome head replaced it. Pauline could only stand paralysed, watching in disbelief and horror. The image, bloody and torn then stepped foreward, calling out to the frightened woman in staccato bursts of gargaling. A bony hand stretched out to her, through the screen and into the room, quickly followed by the rest of the deathly body.
Somewhere in the house, almost lost within the deafining silence, a clock chimed and soft music started to play.
An unnoticed flicker crossed the being as it emerged from the fading screen. Pauline screamed something incomprehensible, and fell back into the misty pool. The image vanished.
Nick entered the room quickly as he had heard a scream. He rushed over to the body steadily sinking into the giant spa, reaching out and grasping her bright swimsuit, tearing it as he hauled her unmoving body from the water.

Pauline had regained consciousness, and had sat silently beside the pool, staring deep within the blue-misty liquid of the lagoon.
Nick continued his questionings. "What I really don't understand is that end bit. As I understand in, as I left the room, you felt a little faint, and evidently fell into the pool, and while you tried to drown youself, dreamed up some strange dream about that wall."
"But it seemed so real! I could hear everything - see everything. It was this room and that wall over there with the mirror, and it changed." At that point, her crying started again. Nick gazed at the white wall, and it's inset mirror, cradling the sobbing body to his own. Finally the crying subsided and she continued to tell Nick again of her ordeal.
"Pauline," Nick silenced her.
"But..." She countered hastily, but Nick's hand again motioned her silence. He spoke softly to her, reassuringly. "Pauline, forget it. It was just a dream. It didn't really happen. It was all a bad dream." He stood up, held out his hand to the beautiful woman and spoke affectionately to her. "Let's go and have a cup of hot chocolate."
At that point, Pauline stood up, straightened herself and walked to the door, following Nick's lead.
A faint noise behind her caused her heartbeat to quicken and she turned sharply to see the room. It was the same room, the same white wall. Then, a flash of bright colours above the fernery caught her attention and she saw a bird fly towards the inset mirror. She watched in wonder as the Parrot dissapeared into the wall.
The beautiful woman turned to the oak door, but Nick had already gone.