Yes, I know I should not have ignored the man pointing the gun at me. At the time, it was only too obvious that he was joshing me. He was wearing the ripped jeans and white tee that often accompanied my hallucinations.

I glanced away from him to keep him in my periphery; it would upset me more if I indulged the fantasies.

The bank teller gave me a strange look before freezing, holding her gaze over my shoulder.

In that moment, it felt as though a fourth wall had been shattered. Abruptly, the two worlds that felt so sacred and yet eternally separate crashed together. The fake contents of my brain puddled onto the floor, materializing in this woman who somehow also saw my hallucination!

I then froze, horrified.

And... if she is also phony? If she is only pretending?

To explain the cognition that followed in those brief moments would surpass my skills. An image formed of me nursing from this woman while gouging her eyes, plunging my thumbs deeply into her skull.

The fake man turned his fake gun towards my face. I stared down the barrel, as I had with so many prior fairy tales.

I remember naught else, friends.