「迷霧空間」 （The Misty Dimension) 作者：王其行 (原創：2022年3月、增訂：2026年8月)
| 中文 | English (mainly translated by AI Deepseek) | |
|
他每晚都沿著海濱跑步，來回約一小時，路線從不變。
他並非天生自律，而是因為女朋友常批評他，遇事稍有阻滯就放棄。工作上有新建議，被上司質疑幾句，就退縮；儲錢計劃，被朋友笑說是守財奴，便不再堅持。
半年前，女朋友離開了他。他不介意被拋棄，卻很在意那句「你從不會堅持任何事」的批評。他心裡明白，她一矢中的。那股不甘心，令他想證明，只要願意，他可以持之以恆，完成一件他想完成的事。
於是，他給自己定下一個目標，每晚跑步一小時，持續一年。就算上個月傾盆大雨，他仍照跑如儀。附近空無一人，只有狂風和密雨狠狠撞擊他的臉龐和身軀，反而令他感到前所未有的快意。每跑一步，像是對老天的反擊，對自己的肯定。
今晚，他跑到平日折返的地點時，看見前方百多米處，有一個馬尾少女也在跑步。她穿著白衣黑短褲，從背影看，英姿颯爽，身高與他相若，至少一百七十公分。看著她的背影，他心底湧起一股莫名的熟悉感，彷彿曾在那裡見過。
他決定多跑一段路，稍稍加速，想看清她的正面，確認是否相識。
他加快步伐，但彼此的距離卻始終沒有縮短。跑了十多分鐘，他漸感疲憊，額角冒汗，就放慢了腳步。她背後像是長了眼睛，也跟著慢下來，兩人之間的距離始終不變，彷彿被一根看不見的線牽連著。更奇怪的是，他留意到自己擺動手臂、雙腳跨步的節奏，竟和她如出一轍。
他本以為是自己一直望著她，無意間跟上了她的節奏。但在他停下來喘氣的那一刻，她也停了下來。
四周不知何時籠罩了淡淡迷霧。他望向側邊，拍岸的海不見了，堤岸、長椅、街燈盡皆消失，只見一片灰濛濛。除了女孩、自己和霧，再無一物。
他心頭一凜，莫非闖入了另一個空間？
轉身回望，遠處高空懸著幾點朦朧的光，像街燈為他指示返回原來海濱的方向，又像浮在半空的眼睛遙遙地觀察他。
他隨即往回跑，卻撞上一道無形而柔韌的阻礙物，像一面用橡膠製造的巨大透明牆壁。他伸手去推，觸感軟綿綿的，毫不著力，無法推動。同時，感到背後那女孩的目光，正凝望著他。他急忙轉身，卻見她也恰好轉了身，馬尾一甩，依然只能看見她的背部。
如果你是他，你會選擇： -（A）急速跑向女孩 -（B）想其他辦法接近她 -（C）想辦法返回正常世界
|
Every night, he jogged along the seaside promenade, about an hour round trip. The route never changed.
He wasn't naturally disciplined. It was because his ex-girlfriend had constantly criticised him for giving up at the first sign of difficulty. A new idea at work shot down by his boss? He'd back off. A savings plan mocked by friends as miserly? He'd abandon it.
She left him six months ago. He didn't mind being dumped — but he couldn't shake her parting shot: "You never stick with anything." She had hit the bullseye, and that stung. The bitter refusal to accept it drove him to prove that, if he truly wanted to, he could persist. He could finish something he set his mind to.
So he made a goal: run every night for one hour, for a whole year. Even last month, when it poured with rain, he still ran. The promenade was empty — only the wind and rain pounding his face and body. And yet, he felt an unprecedented thrill. Each step was a defiance of the heavens, a declaration of his own worth.
Tonight, as he reached his usual turnaround point, he spotted a girl with a ponytail running about a hundred metres ahead. She wore a white top and black shorts. From behind, she looked athletic and striking, about his height — at least 170 centimetres. Something about her silhouette stirred a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had seen her somewhere before.
He decided to run a little further, picking up the pace to catch a glimpse of her face — to confirm whether he knew her.
He quickened his stride, but the distance between them never shrank. After more than ten minutes, he grew tired, sweat beading on his forehead, so he slowed down. It was as if she had eyes in the back of her head — she slowed down too. The gap remained constant, like they were tethered by an invisible string. Stranger still, he realised that his arm swing and footfall matched hers perfectly.
He assumed he'd unconsciously synced to her rhythm after staring at her for so long. But the moment he stopped to catch his breath, she stopped too.
A thin fog had crept in around them. He glanced sideways — the crashing waves were gone. The embankment, benches, and lampposts had all vanished, replaced by a grey, featureless void. Nothing remained except the girl, himself, and the fog.
His heart tightened. Had he stumbled into another dimension?
He turned back. In the distance, a few hazy lights hung in the air — like streetlamps pointing the way back to the normal promenade, or like floating eyes watching him from afar.
He ran back — but slammed into an invisible, springy barrier. It felt like a gigantic wall made of rubber — soft, yielding, yet impenetrable. He pushed against it, but it gave no ground. At the same time, he felt the girl's gaze on his back. He spun around — but she had turned too, her ponytail swinging, still showing only her back.
If you were him, what would you choose? - Choice (A): Sprint towards the girl - Choice (B): Find another way to get close to her - Choice (C): Find a way back to the normal world
|
|
|
選擇（A）：急速跑向女孩
他覺得馬尾女孩給他的感覺太熟悉了，決定無論如何都要看清她的樣子，於是雙腿發力，朝她疾衝，成功縮短了兩人的距離。就在只剩下約二十米時，恐懼忽然襲上心頭。他不知女孩是人是鬼，更不知會有什麼行動。
但他想起自己早已下了決定，這一次，絕不能放棄。他繼續向前追，愈接近，恐懼愈強烈，心跳愈急促。不過，既然已闖進這個奇異空間，根本無法預料會發生什麼事，倒不如堅持 最初的決定，大不了是死！
他愈跑愈快，當非常接近馬尾女孩時，就伸長手臂。當指尖快要觸及她時，想不到她卻無聲無息地化為一團霧，被風吹散，一絲頭髮也不剩下。
他煞住腳步，停下來，四周的迷霧亦已散去。他就在平日折返的地點，望見海濱的燈光，聽著海浪聲，四週的人進行各式各樣的活動，一切如常，彷彿剛才只是幻覺。
是真是幻，不重要。回顧剛才那道衝不破的透明牆壁、像是永遠追不上的女孩、自己克服恐懼的意志，他清楚明白，從今以後，沒有什麼，能再令他放棄自己選擇的決定。
[完]
|
Choice (A): Sprint towards the girl
The familiar feeling she gave him was too strong to ignore. He decided he had to see her face, no matter what. He pushed off with his legs and charged towards her, closing the distance. When he was only about twenty metres away, fear suddenly gripped him. He didn't know if she was human or ghost — or what she might do.
But he remembered his decision: This time, I would not give up. He kept running. The closer he got, the stronger the fear — the faster his heart pounded. Yet, since he had already entered this strange space and couldn't predict what would happen next, he might as well stick to his original choice. At worst, he would die. He ran faster.
When he was almost upon her, he reached out his arm. His fingertips were about to touch her — when she silently dissolved into mist, scattered by the wind. Not a single strand of hair remained.
He skidded to a halt. The fog around him had also cleared. He was standing at his usual turnaround point, facing the seaside lights, hearing the crash of waves, watching people go about their activities — everything was normal, as if it had all been an illusion.
Whether it was real or not no longer mattered. Looking back on that unbreakable wall, the girl he could never catch, and his own will to overcome fear, he understood with clarity: from now on, nothing would ever make him abandon a choice he had made.
[End]
|
|
|
選擇（B）：想其他辦法接近她
他面向女孩，向前行了兩步，女孩也行前兩步。他倒後而行，雖被透明牆壁擋住，身子停在同一位置，雙腳卻仍維持倒後的動作。女孩的動作和他一樣，卻不斷向後移動，兩人愈來愈近。
她的背影愈來愈清晰，漸漸地，他瞥見她側臉少少輪廓，赫然發現竟與自己極為相似，腦海隨即浮現年幼時偷偷使用母親化妝品後照鏡的模樣。
當時，望著鏡中的自己，略帶嫵媚，他大感好奇，同時發現原來有一股長久壓抑在心底的東西，終於獲得釋放，感到一種前所未有的自在。
就在他輕輕撫摸自己的臉龐時，鏡中忽然出現父親的身影。原來他太忘我，沒察覺父親已回家。他大吃一驚，轉過身，卻被父親狠狠摑了一巴，整個人跌倒在地。臉頰火辣辣地痛，腦中一片混沌，只見一向較母親更溫柔的父親，狠狠地責罵他。他聽不清罵了什麼，只覺得非常害怕。
從此，他不敢再偷用母親的化妝品，強行將心底的欲望壓到黑暗的深淵。
此刻他才醒悟，這件事一直深深影響著他。往後凡是遇到可能被反對、被批評的事，他都會放棄。
望著前方馬尾少女的側臉，他知道她就是自己。他繼續扮作倒後行，女孩愈來愈靠近他，她的氣息、體溫，和他一致。終於，兩人的身影重疊，融成一體，那一刻，他感覺到長久欠缺的一部分，終於回來了。
四周的迷霧散開，他的心亦豁然開朗。返回正常世界，他決定忠於自己，儲錢進行手術，讓身體變成和馬尾少女一樣。
[完]
|
|
Choice (B): Find another way to get close
He faced the girl and took two steps forward. She took two steps forward too. He walked backwards — though the invisible wall blocked him, his body stayed in place while his feet kept moving. The girl mirrored his motion — but she kept moving backwards, drawing closer and closer.
Her silhouette grew sharper. Gradually, he caught a glimpse of her side profile — and was stunned to find it closely resembled his own. In his mind, a childhood memory surfaced: the time he had secretly used his mother's makeup and looked at himself in the mirror.
Back then, staring at his slightly feminine reflection, he had felt both curiosity and a strange relief — as if something long buried inside him had finally been set free. He felt an unprecedented ease.
As he gently touched his own face, his father's figure suddenly appeared in the mirror. Lost in the moment, he hadn't heard his father come home. Startled, he spun around — but his father slapped him hard across the face, sending him crashing to the floor. His cheek burned. His mind went blank. He could only see his father — usually the gentler parent — yelling at him furiously. He couldn't make out the words. He was just terrified.
After that, he never dared to use his mother's makeup again. He forced that desire deep into a dark abyss within himself.
Now, he finally understood: that incident had shaped him profoundly. Ever since, whenever he faced anything that might be opposed or criticised, he would give up.
Watching the ponytail girl's side profile, he knew — she was him. He kept pretending to walk backwards. She drew closer and closer. Her breath, her warmth — they matched his. Finally, their bodies overlapped and merged into one. In that moment, he felt the missing piece — the piece he had lost long ago — finally return.
The fog dissipated. His heart felt clear and open. Returning to the normal world, he made a decision: to be true to himself. He would save up for the surgery to transform his body into one like the ponytail girl's.
[End] |
|
選擇（C）：想辦法返回正常世界
他停下來，希望返回正常世界，卻想不出任何方法。過了數分鐘，馬尾女孩的頭突然一百八十度擰轉過來，臉上卻掛着親切的笑容。同時，她半舉右手，手背朝後拗，關節反折來回擺動數次，像是示意他過去。他一步也不敢動，她便向遠處飛奔，轉眼沒了身影。
四周的迷霧隨即散去，他回到了正常的海濱。
後來，他結識了新的女友，結婚後生了一個兒子。
兒子初中那年，學校舉辦運動會，他到場為兒子打氣。看着兒子奔跑的模樣與姿勢，他大吃一驚，那身影、那擺臂、那步幅，極像當年那個馬尾少女的少年版。
他靈機一觸，拍下兒子的照片，用人工智能模擬長大後的樣子。結果不出所料，和當年迷霧中那女孩一模一樣
他明白兒子心裏，也藏着一面不為人知的自己。他決定加倍留意兒子，引導他探索、認識真正的自己，並支持他的每一個決定。
[完]
|
|
Choice (C): Find a way back to the normal world
He stopped, hoping to return to the normal world — but couldn't think of any way. After a few minutes, the ponytail girl suddenly twisted her head a full 180 degrees — yet her face wore a warm, friendly smile. At the same time, she raised her right hand, bending it backwards at the wrist, waving it back and forth a few times — as if beckoning him over. He didn't dare move a muscle. She then sprinted into the distance and vanished in an instant.
The fog around him cleared. He was back on the seaside promenade.
Later, he met a new girlfriend, got married, and had a son.
In his son's first year of secondary school, the school held a sports meet. He went to cheer him on. Watching his son run — the figure, the arm swing, the stride — he was shocked. It was nearly identical to the ponytail girl's, but in a younger version.
A sudden inspiration struck him. He took photos of his son and used AI to simulate what he would look like as an adult. The result was exactly as he had guessed — identical to the girl in the mist all those years ago.
He understood now: his son also harboured a hidden self that no one else could see. He decided to pay closer attention — to guide his son in exploring and understanding his true self, and to support every decision he made.
[End]
|