The Mirror

The Reflection

I have been a shy kid since my early days, the only friend I used to talk to was my reflection in the mirror, literally, my reflection talks back to me. I got to know about this when I was 5, I tried to tell this to my mom and dad but they thought I was just another 5 year old having a brain-fart. I didn't really feel scared at that time but I knew that it wasn't normal. It would talk to me whenever I saw myself on any reflective surface.

We used to have casual conversations, talking about cartoons, new toys and how it sucked to go to bed early.
"I envy you..." once said the reflection.

-"Why so?"

-"My world is just empty, There's no one here for me, this world I'm living in has nothing in it, it's a void which is filled the moment you stand in front of a mirror"

I did not reply to this as this was a complex conversation for a 5 year old to have, so I changed the topic...

As weeks passed by, my mom noticed the continuous banter I had with myself in front of the mirror, she talked to me about it , why was I doing it? I told her the truth. After a couple of days she took me to a psychologist and he diagnosed me with schizophrenia. I was given medication for several weeks, now my reflection talked to me only about twice a week and after a couple months it stopped. I started feeling lonely and sad, play time wouldn't excite me anymore, I lost interest in cartoons, this went on for a few months after which I became normal.

Jump to the present time, I'm 17 and most of my time goes into studying, my school life is good as I had aced the physics quiz the past week, and I had been shortlisted as a defender in this year's interschool soccer match series. I didn't even remember having had a reflection that I used to talk to, these days I'm just too engrossed in studies and soccer practice.

It was twelve in the night as I got out of bed to visit the bathroom, I was washing my hands in the basin when I heard something.

"Long time, no see!" said a familiar voice, it was my voice!

But how? I wondered, before I saw my reflection in the basin mirror which was smiling at me as if it had finally found a long lost friend. The memories of my childhood returned back to me as I stood there speechless, at this point I was half-scared half-happy.

"It's good to see you again." I said to my reflection which smiled even more now. I spent half an hour in the bathroom talking to it, I told it everything about me and what all was going on from the past 12 years. It seemed interested and was just listening to me the whole time, after a while it went away and my reflection seemed normal.

It came to speak to me every day but only in front of the basin mirror, it usually spoke to me about how sad he felt all these years and again, how empty his world is.

I would try to convince myself that this is just an illusion created by a bunch of photons bouncing of a smooth surface but every night it would show up at the bathroom mirror,coming up with new jokes to tell and more fictional anecdotes or whatever he thought would amuse me.

I spoke to my parents about this and they immediately booked an appointment with a psychologist. The psychologist told me that I was having a schizophrenic relapse, which meant that the schizophrenia was returning. I was again prescribed some meds and it was recommended that I visit his clinic weekly.

Some days after this my reflection and I were having little chat in front of the basin mirror and all of a sudden it seemed a little pissed, as if it realised something wrong was happening.

-"You're seeing the doctor again aren't you?!" It snarled at me.

-"No! Who told you that?!" I defended myself nervously.

-"Do you think I'm some sort of illusion? That I'm not real?!" Snapped the reflection, it looked heartbroken.

-"That's not the case! It's just that my parents think that I have some sort of brain disease, that's it!!"

-"You visit the doctor one more time or take any of his meds the consequences won't be good!!" It threatened me.

I stormed out of the bathroom, angry and confused, thinking how hollow his threat was.

"What harm could a reflection do to me??" I thought to myself as I lay down on the bed to get some goodnight's sleep.

The reflection completely disappeared after that encounter, now my mirror image seemed to obey me, it would wave my hand if it did, danced when I danced and made facial expressions that I made. The meds and the weekly visits to the clinic seemed to work and I was relieved that my reflection was normal again.

Weeks passed by and there was no sign of it, I had given my final exams and the results were expected to come by 2nd July. 

On 27th June I came back home exhausted from the soccer practice, I sat down on the couch to watch some TV. I wanted to switch to a movie channel but my remote somehow glitched and led me to a news channel. I tried to change it but my remote wasn't working, I looked up to watch what the headlines read, what I read had startled me.

'BREAKING: 'iCURE' PSYCHOLOGIST BEHEADED IN HIS OWN CLINIC'

'iCure' was the name of the clinic I had been visiting! I couldn't believe this, mom too just read the headline and had her hand on her mouth as she had her eyes wide open in shock.

Then it all occurred to me, the reflection had threatened me about the consequences of continuing the treatment. I was infuriated, 'did the reflection do this?' and 'how did it do that? ' were the questions that were racing in my mind. 

I wanted to end all of this bullshit once and for all by breaking the basin mirror. I took a hammer and raced to the bathroom, my temple, bursting in anger, I was resolute, that I would end all of this reflection fiasco forever.

I entered the bathroom and looked in the mirror, what I saw, compelled me to take a few steps back. My reflection was holding the psychiatrist's severed head by its hair, he was soaked in blood from head to toe and was menacingly grinning at me. 

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!?" I screamed at my reflection

-"I already gave you a warning, you were trying to erase my existence!" Said the reflection calmly while toying with the psychiatrist's severed head.

A burst of adrenaline shot through my veins as I leapt forward towards the mirror with the hammer in my hand. All of a sudden, I feel someone gripping my hand, I had stopped dead in my tracks. 

There was a moment of silence before I felt a strong pull towards the mirror, I fell to the ground face first, I tried to get up, my nose as bleeding profusely, my head was spinning. I regained focus and found myself in complete darkness, as if I was in a void. 

I looked back and found the basin mirror floating amongst the nothingness of the void. In the mirror I saw myself in the bathroom, but I was smiling and was holding a hammer. Then it occurred to me and I was paralysed with shock, my own reflection had pulled me inside the mirror and trapped me in this void.

-"Now it's my turn to live a life like yours, goodbye!!" Said my former reflection promptly as he lifted the hammer and broke he mirror in front of me. The floating basin mirror in front of me shattered and disappeared and now all I could see was darkness. I was trapped in this void now, forever, in the dark, all alone. There is now no purpose left in my life, except sitting in the dark forever, alone.