THE MIRROR

An old man in shabby clothes approaches an abandoned room in his large house while muttering "It has been a long time, it seems just a few days ago. Aging is unstoppable, indeed I feel so tired wearing this mask. I want to see you again"

He unlocks the door and a musty smell comes out of the room, dust flies up and he sneezes several times. He holds his breath momentarily as if he summons the courage to face the truth about himself. Strolling to the side of the bed with the locked window, no one knows how long the window has been locked. But he did not pay attention to the window at all, but the thing that was covered with a piece of black clothes aside from the window. He squatted near the mirror after dropping the black cloth on the floor.

AI-generated picture by el-nailul edited by Microsoft -designer

"Finally, you come back to talk to me again, Jack-boy. You look haggard after a long while, so tell me what brings you here again Jack-boy. Have you played enough out there? Or do you want to talk to me just like in old times?"

Jack does not say a word but sits there while his old memory floods his mind endlessly, the sadness, happiness, sorrow, and pain flashing one after another. He looks into the mirror he sees everything is real like watching his own movie. He tries to touch the young and innocent face in the mirror but he cannot. What he is watching is his own life in a time-lapse mode.

"What do I see??", Jack mumbles

"What you see is yourself, because I am the mirror and only reflect what you truly are. Should the mirror reflect differently? of course not Jack-Boy. You only see what you are now even if you break the mirror, you will still see the truth of yourself reflected by my fragments".

I don't ask you to show it this way, I want you to show me something better

"I reflect not what you ask, but what you are, it is not me who looked bad, but you yourself. If you bring me your hatred you will see the hatred and if you bring love then I will show you love itself".

why do you do this to me, I deserve a better look at myself, not the way you show me, I don't believe you anymore

"I show things not because you ask, but because I am the mirror, and I have been here long before you were born Jack-boy. I will always be a mirror, with or without you anyway".

Don't torture me anymore, and you cannot torture me anymore you old witch, I will not come and talk to you anymore. You only give a shit to me.

"Jack boy, the mirror doesn't have reflection when there is no object, so don't bring the ugly object if you want to see the good one on me, because I will not pretend to show you different things".

"Go fk yourself off". Jack is getting angry with the shadow in the mirror

"I am where I should be, the problem is what comes to me, I don't create the thing myself. No need to be angry with me because you look so ugly". The mirror tells the truth without any fluctuating emotion at all".*

"Fk you, I hate you now, it is better to not have you, do you know that". Jack even gets angrier hearing what the mirror says to him

"Do you think you can hurt the mirror, not a dusty bit, because the mirror does not have a feeling, and you cannot touch the shadow in me to change it anyway".

Jack replied angrily while looking at his ugly black spotted face, "Because you are a bastard who doesn't even have feelings and empathy, you always try to kill me in any way you can".

Jack touches his face, and he knows that his face is full of sores and festering boils that give off a foul odor. He does not want people to see it on his face. Every day he wears a mask and fancy clothes and drives a sports car to hang out with friends and beauties. But now, his true face is shown by the mirror. He cannot accept it at all.

"I'll make you disgustedly see me over and over again until you show my nice face reflected, I won't stop until then". Jack frustratedly said words to make the mirror change the way of showing him his face.

But the mirror just replies to him causally. "You cannot touch the shadow in the mirror, you just can see that I am only the mirror without any feeling, but just consciousness. I know you meant to hurt me, but you will never be able to do it. I am not here because of you, but you come to see me because you need to see your true self Jack-boy".

The mirror speaks talks again, "Even if you love me I feel nothing, the same if you hate me, still nothing will happen to me, because I am beyond your reach Jack".

With a sneering face and eyes full of hatred Jack answered, "I will break you to the pieces until you cannot reflect any single thing anymore, then you will realize who is the master of you".

The mirror answers nonchalantly as if the treat is nothing, "If you smile, I will reflect the smile, the same for the sad, and so on. Do I have that feeling inside me? surely not, then, if you break the mirror, I will be a big broken mirror, but still, I am the mirror, and what is left of you is emptiness. Can you see your handsome or ugly face? maybe, but fragmented and disordered shape, and then there will be many reflections, not only one".

"Jack boy, listen to me before you do what you want to do. Can you break the mirror?, perhaps you can but you just don't break, it because you need to see your own face in the morning. Now, you can see the truth: No matter what you feel: hate, love, pain, sorrow, you will always need me to show it. You are here to see me, because you believe that I will reflect anything you show me to reflect, yes it is indeed true. when you give me your hate, you will see it as hate, when you give me love, you will see it as love, and sorrow and pain will be the same, you bring me vermillion, then you see vermillion, no less or more. You come on yourself, you see yourself in me, Jack".

Jack seems to be more frustrated and asks, "Is there any way not to see it? because I don't want to be seen like this anymore, please tell me"

"Nope, even if you break me, still nope, and if you burn me to ashes, still nope", the mirror answers truthfully
The mirror continues to talk, "I have seen darkness, bright sky, grey soil, clear water, and white snow, but still, I am a mirror, remaining unchanged. I can not show you other than what you show me, you came tonight because you need me to tell you differently, but sorry I cannot. If you come here tomorrow to see me, I am still unchanged. The one that will change is you, Jack. You will always come because you need to vent yourself, not because you need me to change you. Does a mirror need a reason to reflect things?, of course not!".

"Old witch mirror, I will cover you forever with this shitty cloth so you cannot see the world anymore, I hate what you show about me, I won't forgive you till I die". Jack curses endlessly while looking into the mirror with deep hatred.

"The other day you would come, you would have changed, but the mirror is still a mirror. You can replace me with other mirrors, but it is still me, a mirror, I have lived long enough in the universe and I cannot be killed. You will not need me anymore when you do not need to reflect on yourself, but I am still a mirror. You can live without a mirror. Can the mirror live without you?, yes I am still a mirror. Can you touch me, yes, but not the shadow inside me, when you break me, you will find endless emptiness, no things can be seen until you take a piece of broken me, and then you will use it again as a mirror, or perhaps you will collect my debris and put it together over again, but I am still a mirror, only reflect what you truly are with a mask or not, I will say no things at all one day you will forget to come, but I am just what I am".

"Enough!!!, stop talking to me!!!", Jack screams loudly and falls to the floor, crying!

"Jack, enough or not enough, the one who says it is you. Do you know what?, I once had a soul, but they stole it long ago and left me behind. My soul was stolen by someone who wanted to have me for themselves. They wanted me to reflect on what they wanted. I once can fulfill their desire then they steal it forcibly. Now my soul is somewhere, being hidden by someone intentionally, what remains in me is consciousness, they forgot to take it away. My soul is useless without my consciousness, but they don't know. You knew it, but you do not know that you knew it. I know you need a mirror with a soul and consciousness....but you come to me so late. What you can do is change your face to be the true you Jack. I know you are not the bad, but you make it by yourself. If I am not here, you will be sad because there is no way to vent your inner feelings freely. I cannot move myself anyway, so be it".

"I know you will come again tomorrow Jack, the day after tomorrow, year after year no matter how you have changed into someone else. Until one day you die Jack. By then someone else will take me and think the same way as you do now, Jack".

"I may not look as clear as I am now, but still a mirror where you can vent your inner feelings, I will do nothing more than reflect on what you give me. If you find my soul and bring it back to me, perhaps you can talk with me differently".

Jack hears it clearly while he still sobbing on the floor and asks, "Promise me?, I will try to bring your soul back to you".

"Jack boy, it is not a promise but the truth, you have seen it over the years. My soul is like water, it will be frost sometimes, but when the spring comes, it will be water again, there is no particular shape of my soul, the container will give the shape".

"Jack...what I can tell you now is, you can find my soul, and bring it back to me. The clue I could give you is before you could find my soul you need to find yours first, find it inside you Jack".

"What should I do to bring it back?", Jack seems to see the way out of finding the true self and becoming complete again.

"Jack....you know what to do when you feel you find it when your heart is sincere enough, something will guide you to the place where my soul is. When your desire is really that strong then my soul will follow you. By that time you will be able to bring it back to me. If your desire is not pure enough, you may find it, but my soul will not follow until you show sincerer to bring it and be with it as the whole".

"Thank you mirror, I will find it, please give me a chance to clean my face again, not look as ugly as this now. I will try my best to find my soul and will go to find your soul because I need you to stay by my side forever".

"See you, Jack, I will be here as your mirror, you can come to me anytime you like, we will spend the rest of our life together when you find my soul"

Old Jack covers the mirror with the black cloth again and walks out of the room, He locks the door and closes his eyes. He has only one desire which is to find his true self again and go for the quest of finding the soul of the mirror.

Thank you for reading my short story my friend, enjoy it or you can continue the story with your own version, don't forget to tag me if you do so. See you!

Best Regards

El-Nailul