Metaphor

Wonho

I need it. I need to see it, now.

Turning one last corner, the tall, ornate mirror comes onto view. It is not like all the others in the room that reflect actual or distorted images of myself. It doesn’t show who you are, but who or what you want to see.

I stride towards it, seeing the rest of the room in its surface. Without me.

A thousandth time visit still can’t take away the strange and eerie feeling that rush over me everytime I look into the mirror, not seeing any image of myself in it. It feels like I’m not actually here; a ghost.

I wait for the image to change, to swirl and shape into the things that would make me feel better. And I wait for it to transform.

Give me something. Anything.

As patience runs out and frustration builds, I feel the weight of the pools on my eyelids again. Biting my lips, I tell myself to wait a little longer.

When has it ever let you down? Never. Just give it some time, it will transform. Just wait a little longer.

The longer it takes, the more distraught I become. My body started shaking, trying to hold back the tears and the emotions that are pouring through. I cross my arms, holding them closer to stable myself as despair run all over my body. Finally, I give in to it.

Sounds of my staggered, choked breath hits every glass, marble and concrete surface, and bounces off to another, echoing around the room.

Alone under all these judgments; my life.

Tears drop onto the marble like a gentle drizzle on a summer’s day; my cracked spirit shatters into a million pieces once again.

Suddenly, a cape of warmth fell onto my back and an arm drape across my chest, ending on my shoulder. As I glance upon a blurred figure in the mirror, a hand tenderly cups over my vision and a whisper comes into my ear.

“Close your eyes.”

Willingly I did, and I hear loud cracks and shattering of glasses all around me. Fine shards of silica occasionally graze by my skin, barely scratching me before they hit the ground.

Crack.

Clink.

Smash.

Shatter.

Broken pieces of mirrors dance around my bare feet, sending tingles onto my skin.

It felt like a long time has passed before the loud, piercing sounds finally died down. The hand is finally removed and I winced at the sudden brightness. The warmth on my back disappears as my vision adjusts to the large figure coming into view.

The familiarity, like a distant dream from a long time ago. The porcelain skin with a gentle, inviting smile. The calm, quiet contentedness of a world where there is nothing but serenity.

You’re beautiful.

The first words that came to my mind and my lips, before confusion sets in.

Haven’t I always been alone in this room?

“So are you,” he replied.

“Me… no, I’m not.”

I drop my gaze as the smile on his face retracts into a frown.

“You are, otherwise I wouldn’t be.”

I shake my head, “That doesn’t make sense. We’re different individuals. My appearance do not affect yours in anyway.”

“But it does.”

I furrowed my brows, confused and in disbelief.

He continues:

“I am who I am, because of you. Your existence push me to work hard to break free from the dimension I come from; the unreal and the imaginary. For so long I’d watch you build yourself up and tear yourself down over the things that made you special, and it made me feel powerless because all I wanted to do is to make you happy. To show you all the great things that made you who you are, to give you the things you wanted and to make you feel loved.

“The mirrors were there to help people find joy and discover their inner self that they never knew existed. It never occured to me that it can also be used to bring out the worst in people. It kills me to see you die a little bit more every time you look into my world and find only agony. I want nothing else but to be who you want me to be and to protect you from the pain you do not deserve. So I left the world of mirrors, and destroyed them all,” he says, glancing at the broken pieces all around us.

He comes towards me, and cups my face in his soft hands.

“From now on, the only reflection you will see is through my eyes, and through them you can only see how beautiful you are to me.”