This story was contributed by agatharoza
Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.
― Kahlil Gibran
The pain that once burned like a hot charcoal spreading all over her body had faded away to an icy numbness. Blackness filled her entire vision and made her unable to see; the only thing she could hear was her own heartbeat. Ragged and shallow. The clock was ticking, time passed as she lay there on the damp grass surrounded by Mother Nature.
As Samantha Alwyn pushed her eyelids open with all her might, she found herself on the edge of a mountain lake, laying down on a pile of rocks. Her curious eyes were wondering where she was.
The dark mud on the ground told her the rain had just passed by. The soil was so damp that the worms had surfaced to breathe and the crows fluttered over the grass with their inky wings, each of them eating at the sudden buffet. And for the first time, she was grateful she was still alive.
The pine needles above her moved with the breeze, reminding her of her long lost dream to be a ballerina. She tilted her head towards the sun, enjoying the warm rays gently touched her skin, noticing how the sky was darker blue the higher she let her eyes wander.
She slid her gaze into the water, seeing her own face. The edges of her reflection were a little ruffled where the wind blew on the water, but she could see clearly what was missing. She did not see what her mother sees. She did not see what her friends see. Instead of a slim figure, she saw a bloated one. Instead of beauty, she saw ugly. Her eyes roamed critically from one feature to another.
Samantha shook her head firmly, refusing to believe what was in front of her. Everyone she met always said that she was the prettiest girl they had ever seen, yet why did the reflection show otherwise?
After a few calming breaths, she braced herself to look at her reflection once more. It was still the same fat girl with an ugly face full of scars. Frustration engulfed her like a massive wave, washed over her repeatedly until reality settled in.
It was how she really looked. She had spent years trying to make herself look better than anyone else just to bring other people down. She mocked, bullied, and harassed everyone else who looked like nothing compared to her. If her inner self was one to define her appearance, this was exactly how she looked.
Samantha glanced at the water one last time. Oddly, her reflection didn't move when she moved. She blinked a few times and then the horror crept in as she saw her reflection smile mischievously. Two hands broke the surface of the water, grabbed her, and pulled her in. Her consciousness was floating through a void space filled with nothing. As her heartbeat pounded loudly, sending echoes through the darkness, she could hear her own fading pleas for forgiveness and for help.
She could feel herself sinking, being pulled deeper and deeper into the lake. The darkness threatened to swallow her whole but she refused to give up. She still had a lot to live for, she still had to make up for all that she had done in the past. She had to make things right.
With all her might, she kicked and pushed, trying to break free of the stronghold. She was running out of air and she knew if she didn't get to the surface fast enough, she wouldn't make it. Gathering all her energy, she fought against oxygen deprivation and gave her attacker one last kick. Perhaps it was her willpower or maybe her attacker had become weary. Whatever it was she was finally free.
Samantha forced her tired legs to swim and struggled to bring her back toward the sun-speckled surface. She swam to the shore, cold sweat dripping off her forehead and her heart pounding loudly against her ribcage. Her attacker could be after her and if she wasn't fast enough, it would be the end of her for she had no strength left to fight back. After two minutes filled with struggle and powered with willingness to live, she finally reached the shore. Placing both her hands, she pushed herself up and without wasting time, she ran into the forest.
Her feet slipped outwards on the wet autumn leaves as she rounded the corner, the cold evening air shocking her throat and lungs as she inhaled deeper, faster. With each footfall a jarring pain shot ankle to knee, ankle to knee. She didn't stop, not until she put enough distance between her and her attacker.
After what seemed like forever, she came to a halt, resting her body against a tree. Her mind demanded questions she could not answer. Breathing in and out, she tried to calm herself down, reassured herself that she was still alive and that she had survived.
Her peace was short lived. Once again fear found her. It spoke to her in its cackling voice, telling her legs to go weak, her stomach to lurch and her heart to ache. The sun had set and her surroundings darkened. As the light drained away there was barely enough even for shadows. The darkness came and under it everything in this forest was well hidden. Even the stars and moon cowered behind a dense layer of clouds.
Samantha breathed heavily, forcing her legs to move forward without direction. Her palms were sweaty and the adrenaline coursing through her system was shutting down her ability to think logically. All she knew was that she couldn't stop. She had to move before her evil reflection found her again.
Then the eeriness crept in. In a form of silence that fell right before you got knifed in the back. It sent a shiver down her spine and she felt her blood chill in her veins. All she could hear was the beating of her own heart and scuffing noise her own feet made as she stumbled through the dark forest.
Her body was shutting down and her eyes found it harder to lift her eyelids and keep them open. Her leg hit something and she stumbled forward, slamming her body onto the ground. Samantha let out a muffled cry. She dragged her eyes to the cause of her stumble and abruptly froze.
To her horror, she had tripped over someone. A dead someone. The corpse was almost devoid of skin and pitted by burrowing insects. Smell of rotting meat filled her nostrils and she felt her stomach heave, the bile rising up to her throat. Even when she knew she shouldn't notify her attacker by any means, never having seen a dead body in her life caused her to let out a painstakingly loud scream.
Her scream was the kind of strangled cry that belongs to those not long for this world. A scream of one in mortal terror, rooted to the spot and too afraid to run. Color drained from her face, as white as a slice of bread. Her body went rigid, incapacitated with fear. In the grip of fear and utter speechlessness, panic seeped through her half functioning brain. That corpse would be her if she didn't get out of here. She would be dead if her evil reflection found her. With her shaking legs and shallow breaths, she pushed herself up for god knows how many times today.
Her fight was still long. Surviving by eating whatever fruits she could find, Samantha knew every day was a survival battle. Every breath, every moment of peace must be appreciated. Even every night was a battle too albeit of different kinds. It was a battle in which she would lose her sanity should she fail to win.
Each night, as she climbed up the tree and fell asleep on its huge branch, she cried with great exertion. Tear after tear that made no difference, and in the morning carrying a vigorous desire for never giving up she went off heedlessly looking for her way home even when she had no map or direction.
Her heart broke several times as memory of the past came in full swing. How could she do those horrible things to those people? How could she break her own mother's heart knowing that all her mother did was provide her and her needs? How ungrateful of a daughter she was to her mom who had been working so hard, pouring her blood, sweat, and tears, to keep a roof over their heads since her father bailed on both of them?
Unconscious to the abundance of her feelings that subjugated her and drove her crazy. What was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to seek closure in the ideas that one day before her attempts turn to dust, the pieces will fall into place, that she would wake up and find that this was all just a dream? What was she supposed to do with this madness that made her lose any sanity she had left? Would that mosaic made out of broken pieces was still going to come together as a resplendent work of art? And until then, should she laugh hysterically at the confusion, desperation, and weariness that it brought?
On her last brink of sanity, the world seemed to think it was time to stop punishing her. That after all her struggle, she should be given a chance to strive. A hope. This time, it was in the form of a house. Samatha held her hand tightly, knuckles whitened. Her watery eyes enlarged and the hairs on the nape of her neck bristled. Slow and deliberate, the door handle turned.
Something didn't feel right. Despite sensing that this was the end of her long battle of survival, she also sensed the danger drawing near. Finally, the door creaked open and her horror stood only a few feet from her, still wearing that mischievous smile on the face full of scars. Samantha tried to scream, but the inside of her mouth lacked any moisture and a croak was all that issued from her gape.
This was it. The chase was over. She had nowhere to run. She was trapped. The adrenalin flew over her veins like a carp through the river, but she couldn't move a single muscle, not even to scream. The absolute horror completely paralyzed her, and the more she thought about running away, or simply moving a bit, the more she felt discouraged and utterly terrified.
Her body was no longer hers. No matter how many times her mind ordered them to move, to back away, they did not comply. Her evil reflection was closing the distance between them. Samantha's heart was racing despite her body being completely still. Her reflection lifted one hand and surprisingly, her own hand was lifted as well, following her reflection's move.
Wasn't it supposed to work the other way around?
Samantha's hand met hers and then everything else fell away. She no longer had any fear left. All made perfect sense as she watched the scars on her reflection's face heal one by one until all that was left was the exact replica of herself.
Her reflection smiled. Only this time, it was a sincere, reassuring smile as if telling her that things were going to be alright. "Now is your second chance. Make it right, Samantha."
Her eyelids fluttered open and it wasn't her reflection she saw, it was the white ceilings before her mother obstructed the view. "Oh my god, you're awake. You're finally awake!"
She heard her mother frantically pressing the bell to call the nurse. "I've been waiting for so long but I refused to give up, I knew you'd make it, baby girl."
"Mom," Samantha swallowed hard, surprised by how hoarse her voice sounded, "what happened?"
"You were drowned, sweetheart. You were comatose for five days." Tears spilling out of her mother's eyes, like a dam that had been broken. "But now you're awake. Now you're alive."
Only then Samantha knew what her reflection's final words really meant. She had been granted a second chance. A chance to make things right. A chance to be better, to do better.
AJ Rosen is an Indonesian Wattpad Ambassador who lives and breathes Greek Mythology. She spends most of her free time sitting on her bed writing stories off the top of her head while fantasising Christian Bale saved her instead of Gotham. Her first book Entwined is part of the Wattpad Books and sequel Enamoured is in the Paid Stories program. You can find her on social media under the same username. Read more of AJ's stories here .