Mirror People

Mirror People

There once was a boy who didn’t know what he looked like. He saw his clothes, but had never seen his full body. He didn’t know the shape of his face or the color of his eyes. He didn’t know why he needed braces because he had never seen his teeth. When he was little, he would ask his family what he looked like. They thought he was being funny, since they saw him look in the mirrors around the house. But, every time he looked in the mirror, he saw someone else. A girl. He was confused for so long. Was he a boy? Or a girl?

The girl always looked frustrated, like she had the same problem. This hadn’t occurred to the boy. She was the one messing up his life. She would yell at him, but he could never hear her and his family took no notice to the strange happenings in the mirrors.

As the boy got older, he started to get over it. Sure, he was frustrated that in every reflection she was there instead of him, but he didn’t care as much anymore.

***

Chapter 1

On Brian’s 14th birthday, he blew out the candles and watched as the girl did the same in the kitchen window. They both turned 14 on the same day and had the party at the same time. He ignored her and wished to be able to see himself for once. He knew this wish wouldn’t come true; he’d wished it for so long. He wondered if she wished for the same thing…

When he was getting ready for bed and about to close the curtain over the closet mirror, he saw her crying. This had never happened. She never cried in front of him.

He felt sorry for her. They had, after all, grown up together. So Brian did something he had never done before. He banged on the mirror. The girl turned around and sniffed. He could tell by her nose scrunching just barely since he couldn’t hear it. She walked closer to the mirror and he picked up his school notebook and a pencil.

Are you okay?

That was the first time they had ever made contact other than glares and yelling mutely.

Parents getting divorced. On my birthday…

Brian frowned. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t live with his parents; they had deserted him as a baby. He lived with his sister and her husband. They took great care of him. He awkwardly mouthed he was sorry. The girl nodded and wiped her eyes.

I am Brian.

Kelly.

They talked for hours. They talked about their experiences with people and about not being able to see themselves. Both had people laugh at them. It made no sense to outsiders.

They each described the others’ appearance. When they were both little, they forced their families to put curtains on the bathroom mirrors since they couldn’t be taken down. They were part of the wall and the others didn’t want to get rid of the mirrors because their kid brother and daughter were “insecure about their appearances”.

Kelly was short, had brown hair and brown eyes. Brian was tall for his age, had black hair and blue eyes. His hair was short and hers was a bobbed hair style. They only got their hair cut the way others liked it. They had no reason to care what others thought of their appearances since they never got to see themselves anyway.

She fell asleep while he went to the kitchen to get a soda. Kelly’s notebook read Goodn-.

Brian closed the curtain over the mirror and went to bed.

Chapter 2

The next day was Sunday. Brian hated Sundays even more than Mondays. Sunday was the end of the weekend, the sweet escape from his school and his terrible grades. He liked Mondays only because it was basketball practice. Brain loved basketball almost as much as he loved books.

He went to take a shower and closed the curtain over the mirror as Kelly did the same. He never questioned why they did the same thing almost always at the same time because it was normal to him. They were unwilling partners in every part of their individual lives.

After he got dressed, he opened the curtain for no reason and waved. She waved back and they closed the curtain simultaneously.

Brian went to his room and opened the window. He looked at the window’s reflection and saw her. They politely ignored each other and went on with their daily routine. They knew each others’ routines by heart.

They opened the curtain over the mirror and made their beds. They both walked out of the room and came back in 20 minutes later. He didn’t know if she did the same things he did once the left the mirrors. He had never been curious, and still wasn’t. It was like last night had never happened. He had eaten breakfast and was going to watch TV on his bunk bed; he slept on the top bunk bed because it was higher than the closet door so he couldn’t be seen by her.

He left the room after finishing an episode of Supernatural. Sometimes he wondered if there was ever going to be an episode with reflections of different people. Bloody- Mary didn’t count.

The next day he was asked to go to the mall with his sister and watch her pick out. Her husband didn’t like shopping with anyone, let alone for himself, so his sister needed someone’s opinion. She took care of him, so it was the least he could do.

When Brian went to the salon to get his hair trimmed, Kelly was at the salon but wasn’t getting her hair cut. She was getting it dyed with blond streaks. It was the first time they had done something different in the same location. His sister asked why he was gaping at the mirror. Kelly was, too. They both turned away and got on with their salon visit.

Brian’s hair was neater; he could tell by the texture. Kelly’s hair was blond and brown now. Everybody looked at him funny when he waved to his own reflection (or so they thought), and then left. She didn’t. Again, this was the first time. He wanted to stay and see what she was doing but he knew he’d see her again soon enough. And he did, walking back out to his sister’s car. She was in the reflections of the cars, and in the passenger seat overhead mirror. Brian’s sister kept looking at him from the corner of her eyes. He was never this happy in public, since he never got to see anything but Kelly in every parking lot. Yet, this time he wasn’t upset. He shrugged off his sister’s comments as he said he just had a good night’s sleep.

Later that day, they went into their rooms and wrote about their theories about why this happened. She suggested maybe he was a hallucination. Brain didn’t like that one. Maybe she was the hallucination. Eventually they laughed it off and continued their conversation. Parallel universes. Supernatural mistake. Their ideas got more ridiculous as the conversation continued. Eventually they just ran out ideas.

Brian looked at the clock and was surprised to see they had talked for 3 and a half hours. His sister called him downstairs and they both left into the hallway.

This went on for a long time. Late night silent conversations. Three years passed.

Chapter 3

They were both in high school now. Brian had made more friends and, at 17, was captain of the basketball team. Things had gotten better for him, but seemed to get worse for Kelly. She looked depressed and sad every time he passed a window; she had her head hung low and was usually wearing a baggy sweatshirt.

Once in freshmen year, he’d made himself look crazy by banging on a window when he saw Kelly get smacked on the face. Of course, that changed nothing on her end. She didn’t even look up. He was powerless and she didn’t talk about it when they talked at home. She barely “said” anything; mostly nodded or shook her head.

After a while, when he would go home, the curtain would be closed on her end. Over time, their lives became more independent. He could risk having the mirror open, but he still never saw his reflection. He expected nothing less.

Brain realized, looking at the blank mirror, that he missed her. A lot. He didn’t know her, but they had been together their whole lives. Like a sister he saw every day, had just… gone away.

He went home upset, and wanted to talk to her about how his friend had told a lie behind his back to the whole basketball team. But the mirror was blank. It reflected his room now, not hers. That meant she had taken down her mirror. He was upset. Why didn’t she warn him? When he opened his curtains, he saw nothing. Not himself and not her.

Another year passed and he didn’t see her. He had the sinking feeling she might have killed herself, but no one named Kelly committed suicide when he went searching online in the library in the immediate area that looked like her. Maybe it really was like a parallel universe…

Chapter 4

On graduation day morning, another half a year gone, he looked in the mirror, just hoping to see her. He looked down at the floor in disappointment when he heard a thumping right next to his face. It was her! And he could… hear her? She was in a graduation gown, too. Her hair was longer and no streaks were in it. She looked so much better that Brian wanted to cry. Her graduation gown was blue, and his was red.

She grinned and got a whiteboard off her desk (he no longer saw his own room and hers had not changed at all) and a pen and wrote quickly, messily:

I’m back.

He wrote on a piece of paper, where have you been?!

Just got discharged from the hospital.

His smile faded. He saw bracelets around her wrists. What had happened?

Are you okay?

Yes. Now I am. She smiled again, but Brian couldn’t return it. He was glad he was wrong about the suicide, but was very upset that he couldn’t have helped her, and that she hadn’t confided in him. He would have been the best secret keeper she would ever know. He asked just that. She frowned.

I was embarrassed.

Brain frowned at her. He could have helped her… or could he? He couldn’t really speak to her. And he had only just now heard any sound from the opposite side of his reflection.

Why couldn’t I see you?

I requested no surface with a reflection in my room.

He put his notebook down, propped up on his knees in a crisscross position, and rested his head on his hands. Her smile faded and she set her board down, too. They sat for a few minutes, not looking at each other. Eventually, she tapped on the mirror and smiled meekly.

I missed talking to you.

Yeah. Me too.

She grinned again and took off her graduation robe and twirled in a circle in a sundress. It was cute. Brian wrote that and took his robe off, revealing a black suit with a red tie.

Very handsome. I'm surprised.

Brain said HAHA sarcastically, and anyone could tell what he said by the movement of his lips. He walked up to the glass and put his hand against it. She did the same.

Cold... He mouthed sadly.

Yeah. I wish we could see each other.

He shrugged and backed away from the mirror. He was fed up. Upset. Angry. He impulsively punched the mirror, cracking it and bloodying his knuckles. Kelly looked stunned. She shook her head.

It’s not going to work… she wrote on her board. He shrugged again and grabbed his basketball trophy, suddenly chucking it at the cracked mirror, shattering the glass. He hoped beyond hoped that he would see maybe some magic portal, or Kelly just standing there, but all he saw was the wood on the inside of his closet. He looked to his window and saw her there, frowning and crying.

I will fix this.

The mirror will be easy to replace.

Brian shook his head vehemently. He wrote in all uppercase letters: I WILL FIX US, and walked away. He closed his curtains, right after he put his hand to his window and said he promised.

His sister’s husband came in and shouted at Brian. Brian lied and said the trophy accidentally flew out of his hand after picking it up, but that didn’t explain the bloodied knuckles he hid behind his back. He had to wear a big ace bandage over his hand for graduation, angry the whole time, not even hearing his name called until his friend from the team told him to “get up and take his god damn diploma.” That’s how he always talked.

Chapter 5

It took 2 weeks to finally get the closet mirror fixed and when he did, he saw Kelly in her room, drawing in a sketchbook. She always liked to draw, but never showed him her finished pieces. He knocked on the mirror and smiled sadly. She was happy to see him, but he was still upset about not being able to reach her.

For graduation, Brian had gotten a laptop from his sister and asked for Kelly’s address. She told him and he pulled up Google maps. Her address was there. He had never had access to a computer before this except at school, which for some stupid reason never seemed to load Google or even stinking Bing. It was a poor school. His sister didn’t like using electronics after a bad Facebook situation, but he convinced her to buy one for him anyway.

Before Kelly could say anything, he grabbed his jacket and headed for her small hometown a state away. He told his care takers he was called for late night basketball practice, and left.

It took him 4 hours to get there, and another half an hour navigating around the suburban neighborhoods. His sister had called multiple times, but he hadn’t answered. He would be in deep trouble when he got home. He had the excuse that he was now 18 and could freely come and go as he pleased. It wasn't going to work though, but he didn’t care.

Finally, he reached #52 Bruce Drive and parked sloppily next to the trash bins on the sidewalk waiting for the dump truck to come on Sunday. He ran to the front door and knocked. It took a few minutes and he was worried this wasn't the right place and that he had wasted 4 and a half hours on a pointless drive, but then the door opened and a short woman walked into view. She looked like Kelly and he grinned.

“I-Is Kelly home?” he asked nervously. She nodded and eyed him suspiciously. He had not cut his hair in a few months and assumed he still had bed head.

The woman called Kelly’s name and there she was, walking into view.

He stood there and wasn't even remotely surprised when she ran at him and hugged him tightly. He held her in his arms and sighed.

He was invited inside and walked into her room, having to leave the bedroom door open. Kelly had claimed he was her closest friend and that he never wanted to be talked about because he was shy, but her mom still told her to keep her door open.

Brian walked into her room, which he knew so well, and stopped behind her, seeing her frozen in place, touching her face. He looked up and saw what she was seeing: their own reflections. They stood there for a while, turning and looking at their own faces, which they were seeing for the first time, 18 years after they were born.

“Told you I’d fix us.”

-The End

4/24/15 K.E.

Khylie Egger