The Mirror (Part 3)

The man's heart was beating ever faster and he had to grip the edge of the counter to refrain his hands from shaking. His reflection was talking to him, and he didn't know how to respond. "What?"

The reflection once again smiled back at the man, "You are wondering what's going on, and I'm telling you that your reflection is speaking to you."

The man went wide eyed. Even if this was just a dream, it was one of the freakiest one he has had. "You," he began to speak as he lifted his right hand and placed it on the mirror, the reflection did the same thing as well, "are speaking to me?"

The devil's smile came across the reflection's face, "Yes."

The moment he replied the reflection's hand moved from its place and reached out from the mirror and grabbed the man's wrist. The man gasped and removed his hand from the mirror. His reflection followed. Along with the hand his arm and head came out of the mirror. The man ripped the reflection's hand from his wrist and backed away. The reflection's shoulder and other arm came through the mirror, and seconds later the rest of his body was out of the mirror and onto the bathroom counter. The man stood speechless.

The reflection jumped down from the counter and stood in front of the man with an upset look on his face. He crossed his arms, "Kinda weird isn't it?" He walked closer to the man, "I mean your own reflection just stepped out of your mirror." He walked until he was only inches away from his face. "Are you scared yet?"

"I-I have to go." The man stuttered. He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared out of his mind. He pressed himself as far away as he could from his reflection, but he found himself cornered between the closet and the doorway out to the hallway.

"You're not going anywhere," The reflection chuckled, "So how about you sit down and relax?" He walked away from the man and stood by the shower.

The man didn't move from where he stood.

"Well, since you're not going to move let's talk."

"About what." The man managed to say.

"We are going to talk about you, and your problems" He said with conviction and a little bit of sarcasm. The topic of the man's problems seemed amusing to him.

"My problems?" The man asked.

"Yes, your problems!" He over accentuated the word 'your' as he leaned a little forward and cocked his head to the right, "Those problems that you refuse to acknowledge. You think your life is so perfect, and that you have no problems at all!" The reflection was shouting at the man, "Yet, you continuously stare into the mirror as if you're looking for an answer. What answer?"

As the man's reflection shouted at him, he found that he was becoming frustrated, almost as if he was feeling what the reflection was feeling.

The reflection continued, "If you have to no problems then you shouldn't have to worry about looking for an answer."

"So are you saying that I do have problems?" The man posed the question.

"Yes! You, and the rest of the world, have problems! Let's talk about that job you have. Think it's stable? I doubt it. You're boss is not happy with your performance, and doesn't appreciate that you argue with him."

"My performance? I do an excellent job at what I do, and sometimes my boss doesn't know what he's talking about. I have to disagree with him." His fear slowly started to fade as his anger began to rise. He wasn't sure why this was happening, but he was actually arguing with his own reflection.

"Then about that family of yours? Yeah, you guys still see each other, but you completely denounced from their faith and the church."

"Denounced? That's too extreme. I said that I don't believe in the bible as much as they do." The volume of his voice began to match that of the reflection's voice.

"That sounds a lot like denouncing to me!"

"Oh fine then! I denounced my family! Why don't I just say that I denounced God as well!" He stepped away from the corner and walked towards the reflection which matched his movements, "What next? You want to talk about my friends as well? How I use them like they're disposable and I throw them away?"

"Exactly." The reflection said with a serious look on his face, "You're finally admitting your flaws."

"Are you kidding me? I don't use my friends!"

"Yes, you do! You manipulate them into doing things for you. You make them feel bad like it's their fault and you're the victim. It's disgusting!"

"I don't manipulate my friends! You are crazy!" The man turned around, and was about to walk out the door when he found that there was no door only a wall.

His reflection behind him began to chuckle that turned into laughing and then hysteria. The man turned around to see his reflection holding his stomach with his arms, bending forward and about to fall over. The man didn't understand why he was laughing, but he didn't like it. It was very uncomfortable to see his own reflection laughing in hysteria.

Slowly the bathroom began to fade away until there were only the white walls, and when that was the only thing left, the walls fell away into nothing. The man was left standing in blackness with only his reflection in front of him laughing.

When he finally caught his breath the reflection stood back up and spoke, "I'm the crazy one?" He laughed a bit more, "On the surface, you are a decent fellow. You are nice, friendly, and have it together, but if someone were to look deeper and deeper into your real self they would only see that you are crazy!" He shouted at the man, with the last word ehcoing through the blackness.

"I'm not crazy." The man shook his head.

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not."

"Crazy head! Crazy head!"

"Shut up! I'm not crazy!" The man covered his ears.

His reflection walked towards him, and removed the man's hands from his ears. He brought his face closer to his and whispered in his ear, "Whether you like it or not. Whether you deny it or not, it's true, you are crazy."

The man back away and screamed, "I AM NOT CRAZY!" He raised his hand, and struck his reflection. Hitting the reflection caused it to shatter into a million pieces and fell to the ground. The man looked at his right hand and saw blood running down his arm. The pain came after the realization, and it looked like there were some shards where he hit his reflection. The mirror now lay on the floor of his bathroom. The man looked up and saw that he was back in his own bathroom. The mirror above the counter was completely shattered and everywhere in the bathroom. The parts where he could see himself he saw blood on his face as well. He backed up against the door and slid down.

His heart was beating as fast as ever, and he was shaking uncontrollably. Chills ran up his spine and the pain in his hand grew increasingly worse. Tears came from his eyes, not of sadness but of complete and utter shock. He closed his eyes and asked himself, "What is happening to me?"