Excerpt: Reflection

Carefully I finished removing the sheet and placed the mirror back against the wall. With close scrutiny I inspected every inch of the cool, silver, transparent surface. It wasn’t damaged in the slightest; I let out the breath that I had been holding. Then I looked at the shocked and horrified face in the mirror and couldn’t help laughing at myself. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and the smile transformed into a scowl. I looked at the girl staring back at me and sighed. I hated my body. There are so many things I wish I could change about myself. My hair was a nondescript dark brownish color. It was long but it had no shape to it. It wasn’t styled or layered. It just hung there. It was slightly waved but not in the right places. I was also too short, my forehead was wide, and my nose was too big for my face. I was completely lacking in the breast department, and I was so skinny that curves were non-existent on my body. I had thunder-thighs because of the jogging I did to stay in shape. The cold, unfeeling mirror showed me all of my faults mercilessly.
“You’re really not that bad looking.”
I jumped gasped and whipped my head around. “Mom how many times have I told you to knock, I began exasperatedly. But my voice trailed off. My door wasn’t open, my mom wasn’t there.
“Right here, and as I said you really don’t look half bad. I have seen and been some really ugly people before and trust me you are not one of them. “Who’s there,” I whispered. The nerves clenched in my stomach and throat.
“I’m right here smart one,” responded the voice. I glanced around confusedly. “Here in the mirror. The voice enunciated each word slowly and sarcastically. I ran back to that side of my room and kneeled in front of the mirror staring intently at myself. “Wait, my reflection is talking to me?” I questioned aloud. “Something like that.” I’m a reflection of your body but not your personality. And I’m not actually speaking to you. “Wait…” I watched my reflection carefully. Its lips moved in the same shapes as mine but the only sound came from me. “How can I hear you, your lips don’t even move on their own?” Then I heard the high-pitched voice again. I’m talking directly into your mind. I quickly realized that she was right. I noticed the strange sensation that occurred every time she spoke. The new feeling startled me. It created an itching or ticklish sensation in my brain that I couldn’t quite scratch. The thoughts that weren’t my own were on the borderline of pain actually. “Can’t you just talk on your own?” I complained. I had had a headache before and I’m sure that voices in my head would not help it to go away. Her voice became sarcastic again and almost bitter. I’m a reflection, I mirror you. I have to do whatever you do. I can’t control any part of my body including my lips. The only things I have control over are my thoughts. Her voice trailed off at the end, with definite bitterness in it. I stared at myself-at her- for a moment willing her to have change in expression. Then my face changed to sudden horror, “You can’t hear my thoughts can you?!” No, I cannot was her simple eloquent reply. I felt relieved after hearing that.
An awkward silence passed between us. I used the time to wrap my brain around the fact that I was having a conversation with my reflection, who seemed to have suddenly developed her own personality, and was now talking with me inside my brain.
After a while the silence seemed to get louder and louder until I felt like I had to say something. I searched for something conventional to say (Yes something conventional to say to my talking mirror).
“So uhhh… do you have a name?”
Well, she said, this is how it works, as I said before when you were panicking I’ve had a lot of previous owners. I mirror everything about my owner. I reflect their face, body, expressions, and actions when they look into the mirror. I mirror everything-besides their personalities- including their names.
“So,” I prompted, not really understanding what she was getting at, your name is…?”
Why don’t we use our brain cells for a moment? She said in a voice dripping with honey and sarcasm. I just told you that I mirror your name. Her voice sounded as if she was talking to a small child who was not very bright. My name is a reflection of your name. I felt as dense as a ton of feathers (which in case you haven’t learned about density is for some strange reason really dense). But now with this new person living in my brain, my head had started pounding and as hard as I tried I couldn’t think straight. I just gave her a blank stare. Ok why don’t I try again. Tell me what your name is. Your full name I mean. Finally a question I could answer. “Alexandra Giselle Morgans,” I replied uncertainly. You have a nickname though, right?? “Everyone calls me Alex. My nickname would be Xela then. Do you understand now? “You’re name is Zela? What does that have to do with my name?” In a tone of great exasperation, it’s Xela with an X that sounds like a Z. That is what your name would spell if you held it up to a mirror! You understand now? My full name is Ardnaxela Ellesig Sangrom. It is the mirror of your name! I felt like an idiot but my head was in too much pain for me to be really embarrassed. I finished stupidly, “So I can call you Xela?” Yes was her short and tired sounding response.