I Have a Friend in the Mirror

When you look in the mirror... do you wonder what is looking back?

What do you see in a mirror? What do you look at in the morning?

Is there darkness under your eyes or does it hide behind them?

I have a friend living in a mirror. Every morning I rush to the bathroom before the sun comes up. He doesn’t like the sun. So I need to be fast to make sure I catch him before he hides.

When I get there I pull up a stool so I can look into the mirror above the sink. I smile at him, he is there, watching.

Man living in the mirror.

I am the only one who can see him. Maybe it’s because I am still a child and adult eyes can’t see under the mirror’s surface.

He likes me… At night, when the sun goes down and my parents kiss me goodnight, he comes to the small mirror on my table, sits at the very edge, and watches me sleep.

I like the mirror man. I can talk to him and he listens. He sometimes pulls funny pranks on my parents.When someone hurts me I ask him for help. He never answers, never speaks… he just disappears for a day or two.

I miss him but every time he comes back he smiles with a wide grin, I smile back at him and I know that the person that hurt me… won’t do it again.

He misses me when I’m gone, but he is always there, waiting at the edge of the mirror, watching my family for me.

It’s good he looks after them. They have been odd lately. They seem stressed and scared all the time. They don’t think that the mirror man’s pranks are funny.

They don’t believe me when I tell them they are just pranks and that he doesn’t mean any harm. They just look at me weird.

They’ve been whispering around me lately, giving me side eyes, I think they’ve been preparing some sort of surprise for me.

Today when I got back home he looked angry. Covering back in the mirror, almost as if he was hiding. I asked him what was wrong but he didn’t answer.

The answer unfolded itself very soon. My parents were around the kitchen table with some funny-looking people. They all looked scared and when they noticed me staying there, their expression went from scared to terrified.

I didn’t know why.

The funny people made weird gestures around their chests and spoke in a language that I didn’t understand.

I felt cold fear grow in my little chest. Whatever they were here for. It had something to do with me.

They stood up, pulling out little wooden crosses. A silent squeak escaped from my lips as they made a step toward me, speaking a language that I didn’t understand.

I ran away from them back to my room and I hid right under the mirror.

The mirror man startled me, his pale face pressed against the glass from the inside, his eyes wide open. His thin lips moving… he was trying to tell me something.

I heard the footsteps and my parents crying. I closed my eyes and put my hand against the mirror. They were going to hurt me… he could help me. I knew he could!

The man in the mirror reached out, cold, wet, bony fingers curled around my little hand and he allowed himself into our world.

His thin frame slowly stood up next to me. He looked at me revealing shark-like teeth in a wide grin, they seemed sharper than before.

I stared at him, something inside of me told me to run, but I couldn’t pull my gaze away.

His cold, long fingers went through my hair and without a word, he went into the hallway to meet the funny people.

I don’t know how long I sat there after the screaming stopped. I didn’t dare to move until the man from the mirror came back, smiling widely.

He offered me his bony hand all sticky and covered in red paint.

I hesitantly accepted and we went into the mirror together…

What do you see in the mirror? If you look very closely… Can you see me?

Because I can see you.

Thank you for reading!

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