❝ ARGH! ❞ TOO MUCH. it's too much. he can't take it anymore. he lets out a breath—a big one—and slumps against the chair he's sitting in. this has never happened before. something is wrong. something is blocking his mind. it must be that something is wrong with him. his mind has been clouded the last few days. thoughts of his mother. his sister. his father. all of them taking up precious space in his otherwise clear mind where he could be focusing all his energy into performing perfectly.
❝ again, one. from the top. ❞ is the only thing he hears from the speakers. he can't see anyone else is this room. they're on the other side of a mirror. watching him. making judgements. he hates when people pass judgement on him. who are they to judge him? he's the powerful one. they don't control him. he has the power. he has the ability.
one hand grips the arm of the chair, the other rises, fingers splaying out, and then curling, as though he's choking the air, until he sees it begin. the spiderwebbing in the mirror as the glass begins to shatter, and then CRACK! glass shards fly through the room, dancing around him, soaring on all sides of his body but not touching him. never touching him.
he drops his arm as the glass drops to the floor and looks up at the crowd of people on the other side of the once solid mirror that used to separate them and looks at the man who he'd once sought to avoid.