Polished surfaces reflect light in every direction, too small to make out the entirety of my reflection.
My hair is long. I don't know how long it's been like that. My memories are sliced up into tiny pieces.
I wonder if that's because of the shimmering, prismatic walls, or if they only look like that because of my fractured thoughts.
What does a whole thought feel like anyway?
I've never been whole, so I wouldn't know.
I was born a carbon copy of my better half. She was the one with a future encased in a portrait-cut diamond on her ring finger.
I was really looking forward to the catering. Or, maybe it was the dancing? I wiggle my shoulders.
A silver charm bracelet jingles.
I drop a tiny silver unicorn on the ground before wandering on.
I'm so hungry. But that's not nearly as bad as the desert in my mouth. My tongue feels like sandpaper against its roof, coiling uselessly around cracked lips. Tears build at the corners of my eyes as my fingers begin to tremble with nerves I cannot afford to feel.
As if sensing my desperation, a silken voice booms all around me.
"If you want something, all you need do is speak up, pet."
Despite the dulcet tone, disgust crawls over my skin. I want to run, but a cramp in my calf brings me to my knees, sharpening my mind. The cry dragged out of my throat tastes bloody.
I don't see anyone in front of me, but I feel a hand caressing my throat, tipping my chin up towards the light.
"Answer me this, and I'll soothe your pain."
"Fuck you." I don't recognize the source of this rage, but I trust it more than anything outside my skin.
"Always within you. Sometimes above you. If I surround you, I'll kill you." She speaks in the soft tone of a lover, but my heart races with terror.
I'll play along as long as it takes to find a way out of this hell scape.
"Good girl." The answer fills my mouth and washes over my parched throat. I sigh in relief, melting into ghost touches. "I'll be back soon. Stay right there until I return."
I nod, allowing fabricated relief to read as gratitude.
The moment those touches leave me, I bolt in the opposite direction of the light.
The prismatic folds grow larger the darker it becomes. I come face to face with a flat wall, reflecting my silhouette framed by dregs of pale, white light.
"Please, let me out," I beg, laying a hand on the cool, crystalline surface. I clench that hand into a fist, knocking once. Twice. The next time I open my eyes, I've pounded my fists bloody. "Let me out!" I scream.
The blood trickling down my forearms begins to glow, traveling back up my fists, spelling out a phrase in gorgeous cursive that makes my chest ache with melancholy familiarity.
"I make two people out of one. What am I?"
"What?" I blink once. Twice. The next time I open my eyes, there are tears streaming down my face and clumps of hair in my fists.
The last answer came easily, but my muscles burn with weakness and my mind slurs with exhaustion.
The rhythmic blood dripping onto the icy floor pulls me from the silence and into a study. Radiohead's Everything In Its Right Place plays softly in the background. The shelves covering every available surface are stuffed with books.
A letter in the same cursive handwriting reads: "You're invited!" I don't turn it over. I crumple it in my fist before setting it on fire.
I blink once. Twice. The next time I open my eyes, I smell iron. My ears are dripping wet. That same phrase glows in front of my eyes.
"I make two people out of one. What am I?"
The light is brighter. My reflection grins, but my corners remain turned down. I make sure to check.
The light grows in intensity, blinding me for a moment. When I regain my sight, the portrait has turned transparent.
I see a beautiful chandelier spinning.
Freedom at my fingertips. My chest soars.
Perspective shifts. Myself, but not quite, neck and jaw framed by the veil we picked out together. I can tell she's smiling from the way her cheeks protrude from the rest of her face.
My perspective shifts again, violently.
The bloody hand I lay across the surface of this one-way mirror spans the width of the window reflected in her eye.
Warm hands slide over my shoulders and pull me back.
I'm surrounded by a soft, invisible embrace. I hyperventilate as fingers card gently through my hair.
Someone was in the mirror, wasn't there? I was being touched… maybe. Or am I truly on my own?
How long have I been sitting here?
"Human memories are such fragile things. But diamonds are forever, my pet."
I pick up a silver unicorn from the ground. It looks like the charms on my bracelet, so I attach it. Looks like it belongs.
Polished surfaces reflect light in every direction, too small to make out the entirety of my reflection.
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