Reflection

Chapter 1

Vanity was never something I was accused of, but I didn't shutter in the mirror. At least I never had until I saw the darkest side of myself. The nefarious reflection still haunts me to this day, but I force myself to stare into the abyss every morning. I inspect each feature until my blue eyes glaze over and the image becomes blurry. Then I settle on my bed and wait for the only thing that lies ahead of me; death.

It hadn't always been this way. I had once been normal. Of course, I didn't know I was normal at the time. Like everyone else believes in themself, I thought I was special. I was going to make an impact, be someone. It was an oddly hot June day when my world curdled. The errands I had tried to jam into my lunch break had taken longer than expected, so I was juggling a work call while dodging other pedestrians on the crowded sidewalk. I should have noticed the crowd, the spectacle unfolding, but I was too absorbed with my phone and the anxiety of being a few minutes late.

I inaudibly grumbled as I pushed through the crowd just as they were leaving. Three entirely covered figures emerged from the bank with three heavy bags. My first thought was that this couldn't be real. People don't rob banks anymore; criminals just steal digital money from the comfort of their homes. But the sun hit one of their guns in such a way that it sent a gleam straight into my eyes. I was stunned, staring at them as they backed away.

A darkened SUV pulled up with a loud screech as if calling to them, announcing the arrival. They all clamored into the car, but just as the last body was about to plunge herself into the shield of the vehicle, something unexpected happened; she didn't wait for the safety of the vehicle. As she propped herself up on the car frame, just a second before flopping into the cavern of the car, she pulled the ski mask from her head. Her hair flowed out first, the familiar color of brown with a touch of red in the summer sun. She shook it out, and then, as if on purpose, she met my eyes.

My jaw went slack, unable to resist gravity's pull down. Her blue eyes clung to mine for an extended moment. The world stopped as an evil smile spread across her face; my smile spread across her face. I was staring at a mirror image of myself. She cocked her head to the side and gave me a wink as if saying, 'see you soon,' before popping into the car with the door slamming behind her.

I stared as the SUV retreated down the street while the crowd around me disintegrated into chaos. Some people hurried away, eager to return to their boring lives and forget what they had witnessed. Other people went straight to their phones: some called the police, some posted to social media, a few called a loved one and relayed their near-death experiences. The smallest subset looked around at the others, dazed by what they had just witnessed.

An older man in a grey suit looked at me with his eyes wide. "Did you see her? She..." but then he stopped as reality struck. "She looked like..." I didn't wait for him to finish. I knew what he was going to say.

As though I had just robbed the bank myself, I ran. I brutally ripped through the crowd like a raging bull looking to get into an open field. As soon as I made my way through the mass, I ran as fast as my heels would allow. I was directionless. All I wanted to do was put distance between myself and the face I had just seen, but how could I? Every storefront window, every car window, every puddle, all reflected the wink back to me.

My lungs throbbed, and my throat burned from lack of air. My heart pounded in my ears as my feet screamed with every unforgiving hammering step. A police car with sirens blaring passed me. The proximity made me feel exposed, so I ducked into an alley. The shaded dampness pulled goosebumps to my skin as I peered out to the street.

My body folded into itself, searching for any form of relief. I pulled in lungful after lungful of the thick, pungent air of the alley. The stench of the garbage juice stretching its fingers to the nearby street drain didn't dissuade my gasping as my mind and body began to defrost. The sudden onset of oxygen pulled tears to my burning eyes and caused my nose to drip. Absently, the back of my hand ripped at both. The wiping was more of a scratching from my lack of tenderness, causing the skin of my face to match the burn still rising in my throat.

It was then I realized I was going to throw up. The fire in my throat wasn't from my heavy breathing; it was acidic bile rising from my stomach. My arm slammed into the brick wall of the alley just as my body tossed into a bone-bending wretch, but nothing came. For a brief moment my frame relaxed, safe from actual puking. But then, just as quickly, a second, more successful heave gripped me, twisting me mercilessly. This time the flame rapidly rose as my morning coffee splattered on the wall and ground beneath me. Two, three times, the swells erupted from me until there was nothing left but the burn and the tears streaming down my face.

In one moment, with one glint of the sunlight, my life had turned from a life I had deemed so promising to a nightmare. There was no distinguishing between opened and closed eyes. All my mind would show me was the maniacal wink of my reflection. Her face, my face, had robbed a bank. My face was on the run. I had no one to turn to and nowhere to go.