Change of Identity (The Ruh-ruh-redux!)

Chapter 4 Reflection

"Why in the world did I ever think this would be a good idea?" I muttered as Mabel ran a hairbrush through that stupid new girl hair of mine again. I winced. It hurt.

"Cuz I said so, ya big doof!" Mabel giggled manically and wrenched the thing through my hair again.

"Ow!" I yelled. "Stop, okay?"

"Fine. But really, you look like you've been sleeping on this stuff for it's entire existence." She sighed and set the brush down.

"That's because I have, Mabel." I rolled my eyes yet again.

"Oops, right!" She giggled. "I guess you have."

I sighed. This ranked pretty high on my top ten worst experiences ever, maybe even number one. I mean, seriously? I was a girl. You have absolutely no idea how hard that was for me. Stan was off looking for a cure, leaving me to obey Mabel's every whim. And that in itself was simply pure torture.

"Okay, so...unicorn hair clip or narwhal hair clip?" Mabel asked.

"Neither. I think I've made it pretty clear you're not allowed to do my hair." I told her, then muttered, "Stupid hair."

Mabel put the narwhal clip in her hair and scooted forward, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Hey. Cheer up, Dip. I'm here to help you. No need to get so upset."

I sighed, a bunch of that same stupid hair that had somehow fallen into my face moving outwards as I breathed out.

"Hey, now. Look at me." She turned me towards her by my shoulders. "You got a problem with that hair?"

"Do I need to answer that?" I replied, annoyed.

"Okay, okay. I can help you. Close your eyes." Mabel told me, and I complied.

I sat for a moment as I heard Mabel run off and come back, and sit back down next to me. What she was doing didn't come to me until cold metal grazed my neck, and a lot of the weight of the hair disappeared.

"Open!" Mabel commanded.

I did so to find a handheld mirror in my face, showing, well, my face. Mabel had hacked off a lot of the hair, leaving it about chin length. This was also the first time I had actually seen my face post-mushroom. And I looked eerily like Mabel, minus the obvious hair length difference.

"Oh," was all I could mange. "Oh."

"Do you not like it?" Mabel asked worriedly.

"I like it, it's just...it's the first time I really..." I couldn't finish.

"Saw yourself?" Mabel smiled gently, and it comforted me. "Hey, that's okay. There's no problem with that. Stare all you want."

She handed the mirror to me and I gripped or until my knuckles turned white. Seeing my reflection made this so much more...real. So much more definite. It was scary.

Seeing my reflection reminded me of who I was, and who I am, and how different the two are.

"I-I think I'll set this down now." I had to say it to convince myself to do it.

Stupid reflection.

That girl in the mirror.

I couldn't believe she was really me.

((Oh crypticness
There's a spoiler hidden in the 5th to last paragraph comment if you find it ;)
Bai 4 now))