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Day 26: A Song That You Can Play on an Instrument

Day 26: A Song That You Can Play on an Instrument

"Mirrors" by Justin Timberlake

And I can't help but stare
My mirror staring back at me

Mirrors.  I hate them, always trying to tell you your imperfections and flaws are ugly.  Really, you should embrace all your flaws and imperfections because they make you, you.

I flick on the light to my bathroom, the room flooding with light.  I begin washing my face and brushing my teeth, reading off some of the new quotes I had written on sticky notes and stuck them on the mirror.  My bathroom’s mirror has sticky notes tacked on.  Lyrics, quotes, even reminders, are written on the numerous notes that obscure my view of the mirror.

And that’s exactly how I like it.

Society says you have to be tall, skinny, and have a flawless complexion to be beautiful.

I think that if you have a good heart, that makes you beautiful.

Finished with my nightly routine, I flick off the light and exit the bathroom.  Entering my room, I change into an old t-shirt and shorts before climbing into bed.  I turn my head and peer out the window and stare at the moon creeping up in the sky.  Soon, I fall fast asleep.

All I see is my own reflection in the mirrors.

Mirrors stretching from floor to… ceiling?  It’s hard to tell if I’m even in a building.  Turning in circles I realize they’re all around me, trapping me.  My reflection stares back at me and I stare at my clothes, eyebrows furrowing at my outfit.  A medieval styled dress clad my body in red and gold, accenting my darker skin tone and hair color.

Suddenly, the mirrors shimmer and a face of what I can only describe as social’s definition of flawless beauty materializes on the glass.  Pale, smooth skin; full, red lips; piercing blue eyes; and high, prominent cheekbones stare at me.  A wicked smile forms on the woman’s lips.  “My, my, my, look what the cat dragged in.”

“W-who are you?  Where am I?”

“I am Queen Zelditha of Nirvana.”

I snort, crossing my arms across my chest.  “Queen?  Of Nirvana?  Yeah, and I’m the lead singer of Mayday Parade,” I retort.  I stop for a moment.  “Wait, this is just a dream… I can wake up!”  I pinch myself.  “Ow!”

“Do not mock me!” the woman roars.  She then does a one eighty with her attitude and calms down before laughing.  “You can’t wake up, Alice.”

“What?”

“There’s an enchantment that keeps you here,” the Queen says smugly and then begins laughing again, but much louder than before.

The ground begins to rumble and shake.  I lose my footing and fall on the ground.  I struggle to stand up in the dress, but when I do, I see the image of the Queen has been replaced with a boy who looks to be my age.  He pounds furiously on the glass of the mirror, yelling something that I can’t hear.  Something clicks inside of me and I feel the need to save him.

A chuckle surrounds me and I whirl around, but the image of the boy pounding on the glass stays the same.  “Find our dear Gabriel, Alice, and I’ll let you both go.”

The mirrors go black and the room becomes silent.  Hesitantly, I walk towards one of the mirrors and raise my hand to put on the glass.  As soon as my hand touches the glass, I feel as though someone takes it and pulls me through the mirror.

Do you ever have that dream where you feel like your falling and when you land you wake up?

It’s like that, but much, much more vivid and you don’t wake up when you land.

The breath is knocked out of me when my body hits the ground.  I lay there for a moment before picking myself up.  Turning around, I see I’m trapped again… this time by doors.

Great.

Now the question to ask is which door to try first?

Picking randomly, I grasp the knob and turn it.  The door swings open and I’m met with a dark hallway, only lit by torches.  I hesitantly step through the doorway and begin walling down the hall.  I hear the door shut behind me and whirl around but it’s too late.  Sighing, I continue my walk down the hall.  A thought suddenly hits me.

This is a dream.  Nothing can hurt me.  So then, why be afraid?

I shake my head and laugh to myself before walking down the rest of the hallway.  At the end, it opens up to a large room.  A chair with a high back is in the middle and it’s facing away from me.  I test out the name of the boy as I begin walking around to see if he’s sitting in the chair.

“Gabri—“  I don’t finish saying his name due to an ear-splitting scream leaving my mouth.

The corpse of a body rests tied to the chair.

I turn tail and run down the corridor.  Getting there, I fumble with the knob before tightly grabbing it and yanking it open.  I slam the door behind me, leaning against it to catch my breath.

“One door down, eight more to go,” the familiar voice of the Queen says.  As soon as the voice came, it leaves and the deafening silence replaces it.

I shake my head.  “This is ridiculous,” I mutter to myself before choosing another door.  Hopefully this one won’t end with a corpse.

Instead of a hallway, this one opens directly to a large room.  A mirror is positioned in the middle of the room and Gabriel is in it, pounding at the glass.  But he’s not the only one in the room.

The Queen is also there.

“Why are you doing this to us?” I ask, coming to a halt.

She sits on a chair that would be fit for royalty.  She laughs.  “If only it was that simple to explain, Alice.  But I hope you do remember our bargain.”

I make the decision and run towards the mirror Gabriel is trapped in.  He keeps shaking his head at me and mouthing something frantically.  The last thing I remember right before touching the mirror is the laugh of Queen Zelditha of Nirvana.

I bolt upright in bed, my heart pounding wildly.  Putting a hand to my chest, I look around my bedroom.  “Oh thank goodness,” I mutter breathlessly.  “It was only a dream.”