What does the Mirror-Image do when I close my eyes?
The mirror-man looks just like me, except
he's right-handed and parts his hair to the left.
Whatever I do, he does the same, except
he uses his other hand, or his other leg, or touches the other side of
his face. He's like a twisted version of me: looking like me, moving like
me, but what does he think? What does he do when I close my eyes?
When I brush my teeth, he brushes his.
He takes the toothpaste from the left-hand side of the counter, and uses
his right hand to scrub his teeth. What he's thinking is, 'I hate doing
this. I want to scream and yell and hit, but I will act normally and brush
my teeth so no one suspects.'
When I see him in the reflection of
the General Store window, he looks back at me. He is on the mirror-sidewalk
going to the mirror-school, carrying his mirror-lunchbox, and he is thinking,
'I do not want to go to school, I want to smash glass and cut people, but
I will fool everyone by doing what I have been told.'
Some times I see the mirror-man in the
reflection of my knife. He is having mirror-dinner with his mirror-family.
He has to eat his peas just like me. He is thinking, 'I hate these people.
I hate this food. I want to take this knife and gouge my mother's eye out,
but I will eat and hide my emotions so I don't get into trouble.'
When I close my eyes, then the mirror-man
is free. No one is watching him, no one is judging him.
When I close my eyes, he smashes the
window pane with his mirror-lunchbox. He stabs his mirror-mother in the
eye while she sleeps. He shoots his mirror-brother with his mirror-father's
gun.
When I close my eyes, the mirror-man
is free, but when I open them, he copies my movements again. He looks around
himself in shock, but thinks, 'I did this. I accomplished this.'
The mirror-man looks exactly like me:
his hands are now covered in blood.