Mirror?

Tommy was too little to be called Tom. He found himself home alone often this summer, as both parents would leave for work during the week. Being an only child, he learned ways to compensate for his lack of siblings. And friends. Television and movies were not the answer. He had sat in front of the screen throughout so many of his earliest years that now everything that came from it looked the same. He avoided video games too. No matter the game, he always felt restricted. The virtual universes could never be vast enough for him. His imagination needed to be unencumbered, especially during playtime. That is why his toys were his go-to – his trusted companions. He could create and carry out his own stories, be anybody he wanted to be, or no one; he could efface himself as his toys would enact the stories that enfolded in his head. He would play for hours at a time, taking breaks for homework and dinner at the table when his parents would return from work.

There was, however, a restriction that his play had recently inherited. His favorite toy, a knight in golden armor, had broken his right leg. Despite his mother’s best efforts to stick it back with Krazy Glue, Tommy’s play still felt trapped by the knight’s rigid joint. He always felt the need to be careful when playing with him: his battles could no longer be as intense, he needed to be careful when mounting his horse, and his once menacing stance could now intimidate no enemy. He was an older toy too, not one that Tommy could find the next time his mother would take him to the store. The broken leg increasingly overshadowed his playtime and replaced his imagination with longing for when the knight was whole.

But Tommy had a plan. There was a site his father used to buy all sorts of things, especially things the family could not get at the store. Tommy had taken note of the site and routinely visited it every weekday morning on the family computer to see if his father had forgotten to log out. It took two weeks of joyless play for him to finally open the site without seeing the usual login page. He was in. Quickly, he went to get his toys – all but his once favorite – and sat them down by the computer as he searched through the website for the golden knight. He found the only one available, still in its original package, and quickly placed the order before anybody else could steal it from him.

The following days were difficult. Tommy left his toys stored in his toy chest. Not once did he take them out to play. Instead, after his parents would leave, he would remain by the window in his bedroom overlooking the front porch. At the sign of every passing delivery truck, his sudden excitement would quickly descend into disappointment.

Three days went by before a truck would stop in front of the house. Tommy stayed still by the window, gazing at the man with the cap as he came out of the truck with a package wrapped in brown paper. Tommy shut his eyes and reopened them to make sure his mind was not playing tricks on him. He was relieved to see the man making his way to the front door. Although he was wrapped in anticipation, Tommy let the man ring and leave the package on the front porch. He felt less culpable that way, as a little guilt for secretly using his father’s account lingered in his mind. But now that the truck was gone and the package lay for the picking, Tommy’s excitement overtook any hint of guilt. He rushed to the door and picked up the box. It was addressed to his father – however, the package was not as he had anticipated. It was cylindrical, like a tambourine. It was also heavy, and the brown paper that sealed it differed from all other packaging he had seen his parents receive. It did not look proper enough, he thought. But that was alright, it was only a true indication of the rarity of what it contained. And he was correct. Its content was indeed a rarity, but not the kind he was thinking.

Skeptical about the unconventional packaging, Tommy decided to wait before opening it. Perhaps the package contained something his father had ordered. For a week, the package stayed stored away at the bottom of his toy chest. He did not take out any toy during that time to make sure the package was hidden at all times. Rather than play, he spent his time alone waiting by the window for his parents to come home. When one of them would arrive, he would keep his ear to the door, making sure to catch any utterance of a missing or delayed order.

After the week had passed, he figured he was in the clear. That package must belong to him after all, he reasoned. He dug it out of the chest, brought it to his bed, and placed it on his lap. Carefully, as if conducting a ceremony, he made an incision in the paper covering and ripped it to reveal a round black box underneath it. He removed its cover and did not see his favorite toy at all. Instead, it was a mirror – a thick circular mirror. He took it out and held it with both hands, staring at it, transfixed. Any wonder about his toy was absent from his mind; the mirror took all his attention.

What he saw in the mirror was not himself, yet he was sure it was a mirror. He continued to stare at it until a silhouette appeared. It took the shape of a grown man, looking straight at him. As the features became apparent, Tommy recognized his father. He continued to stare into the mirror, into his father’s eyes. When he blinked, his father blinked. When he called out to his father, his father called back to him. His father then blurred into a light that came back in the form of the golden knight – his favorite toy, only now appearing as living. Tommy, marveling at his lifelike toy, brought a hand to his mouth in shock. The knight then did the same. He looked down at his hand and saw that it had on the knight’s steel glove. He continued to run his eyes down over his body and realized that he was covered in the knight’s golden armor. Was this really happening? Had he really become the mighty golden knight, the hero of his countless stories? With heavy metallic stomps, he ran to the mirror in his parents’ room to see his true reflection. There, he saw nothing. It was as though the room were empty. He then ran to the mirror in the bathroom. Same thing. He looked himself over again. He was definitely there, looking exactly like how he would envision his favorite toy as a human. Concerned about his lack of reflection, he returned to the round mirror in his room. In it, he saw himself as the knight again. He placed the mirror further away so that he could see himself fully. When he did so, his right leg did not come into view. He placed the mirror at a different angle, but his leg was still missing. He looked below. It was not on his body either. He looked back in the mirror and saw his right arm begin to fade. Then his other leg. Then his other arm. And then the rest of him.