The Shattered Mirror

There once was some sand that was fashioned into a mirror. It was placed, far away, in a quaint new home. It was fastened to the wall peering into a big family room. It waited to see what kind of life it was now going to lead until it saw something small and fast run across the room. The mirror didn’t see a face as it disappeared in it’s blind spot below. Then one hand at a time, these small fingers appeared. The mirror stared as it peered into the tiny curious eyes of a young girl that was filled with wonder. If the mirror could smile, it would have. This little girl ran around the room and tripped over the new carpet. She put on a scene and performed for the mirror with all her might and coordination. Then, following her was the child’s mother swooping the little girl around and kissing her cute little cheeks while the father sat in the dinning room.

They didn’t have furniture, so they both rolled around together occasionally bumping into one another. It was a joyous sport for this new small family. As years went on, they would come to bring a smaller child… a baby boy! There were a few more pieces of furniture so they couldn’t roll around but they built pillow forts and watched movies! They danced and they sang together and the performance they would put on for the mirror was getting more and more grand. It was more coordinated as the young girl would take dance lessons and the young boy would take theatre! The mother would practice singing for the church choir and sing with her children as they all cleaned. The father was always out, only coming home when it was late.

There was a beautiful moment shared between the mother and daughter when the little one accidentally broke a vase that carried her mother’s flowers. Instead of lashing out in anger towards the daughter, she knelt down to her height and caressed her tears away. She explained to the child that everything that is in the house was purchased with love, sacrifice and hard work and that she must be careful not to break the beautiful things that were crafted, bought and maintained with love. The mirror felt warm thinking of how often the mother cleaned it and took care of everything that was inside of that home. Each and every object and creature was precious to this woman and the mirror wanted to to it’s best to protect it.

The often wondered what words the family exchanged but the mirror was deaf to the ramblings of the family and yet it grew to know the family quite well. The mirror witnessed as this family peered into it as they smiled and admired the beauty of all things natural and beautiful. They made funny faces and some days they walked past and it witnessed their stress and tears falling from their faces. As years went by, the mirror watched as the little ones grew a bit taller. It recorded every cm and inch of how much taller they had gotten from the day before. It was proud of their progress and loved to exaggerate the inch into inches for them.

The children were close and the family was tightly knitted. It witnessed the moments the children were plotting their mischief and when they were found out, pointing the blame towards the other. It was a sight to see the children grow. It started to get to know each of them very intimately as their desires began to form. It’s as if the mirror had raised them. It tried to show the children beautiful things about themselves but somehow as they grew older they were no longer sold on the image the mirror was trying to show them. And the marriage between the husband and wife slowly grew colder and colder as he was less seen coming home. The mother kept the children preoccupied, so that they wouldn’t see but nothing escaped the eyes of the mirror.

It witnessed the family break as the father left, leaving the mother with her two children to raise. The mirror tried to show the mother how worthy she still was of love but years would go by before she would believe in love again. The daughter would soon come into her beauty and she enjoyed spending time with the mirror and enjoyed the image the mirror would show her. The young boy also had a love for the mirror as they shared funny moments of face refiguring, chubby jiggling and theatrical monologues. The mirror would baby sit and watch them as the mother would leave for work. She witnessed as the young girl took care of her baby brother and grew a selflessness that was beautiful.

The family may have been broken but the mirror knew that the family possessed enough love to make it through. As the mother stared into it as the children slept, she could see the future she always wanted and spoke of it with the mirror. The mirror was honored to witness her tears for the mother never showed her children. Together they dreamed of a world that was whole and a future that was bright for the children. Until, one day the mirror witnessed a new face. A man peered into the mirror, he was crippled and different but he seemed to make it’s family happy so it showed the man a great reflection of him and the family. He smiled in so much joy and gave the family years of uninterrupted love and happiness for seven straight years.

However, there is only so many memories a mirror can hold… The mirror watched as the girl became a woman. She was as beautiful as her mother! She was packing to live in another country for school but would come home every now and then. The mirror was excited even though it would not get to witness what she will do while she was away. The mirror knew that she would have to leave the house one day. It did not expect that the young lady would come home soon. About a year later, the mother got sick. They argued and the image they had of each other was so distorted they could not see what the mirror was trying to show them.

And then, one mute day, the son came walking in without glancing or grimacing at the mirror he simply walked straight to his bedroom. No one looked at the mirror. It watched as it counted each person, first the son, then the husband, and then the daughter… the mirror didn’t understand that the woman who had shared her tears, joy and dreams with the mirror would never peer into the mirror ever again. It witnessed as the house began to change, it was darker. The children no longer stayed in doors. The husband sat in his chair and barely moved. He drank and stared at the tv, forgetting his children needed him. The moments anyone looked in the mirror, they would not believe the image the mirror tried to show them.

The mirror has seen the family broken once before, it hoped to see it built in glory and peaceful days once more. It just did not predict that it will not always be there to watch over them. It watched as the young lady walked out in different outfits, ready to spend time with her friends. They shared deep moments of secrets and future plans. The young lady spoke to the mirror like she used to do with her mother. They’d go on for hours and hours. Then, one day, the mirror noticed a dark shadow in the corner. The mirror didn’t understand what this was. At first it ignored it but the darkness it casted started to become too much to ignore.

The young lady didn’t ever see it because she believed she was safe. The mirror thought over what it could possibly do to warn the young lady of the wandering eyes that were watching her reflection. Then one dreadful night, she came home to watch and enjoy a movie with her stepfather…. the mirror witnessed the slow creeping movement, the sinister eyes and the flames of an unforgivable wrong! It needed to save the young lady, but what could it possibly do?! The closer the man crept the more the mirror panicked and began to shake…. The mirror was cracking!

It tried to show the man the monster he had become but he did not peer into the mirror! He would not look at the judgmental eyes of reality… that he was their stepfather!!!! He was the man the mother had cried for and dreamed about to bring forth a better future for her children. The young lady looked over at the mirror sensing the crack on the surface and the pressure of an unforgivable force. She thought she saw her stepfather. They looked alike but they were different! His eyes were hungry for something, she didn’t fully understand. The mirror was shrieking! He reached out to touch her as the young lady yelled in fear and pain!

Simultaneously, both the young lady and the mirror shattered into a million pieces! It watched as the innocence of the young lady was stripped from her face as it was bled of her glow and color, replaying itself onto each and every single shard of glass as if on repeat. It watched as the young lady was helpless. It could do nothing but watch. What could it possibly do?! What could it do for the woman who raised them and protected them? The pieces on the floor of the young lady’s reflection no longer held the beauty it tried hardest to show her. Instead, the young lady saw a distorted image of herself, a version that was no longer whole. The man looked down to see the broken monster he had become as the mirror showed him a million pieces of his true monstrous form. Yet the man smiled, deranged and rabbid.

His filth had touched the things that the mother had loved so dearly. These things were not worthless and yet this monster had broken what was supposed to remain whole. All these years, the mother had tried her best to keep the things she loved from breaking and getting dirty. Now, that she was gone the man that she thought was her answer to her and her children’s future was the very hand that would halt time itself for a very long time. The last thing the mirror saw was the young lady’s eyes, stripped of wonder as tears fell from her eyes, stealing from her the hunger for life… and replacing it with a fight to survive as she turned her back and ran…. never to peer into the mirror ever again.

And so the shattered mirror’s pieces laid on the floor watching as the monster turn back into a man as he stared at the many eyes that had witnessed his atrocities. The man ached in agony and cried for what he had done. The son had come home to ask what had happened, the man said nothing. The boy too numb to help, proceeded to his room and closed the door. The man downed another bottle as he tried to pick up the mess that was made, only to cut himself on each piece of glass… until he had enough of bleeding and cleaning. He did as the old generation always did, he grabbed a broom and lifted up the rug and swept the ever watchful eyes underneath an eternal darkness that would never see light again.

The mirror had seen but never heard. It witnessed but never spoke. It was shattered and was never put back together. It was there and yet it wasn’t. It belonged and yet it was abandoned. It was loved and cared for but then swept aside. From the ground it was made, only to be broken and put into the ground once again. Peer into the mirror and you will find beauty, love but also the darkness that lurks behind.