You may include a visual as a reference. You may choose to go back in time to explain what account for the change.
Stories should be a minimum of 400 words.
Monday, October 1, 2012
The New You
You wake up, go to the bathroom, and look in the mirror. A different face stares back at you. Begin your story here. Use your creativity to construct a story that explains the change that you see. Is it mental only? Is it a physical change? Was it voluntary or forced?
You may include a visual as a reference. You may choose to go back in time to explain what account for the change.
Stories should be a minimum of 400 words.
You may include a visual as a reference. You may choose to go back in time to explain what account for the change.
Stories should be a minimum of 400 words.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe day started off like any other, a warm shower after my routine on the bowl. It was pleasant walking out of the shower dripping water off my body. I went to the mirror to wipe off the fog to comb my hair. The spot on the mirror revealed another’s face. “What, who are you?” I asked backing up from the mirror. I looked behind to reveal nobody there. I ran to the mirror to study the reflection again. I pulled at the skin around the chin I felt it and what I pulled moved in the mirror. This wasn’t the face that I remember going to bed with the night before.
DeleteI ran over to my neighbor’s apartment, “Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Johnson!!!!” I yelled as I banged on her door.
“Yes how can I help you Dan?” She said from the other side.
“Mrs. Johnson it’s me Rich, who’s Dan?” I asked becoming more puzzled by the second.
She opened the door and revealed that she had no face. “Oh Danny how are you today, you look absolutely radiant.” She came close and hugged me.
“Wh-Wh-What happened to your face?” I stuttered moving away from this strange creature that sounded like Mrs. Johnson.
“What you don’t remember your old grandmother Lilly?” She said inching closer to me as I kept backing away to my apartment. “Oh yeah I remember now you’re not Danny, he’s dead.” She said then he face came apart showing rows upon rows of shark teeth, “Which means you should be dead too.” She lunged at me baring all those razor sharp teeth.
I swung my arm and hit her in the head. There was a metallic ring in the air as she fell to the ground. In my hand there was a frying pan, I guess I picked it up and bashed her in the head with it. I ran out of the building not waiting for shark girl to wake back up. Outside was worse than in, there were rows upon rows of people just like Mrs. Johnson. Each had no face and I feared that they would try to do the same to me as she did. Each turned to me and each face was as empty and devoid as a black hole. They all rushed me at once, each revealing their razor blade teeth. I tried to go back into the building but it was no longer there. I was swallowed by the feeding frenzy.
I awoke in my bed in a cold sweat, adrenalin coursing through my veins. “It was all just a dream.” I said wiping off the sweat and walking into the bathroom. I walked to the bathroom and caught a glimpse of someone in the mirror. The face was of another but the body was mine.
I looked into the mirror and I saw the face of my dad. It was exactly the same in every detail, which was weird how I knew that since I have not seen much of him in many years. He is always either working or out and never has time to get together with his own son. I then woke up in my bed and immediately sat up like I had just had a nightmare. My wife asked me what’s wrong, I said nothing and just sat down and went back to bed.
ReplyDeleteI woke up a little later and had to get ready for work fast because I slept through the alarm. As I rushed out the door, my son grabbed me by the arm and asked if I could attend his baseball game later on in the day after he gets out of school. I said maybe, grabbed my coffee and got in my truck and left. Work was hectic that day in the office, a few people were out and it seemed like I had to do everyone’s job. I was rushing all over the place doing all of these medial tasks. When I looked at the clock and realized that it was nine o’clock at night. I was happy that I could leave work after a long day. I got home at nine-thirty and my son was there waiting for me, he stayed up a little past his bedtime. He asked why I missed his game; I gave him the response that I always do which was that I had to work. He went off to bed and soon later. I thought in my mind that my dad always came home at around this time as I was going to bed. I would always stay up until he got home; he would watch TV with me for 15 minutes and then fall asleep on the couch. I then got out of my thinking daze and headed off to bed.
The same thing happened the next day, my son had another game that day and I said I’d make it but I got stuck at work again and completely forgot about it. I used to play baseball just like my son and I believe my dad only attended two of my games for the four years that I had played. I got home and my son was sleeping on the couch. I carried him to his bed and then went to go shave. As I wet my face to shave, I saw my dad’s face in the window just like I had a few nights ago in my dream. I then realized, even though I said that it would never happen, I became exactly like my father.
I walked to school that day, worrying if anyone would notice. I sauntered up to my best friend in the hall but she sneered at me and asked me if I was drunk. When she turned around, I noticed the green backpack. My best friend didn’t have an emerald bag. Further down the hall I saw the purple floral backpack. I ran to it and grabbed its wearer’s shoulder. The boy turned around and looked at me.
ReplyDelete“Ginger?” the boy asked in a girly voice.
“No it’s me. Marie,” I responded.
“Marie? But you look like Ginger Rockaford.”
“I know. I know. I’m confused too.” Then I looked at her and slowly said,” And you look like…”
“Jimmy Farner. I know.”
The conversation went on like this. The only way we could distinguish between everyone was by their backpacks and, sometimes, their style of clothing.
Even the staff wore different faces. Mr Bronko looked like Ms Santana. And Principal Anderson now looked like Carson, the janitor. The whole school was bustling with questions that day. Nobody knew how this was happening nor did anyone know how to fix it. The bell to begin 9th period rang and that’s when the man in the snowy lab coat strolled into the school.
We saw him gaze into every room and then he made his way to the office. Soon the loudspeaker crackled and a rough voice was aired throughout the school.
“Attention students of South High High School. My name is Doctor Van Huston,” the voice clearly stated through a thick Icelandic accent. “I’m sure you are all aware about the phenomenon that is occurring as I speak. Rest assured, this is all just a test.”
The school erupted into questions and anger. “A test!?” “What is he talking about?” “What is going on!?” were only just a few of the questions my history class was asking at the time.
“The Association of Science and Math, or the ASM, is conducting a test to see if you, as students and friends, can identify your comrades without the aid of physical looks. Most of you passed by finding similarities between your friend’s old and new looks, such as what they were wearing. But others have yet to identify their companion.”
More questions and angry statements came to my ears from all around the second floor where my class was located.
“Do not be alarmed! The test was a success and you will all be returned to normal when you wake up tomorrow morning.”
Doctor Van Hucton, or whatever his name was, left without another word, never telling us how the ASM conducted this experiment. I fell asleep early that night, not wanting to be Ginger Rockaford anymore. And when I woke up, I was my normal self again. I’ll never forget how happy I am to be Marie Winston.
Who is this guy that I’m seeing? Is it me or is it someone else looking at me? The hair has changed the eyes are different. This couldn’t be me. The eye color is changed the face has changed. What did I do for my face to change? This is a curse from god. I know why this is happening, because of yesterday. I was up late and my mother told me to go to sleep but I didn’t listen to her. The first time and the second she told me to go to sleep I never listened to her. The third time she yelled at me to go to sleep then I became a boy who she didn’t know neither did I. I became a rude boy that yelled at his mother and never listened to her. When I yelled at her I felt this vibration in my body that I never felt before. I didn’t mind it because it went away in a second. I stayed up late my mom was disappointed in me and so was my whole family even the angels from above. The angels came to me at night a light appeared on my shoulder the angel told me that he is disappointed in me and I should go and apologized to my mother. He was convincing me but a red light the color of a fire appeared and it was the devil my bad side came out of me. The devil told me not to go up to her and just stay downstairs and watch your TV. I kept hearing noises from both of my shoulder I didn’t know who to listen to, but the devil got to my head and he shot the angel and the angel disappeared. It was just me and the devil, the devil played with my head and I became a devil myself. I didn’t care about anything or nobody so I didn’t care what my mother was felling or how I was becoming. The devil got the best of me. I was tired and my mother tears wore dripping down the stairs I didn’t care, but deep deep down my heart I felt sad but I was scared to say anything because of the devil. I didn’t care about my mom. The clock is ticking and I became sleepy, I got in my bed and closed my eyes. I kept hearing noises saying you’re wrong your wrong get up and fix your mistake. I didn’t mind the noise I put my head under my pillow and I went to sleep. The night past by and I woke up asking myself “who is this guy that I’m seeing?
ReplyDeleteReflection on a Mirror
ReplyDeleteEvery time I go to brush my teeth I see a reflection on the mirror, a girl of course. In that reflection there is a girl that expects much of her and doesn’t let anyone intervene with her dream of completing her own expectations. Just by looking at her I shouldn’t judge her about anything, she hasn’t talked yet so I really don’t know how she’s like. I’ll just describe her look and her face. I stared hard into her eyes I see so much pride I see a glare on the corner, she’s really sweet. She has a smile that she hates to show but still cute since she has one dimple. I see her smiling but a smile can hide so many different emotions. She looks like the type of person that holds everything inside and doesn’t like expressing her feelings to other people for the fear that they would never care. In some parts it’s good that she thinks that way because she won’t have to worry about them, she would actually save her breath. She doesn’t have tattoos or piercings on her face so her face is sweet and tender. She’s light brown skin, and has two big dark brown eyes. I know she doesn’t like staring for the fact that I looked at her and she looked away in an instant meaning that she is very shy. Wait, she finally spoke. Even though she’s quiet she has a lot of self-esteem. I knew that before I wasn’t as pretty as my sister and not as smart as her either. At first when I looked at myself in the mirror I saw a girl that looked weak and couldn’t stand up for herself because of her height but now everyone gets along with her and she gets along with everyone in the school. She always knew how to stand up for herself but was scared to get snitched on, that was the only problem. She is weak in the sense of seeing people cry but other than that, she’s fine.
My eyes are now farther apart. I teeth are dirty. This isn’t the girl that I went asleep as. My face is dirty and half my eyebrow was shaved off. This isn’t the real me. Yesterday I looked nice. Now I look like a monster. My hair was all over and it looked as if I had gum stuck in my hair. I began to pet my hair and felt a gooey substance in my hair. I pulled my hair and I saw a piece on gum in there. My lip was bleeding from the sides. I nose was filled with blood. This couldn’t be. What did I do? When I went to sleep I was pretty and now my face is all rearranged. I pulled my hair back and looked at my ears I had earing in them. I never sleep with earrings. I saw on the left ear that my earing has been pulled out. This must have been a dream. I let the water running and pinched myself a few times. I grabbed the water with my hands and began to put water on my face. I looked once again with a smile on my face. I was still the same.
ReplyDelete“MOOOOOM! This is not happening not to me. It’s picture day at school too. MOTHER! MOM! Get up here now!” I screamed.
I went back to my bed and sat down. I had no other thing to do. I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror it was terrifying. I looked at my hands and saw that some of my fingers no longer had nails. This was not happening to me. In just a couple of second my mother came in. She saw me and screamed. I knew that I was going to get these reactions all day today. She came over to me and went on her knees. She pet my face. I couldn’t help but cry.
“Mom, do you know what happened to me? Please do you know anything?” I cried.
I saw that my mother got up and began to walk back and forth. She looked at the ground. I know my mother for too long and I knew that something was bothering her. She sat down next to me. She took a deep breath. She put her hands over my hands. I looked at her face. It screamed pain.
“Sweetheart, I didn’t want you to end up like this. You were sleep walking. You knocked on the door and I saw that you were throwing your arms around. I think you had a nightmare. You continued to scream die get away from me. I didn’t know what to do so I threw the closest thing that was in my distance. It hit you in the head and you went crashing to the ground. Then you semi got up half awake. I then lead you to your room. When I was walking with you I noticed that you had gum in your hair. When I laid you down on the bed you grabbed onto my hair. It hurt and as a mother I know that it was the wrong decision to make but I punched you in the face. Your nose began to bleed and I ran out and put the dog in your room. Later on when I checked I noticed something’s on the floor. I saw nails and Fluffy had blood on him. He bit off your earrings. I’m sorry” She whispered holding back her tears.
My mother did this to me. I don’t why I had to have a mother like this. I wish I had a regular mother. No I just had to get stuck with a mother that would ruin my life. I kicked her off the bed and curled up in a ball. There was no way that I was going to school looking like this. I’m going to stay in my room and in this house until everything goes back to normal. I don’t know but I think this might have been karma. Some people say that I’m mean. What is mean is people thinking that I am. Just because I talk about people doesn’t mean anything. Just because I start fights with people doesn’t mean anything. I’m just trying to make this world a better place. If people don’t want my help I don’t care. Let karma get me again I don’t care. I’m never going to stop being “mean.” I just think people should do things the way that I want them to be done.
I went to the bathroom right after I woke up this morning. I woke up at two o’clock in the morning because of a bladder full of Hawaiian Punch. When I woke up, something felt different. I could not figure out what it was because I was so tired. I walked down the hall to the bathroom in complete darkness. After about twenty steps, I ended up in the doorway of the bathroom. I rubbed my hand on the wall, feeling for the light switch. I flicked it on and made my way to take care of business.
ReplyDeleteI walked past the mirror on the wall, and saw it at the corner of my eye. I glanced to my left, and saw a face in the mirror, but it wasn’t my gorgeous face, it was a hideous looking one. My long curly brown hair was gone and replaced with strands of black. It looked as though somebody cut off all my hair but left a strand or two and dyed those black. My eyes weren’t brown anymore! They were a hideous shade of yellow. How is that even possible? My skin lost its beautiful clearness. I felt it with my trembling hands and it was bumpy with pimples and crevices. It looked as though I haven’t done my eyebrows in years. It looked like Sasquatch above each of my eyes. I was standing in the bathroom in disgust, wondering what happened to my gorgeous face, and if I will ever see it again?
I screamed on the top of my lungs; so loud I think they heard me in Australia. My parents came rushing down stairs and tore into the bathroom. They shouted “What’s wrong?! Why’d you scream?” I turned my head and looked at them, and said nothing. My dad stared at me then burst into laughter. My mom fainted on the floor and my dad fell next to her laughing his breath away. They thought it was a joke! But it wasn’t a joke, this is real; or, at least I think it is.
This can’t be real life. How can I just wake up in the middle of the night and have an ugly face? Did I do something wrong? I don’t remember running into someone creepy and having them curse me for not doing anything. Am I getting punished for something? All these questions flushed through my head as I stood in the bathroom, looking at my new face. How am I going to school with an appearance like this? I will be started at and taunted for the rest of my life! Or at least until this goes away, if it ever does.
I had this weird feeling that something again isn’t right. I feel a jerking motion happening to my head. My stomach felt weak. I felt my eyes moving back and forth at a rapid pace, when my eyes opened. I arose, and was lying on my bed wrapped in blankets, heart throbbing. It was two o’clock, and I really had a full bladder. I walked down the hall into darkness, about twenty steps, when I finally made it to the doorway of the bathroom. I felt the wall for the light switch, and flicked it on. I headed to the toilet to take care of business when I looked in the mirror, and saw my face. My face looked the way it did when I went to sleep the night before. I had my long brown curly hair, nice brown eyes, and beautiful clear skin. My face looked gorgeous like it always did. I finished my business and went back to my room, where my cat was on my bed, sleeping the night away. It must have been a scary and twisted dream. I never want to dream of me looking horrible again.
“Hey I just meet you and this is crazy but here’s my number so call me maybe…..”
ReplyDelete“Ugh shut up!” I mutter groggily as I knock my alarm clock to the floor. Here we go another Monday and another day to deal with these people that I call classmates.
‘You can do this’ I think to myself ‘just get out of bed that’s the first step.’ I slowly rise from my bed just to trip on some scattered books from the night before. ‘Stupid books what do people need them for in the first place….besides reading and learning purposes.’ After making my slow zombie walk to my bathroom all I can see is a mess of tangled hair. Just like every morning an icky tangled mess of….wait curly brown hair? Maybe I just slept in my contacts again and my eyes are messing with me. I flipped it all back to another surprise.
‘When did my hair reach down my back and why is my skin so…..tan? This is getting too freaky’ I just brushed it off to brush my hair and notice something else there was a stranger in my mirror. I screamed to the top of my lungs looking all around me to find where the person was trying to hide. Soon enough my mom barged in and frantically looked at me with a confused expression.
“What’s wrong honey?” My mother asked “Why are you screaming? What happened?”
“There’s a stranger in my bathroom she has brown hair with red tint in it and tan skin. She has these weird hazel and green eyes. Mom who is she?” I asked feeling as paranoid as ever.
My mother looked at me like I was an escaped psychiatric patient. “You mean the pretty girl I’m looking at right now.”
“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?” I asked even more scared “WAIT YOU MEAN SHE’S IN HERE?!?!?!?”
“Ivy I don’t have time for this go get ready for school and stop this non sense. What are you scared of your own reflection now?” My mom said in a bored tone.
‘My own reflection?’ I walked into the bathroom to observe this new face I was given. Actually I was given a brand new body too; I think it suits me pretty well.
“Well this is the new me huh?” I asked myself actually waiting for some kind of response “Well then I guess change can be good. I don’t know how this happened or why, but dang skippy I look GOOD.” I walked down the stairs to start my life as a new person. Just as I opened the door I turned back around to ask my dad a final question.
“Daddy did I always look like this?”
“Well besides that kool-aid looking red that you added to your hair, pretty much. To be serious it looks like some just scattered paint all through your hair. I don’t understand you kids are always trying to change something. You should just be happy with what was given to you. I mean who are you trying to impress. Are…………” He droned on as usual.
So I’ve always looked like this. Strange I could’ve sworn I went to bed with blonde hair and peach skin. Oh well I like this change.
This is a comment.
DeleteNow when I look into the mirror I see a different person. I see a girl that has been through a lot, and is always with her family. It is more of a mental change than a physical change. After everything that I have been through with my family it makes me look at things in a different way. Before I would look in the mirror and see someone that didn’t care about anything that much besides friends and going out. Now I see a girl that is has become wiser about the choices I make. Seeing my family mess up, always ends up bringing all of us together. Just because, we are all fighting and then seeing it from a different point of view. They always say that you will go through rough times before everything gets better. Last year, I didn’t care about anything but friends. Then when a family problem came I realized that friends will come and go and won’t always be there for you when times get bad. After I realized that I have been focused on school and family. I have a couple friends but my family will always be first. When you just take a second to really open your eyes and think about what you will do in the future it will change who you want to be around with sometimes. You’re going to want people that are going to be supportive no matter what. I know I would like to have people be supportive of what I want, but I know that some of my friends will always have something to say about my decisions. My family will say something as well but they would be there with me through every step of the way. When I think about how I used to think and how I acted a year ago I can see that there is a big change in me now. Every morning when I look in the mirror I see a girl that is confident about her and doesn’t care about what other people have to say or think about me. As I get older there are going to be more problems to face, and all I know is that I’m going to make mistakes but I just have to learn from them and not make the same mistake twice. All I know is that I have to be smart about what I do and think everything out.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGetting up out of bed was the biggest struggle for me that morning. I hated getting up out of my warm bed. I pulled myself up so I was sitting in an upright position. I let out a deep sigh and wrapped my comforter around my body. With that, I stood up and trudged to the bathroom. The light was off in the bathroom and I was too lazy to turn it on so I headed straight towards the toilet. Dropping the blanket and my pants I relieved myself.
ReplyDeleteThe sound of the toilet flushing overwhelmed the sound of the water in the sink rushing over my hands. Then I rubbed some water on my face. I stopped in an instant. Feeling my face I quickly threw the switch and screamed. I stared at the mirror in my bathroom. It revealed a face that was not mine. I looked down at my body to see if that had changed too. Examining my body all over I confirmed that my body was still the same it was only my face that was different. Whose face is this? And how did I get it? And where is mine? So many questions were filling my head. I became dizzy from being so overwhelmed from all of this. I began thinking of all the things I should do but none of them seemed good enough. None of them seemed like they would be good ideas. I could not go see my mom or my dad because they might think I am someone else. I could not go to school because, well I was not myself. Maybe I should stay home sick from school. Or ditch school somehow. I sat there for a few seconds trying to come up with different ways to get out of going to school but I just could not come up with any that were exciting or good enough.
I decided to stick with my best bet and just pretend like I am running late for school and stay home after my mom leaves. Then I will just call the school and tell them I stayed home sick. I laid in bed for a few more minutes and then I heard my mom calling from the stairs, “Kerry! Get your ass out of bed! You’re going to be late for school!”
“Mom, I know I’m hurrying! Chill out!” I screamed back down to her.
“Fine, but I’m leaving for work you will have to get to school by yourself somehow!”
“Fine by me!” I could not believe it, it had been so easy! Now I just had- BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! My alarm was going off. I hit the snooze button and jumped up quickly. I ran to the bathroom and threw up the switch to check my face. My face was normal, I let out a deep sigh of relief. “Wow, what a crazy dream that was…” I said to myself. Then I began to laugh, how could I possibly think that something like that would actually happen. I surprise myself at how blonde I can be.
*You look up into the mirror. What is staring back at you is not you. It was something that you have never seen before. Something that people could only imagine. The scares across your face gave you a fright. It was as if you had been in a battle by the time you went to bed last night and when you woke up this morning. The sight in the mirror was horrifying. You tried looking away but as much as you wanted to, you just kept staring at the dismantled face. You splashed water into your face hoping it would wash away the blood and loose skin. You looked back into the mirror and it was still there. You looked like you just walked off a battle field. The strange thing was that the pain level did not match your appearance. One would expect that you would be in pain. But there was nothing. You felt, this morning, like you do any other morning. You knew that you could not go to work like this. You can only imagine the kind of stares you would get from people on the subway. The things that they would say haunted you.
ReplyDelete“What the hell happened to you?” One person might say.
“Did you need an ambulance?” Another might say.
Yes those might not seem very harsh, but you know that some people may not be as, helpful. You look like a monster and you knew that others would notice. You splashed yourself with water one more time and smacked your face making sure you were actually awake and not dreaming this all up. You slapped your face with both hands and made a face like Kevin McCallister in Home Alone. You screamed at the top of your lungs. Your screams brought your mother charging into your room and she was shocked by your appearance. She stood there in disbelief looking at you.
“Mom! I don’t know what happened!”
You started to cry…* and that is where I woke up.
“Wait! So you never found out how I got so… so… deformed?” you asked
“Nope. Sorry dude, it was pretty scary though.” The other boy answered
“What else did you dream about that night?” you questioned
“Nothing else! Maybe it was because watching a really nasty war movie. It was pretty freaky though! Your face was so ugly! And I am still trying to figure out why it was you in my dream.” The other boy tried to explain.
“You just love me that much!” you gushed
“Nah, that’s not it.” The other boy said as he walked away.
Some mornings do you ever just wake up and just don’t feel like yourself
ReplyDeleteYou look in the mirror and don’t see yourself
You see someone who resembles you
But it is not your own face staring back at you
Sometimes I think to myself
About all the things I could have been
And all the things I wanted to be
I could be that girl that everyone wanted
And that girl everybody hates
Many girls hate each other for no reason
We call each other harsh names
We make up stupid rumors
But why do we pull each other apart
Push each other’s buttons
We are all little monsters
Monsters that have been blinded from the start
We have no clue what the real world is like
But the thing is
This is girl world
People we played with everyday
When we were youngsters
Do not exist to us anymore
The people we ate lunch with in second grade
We do not even remember their names
We are evil little creatures
We do not see what we do to others
The things that we say
And the harm we cause
It leaves permanent scares
The scares that we carry around with us throughout life
We are simply a paper ball that has been stomped and crumbled up
Then lay out to retake our shape
It just does not happen
Scares stay with us forever
We could say were just a fallen leaf
Floating around
We do not know who we truly are
We look at ourselves
But is it really us
Are we really who we seem to be
Or are we a bunch of brain washed freaks
Who take our orders from the teachers and our parents?
For once can we just be ourselves
Can we be our own people?
I wish as a girl I could be who I want
I want to be a success
I want to win at life
Make an accomplishment once in my life
That truly matters
Who are we as people?
Some mornings you just wake up and we are not ourselves
You look in the mirror and cannot even see yourself
You see someone who looks like you
But it is not your soul staring back at you
You are someone else
Sometimes I think of someone who could have changed me
They could have changed me for the better
Then next day John walked into the hospital and shook out his dripping wet umbrella, closed it, and put it under his arm. It was supposed to pour nonstop all day.
ReplyDelete“She’s already in your office Mr. Michaels.” The nurse from yesterday said on his way past the front desk.
John stopped. “She’s already in my office? Alone? Why?”
The nurse gave him an apologetic look. “Oh no Mr. Michaels she’s not alone. Nurse Jackie is there with her. We couldn’t leave her alone. Not after this morning.” She said and opened her desk drawer to look for something.
John drew his eyebrows together. “What do you mean? What happened this morning?”
The nurse looked up at him. “Nobody called you?” She asked surprised. “When Nurse Jackie went into the girl’s room to bring her down to the cafeteria she wasn’t there. We must’ve spent an hour this morning looking for her before she turned up out of nowhere outside your office door.”
John couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could she possibly have gotten out? “Where could she have gone?” John asked, more to himself than to the nurse behind the desk.
“Well I don’t know Mr. Michaels, but I think she must’ve gotten outside somehow. When we found her she was holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers and she was soaking wet. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
John thanked the nurse for telling him and turned in the direction of his office, rolling his eyes. How could she possibly have gotten out and back in without anyone noticing, he wondered.
John walked into his office to find the girl braiding flowers into Nurse Jackie’s hair. When she saw him she jumped up from her seat, and her cheeks turned crimson.
She cleared her throat. “Here she is for you Mr. Michaels,” she said and looked down touching the braid and hurried past him out of the office.
The door closed behind John and he walked over to his desk to set his stuff down. He could feel the girl’s eyes on him, watching him intently, making him feel self-conscious. He sat down in his chair and took a deep breath before allowing himself to look up at her.
She had that everlasting smile spread across her face and her eyes seemed to be gleaming at him like emeralds. The waves in her hair seemed more intense than they had yesterday, probably from being out in the rain, and the bruise above her eye was completely gone.
The girl picked up the flowers she had laid out on his desk and held them out to John. He reached for them slowly and took them from her. “Thank you,” he said with a question in his tone. She just continued to smile at him.
He looked down at the tiny purple flowers and froze. His wife’s face popped into his head. These were the same flowers she’d had in her hair the day he found her. That was the first and last time he’d ever seen flowers like that, until now. Tears came to his eyes. As sad a reminder as the flowers were, something about them made John smile.
John looked up at her. “Where did you find these?” He asked in complete awe.
The girl looked at him and then looked out the window. She stared far out on the waves and her smile began to fade. The longing in her eyes confused him. There was something more to this girl than everyone thought, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was.
She suddenly snapped her gaze away from the window. She sat in the chair across from John, picked up the picture of his wife, and once again held it tightly to herself. She brought her knees up to her chest and just stared out the window at the ocean, as if it were the only thing her eyes would allow her to see.
What is this? Where is my face?! This is not my mirror and I don’t recall wearing this cloth to sleep last night, long hair fruity smelling room and it’s all girly.
ReplyDelete“Did I just wake up as a girl” I ask my self
“Honey you’re going to be late hurry up” A female voice screams from what it seems to be downstairs.
“Yeah! Almost done...Mo...Mom?” I replied confusedly
I turn and look at the body of this girl that seems to be me now
“Well at least I’m cute” I tell myself.
Damn this is not the time to be saying things like this I need to get to the bottom of this, as I finish taking a shower while having my eyes close I stare at the mirror again and realize how crazy my… I mean this girls hair got due to the water in the shower and slowly my head goes down and I see things I should of not seen with an embarrassed look in my face and my cheeks pink as this girls room I look back up and realize that I’m such a guy.. has I randomly pick up something to wear for school I think I realize I look kinky and girlie so I put on some sweats and some uggs that this girl has with a pink shirt saying “I love my boyfriend” I head downstairs and see a kid who’s about 9 or 10 sitting eating cereal and this lady who I think is my mom taking some pop tarts out.
“I guess those are mine?” I asked
“Of course hunny” she replied
Well that was weird I never had breakfast server to me before school since my mom… well should I say my real mom goes to work before I fully wake up , heading outside i stand confuse to what am I going to do and my second mom which is this girls mom comes outside and gives me some keys
“You forgot your keys Vanessa”
“uh thanks mom..” I replied with a blank stare
“you okay?” she asked
“oOh yea I am haha” I replied with a fake laugh
The car was not hard to spot since obviously it was pink I’m guessing this girl is obsess with pink a lot, I look for the high school name that I found in her books from school and I search it on her iPhone and the crazy thing is I’m a town over from where my town is and to my understanding this town is full of selfish rich people who just think life is perfect.. Damn why me.
Making it to the school I park the car and I look for something that will tell me what classes I have and I found her schedule and start to head to first period, class after class, rumors after rumor I just couldn’t take it being on this girls body is was weird and I was talking to people I didn’t know so I walk to the nurse office and got a dismiss early to go home, heading home I found a road that leads up to my house and well I take the turn and go down that street. Few miles down I found my house and it seems like nothing is wrong just another normal day waiting there I see someone come out of the house and I could not believe what I was seeing, It was me wearing cloth from 2 days ago I was shocked and bump my head to the horn and beep suddenly myself in my real body looks this way and I hide, all the sudden I remember how 2 days ago I thought someone beep at me and I remember the pink car but saw no one..
“I think I just alter my past” talking to myself
And the thing Is that I have no way of coming back, all the suddenly I hear a voice in my head a girly voice asking for her body back and I was shocked to find out that I was not alone in my….well this girls head.
“Well,” Tristain kicked himself up to his feet and wobbled a bit before catching his balance.
ReplyDelete“If I’m gonna die, I think I’d rather die in some epic battle with the knowledge of some evil plot than walking down the street and getting stabbed in the back.”
He walked inside and went into his room and opened his drawer. He flipped through his clothes and grabbed a small sheathe out of the bottom. Inside it was his brother’s dagger that he had given Tristain before he had went off to war.
It couldn’t have been later than six in the morning, because the moon was still in the sky but the sun was beginning to rise. Tristain had heard something out front and rushed outside, still pulling his shirt over his head. When he opened the door he tripped down the stoop and got a mouthful of dirt. He rubbed his bruised head when someone grabbed his arm and jerked him to his feet.
“What the hell are you doing up? You have work to do, go back to sleep.”
“I heard something and thought someone was messing with the farm, I came to check it out.”
Zane smirked and punched Tristain’s shoulder.
“And what were you gonna do if someone was out here? Fall on them?”
“Hey!” Tristain jumped at him, but Zane held him back with three fingers pressed against his forehead.
“Ouch, watch it! Those gloves hurt!” Sadness suddenly crept over Tristain’s face as he saw his brother dressed in almost a full suit of armor.
“You’re…you’re leaving now, aren’t you?”
Zane quickly turned his back to him and picked up the helmet that lay on the ground next to him. He kicked at the ground before answering.
“They sent out a letter…” He started, “All of the new recruits are supposed to be at the barracks by seven.”
“Oh…well you better hurry up then. Maybe if you’re early you’ll get one of the shiny new swords!”
Zane laughed and bent down to hug Tristain, but he backed away. Zane smiled a bit and patted his shoulder.
“Hang on, I’ll be right back”
Zane jumped up the steps of the stoop and into the house. Tristain was confused as to why he didn’t say his dramatic goodbye yet,
I crawled off of the testing table where the aliens put me. I tried leaning my weight on the shelf next to the table. I felt so nauseous and dizzy. I lifted one foot off of the table with no problem but as soon as my other foot left the table the shelf collapsed on me and my whole body crashed to the ground. I looked around on the floor to see if anything was broken or if I was bleeding. I didn’t see anything wrong with my body but as I looked around the whole floor and saw some tools that probably fell to the floor along with the shelf. I noticed that these tools had this red liquid on it. Also these tools seemed to be medical tools instead of just regular tools. Then I came to a conclusion in my head.
ReplyDelete“I am a stupid test subject,” I screamed. Of course after I did scream I noticed I shouldn’t of. I tried picking myself up to try and stand instead of lying on the ground helplessly. Even though it took quite a while to get myself up I finally did. I saw a mirror over on the other side of the room and I started walking toward it curious to see what they have done to my body. I stumbled over to it, tripping a few times on the way, and I looked into the glass in astonishment. My hair was completely gone. I had holes in the side of my head where my ears were supposed to be. My nose was also completely flat. As I was looking at my new face I heard footsteps coming from the hallway. Oh what can I do I thought to myself. A tall figure appeared in the doorway. I noticed that his face looked exactly like my new face.
“Clabbo un topa,” He said not knowing that I wouldn’t understand his language at all.
“What are you saying.”
Cl-abbo un to-pa.” Like that helped at all. The alien then took me by my hands, which were significantly smaller than his, and led me out the door. I had absolutely no idea where he was taking me but I was scared.
After a short while of walking he opened a door to our right. As I walked in I noticed that there were three other aliens just like the one leading me. He pushed me into a chair and strapped me down binding my hands and legs. I saw the alien on my right pick up what looked to be a cutting implement. And then I noticed what they were about to do to me. They were going to make me into one of them.
I was in deep, I had no choice but to use one of my victims faces to cover mine. I used the best looking man a started to rip his face off from his head, all I needed from him was his face. So I took my knife and started to cut, I yanked off the last part of his chin with a loud rip that left shivers going up my spine. Then I carefully began to put glue on certain areas of my face, looked into the mirror and place his face over mine. After a couple minutes of moving the face to match mine and make minor cuts, it was on, and looked pretty good. I looked into the mirror to see “Wyler Tatters” the man whose face I ripped off, I was now him, he was lonely man who had no wife, no kids, and no house. He was a bum, that’s why I killed him in the first place, but now I was going to make a name for him. I was going to make Wyler Tatters successful, he was going to make it in this world and he was going to be a millionaire. After going back to college and becoming a successful thief and successful assassin, I had finally made a name for myself, but then I realized, it wasn’t me, it was Wyler Tatters. I hadn’t made a name for myself I made a name for him, I was still a nothing, a serial killer that wasn’t anything but a criminal that never made it anywhere, I was known but not really known, I wasn’t known as me, he was known. But I was him so maybe I was actually known, I was now him, and he was now me, we were known, we made it together, with my brains and his beauty, we went places
ReplyDeletehumphrey
ReplyDeleteI awoke with a smile on my face, the morning air brushing up against my skin from the open window, game controller still in my hand. The birds were chirping symphonically as I stood from the cushion on the ground that I had taken to using as a bed, and stretched my limb. Picking up the remote again, I turned off the console. I had fallen asleep at around three o’clock this morning, right smack in the middle of a game. I could only assume that I had died and my game had brought me back to the main menu. I turned, and walked through the door, a spring in my step and a smile on my face. There was no doubt about it, today was going to be a good day. I entered the bathroom, and picked up my toothbrush, preparing to clean my teeth. Then I looked up at the mirror, and fell into the bathtub directly behind it as I backed away in shock. I stood again and took a good, hard look at the face in the mirror which must have been mine. The person in the mirror was not the face of the teenage boy I had gotten used to seeing stare back at me through the pane of glass. It was the face of a man. I looked down at myself, and saw that I had grown, somehow. But my appearance was strange. I still looked like the old me, but for some reason, I was not how I thought I would look when I reached this age, which I guessed was around twenty or twenty-five years old. I had always dreamed of being a manager at a gaming company when I reached this age, or at least an eager understudy to one. But the person in front of me looked very disheveled, scraggly hairs coming out of his chin and under his nose to make a rough mustache and beard, and hair that was greasy and pointing in every which way. He was also wearing sweats that I did not recognize and a short sleeved shirt. I reached up and felt my cheek, and the hairs were very obvious to the touch. The mirror did not lie. I left the bathroom, still numb with shock at what I had just seen. How could this have happened? I walked down the stairs to go and see my parents. When I got down, my father was sitting at the dining room table, reading a book. “Dad, Dad!” I shouted. “What’s happened to me?” He looked up and I gasped. His face was old and wrinkled, his hair was beginning to turn a pale shade of grey. He looked like he could have been my grandfather.
ReplyDelete“Son? You’ve finally decided to emerge from your cave?” my father asked, genuine astonishment in his voice.
“What? Dad, what’s happened to you?” I ask.
“What do you mean? Nothing has changed since dinner yesterday,” was my confused father’s reply.
“But… Dad… you’re… old!” I exclaim.
My father chuckles. “Well, I have been on this Earth for sixty-two years now. So I guess you could say that,” he says. “What is this all about, son? And why are you down so early?”
“I just woke up this morning, and I was suddenly a man. Yesterday I was sitting on my floor, playing a game with my friends, and today I’m no longer a boy. What happened?” I ask.
“What do you mean? You’ve been living in that room ever since you dropped out of high school!” my father answers.
“Huh?”
“Don’t you remember?” he asks. I stare at him blankly. “Fifteen years ago, you stayed up till three o’clock playing video games with your friends, and then in the morning you slept in and missed school. You did the same thing the next night, and the next night, until you had obtained so many cuts that the school dropped you. You’ve been practically living up there ever since.”
ReplyDelete“But I’m twenty eight then. Shouldn’t I have graduated college already? Gotten married? Started a career? Why am I still living in your house?” I cried.
“You never expressed an interest to move on. You just stayed in that room every day, and only emerged for dinner. You’ve been a hermit, wasting our electricity and eating our food. We’ve only let you stay because if we told you to leave you would have nowhere else to go.” My dad shook his head as he went back to his book, probably in shame and embarrassment at having raised such a son. I stood there in shock and disgust at the person I had become.
“But what about all of my dreams? My aspirations? Why did you not force me to reach higher than this? I never wanted to spend my whole life here!” I shouted.
“We left you to your own devices. As you reminded us daily, you’re old enough to make your own decisions. Those other questions are things that you need to ask yourself while you still have time to go out and get a life,” my dad answered pointedly.
I stood there for another minute or two, silent, and then progressed back up the stairs sullenly. I laid on my bed, my actual bed, closed my eyes, and fell asleep.
When I awoke, I was covered in sweat. I stood up immediately, and realized that I was no longer on a bed. I had been sleeping on my cushion. My old cushion… I looked at the television and saw that it was on. On and flashing the same screen it had been flashing when I went to sleep last night. I immediately ran to the bathroom, and looked into the mirror. I smiled when I saw my own face, back where it should be. It had all been a bad dream.
I walked into my room and turned off the television, ejecting the game and putting the remote on the shelf. Then, I walked out of the room to go eat some breakfast.
Corinthians 6:12
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
Looking at the rest........ the "It was all just a dream thing" kinda feels like a cop-out lol
DeleteI had somehow managed to escape all reflections during most of the day that ultimately changed my life. It was a relatively normal morning, or so I thought. I had gone out the night before, and shamefully, I will admit I don’t remember a bit of it. All I know is that as my phone alarm sounded in the morning and I turned to the bright screen to regretfully turn it off and venture into my tired, painful Monday, I found an unreasonable amount of texts from my buddy asking how big some bruise was.
ReplyDeleteTruthfully, I did not want to face this “bruise” or any physical aftermath of the night before. All I knew that morning was that I was James Donnard and I was on my way to the biggest, most important corporation meeting my company had ever seen. I knew I would face humiliation at work if I knew exactly where or how large this multicolored defect was. That, then, was my choice to follow the saying that ignorance is bliss and forget the bruise completely. In my shower, I washed with my chin up, not inspecting a bit of my body for this bruise. I shaved blindly with my eyes closed; I refused to look in that mirror. I may face public humiliation, but it’s not too bad if I don’t know, right?
After my morning routine, grooming myself with no true knowledge of how horrible or handsome I truly looked, I left the house and took to my car. The highway was kind to me, allowing me to get to the office speedily so I could prepare the conference room before the executive board arrived. Then, in that moment, I was faced with my first attempt at human contact since my unpleasant awakening.
“Uhm, excuse me?” I heard a voice from behind as I set donuts and coffee on the table pushed against the wall.
ReplyDelete“Yes?” I ask politely as I turn to see the face to which the voice had escaped.
To my surprise, it was my favorite intern, Joey. The kid was usually so bubbly and willing to do anything, but his face had taken on a new expression: a blank stare of confusion.
“Oh, Joey, what’s goin’ on man?” I asked him casually, as I normally do.
“How do you…? Uhm, who are you?”
“Who am I? Joey what’s wrong with y- Oh, that’s really funny, kid. Is it that bad? I haven’t had a chance to see it yet.”
“See what? What are you talking about? I don’t even know who you are! Are you a new worker? Oh, maybe you’re the intern to the executive board. Oh gosh, I should bow down to you sir, I could only dream of that! Instead I’m working in this little side branch of the company. But it’s not too bad, I swear.”
As his confusion seemed to lessen, mine grew.
“Joey, it’s me! James!”
“Oh, I know a James. He’s a real cool guy, that James. The nicest one here!” His voice sped with his enthusiasm to meet this “intern.”
“Joey, I AM James. I mean, thanks for the compliment and everything but seriously, kid. Are you on some medication or something? They do drug tests here, you know that right?”
“You’re a little… ah never mind, I should go.”
As he turns to leave, I swing to my left, seeing an unfamiliar face in the dark hallway. As I approach the window into the hall to get a better look, I notice the man mimicking my every move. Soon I realize this unfamiliar man is dressed exactly as I was. This phenomenon was getting stranger by the second until the moment I cuffed my hands around my face, which to my surprise, did not hurt a bit, and pressed up against the glass. There was no man standing in that hallway at all! But was I seeing things? Perhaps I’m the one that needs the drug test. After all, I didn’t quite remember the night before. I sprinted down the hallway, pushing confused faces out of my path. As I ran into the men’s bathroom, my momentum left only the back wall to stop me from my panicked sprint. A deep breath entered my lungs, I closed my eyes tight and in one, swift motion turned to the mirrors over the sink and opened my clenched eyelids.
Staring back at me was not a bruised, beat up, hung over 28 year old man like I expected. Instead, the gaze belonged to the man in the hallway. As any would do, I frantically checked the reflection by moving in different ways and the reflection followed. As quickly as possible, I dialed the number of Jason, the best buddy that would most likely remember that “unforgettable night.”
“JASON. WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?” I yelled in to the phone.
“Dude, you really don’t remember? How’s the face?”
“Well, you’d say it’s not quite what I expected. Now tell me, what happened?” I said in the most serious voice I could muster.
“Really? You stumbled into some tent at the carnival with the sign “Find the New You” on it after crying for twenty minutes over how much you hated yourself after the breakup with Ashley. I don’t know what was goin’ on in there but as soon as you tripped on your feet enough to find your way out of there, you fell face first into the huge, metal stake holding the tent down. Good going, bro, go
“But moooooommmm,” Micah whined. “I don’t want to stay with Tina!
ReplyDeleteI sighed, “I know honey. I wish that I didn’t have to leave you there, but I have to.”
Micah frowned, “Is it because of those phone calls you keep getting? Is that why I can’t go to school?”
I glanced over at my son. He was giving me such an intense face, that I almost told him the truth. Not wanting to lie to him, I just mumbled, “Something like that.”
The rest of the car ride was silent until we finally reached Tina’s house. Micah jumped out of the car to hug Tina, who already knew that we were coming. I sat in the car and watched as Tina and Micah talked for a while. As I waited, I noticed that my face in the rearview mirror. My heartbeat picked up and I quickly twisted it away from me. When Micah disappeared into the house, I got out of the car and strolled over to Tina.
I started my apology as I stopped in front of her, “I am so sorry about th-”
“What’s happened?” Tina interrupted. Even though she sounded angry, I knew that she was concerned for me.
Knowing that I couldn’t keep it a secret I said, “Linderman’s men found us.”
Tina threw up her hands in frustration. “I told you that borrowing money from that crook was a bad idea! And now look at the mess you’ve gotten yourself into!” I bit my lip and nodded. Tina glared at me before her features softened. “Hey, are you ok?”
I shook my head. “I-it’s just,” I began in a wavering voice. I paused for the right words before continuing. “Have you ever looked in the mirror, and see someone completely different?”
Tina stared at me like as if I grew a new head. “What?”
I glanced at the ground and gazed back at her again. “When I look at the mirror, I don’t see me. I see someone who looks like me, but she is not me.”
The silence between us was agonizing as I tried to discern if my friend believed me.
“Hun,” Tina began as she put an arm on my shoulder, “You are just stressed out from all of this. You go get your stuff, come back here, and take a nice long nap.” Disappointed that she didn’t believe me, I just nodded my head before getting in the car and heading back home. I opened my front door and was met with a mess. Tables were overturned, trinkets were on the ground, and picture frames were smashed. Numbly, I walked over to a picture of Micah and me at his first day of school.
Crunch. I whirled around to discover that Linderman’s henchmen were still here. There’s only one, so if I can just get out the door. I hand yanked my hair and I screamed. I was roughly pushed to the ground by a henchman that snuck up behind me.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” I grunted as his foot connected with my ribs. “You owe a lot of money Nicole Sanders. Mr. Linderman would like it back.”
“I-I can give it to you,” I begged, “just give me some time…”
The brute I first saw jerked me to my feet and slapped me across that face. “You don’t have time.” He pulled out a gun and pointed it at me.
“P-please, I have a son. H-he needs me,” I pleaded in vain.
Emotionlessly he stated, “Then he’s next.”
“No….” I gasped. Who said that? I scanned the room before my gaze landed on the mirror. My reflection stared back at me and coldly said, “We won’t let that happen.” My vision suddenly blackened as I lost consciousness. Sometime later, I awoke standing in the same room. I glanced around. What just happened? I stepped on something hard and looked down, only to regret it. My foot what currently on the hand of the man who held me at gun point.
Stumbling back, I tripped over the body of the second thug. They were so pale, and lifeless. I knew that they were dead the instant I saw them on the ground, but how? Against my better judgment, I turned my head and met the gaze of my double behind the glass mirror. My eyes widened as the other me smirked. She brought her finger to her lips. “Don’t tell anyone……”
I based this assignment on a scene in the T.V. show, "Heroes". The main character of this story is Nicole "Nikki" Sanders, however she isn't the main character of the T.V. show. Nicole Sanders possesses enhanced strength, but her other personality "Jessica" is the only one who can activate it. Also, Nicole's 'reflection' is actually her other personality. All characters belong to Tim Kring, NBC, and Tailwind Productions.
DeleteI gingerly touched my face. At first glance, my face appeared to be the same, but on closer examination, there were subtle differences that I noticed. There were new wrinkles around my mouth that made it look like I frowned too much. The imperfections on my face had disappeared. My freckles were gone and the birthmark on my left cheek had vanished. My hair laid flat and there were no pleasant responsive blushes that appeared on my cheeks when I pinched them. My eyes no longer had their usual vibrancy and liveliness. I looked dull and dreary. Nothing was significantly different, but to me, everything was different. I felt different too. I attempted to smile, but it looked as if it was more of a forced smirk that had no meaning. My smiles were always genuine. I felt utterly ordinary, like all of the life and uniqueness that composed who I was had suddenly disappeared. I went to get dressed and chose a dreary brown sweater and uninteresting black pants. I had always liked to wear pieces of clothing that made a statement and that were unlike from what everyone else was wearing. Feeling as if I was in a dream, I drifted downstairs and sauntered into the kitchen to see my mother cooking breakfast and she promptly asked:
ReplyDelete“Hi, do you want some breakfast?”
“No, I’m not hungry.” My response greatly surprised me. I would normally say, “No thank you,” as this was polite. I had always prided myself in constantly being extremely well-mannered and gracious. It would seem like an insignificant detail to most, but to me it portrayed just how much I had changed. Politeness had always been an important part of my personality and I felt as if I was losing a part of who I was. I began to feel worried, but just as quickly as the emotion came, it just as quickly went away. It felt like all of my emotions were being blocked by some invisible force.
When I arrived at school, everything appeared to be as it always was. My friends behaved as they always did and made jokes and laughed often; however, I found no humor in their comical actions the way I usually did. It seemed to physically hurt me to laugh. My friends did not seem to notice the subtle changes in my face that I had recognized. When I attended my classes, I excelled at all of my test and assignments, yet I drew no pride or joy from my hard work. Instead I felt numb and empty inside. My day was completely ordinary, with none of the excitement or exhilaration that I typically had.
As the day continued, glimpses of the past flooded my mind and I suddenly remembered that I had wished the day before that for a day I could be ordinary. That I could dress like everyone else and that I was focused and no longer inattentive during school. It appeared as if my wish had been made into reality, but yet I felt no relief or satisfaction. Instead I felt regret and repentance for wanting to be ordinary in a world where I could never be normal and be content at the same time.
The next day, I looked at myself in the mirror once again. My face looked like me. I felt like me and that day I chose the craziest and most outrageous outfit to wear to school.
I forced myself to sit up in bed, but I wasn’t quite able to move. It was as though my leg muscles were weakened by sleep. My mother walked by my room asking me if I was waking up. I responded with a groan, which is where the odd events started happening. My groan didn’t sound like my own, but it was slightly raspy. No matter, I thought. My voice was always like that in the morning. My mind can process strange things, so I thought nothing of it and managed to get my feet to the floor. I dragged myself to the bathroom to brush my teeth, and wash my face. As soon as I finnished washing my eyes, something strange seemed to happen. My eyes were... working! Normally, nothing changes when it comes to my eyes; they were just there. But now, there were different shades all around me. I was able to move my eyes, look in the meror and I could see my own reflection. It scared me at first, but I became use to it. I have been told that I had olive tan skin; therefore I thought I would look darker. It surprised me when my reflection looked very light. Maybe it was because I didn’t know what I looked like, since I’ve never seen in my life.
ReplyDelete“Wow,” I said to myself, laughing. “this is kind of cool.” There it was again; my voice. I could have sworn there was something different about it. It sounded more demented, and even my accent was slightly different. I normally had a New Jersey accent, and could easily pull off a New Yorker accent, but I didn’t even sound like I was from Statin Island. It was as if I had a speech impediment. Was this a dream? Had my whole life before this been a dream? I started breathing heavily, which is what I usually do when I’m nervous, but it was more forced. I scrunched my eyes closed and raced down the hallway and into my bedroom. Standing in front of my dresser, I figured I would take advantage of this new me for picking out my clothes. It was so much easier than normal; where I would read the braille tags that my mother had sewn onto my clothes. I was more sure that my outfit was matching. I decided I would enjoy this for one day, since this might be a dream, and make the most of it.
ReplyDelete“Mom,” I called out as I walked downstairs. “Do I look and or sound any different?”
“No,” my mother replied, slightly confused. “Why do you ask?”
“I feel like I sound different, and my eyes are suddenly working,” I replied. “Isn’t that strange?”
“Grace,” my mother said, slightly disgusted. “don’t talk like that. You know you were born blind.” This all only occured to me. Was I going crazy? I didn’t want to have to get my head examined. What if I would have to?
All through band class, I peaked over to everyone’s sheet music and tried to read it. It was no use though; I couldn’t read sheet music. I just picked up my parts for every song. I thought of how different today would be from all other days. It would be easier, maybe, to go from class to class. I still wasn’t completely confident about my routes, and maybe seeing would take the pressure off just a bit. As I was thinking about all this, the bell rang and made me jump. I quickly packed my flute back into its case, and maneuvered my way through the stands and people. Once I was out in the hallway, I folded up my white cane to see what it was like to walk completely sited at school.
As I was walking, several classmats of mine would say something along the lines of, “Um, Grace, why aren’t you using your cane? You’re usually using it all the time.” Since I seemed to be the only one aware of my sudden mysterious changes, I didn’t tell them the truth. I simply told them that I wanted to see what it was like to walk without a cane in places other then my house. That was a complete lie though, since I already knew what it was normally like; it made me feel insecure and it felt as though I couldn’t walk that well, even though the cane didn’t necessarily help me walk. Now though, I had my new and improved eyes, so I could see everything and everyone.
As I gathered my belongings from my locker to go to my first period, I decided to act like everything was normal until lunchtime. Then, I would tell my friends about this change. I knew they most likely wouldn’t believe me, but I had to tell someone. My eyes were closed all morning, which was something I usually did, but it was difficult to keep them open. Luckily, my eyes always looked like they worked perfectly fine, so if I opened them, no one could be suspicious that anything was different. When I got to choir, my favorite class of the day, I thought I would stop my acting.
While everyone was still talking, I went over to my friend, Jillian. “Do I look and or sound different to you at all,” I asked her. “I feel like my voice has changed.” And I still did.
“No, you sound normal.” Jillian replied. “How come?”
“I’m going crazy,” I muttered. I pulled at my Pandora bracelet and grew very figity. Had I eaten something last night that somehow messed with my system? Usually though, I get stomach problems when food messes with my system. This has never happened.
I went to asking Michelle, Carolyn and Herga if they had noticed anything. The answers were all the same; I was perfectly normal. I just wanted to scream out, “I’m not normal! Can’t you see I sound like a demon with a speech impediment and look like a ghost?” To make matters even worse, when we were warming up, my singing voice was gone.
ReplyDeleteSinging was my passion, and I wanted to make a career out of it. Now because of these changes though, my dreams were broken. My new singing voice sounded like Yoko Ono’s shaky, irritating voice. I didn’t bother asking anyone if my voice sounded any different again, since no one seemed at all aware of anything. Instead, I asked permission to use the bathroom. This time, I could see where it was, so I knew perfectly well which one was the ladys’ room. Once I was inside a stall, I burst into tears. I felt as though I had died, and now was living and speaking through another body. I didn’t want my sight anymore; having sight was just as good as getting a new piece of technology. I wanted my voice back, and I wanted to stop sounding like a dying animal. I couldn’t believe this was happening. The tears came more and more, and I held my face in my hangds. Just then, a loud ringing sound irrupted in my ear. It was so deafening and painful, and I was afraid I would loose my hearing. Perfect, I thought. I get sight which I don’t even want, and then I loose my hearing, which I can’t live without. In a matter of seconds though, the ringing stopped.
All through the day, my ears would ring, or I would have a sharp pain run through my head. Just like the ringing, the pain would be gone in a matter of five seconds. I kept on trying to think of what I had eaten yesterday, but I remembered nothing about yesterday. In fact, I was starting to forget everything about today; what the lessons were, and what the homework was. Had I taken a pill yesterday? All of a sudden, a memory tugged at my mind, but I couldn’t grasp it. When I arrived home, I ran upstairs to my room to think. I plopped down onto my bed and just lay there. I had just realized how exhausted I felt, and sleep came very quickly.
ReplyDeleteI was lying on the floor in a cramped room that seemed to grow smaller and smaller. It seemed as though everything that scared me was being brought to me. First, Imojin Heep’s “Hide and Seek” was penitrating my ears. I wasn’t able to move while I was forced to listen to the auto-tuned harmonies of what could have been a beautiful acapella song. The song slowed down, to make the effect more scary. Now, it was deathly slow, and almost to the part that scared me the most.
“MMM Whacha say, mmm that you only meant well, wel of cource you did. Mmm whacha say? Mmm that’ it’s all for the best, of course it is. Mmm whacha say? Hmm that it’s just what we need, you decided this,” and so on. The auto-tuned harmony grew louder and louder in my ears, and I wanted to scream. My voice was completely gone though, and so was my strength.
When the song was finally over, a buzzing sounded in my ears. It sounded like a bee, and it was buzzing on the key of D, which was the key I hated to hear buzzing in. Another bee started buzzing on the same pitch, and then another on a third interval below it. More and more bees started buzzing on different pitches, and there was always more than one on the same pitch. The buzzing never quivered, but stayed on the same pitch. I felt a tickeling in my ear as the bees made their way to my head. I opened my mouth to scream, but my voice sounded just like the bees did, and some of them jumped right into my throat.
I was suddenly sinking down, and my head was pounding. The bees were no more, but there was increasing pressure. Now, when I spoke, my voice sounded just like the auto-tuned harmonies in “Hide and Seek.” “No no no!” my new demonic voice shouted. There was a sharp ringing, and then excrushiating pain. went through my head. This didn’t last for just five seconds. This was long and unbarable. I just wanted someone to come and take me away from all of this. I didn’t care who it would be, I just wanted this to end.
ReplyDeleteThe next thing I knew, I was back in my bedroom, and everything was gone. The pain was gone, the ringing was gone, and best of all, my sight was gone again! Was I back to normal again? As soon as I thought this, my iPhone began to rang. The caller ID said “Anthony from Lead.” Lead was the name of a program for blind high school students that I was a part of, and Anthony was one of the members. I was confused as to why I had his number, because I didn’t like him at all. He was an overachiever who wore a business suit to every Lead event, and always showed off his extreme intelegence.I knew though, there was a reason as to why I had his number, but I just couldn’t grasp it.
“Hello,” I said into the phone. To my relief, my voice was completely normal again.
“Hey,” anthony said. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, did that pill I gave you work ok?”
That was when it all rushed back. I was at the one of the events, and we were having a lunch break. I had mentioned that it would be so cool just to be able to see for a day.
“They have pills for that,” Anthony had commented.
“Really?” I asked, astonished. “Where can I get them?”
“I have a bottle of them,” Anthony replied. “I got them from a friend of mine, but he wouldn’t tell me where he got them. If you wanted to be able to see for life, you would have to take them every day. I think they have pretty bad side effects though.”
“Can I have just one of them?” I asked. “I just want only one, no more.”
Reluctantly it seemed, Anthony handed me a small round pill. I placed it in my jeans pocket and we exchanged cell phone numbers for when I was taking it. He hadn’t taken one yet, even though he had them on him, so he wanted to see if it worked. I had taken the pill last night, eager to find out the results. That turned out to be an extremely stupid move.
“You shouldn’t had given it to me. It had something in it that made me hallucinate.” I said now. “Thank God it only lasted a day.
When you look in the mirror you see yourself as the world sees you. But the second you don’t like what you see, you need to make a change. However, in a case such as mine, there was a reversal of roles. I made a change and in the end I did not like what I saw. It was not based entirely on my physical appearance but on what you could not see on the surface.
ReplyDeleteIn the business world we are all supposed to look the same, act the same, and think the same things. It is just how everything works. If you want a job, you have to blend in but coming right out of college they tell you that you have to stick out, or jump off the page. What they don’t tell you is that once you get a job, your job is to keep your head down and become anonymous among the rest of your coworkers. And that is what I see when I look in the mirror now. I see someone who assimilated to the commonness of the business world. I see myself as if I was no different from any of the other hundred people on my floor.
I wake up every morning and I go to the mirror. I shave, I brush my teeth and I floss right after. I do the same thing every morning, 365 days a year. Five years ago I would have changed something if I was going like this for a while but now I feel as if I wouldn’t be part of what I had worked towards my entire life. Every second of my high school, college and internship careers had led me to this and I wasn’t going to start to move away from it now that I was finally here.
This doesn’t change the fact, however, that I am unhappy. I don’t like waking up in the morning and doing the same thing every day. I don’t like going to work and wearing a suit and tie just because it is “company policy”. For once I would like it to be company policy that we can’t wear suits to work. For once I wish it was policy to not blend in with everybody at work but to say or act or do something differently than the day before. But I think this is just wishful thinking, because I will have to change before the world does.
I look at my reflection in my spotty mirror and I catch a glimpse of something I don’t recognize. It’s not my face. I see a girl with blue eyes with black hair. Her skin is darker than mine. I look behind me and see if there’s anyone there but no, it’s just me. My hair is brown and I have brown eyes. This was so unusual. I lightly touch my face and see if this is real. I pinch myself to double check that this isn't a dream. But it’s me. I run to my room and look at my full length mirror and I’m taller and slimmer. I’m strangely happy about my new look, but it wasn't me. So many things were going through my mind. All I remember from last night was the party I went to and everything else went blank. Did I take something? Some sort of pill that magically transformed me into something I always wanted to look like? All of this was getting strange and I ran to my mother.
ReplyDelete“Mom, why are my eyes blue?”
“Why are you asking such a stupid question? You were born like that honey.”
“What?!”
I frantically went through my baby albums and she was right. My hair was black and my eyes were blue. But how could that be? I thought I was going crazy. This must have been a dream. I looked in the mirror for the longest time and I thought to myself how much I longed to look like this. How much I wanted to have the long black hair, blue eyes, and a rocking body. Could all of this be a figment of my imagination? Could my desire to be this person actually physically changed me? It’s almost as if I woke up from my dream that I thought was real life and it was actually just a dream. Scary huh? I continued my day like I thought I normally would but I didn't recognize my friends. They all had the same name, just different faces. I started to panic and I ran as fast as I could. And in a blink of an eye I got run over by a car. I woke up in my room, sweating like an animal. It was about four in the morning. I stood up and looked in the mirror and it was me but I had my brown hair and brown eyes again. Could I have been dreaming about me waking up from a dream that I thought was my real life but was actually just a dream then thinking I was someone completely different then waking up again to my normal self? What if I wake up and I’m someone completely different? What is reality?
A few days after the major surgery the bandages are finally ready to come off. Finally my new face that I had been dying to see is going to be revealed. The surgery took 9 hours to completely reconstruct my face so no one could tell who I was. I needed a whole new look so I could deep undercover in the terrorist cell, to try to find out where there next attack might occur. This plan had been put into action about 6 months ago and now everything was ready for me to begin my mission. My life in the United States was all about to be over. This mission was a very high risk high reward mission where everything would be put on the line for my country. I was looking to invade the most known terrorist group in the world. They are renowned for their brutality and cruelty to people that they catch. They have also been behind every major terrorist attack of the last 10 years. I knew that in accepting this mission my life would be on the line every day I wake up. Every day I have been studying my back story in and out so that I can never be caught off guard with any question I am asked. I have also been studying the files on my main targets that the CIA gave me. I am ready for my mission to begin I have looked over everything a thousand times and know every inch of every file that has been given to me. I ship out tomorrow early in the morning and from then on it’s my job to infiltrate the terrorist organization, gain information, and then help take it down. I have come to terms with my mission and who I must become now.
ReplyDeleteMy eyes, weak and heavy, are barely open by the time I make it to the bathroom. I can still hear the annoying beeps of my alarm clock ringing in my head by the time I reach the sink, allowing lukewarm water to flow between my palms. After a few seconds, I sink my head lower and splash the water several times on my face, letting the stream freely rush down my skin, and for the first time, I open my eyes. There was something different about me. It was not like the physical appearance of my face was different—I looked exactly the same I had looked yesterday. My dark, medium-length hair cascaded down my shoulders in endless curls. My eyes, although tired, were almond shaped and took on a dark brown hue. I hadn’t grown shorter or taller—as much as I knew. I still had ten fingers—five on each hand, of course. When I looked at the surface, there nothing about me had changed. However, at that moment, at exactly 6:23 a.m., I was not just looking at my reflection in the mirror—I was looking through the reflection, for that was all I could see. Passed the reflection, I could see all the trials in the past and how I have overcome them. Passed the reflection, I could see all the sleepless nights and wakeless days—the times when time only seemed to run away from me. Passed the reflection, you could hear my laughter and my cries—the moments of ignorance and understanding merged together, all wrapped up in one. Passed the reflection, if you looked really deep—like when you first close your eyes then open them again—I could still see myself as a child. Daring in some ways, silly in others—innocence still hanging there in my mind. I turned the sink handles until the water stopped, pat my face dry with a fresh towel, and then reentered my bedroom. There were no mirrors in here, but I could still see my reflection—no, now I could feel it. Passed my reflection, I felt some sort of strength within me, but it felt familiar like it always had been there. I began to dig through my closet for something to change out of the clothes I had slept in when I realized I didn’t even know where the feeling came from. All I knew was that it was there—and that was somewhat comforting.
ReplyDelete“You look… beautiful,” his low voice broke the silence as she stared into the mirror before her. His hand rested on the small of her back and a small scowl played across her lips. She could not deny it, she did look beautiful. The girl looking back at her from the mirror was beautiful at least, but it was not her. Her hand found its way to her neck where he had fastened a magnificent diamond necklace moments before. Her dark hair was elegantly swept up, revealing the matching earrings that dangled from her lobes. Her eyes were glistening, pale emeralds on her olive-toned face. She examined every inch of her face in the mirror’s reflection.
ReplyDelete“Come on. Let’s go,” he ran his hand down her bare arm and wove his fingers through hers. He stepped toward the door, still holding her hand, but she did not move an inch. She could hear the sounds of the party taking place below. She could just imagine the scene taking place downstairs. Women, just as beautiful as her, dressed in fine clothing and men in well-tailored tuxedos dancing across the marble floor. Voices straining to be heard over the roar of the band as the discussed enviable vacations, clothing, and people. Crystal glassing clinking as they were snatched from the never-ending champagne fountain.
It was exactly what a girl like her had always dreamed of. How many times had she wished for a handsome young man to sweep her off her feet and buy her expensive gifts and take to the most glamorous parties? She could not begin to count. Now, she had it all. There was the handsome young man. He was standing beside her, his hair was neatly combed and his smile was so mesmerizing. He was wealthy, as well. His father had single-handedly began the nation’s largest publishing empire. That was how he could afford the priceless jewels that adorned her body. The glamorous part was waiting for her, just down the hall and down the grand staircase. He had taken her to hundreds. This one, though, was special. She glanced down at the beautiful cut diamond that decorated her left ring finger. Tonight was the night that, standing in front of a room full of the richest and most important people in the world, he would announce his engagement to girl who until just months before had been nobody.
She took once final glance at herself in the mirror. She didn’t know when she had become this person. She did not know who stood there but it was not her.
My head was still pounding non-stop, when I opened my eyes. I observed the surrounding and I was sure that it was a girl’s room. The bed I am lying on has pink sheets and a blue pillow. The closet across the room was overflowing with cloth, and the table was covered with make-ups and fluid bottles. There was also this strong smell of cherry blossom perfume.
ReplyDeleteWhere am I?
I went down the bed and walked to the only opened door. I walked in and I saw a bathroom setup. This girl’s bathroom was very neat and clean, seeing as there were no stains or any garbage around. I moved my hand along the wall to find the light switch, and after a few seconds, I finally found it. I turned the switch on, and when I raised my head, I saw a girl with dirty blonde hair with light blue highlights and green eyes looking back at me. She looks around sixteen and her face was smudged with ruined make up. The mascara was coming off, making a streak of black near her eyes. She looked a lot like me, the eyes, the lips, and the jaws. Everything looked so similar to me. My hand, with its own conscience, went up and tried to touch the girl’s face. Surprisingly, she did the same. What my fingers felt though, was the icy temperature of glass. I finally noticed that I was looking at myself in a mirror.
Woah! Hold on! Since when did I have blond hair? I don’t remember ever dying my hair!
I started to panic and then, suddenly, a high pitched voice disrupted the silence.
“Honey, come down stair for breakfast.”
I walked out of the bathroom and found the door out of the room. I had to figure out where I was and how I became…me! I hurried down the first set of stairs I saw and an alluring smell of bacon and scrambled egg invaded my nostril. If I have to choose a kind of food for the rest of my life, it would be eggs and bacons. It distracted me for a second and I came back to my right state of mind. I slowed down my pace and when I finally arrived on the first floor, I saw the face that I had been facing for the first sixteen years of my life. It was my mom! Then, that means that I am at home? But this place does not look like home at all.
The woman turned her head toward me and squeaked, “Oh, my precious daughter, good morning.” Okay, this was definitely not my mom. She was manlier than this, and I just had an argument with her last night because I wasn’t getting the grades she wanted; she wouldn’t be talking this warmly to me.
ReplyDelete“Um…s’cuse me? Do you know where this is?” I asked her politely.
“What are you saying Vivian, this is your house. Are you okay? Are you sick?” my “so called” mom asked me.
Vivian, that’s my name! Oh no, oh big freaking no!
I ran outside and I saw my house, my real house, with the same neighbors, and the same location. What is happening to me?
I went inside again, and asked the lady what happened last night. She said that I came home at three in the morning last night from a friend’s party, a little drunk. I asked her if she was going to lecture me on anything, and she just shook her head and said no. She really wasn’t my mom. If she was, she would be screaming my head off by now for going over curfew and drinking. There wasn’t much I could do at that time. For the next few days, I lived my life how I wanted it to be: no studying, no rule, and more importantly, PARTY!
It was my fifth day here in this second life, as I called it, when I was invited to my best friend’s party. It was the best party ever! I drank a lot that night, and when I was driving home, I couldn’t even think straightly anymore. Luckily, the streets were empty and I made my way home without any stop. Just when I was around the corner to my house, a cat jumped on the street, and I had to turn and stop abruptly. My car went straight toward the tree, and I hit my head to the wheel. I literally saw my life flash in front of me. A lot of the memories were involved with my mom. The last thought before I fainted was ‘if I listened to my mom about staying home after curfew and not drinking, would all this happen? Would I die from this? Maybe I will, and I can’t blame anyone.’
“V! Wake up; you’re going to be late for the bus. Get up! NOW!”
I slowly opened my eyes and saw my mom’s face an inch away from mine.
“Mom? Is that the real you? Am I in heaven?” I asked her.
“You wish you were in heaven, but too bad you’re not. Get up and go to school!!”
I sat up and looked around. Everything was back to normal. My normal room, my normal bed, my normal pajamas, and my normal hair color. I was back! Was it all a dream? I could care less; I was back to the life I wanted. I had my noisy, sassy mom back. Yay! I jumped out of my bed and kissed my mom on the cheek before running to my bathroom.
“What the heck?” my mom screamed behind me. I miss her like this. I always thought that my mom was just worrying for nothing, but my dream showed me my future. This really taught me to listen to the elder because they always want the best for you.