Her Reflection, His World

Meg just stood there shivering, staring at nothing but her reflection. _________________________________________________________________________ Megan Taylored, a tall, healthy looking young woman prepares for her morning routine. She wakes up, does a few stretches, hums to herself and goes straight to the kitchen to boil some water for her tea. Every morning is the same exact routine, humans are creatures of habit so why would she change hers. While she waits for the water to boil, she goes to the bathroom to freshen up. Her deep amber hair full of curls falls uncontrollably around her face; she learnt at a young age that brushing her hair would definitely not help her tame these locks. As she stares at herself in the mirror, she notices something weird on her mirror. It looks like something is behind her, as a reflex she turns around, but doesn’t see what her mirror was reflecting. Confused, she is brought back to reality by the kettle whistling in the background. Going back to the kitchen she pours herself a cup of tea, sits at her small oak wood kitchen table and thinks about what she would like to do this Saturday. After a couple minutes she takes her first sip of tea. "Oh dear! Still too hot..." she mutters as she burns her tongue. She waits another couple minutes in hopes that it would have changed something, but still too hot. Eventually, she stands, leaves the mug on the table and prepares her breakfast. Megan prepares a basic breakfast consisting of toast, butter and jam and her tea. While waiting for her tea to cool before burning her tongue a third time, she decides that today she will go to the Saturday market. Once she finishes her breakfast, puts her dishes in the sink, she goes back to the bathroom to finish getting ready. When she looks in the mirror she is secretly hoping to catch what had caught her attention earlier. Again with no luck, she can’t seem to see or find what the mirror was reflecting. She quickly moves on and continues getting ready for her market adventures. Meg's apartment is in an older building, the floors creek the windows sometimes chatter with the wind. It smells like an old bookstore, a comforting smell for Meg. She works as a school librarian, a job people tend to view as lesser than. To Meg it is a job that has so much power! She is able to have a positive impact on the youth around her. Help them, motivate them and also be a resource for their questions on diverse subjects. The students at the school where she works usually come to see her to chat about school projects, homework and even personal matters. Megan walks back to the mirror in the bathroom "Alright! Ready to go I guess" she says with confidence tying her hair up. She grabs her keys and heads out the door. “See you later little home” she whispers under her breath. The market is not very far from where she lives, about a 5 minute drive or 20 minute walk. She opts for the drive due to poor weather in the forecast. The market is partially outdoors and indoors. The people who started the market bought an old factory and converted it to be an all seasons market. Currently the fresh produce, plants, food stands are outdoors and indoors focuses on home goods, clothing and other non food related items. This is one of Meg’s favourite places to come. The parking lot is surprisingly empty this Saturday, but this is probably due to the storm coming their direction. Meg decides to start with the indoor section of the market. The layout of the factory is pretty simple, it is a large rectangle separated by different sections. You have a furniture section, vintage section, clothing section, a couple drink stands and accessories like beauty products. The vendors choose the sections they want to be in based on the majority of what they are selling as most of them have items from all the other sections. Meg starts her walk around the furniture section, she loves seeing all the furniture people have made and are looking to sell. The craftsmanship used on the pieces is amazing. She had bought a couple of pieces when she first moved into her apartment. After making her rounds, she moves to the vintage sections. This is her favourite section of the market; she loves that every piece has a history. As she makes her way around, and stops in front of a shelf full of books. Taking one in her hands, she opens it and smells it. Her eyes close and she her senses are awakened. The smell of an old book gets her every time. “Hello dear, how are you today?” says an older man. He is quite short and hunched over, but very well dressed, even over dressed. He is wearing a three piece suit in a deep purple colour with very fine lilac lines going horizontally and vertically. His shoes are an oxford style lace up in oxblood. “Oh Hello! Sorry I didn’t mean to take the book off the display!” Meg responds a little rattled, she quickly puts the book back on the shelf. “Oh ho ho! No worries, they are there for that after all! Do you like Dickens?” the man asks her, “I’m sorry?” She looks at the man confused and then looks at the book she put back “ah yes, I do enjoy Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities is quite brilliantly written.” “Indeed! Well let me know if you have any questions about any of my stuff. My wife recently passed so I am trying to sell some things we have accumulated over the years. Planning on downsizing” he explains as he walks away. While walking, Meg notices that he has a limp in his stride, but is in awe at how the man is dressed. She feels compelled to browse further at his belongings and feels a need to buy something to help him. She walks ‘into’ his shop, by following the small path around his items. Because the vintage section usually has a combination of bulkier items, the vendors do not have a stand to display everything. Many of them create a little store atmosphere by creating something similar to an opening. In the case of this man, he used two little bookshelves in order to give the impression of an entrance. Meg can see over the bookshelves, and sees a couple of things that catch her eye. She takes about two steps to a wooden table where there is a silver set, a tray and 4 glass with silver stems. The tray has ornate handles that match the stems of the glasses. Meg looks at the set, and imagines the story of the set. It appears that the silver was recently polished, but still had the black marks where people would be holding the tray and the glasses. “This was a 25th Anniversary gift I gave my wife.” An air of melancholy surrounded him. “It is absolutely stunning. How much is the set?” She already knew the answer to her question, but didn’t know how to react and felt a need to say something additional instead of just ending the conversation at “it’s stunning”. “This set is $125” As a librarian, Meg didn’t earn a lot which never bothered her. She lives a comfortable life, and is able to treat herself when she wants. She has always worked, and is used to budgeting her paychecks. She is in her mid-20s and has always saved her money except for when she treats herself. Meg thinks for a moment, why not get this set; she could use it later when she hosts dinners, and plus these glasses and tray are gorgeous. “I would like to purchase this set please” “Oh lovely! Let me wrap it up for you” the sadness in the man’s voice disappears and excitement takes over. He limps rapidly with the set in hand to his payment counter where he has tissue paper to protect the items, and starts wrapping them up. Meg continues to look around, she quickly scans the different shelves and floor and doesn’t see anything that stands out to her. She stands in front of the counter, the man has his back to her taping everything. She looks around and sees something reflecting the ceiling of the factory building. Out of curiosity she goes on her toes to gain more height, and leans over the counter to get a better view of the mirror. As soon as she sees it, she starts to feel a little strange and anxious, but at the same time is feeling excited and energized. “Excuse me, may I look at the mirror next to you? The one on the floor?” She asks shyly. “I’m sorry, but this mirror isn’t for sale” He responds in a somber tone adding the final piece of tape to one of the glasses “alright this is all set!” He turns around and places the packaged items on the counter. “Thank you! Here is my card” Meg feels a little disappointed about not being able to see the mirror, but strangely feels relieved by that. “Perfect, thank you for the purchase.” Meg opens her spare bag and places the tray and glasses in it. “Thank you sir, and have a wonderful rest of your day”. He smiled back at her, but his eyes were in pain. She continued her walk around the market, looked at some clothes and accessories and next thing she knew she had gone all around the inside portion of the market. “Already 12:30? No wonder I am hungry.” She mumbled to herself.”Okay food time!” The rain had started,very lightly drizzling, but Meg decided to go to her car and put her tray and glasses in her trunk as she had planned to buy some groceries for the week and was worried of having something happen to her new items. After a quick detour she is ready to get her lunch. As she walks to the food stands, she sees that they had set up tarps to prevent the food and produce from getting wet, which made her happy as it meant she could eat outside. She walks around until she notices the grilled cheese stand; orders her favourite: grilled cheese and tomato soup. She goes to a high top table and sits. As she is about to take a bite out of her food she suddenly out of nowhere starts tearing up. An overwhelming sense of sadness hits her and before she realizes she has tears streaming down her face. Confused by the overwhelming amount of emotion she is feeling, she grabs napkins and tries to hide her face from people around her and dry her eyes. Attention is definitely not what she is after. After about 5 minutes of tears and trying to catch her breath, she finally manages to regulate her breathing and control the tears. She takes 3 deep breaths, she grabs her grilled cheese and starts dipping it in her lukewarm tomato soup. She gulps her food, throws her dishes away and goes straight to the bathroom. “What the hell just happened…” she murmurs at her reflection. She splashes her face with water and blows her nose. “You are fine and there is nothing to cry about!” she tells herself before leaving the bathroom. Even though her day had started well, and she was happy to go to the market, she suddenly felt stress, nervous and still immensely sad. Why would she though? Nothing sad had happened, nothing stressful either. She buys some groceries for the week and then decides to go back into the indoor market, and take another look around as the last thing she wanted was to go home and be alone in her apartment. Especially since it had started raining more heavily now. She wouldn’t really be able to go outside. “Back again I see!” the older man says stopping her in her tracks. “Oh yes!” she laughs awkwardly “ I enjoy the market a lot, and it started raining heavily outside so trying to get more steps before just going home and becoming a couch potato” she responds. “Wait here, I will be right back,” he says. Meg stays where she is, wondering what the man is doing but also hoping her eyes are not too puffy and her face not too red. She looks around to see what he is doing, and she sees him pick up something from behind the counter. The mirror! “I want to apologize for earlier… I keep putting this mirror out for sale, and then taking it back behind the counter. This mirror is the one my wife used to use when she would get ready in the morning. It was her vanity mirror, and every time I look at it, I see her reflection looking back at me smiling” He looks at the mirror with love and takes a deep breath. The mirror is not too big, oval shaped with a golden border. The glass has some stains on it, but nothing major you can still see your reflection. The golden border is faded and some of the gold around the design seemed to have fallen off revealing a bronze coloured material.The old man hands Meg the mirror for her to take a look. She feels such an attraction to the mirror, she can’t leave without it. It feels like the mirror is speaking to her, telling her to look at herself. She tries to think of where she could put it in her apartment and if she really needs it. “Thank you, and I trust you will take care of the mirror,” the man says with sorrow, but also relief. “Oh, um thank you sir. Have a great afternoon, I will definitely take care of it.” she responds jolted back to the present and realizing that she just bought the mirror. Confused and concerned by the fact that she blacked out while purchasing the mirror, she decides to get a coffee before heading home. It is also raining heavily making her a bit nervous. “15h! Oh man, I guess a good day at the market? Ha, what a strange day… Ok, now to drive 5 minutes, hopefully the coffee keeps me going” she thinks to herself in her car. She makes it home with no issues. She brings in her purchased produce, her new mirror and the new tray with glasses. She puts her food away first, then unwraps the glass and rinses them and puts the tray on a little shelf. She then looks at the mirror she bought and decides to put it in her room. One of the walls of her room has a closet, another wall a dresser. The dresser is not very tall and uses the top of it for some beauty products, so it is a perfect place for a new mirror! “Alright! Done! Welcome to your new home” She says to the mirror smiling at her reflection. She puts the tools away and goes on with her Saturday afternoon and evening. The emotions she felt at the market are gone and she has already moved on. When she gets ready to go to bed, she does her evening routine, washing her face, brushing her teeth, moisturizing, and then ends it by saying one thing she is grateful for from her day. “I am grateful for the new items in my house, the glasses, the tray and the mirror. Good night!” She looks at herself in her bathroom mirror one more time and then turns off the light. The storm is in full force, causing lightning and thunder, but Meg doesn't mind storms. She likes hearing the boom and rumble of the thunder. In her room, for some reason she is inclined to look at her new mirror. When she looks she senses a ball of nerves form in her stomach. *BOOM* Meg is startled by the thunder and feels anxious about something, but doesn’t know what or why. It could be the storm, but she isn't normally bothered by them. As she looks in the mirror, she notices something strange in the mirror, similar to what happened this morning. Meg turns around to see if there is something behind her, but nothing. The thunder is rumbling loudly and the rain is pattering heavily against the window. She looks back and there is still a weird spot on the mirror, she is convinced it wasn’t there when she bought it. Freaking herself out she decides to just go to bed and read. She tries to read a couple pages, but can’t seem to focus on her book, and keeps looking at the mirror. Turning on all the lights, she goes back to the mirror and decides to inspect closer to mark on the mirror which she determines isn’t part of the reflection. *BOOM* Meg is jolted into a place that is not her bedroom.  Looking around she sees darkness and a lake right in front of her. Scared, wet and cold, she looks at her reflection shivering.