Good Evening Gears!
In celebration of the fact that it's Saturday and I've been wanting to write a story for some time now, I went ahead and wrote one!
A little tidbit of a nugget though: This is the absolute first draft of the piece. You can say it's crap all you want (in fact, please, please do. Remember that thick skin I need to work on?), but 'I' know that I'm planning on going back over the next two or three days and editing the snot and fish guts out of it before publishing the final draft.
I thought it'd be cool for you to see an evolution in my writing and for me to see it as well! Hopefully the final draft is clean of any toxic sentences and fish gut words when it finally makes it up here in a few days!
{Untitled Right Now}
If I looked close enough, I could see them, just beyond my own eyes. I’m sure it’s just the willowy history of the mirror shard I happend upon a few years ago, the stories of everyone who’s tried to find something but instead, left a part of themselves behind. Maybe a little bit to the left?...
“Jenny!”
Snap! I was back now.
“Amber?” I called out, trying to figure out who would know me in this city. I smoothly slid the shard into my handbag.
“No ho silly! It’s me, Grace!...” said a pretty red head. I set my coffee down and focused on her face. “From our Gathering days?” She must have gotten impatient but I still didn’t recognize her.
“Oh! Grace! I think I remember you now!” \
No... I didn’t. Better to pretend.
“I’m so glad you do! Mind if I sit down with you?”
“No no. Feel free,” I said while scooching my chair around the table to make room.
“Excellent. I haven’t seen you in so long Jenny! Maybe 6 or 7 years?”
“You can’t bring that up! I’m in denial about anything that happened closer to ten years ago than one,” I playfully snapped. Grace laughed as well and order some kind of special drink.
Really though? I did hate it.
“Don’t worry Jenny, my lips are sealed.” said Grace as she smiled and zipped her lips shut. She gave a sudden sigh, closed her eyes, and leaned her back into the iron mesh chair and seemed to enjoy breathing for a few moments. I noticed that her body seemed to relax with every breath so I did the same.
Looking up at the gray sky, I could see the leaves from nearby trees pulsing with life, a subtle reflection of my own breathing. Though... Instead of feeling my body relax, it felt like I was being pulled, absorbed even. As if a great hand was lifting me down towards something...
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” asked Grace quietly. Reverently if I hadn’t known better. Maybe I didn’t? She was sitting up straight, her drink in hand and her focus on me. At least, it felt that way since I still hadn’t stopped looking at the clouds.
Myself flashed from the shard.
“It is, Grace,” I answered with the hint of a smile. Rolling my head so I could see her better, I tried to recognize her again. Something tugged somewhere, but clearly didn’t want to come loose. “Which Gatherer group were you in?”
“Abby’s. We often covered the far north side of the Yard.”
“The North Side?” I perked up. I knew Abby and I also knew the North side of the Yard was special. Whispers caught here and there name it the Hollow Hallow.
Strictly rumor though.
“That must have been terrifying!”
“Maybe a little,” teased Grace with a sneaky fox grin. Her eyes seemed to glint with amusement at my curiosity.
I stayed silent and non-chalant, not wanting to rise to the obvious bait. A thought flitted through my mind: The shard and... wings? Grace started to laugh and took another sip.
“You sure are patient Jenny,” remakred Gace. She leaned forward and put her elbows on the table, nestling her head in her hands. “It actually wasn’t that bad. The worst parts were the artifacts. Little trinkets and junk scattered all around that you had to avoid. Who knew what they could do to you.” She took another sip. “Avoiding anything that wasn’t whole was the only way to stay safe.” Falling silent, her face contemplative, Grace took another sip. A pleasantly chill breeze snagged strands of our hair and tried to pull them along.
From out of nowhere, stupidity took over and I blurted “I have one!” in a tight, hissing whisper. I gasped and clapped my hand over my mouth, horrified at my admission!
“I know.”
That was all she said! She went on as if nothing unusal had happened. Within a few moments though, I had regained my composure. Imagining my eye in the shard had helped, tremendously.
“How?”
Waiting, the chill breeze picked up.
“I have one too, Jenny,” she admitted. Looking me straight in the eyes, I saw her soul. It was right then that I knew her, knew where she came from.”
“I know you!” Grace only nodded gravely. “Get away from me you witch!” I tried to stand up but had to sit back back down. My eyesight swirled, though I could clearly see Grace’s eyes, my eyes clearly. “No... Don’t.” I pleaded, whimpered. The pull was stronger now. Irresistable even. Without thinking, I pulled the mirror shard out and held it up to the sky. I leaned my back and stared at my own eye. I smiled and saw wrinkles gather around my eye, accenting the gray clouds and pulsing leaves behind my hand, in the background.
“I look tired,” whispered Grace. She laid a soft hand on my arm. I struggled feebly, unable to tear my gaze away from me.
Slowly my reflection began to fracture, leaving deep crevices in my face. My eye began to droop, the pressure finally materializing into my burden. From the fractures drifted an outpouring of all the fears I had. My eye began to wilt as the slime of dread consumed who I was.
“Now. Fight!”
“My reflection is me! I can’t fight!” I screamed, the terrors of my life and fears threatening to devour me with a ruthlessness only I could enact on myself. I could see my light winking out, the last brown sliver of my determination about to be swallowed whole. I thrashed and kicked and scrabbled, but despair was winning, was embracing me. I could already see my light being snuffed out.
“Let me help.”
Frantically, I saw my pupil dart back and forth. That wasn’t me who said that!
“Your reflection is the you you see.”
Again! I doubled my efforts, fighting back failure and embarrasment to find that strong, kindly voice. The weight of my fractures were still closing my light, but no longer as fast.
I search around, knowing that if I could find the voice, I would be okay. Up, down, and around I search, desparate for even an inkling of what the voice offered. I began to panic, my eye widening to let a little bit of the paralyzing fear drip into me. I was alone! Alone with my corrupted soul! My eyes began to crack, a slight, little shattering that fragmented my very being. I can’t do this! I can’t voice my most tainted and deepest fears! My mind will break and my soul will shatter, leaving little remose or memory of who I hoped to be!
Finally, my own soul had consumed itself.
And the shattering began.
A blink. A light.
Who I hoped to be...
Another blink. Another light.
Who I thought I was... The girl, I know I’m supposed to be...
A breath in. A breath out.
The shard. The shard stares back at me. I see it. Enrapturing me with the unyielding soul of the eye staring back at me.
My vision blurs. My vision focuses.
That’s me! That’s my eye! My confident, unyielding eye! I am that strength! I am that soul! That’s me! That’s my soul, myself!
A pulse. A blink.
Who I hoped to be.... “There is always hope.”
A belief. A vow. A breath.
That’s my soul, myself... “I believe in hope. I vow on my soul. I breath out my fear.”
I flick my eye open and find my own strength staring right back at me. The fractures are gone, replaced by the smooth reflecting glass of the shard. My hope has been rekindled, my resolve, resurfaced.
I see the leaves swaying gently and the gray clouds lazily rolling by in the background. Groaning, I sit up straight and look for Grace, There isn’t a trace of her anywhere. Except... The waiter slips into the corner of my eye.
“Excuse me! Waiter? Sir?” I call out, perhaps a little too desparately. He nods his head, fills another patrons glass with water, then walks over.
“Anything you need?”
“Yes. Was there another lady sitting here with me at all?” My voice was shaking, only because I knew I didn’t want to hear the answer.
The waiter shook his head.
“No ma’am. Although... I did notice that you were staring at that mirror shard for about half an hour. Just held it up to the sky and stared without moving... Some of us were getting a little worried.” He sounded frightened. I didn’t blame him.
“Okay, thanks. I’m okay though. Really.” He looked skeptical but walked off. I didn’t even notice. Looking down at the shard, I could clearly see the fragments of those who survived before me and the souls of those who hadn’t. The fog had been lifted. I saw my dark fragment drift up from the depths, only to be dragged back down without pity.
Turning the fragment over, I found a pen and wrote something on the back. Before I could change my mind, I put the fragment upside down on the far edge of the table, closest to the street. I left my money and slipped into the thin crowd without looking back.
Sometime later, a young boy picked up a little brown trinket with some writing on it. Curious, he turned it over.
“A mirror fragment?” asked the boy to no one. He turned it back over and read the inscription:
L E N S O F S O U L
If you look close enough, you could see them.
Just beyond your own eye.
The eye that hides them, guards it.
The thing beyond a reflection:
R E F L E C T U R E
If you look... Close enough...
If you made it to the end, congratulations! I means I hooked you well enough and you liked it, or the story was so pukingly awful that you had to finish reading it so you could troll my ass into next week. Either one is fine by me!
Share your thoughts, critiques: How did the story make you feel emotionally? Were you able to connect with Jenny? What does the mirror shard represent to you?
Looking forward to reading your responses!
~ Storyteller
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