INEWORD P

Monday, May 1, 2023 | Pinewood International American School of Thessaloniki

“Answer me…”

But this time, the voice didn’t echo. In fact, it was too low to echo, like a whisper. I wasn ’t even sure the Mirror had heard it.

“Hm, I wonder. What is ‘being the fairest’?” the Mirror said in a curious tone. “I… don’t know, actually…”

“You don’t know?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “You don’t know? Then who are you to decide who’s the fairest!” I say, as a chuckle escapes me. “If you, the mirror who decides who’s the fairest, don’t know, then who knows what ‘being fair’ is?” I cannot stop the laughter coming out of me.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” I said as I continued to laugh. “You know, if someone was to see me talking to you they’d think I was crazy”

“They would? What’s wrong with looking at yourself in the mirror?” the Mirror responded. Her voice sounded as if I had accidentally broken her.

“There’s nothing wrong with looking at yourself in the mirror, no.”

I softened my tone a bit.

“But what’s weird is talking to a mirror,” I continued. “Mirrors usually don’t talk, you know,” I said as I looked down at the shining floor, taking off my blue shoes. The fifth echo of the heels touching the cement floor was heard.

“That’s right, they don’t.”

“So what am I doing here, talking to you?”

My eyes opened wide and my hands rushed to hide them.

“Have I become so desperate,” my voice broke. “Have I become so desperate to hear that I’m the fairest?” My tears have smudged the small amount of makeup I had put on. I wiped it all off with a handkerchief I had in my jacket. A wet handkerchief, actually. It seemed the jacket had gotten soaked earlier from the rushing waterfalls.

“For what it’s worth,” said the Mirror, “mirrors cannot talk, but they can communicate.”

“They can communicate?” I asked as my eyebrows rose again.

And while the Mirror was speaking truthfully, I had but one thought in my head: “Am I really getting convinced by a mirror that mirrors can communicate?”

“Remember, a mirror reflects the appearance of the person looking at it. Nothing more. Nothing less. There’s nothing left to be said,” continued the Mirror.

“A mirror only reflects the appearance of the person looking at it?” I repeated in awe. “So, you are just reflecting me?”

“I’m no different from the mirrors that can ’t speak. Yes, right now you’re looking at a reflection of yourself. Maybe not of your