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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1328489-Mirror-Mirror
Rated: ASR · Short Story · Drama · #1328489
Evil does not go unnoticed, and however unexpected, retribution is its ultimate result.
2996 words

        "You have no idea how difficult it has been for me to arrange this little party," began the face, "how many things had to be arranged, how many difficult contacts had to be made, how many minds to awaken and to persuade!  It has been most complicated.  But I have always enjoyed a challenge, haven't I?"

        Sweat dripped off my forehead, and my flesh crawled.  The face before me was my own.

        Until today I'd have thought my life pretty ordinary.  I did the things most people do - look out for themselves and devil take the hindmost.  If that weren't how it's meant to be, we wouldn't have been made to want to be that way, right?  It's the only sensible way to live a life, and I'd been pretty good at it.  I made sure I got what I considered a good share, and let others try to get theirs as long as it wasn't what I wanted.  Only an idiot would be any other way.

        I've done well in my twenty-five years; but I didn't start out on top.  I had nothing, other people had lots, and I wanted what they had.  Then, staying up late one night avoiding doing my homework, I was watching one of these stupid infomercials about a program for getting what you want.  It said it worked on "positive affirmation" or some such. Basically it meant telling yourself over and over again that you could do whatever you wanted to accomplish if you make out a healthy plan and follow it.  But every day, several times a day, you had to remind yourself that you're worth it and can do it.

        I called that moment my "Enlightenment." It was when I realized I could take control and make the world conform to my wishes, rather than the other way around.  I made up my mind to do it.  Other people had stuff; I was going to get mine.  When I looked in the mirror next morning I said to myself, "Look at you.  You're good looking.  You're smart.  You deserve to have whatever you want.  Why should anyone have anything you don't have?  So if you want it, get it.  Get it however you have to; but get it! 

        It didn't take long to put that resolution to work.  Gameboys and iPods and such are not allowed on school premises. If someone brings one on campus and a teacher spots it, it can be confiscated.  I had neither one, of course, nor much of anything else, either; but I wanted one.  I had scouted out the shops to try to lift one in the past; but they have all kinds of security deals, and I gave that up as a bad job.  Then in English class, one kid was playing with his Gameboy instead of reading, and the teacher caught him.  Into her desk it went.  Now that I knew where it was, it was a piece of cake.  A little distraction, and from there into my pocket it went.

        The next step was gambling, except only idiots gamble.  The only way to gamble is when you can't lose - anything else is a sucker's game.  Look at the government.  They gamble all the time, and legalize it with their lotteries.  They're gambling in a couple of ways.  They gamble with education, because they usually say this money's going for education.  As soon as they get the lottery in, poof, there goes a large part of the support from the taxpayer who should be paying for it.  It’s his responsibility, right?  But they duck the responsibility and put it off on the lottery dreamers.  So this is education, right?  And what does it teach?  It teaches you don't have to work to get money; you just have to be lucky.  And then they wonder why so many kids blow off school!  That's a gamble the states have lost and still don't have to sense to notice it.  But they think they come out ahead. In the dollar game, in the short term, maybe they do.  They sure don't give that money back to the suckers who play it!  They skim it big time.  Only half the money goes back to players.  You're better off flying to Vegas where on the average casinos give back more than 80% of what you spend.  So the state can't lose, money-wise, only the ones who buy tickets lose, them and the kids that get cheated out of a responsible government.  But the suckers think because it's a cheap bet and the payoff's big that it's worth it.  Sure is, to the fat cats who get rich off it, and the wealthy taxpayers who don't have to pay for the schools.

        So the deal is, I have to make sure I can't lose.  I liked playing the Gameboy and I got good at it.  But I didn't tell people I was good at it.  When people were watching, I'd seem to be really bad at it.  People would tell me how to beat a level, and I'd bollix it up.  And when they'd tease me, I'd nail 'em. 

        "I bet I'm better at it than you."

        "Sure you are, Idiot.  You can barely get the first level!"

        "Bet I score more points than you in ten minutes.  You play ten minutes and Joe'll time you.  Then I play for ten minutes.  Whoever scores the most wins."

        "No sweat!  I'm gonna wipe you all over the map."

        "What'll ya bet?"

        I dunno, Whatcha got to bet?"

        "I'll bet the Gameboy against your iPod."

        Well, the banter goes on for awhile, but you can see the end coming, right?  I picked up all kinds of things before everyone I knew figured out I could play that game - iPods, cell phones, cash, a bike, jewelry, a watch.  Like taking candy from a baby and no lie. One kid, Julio, thought he was slick and would take me, bet me a hundred bucks.  I made him put it up first, and when he lost, he cried and begged me to give it back, that I hadn't played fair.  I just brushed him off.  You don't get anywhere giving stuff back. I didn't promise I was playing fair, and even if I had, so what?  I've got fancier toys now, but I keep that first Gameboy and iPod around, sorta like stores frame their first dollar on the wall.

        It wasn't long before I had most of what I wanted, and got noticed by other people who were used to getting what they wanted. I wasn't stupid enough to fight them, so I joined them.  But I'm smarter than they are, so now I run them.

        At first there had been this guy, Shavon, who was top dog.  I kinda buttered his toast, and I produced for him.  I even gave him a cut out of my share without it being asked for, so he liked me.  I saw it as an investment.  Pretty soon I was his man, and what I said was as much law as what Shavon said.  The problem was, there can be only one top dog and Shavon wasn't much older than I, so he wasn't retiring soon.

        But I don't really gamble, I go for the sure thing.  I made contact strictly by phone with an organization several hundred miles away.  I negotiated a good price, and sent a "retainer" bigger than promised.  The man was to drive under the speed limit and use no credit cards, no trains or planes to leave a trail.  He was to be here, register nowhere, show his face as little as possible, do the job and leave. Then he would be paid a lot more. 

        I followed up when the job was done, too, and paid extra.  Stiffing that organization would not have been smart.  I wanted their loyalty and good attitudes.  They didn't really know who I was, but there was no point taking chances.  I didn't want them trying to find out, either!

        With Shavon rubbed out, I had all I needed.  You might be surprised to know that was all I wanted, too.  I didn't need to be capo da capo; I ruled my roost, I had whatever I asked for, and I couldn't spend the money I had.

        And then came today.

        Five in the morning my alarm went off.  I don't have to get up except when I want to.  I don't set my alarm for anything, let alone 5 AM!  But I couldn't shut if off.  If anything, it got louder.  Finally I gave up on sleeping and went to take a shower.  The water was ice cold, so I turned it to hot.  When it was warm enough, I got in, and then all at once it turned to boiling.  I tried to turn it down again and couldn't, so I got out of the shower.  I fiddled with the knob, got it nice again, got back in and instantly it was ice cold.  I touched the knob, and like the snap of the fingers, boiling again.

        I was burned pretty badly and in pain, and I was so mad I could spit nails.  The alarm was still blaring.  I brushed my teeth, and when I spit, the bowl was full of blood.  The bristles on the toothbrush were stiff as wire.  Cursing by now non-stop, I grabbed my hairbrush.  I am proud of my hair, man, and I brushed it hard and long to get a shine, until I realized that the shine was blood and I was taking the scalp off from under my hair.  I grabbed my hand towel to wipe my face, and it dug into my skin as if it was full of ground glass.  I stared at it.  It was full of glass chips, my face was dripping blood all over.  And now I was scared.

        That's when I caught my face in the mirror.  I didn't look scared.  I was laughing.  Except that I wasn't laughing!

        "Yes, this was all quite a challenge!  But well worth it, don't you think?"

        I stared at my reflection in disbelief and horror.

        "Everything here is entirely up to my, er, your standards. I'm sure you will agree."

        I looked around with eyes wide, and blood ran into them.  I had only my own bleeding arm - from the towel - to wipe it out.  I bolted for the door.  It was locked.  The alarm started up again, sounding like maniacal laughter.

        "Come, come," said the face. 'Never let the mark get away,' you always said.  I am just your reflection, am I not?  Would you leave a bolt-hole? We never gave one to anyone else."

        My face became completely ashen.  Whatever was going to happen was going to happen, and I was not going to like a minute of it.

        The door opened, and my laptop and cell phone were there, not lying flat, but balanced upright, using their bases and their covers as if they were legs.  I tried again to bolt for the open door - and fell flat on my face.  A towel was wrapped around my feet!  My nose hurt badly, and more blood started running down my face.  I started to choke on the blood itself.

        "Tsk.  I did warn you," the face sneered.  The laptop and cell phone worked their balancing arrangement to walk.  The lid would open a little and then the base catch up, moving like inchworms into the bathroom.  When they were in, the door slammed shut again.

        "Well, I think we're all here now.  Let me introduce you to our happy team."

        The door opened again, and my hand towel went slithering out like a snake.
"Oh, yes," my reflection cried in a gleeful voice.  "I almost forgot some key players!"  He laughed uproariously.  The towel returned, dragging something.  I was passed being stunned anymore; but I stared in a new wave of disbelief at my old iPod and Gameboy - the first things of "my own" I ever stole after my "Enlightenment."

        The door slammed shut again. "Of course you remember Gameboy.  You were very proud of him, remember?  You stole him out of Mrs. Schultz' desk.  The little kid you stole him from was in tears when it wasn't there.  Mrs. Schulz was furious at the kid, because she thought he'd taken it back.  The boy's parents called the school and complained about Mrs. Schultz, giving her a black mark on her record, all of which you knew and, naturally, paid no attention to.  Good job!  Never let someone else's pain get in your way of gain!  Playing games with other people's lives is the Name of the Game of Life!  Be the King, or be the pawn.  You chose to be King!  Hairbrush, here, feels very close to you, very identified.  Go ahead, Brush, give him a brush-off worhty of him."

        The brush started somehow to brush me right over my open wounds.  When I tried to catch it to stop it, it turned its wooden back and rapped me hard against the mouth.  I spat out a tooth as it started to beat me around the head.  The towels wrapped around my arms and legs and held me fast.  I was helpless.

        The voice continued.  "You might not even recognize Laptop anymore.  You've graduated to much better versions, and left him to gather dust; but he was key to this whole affair.  You had picked him up off a library desk when its owner went to the bathroom. He's the one with the memory and the thinking power, and he can connect to the internet, which made getting the rest of us to life so much easier."

        My cell phone started ringing.  "Oh yes, Cell was important to that, too.  After all, she had the phone line connection to use the phone system's wireless to the internet, and Laptop could talk using his speakers over the phone when we needed to.  Cell wasn’t really one of your triumphs, since she came free when you started your cell account; but you sure worked some great deals using her mouthpiece, didn't you?  How'd you ever have gotten rid of Shavon without the phone?  In fact, Towel, why don't we do a little 'rubbing out' ourselves, just for fun?"

        My hand towel crept up my naked body.  "That's right, mop up a little of that blood from his face.  Don't rub too hard yet, though, Towel, we haven't explained everything, yet."  The towel, still full of glass, dabbed gently and then scraped hard, and dabbed again.

        "Tsk, tsk, she's so impatient.  Isn't it funny?  What she wants to do, she wants right away.  She doesn't like to wait!

        I started to cry.

        The voice got hard.  "None of that nonsense!  You aren't one for pity, after all.  All we are, we get from you."  And then, in a pleasant, cheerful tone, "Let's see, anyone else?"  Music started to play.

        "Of course, IPod.  IPod helped with some of the memory, particularly by recording your days' activities.  You see, being your reflection, I wanted to be able to imitate you to the max!  I wasn't going to be any half-baked reflection, I was going to be the real thing.  It fact, it was your determination to have things your way that was so powerful it animated me.  One day I just woke up and realized that while I still reflected you, I had an almost separate existence.  Being made, so to speak, in your image, I decided just as you did yourself, that I had a mission to accomplish.  And I wanted to repay your giving me life with a gift. 

         But what gift could I give you?  I had to find out what you liked best.  You like power.  You show it by giving orders and punishing failures, by tying people in knots so they have to do your bidding, by brushing off what and who is important to your immediate desires, even by rubbing out those who stand in your way.  Thank you for teaching me all these things.  Unlike yourself, I am not ungrateful, and so I was determined to reward you with your favorite things."

        "Now, getting these others to assist me, since I am stuck in this Mirror, was not so very easy.  I had to learn to project myself, to call up in each of the items who have greeted you so warmly this morning, a spark of intelligence - at least enough to be able to follow instructions.  With the help of Cell and Laptop, I managed to get the few mechanical things I needed - remote control for the shower, the wiring to animate Towel, for example, and her beautiful glass decoration."  The towel stood up right over my groin, like a cobra, and danced as if preening itself, then struck, straight down, drawing a scream from my throat.

        "And now, we may as well complete our gift.  Children?"

        The laptop came close and rammed its port over my fingers, holding them tight, while the inner wheel of the disk drive began turning and wearing the skin off my fingertips.  My cell phone inserted its earpiece into my ear, and I felt, not a sound, but an electrical current growing steadily stronger until it set excruciating pain through my eardrum.  The iPod plugged its earpiece into the other ear, where it played Gangsta Rap so loud my head was bursting from the pain.  And then the hand towel which had continued to rub, softer, then heavier, down my chest and belly, then up my legs, arrived at my groin and began to rub in earnest.  Satan in the mirror, was laughing with loud guffaws of delight and derision.

        "Rub him, Towel," he said.  "Rub him out!"
© Copyright 2007 revdbob (revdbob at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1328489-Mirror-Mirror