I paused and  examined my eyebrows, then I remembered I was supposed to talk out loud so I talked about talking to my reflection.  I talked about how much I like being alone in contrast with being social, so that aloneness is sort of a luxury and how it’s not any more, because no one can have t0o much of a good thing, even though I am more of hedonist than most people and some friends have even told me that I have too much fun, if it’s possible, and who made them the fun police anyway?

I had set an egg timer in the kitchen to limit my mirror time. When it went off I was surprised at my longing to stay.

“ See ya later, ” I said to my reflection, and I walked into the kitchen.

Over the next few weeks I found myself finding excuses to visit my reflection in the bathroom and I began to search for her in reflective surfaces in pots and pans and store fronts, where ever she could be found.

At one point I was talking to myself in an ornately framed mirror in the window of a fancy boutique on Madison Avenue, I was really just muttering to myself. I looked up and noticed two women observing me. They wore fur coats and seemed to represent something desirable yet also mundane.  They abruptly looked away, “ don’t be afraid,” I said to them, “ mental illness  is nothing to be ashamed of, ” one of the women stepped back and said, in a think southern accent: “ you’re not wearing your mask ! ” she was right, I pulled one out of my pocket and adjusted it over my ears.

“ Have you ever talked to  your self in a mirror? ” There was a silence, up for grabs, I don’t know if I was expecting a response. “ No darlin I can’t say I have, ” -she must have been lying, everyone has talked to a mirror at one time or another. ” well you ought to. You need to! It’s time for you to take off your mask, not the paper one but the one that is covering your soul! Your eyes will reveal your true self to your self! “

The women nervously scuttled off. “And it’s ok to talk to your self in New York City! In case you didn’t know! “ At this point I was yelling and other people on the street were slowing down to see the spectacle. I briskly walked away from the boutique.

So this was not the day for those Ladies to receive the divine wisdom I was imparting to them, and should they be so lucky! Some people go through life like block heads not experiencing anything! Thats ok, because they are the extra’s in my fabulous movie that is 20 times more interesting than they will ever be! Who needs a mirror? I thought, I can talk to my self without it. I’m not ashamed to be me!

When I got home I expired on the couch. I was actually dozing off when I heard a noise. I sat up abruptly and scanned the area, I felt a twinge of fear, the noise had come from my bathroom, I paused for what seemed eternity then I cautiously moved towards the bathroom and peeked in.  As I flicked on the light I noticed that a container of Q tips on a shelf by the mirror had over turned.

This was peculiar, why would it just keel over? I gazed at the mirror and felt the familiar joy of my presence in it. “Hey You!”  I started talking, “ So I was on Madison Avenue, talking to you and these ladies, you wouldn’t believe it, they were watching me like I’m some kind of zoo animal or trained porpoise here to entertain them”

Suddenly I heard a voice, a voice of a woman, I froze, it was coming from inside the mirror.

“ Hey,” she said, and in the mirror there was a woman standing behind me, I whirled around to find no one there, I turned around and saw her again. I just stared at her. She was a young woman, maybe 20 or so years old, with long dark brown hair she was wearing what appeared to be animal skins wrapped around her,

she was staring at me intently. “ Did I drink too much coffee today? “ I said out loud. “I don’t know,” she said, and smiled. ” My name is Wahca. ” She looked at me ernestly, “ it means flower, ”   “Justina, “ I stammered, “ my name is Justina, “ “ Jussss tinnna, ” Wahca said the consonants slowly to familiarize her self with the sounds. “ we don’t have much time, and the sun will be setting soon. You must come with me, ”

Wahca by Adelita Schreiner

” What? ” I exclaimed, come with you? Where?” ” Come through the opening.” Wahca reached out her hand to me. I paused and moved my hand towards hers and then hesitated, then I clasped her hand. Wahca smiled, “ you see? Just like water.” Wahca tugged on my hand and playfully pulled it in through what had become the liquid surface of the mirror. I gasped in surprise but then felt a wave of excitement course through me, I put my head into the mirror, I felt the icy edge of the surface tension enveloping my cheeks.

                  Justina goes through the mirror, – keep reading.                   I found money in my wall             Justina does not go through the mirror

On the other side there was a room which appeared to be in the country because a nearby window was wide open with curtains fluttering in the breeze. The air was fragrant and clean and I could hear birds chirping, the room was made of wood, floor to ceiling with wooden furniture.

“ How will I get back? “ I asked, “ its not hard, ”  said Wahca with a smile, ” I will bring you back.” I relaxed a bit and Wahca pulled me all the way through the mirror which was now behind me and shaped like a giant oval suspended on two wooden poles.  As I stepped out of it I tripped on the rim, then I turned around and examined it, the surface was still rippling.

I turned to Wahca. “ What is this place? “ Wahca took my hand and led me to the window. “ this place is abandoned, it used be a farm house with a working farm. The people fled, my grandfather said they would and they did. ” “ where is your grandfather, Wahca? ” “In our village not far from here, ” I scanned the landscape, it did look like an overgrown farm, there was a barn and wooden fences, and a strange silence enveloping the atmosphere broken by a sporadic chirping of birds.

Wahca sat down on a dusty rocking chair, it squeeked and filled the silence with creaking sounds, I turned to look at her. “ I like this place, it’s peaceful. “ “Me too, ” said Wahca, “ I’m not supposed to be here, but I come here when I can, My family is superstitious, they say that the backwards people lived here, and even being here is bad luck, but I am curious, I can’t help myself, and then I discovered that oval window and you were talking to me and telling me stories about your life in your world. I decided I would try to visit you, but then you were there and so I said: ” hi,” I decided to rescue you from the backwards world. ”

Wahca must have seen the apprehension rising in in my face, “ Don’t worry you can go back any time! ”  “ Wahca, I am totally freaked out! I have never been through a mirror before, I’m just taking this all in, and yes I want to go back! How do I get back? ” I walked over to the mirror and touched the surface, it was still liquid, I put my arm in, the air was cooler on the other side, ” thank god its a full length mirror because I haven’t done yoga in weeks, ” “ wait ” said Wahca, ” can I come with you? Just for a little while, I will visit, then I will come back.”

I thought for a second, I didn’t mind her company, I just wanted to be back in my apartment, I smiled and reached out my hand, Wahca grabbed it and I stepped back into the mirror and pulled her back into my bathroom with me. We stood in my brightly lit white tiled bathroom, I let out a sigh of relief. “What is that smell? ” Wahca asked in a concerned tone, “ Clorox,” I said. Wahca picked up a lipstick, “ what is this? “ ” It’s paint for your lips, but! ” I said as I grabbed it from her, “I don’t think it’s right for you now, I mean why start? You’re a nature girl. ” I was actually worried about Covid, even though I was vaccinated, I wasn’t sure the lipstick was safe, I had become a germaphobe. I opened the bathroom door and motioned Wahca to enter my living room. “ Have a seat,” Wahca cautiously looked about and then called out to me, “ you have a rocking chair! “ “Just like home, ” I called from the kitchen as I poured two glasses of iced tea. “ That place is not my home. ” Retorted Wahca, “ it’s just a quiet place I have found, since everyone is afraid to go there, it is a real quiet place, no brothers or sisters, no one! ” I handed her the iced tea, and then pantomimed drinking with my own glass, “ like this, this is how you drink, ” “I know that! ”  Said Wahca, “ I know how to drink from a glass! ” I sheepishly sat down on my couch, “ of course you do. “ I looked at Wahca’s animal skin clothing, and realized it was adorned with complex beadwork, of course  she was not a complete heathen, what was I thinking, showing her how to use a glass?

I was at a loss for conversation, I suspected that if this situation were a dream, it would abruptly end, hadn’t I just been asleep on the couch?

“ Tell me another story? Like the ones that you told me before, ” Wahca seemed staved for connection, restless, expecting something from me, “ why are you so quiet? ” “ I just met you, I mean, Wahca, before I met you I was talking to my self in the mirror, I wasn’t talking to you! ” Wahca seemed deflated, she took a small sip of her iced tea and set it down on the coffee table between us. “ why do you talk to your self?” I felt so awkward, she obviously wasn’t lonely or neurotic like me, ” I was lonely, ” I said, ” I thought we were friends, ” she was tearing up, ” I thought you were calling to me from the backwards world,  maybe you would explain where the people from the farm house went. Maybe you knew them, but when you came through the silver window, I knew you didn’t know them, because you didn’t know where you were,” “ Wahca, in this world we call that silver window, a mirror, it is not a window, it only reflects, well I mean apparently the mirror in my bathroom is a window. ” I let out a long sigh, “ this is so confusing, I mean I should be elated! I just went through a mirror! How many people get to do that? ”

Wahca got up and moved towards a window overlooking the busy intersection below, her eyes widened as she took in the spectacle of the big city. “ so many dwellings here, can we go there? ”

“I can’t invite you to see the world outside because there is a pandemic, a virus, I completely forgot about it, you might catch it. I think you should go back, go back to your world, its safer,” Wahca turned and frowned, “ I want to see more of this place ” My grandfather told me about places like this in his visions, dwellings stacked as high and as far as the eye can see. ”

I walked over to my book shelf and pulled out a book titled: History Of The World, I opened it up to the industrial revolution, then hesitated and held the book to my chest.

“ So, you’ve been listening to me… tell me more about you, where is your village? Won’t they be missing you? “ ” Across the river not far from the house. Do you want to come back with me? You can meet my family. Soon we will be traveling before winter comes. ”

I was so happy to be back in my apartment, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go back though the mirror and explore another dimension “ Wahca, I just don’t know. I need some time, I just met you, I’m sorry, I am not sure what to do, ” I want to call my doctor. ”

So what happens now?  You can choose!

Do you want Justina to go and visit Wahca’s village or do you think she should pause and call her doctor? Make a choice and click on one of the links below.

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