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”Look into a mirror.” Words often said to those who should reflect on themselves or their actions, though, those who deserve those words, usually like what they see in a real mirror, as pride and self-satisfaction are often in the root of the problem.

Rose was no different, having rich, be it distant parents, she had never known what it was really like to work for things, sure she had had jobs here and there, but those were for sake of trying things out instead of any real need, and she didn’t stay in them for long. Having also been surrounded by lot of like-minded company, she had grown an ego, a belief that she was above those not as fortunate as her, a belief that misfortune was the fault of the unfortunate.

But sometimes, simple look at a mirror can change everything, and it did for Rose, be it more literally than those telling her to do so probably meant.

It was a normal day like all others, nothing about it had signaled that it would be any different, she had hanged around with her friends, gone shopping, and done other stuff she had done almost every day before it. The only unique part of it, was that she had a date, a blind date to be exact, something her friends had gotten her into...hindsight really is something.

It had been agreed to happen at the date’s house, a mistake in hindsight, but Rose had never learned to be wary of things like that before, so she happily accepted, because why would anyone do anything to someone as great as her?

And so she went to the house, it was a fancy house, clearly someone of her league, so she didn’t as much as rise an eyebrow when instead of someone opening the door, a voice in the doorbell told her that the door was unlocked, and that they would take a moment, so come in and make yourself at home. And so she did, stepping into a stranger’s house, clueless to the graveness of the mistake she just made.

The house was as nice inside as it was from outside, but what got Rose’s attention, was a box with note on it, a gift, addressed to her. The box was on a table, surrounded by mirrors, an unusual arrangement sure, but nothing suspicious, she figured the owner made clothes or something.

She opened the box, and inside was a necklace, it was simple design, but clearly cost a fortune, so she was excited to try it on. She took off her own necklace, putting it on the table, and then she took the gift necklace, put it on...and blacked out.

Or at least she assumed she did, as all she could remember was rising the necklace on her neck, and then suddenly finding herself on all fours on a cold stone floor, feeling disoriented. After the disorientation faded, it was time for regular confusion to take over, as she tried to make sense where she was, all she could see besides the stone floor, was white fog, and what at the time she assumed to be the night sky. She was also feeling bit chilly, which lead to her discovering her current state of dress, that being, undressed, as not only was the necklace she had put on gone, but so were everything else.

Starting to panic, she tried to call out if there was anyone else around, but getting no response, she started looking for...something, help, way out, an explanation, she didn’t know what to look for since she didn’t know what was happening in the first place. But she hadn’t prepared for what she did find, a lone mirror, floating in place, and through it she saw the house she had been in, the table with her necklace on it, and someone standing there, reaching for said necklace, and that someone, was her.

But it couldn’t be! She was here, but who was it she was seeing then? They looked like her, they were wearing her dress, and they were standing exactly where she had put that necklace on, a necklace that was now on the floor. What was happening? Was this some kind of prank? Was she dreaming? Had she been drugged? The only reason Rose hadn’t gone full panic mode was because the utter strangeness of the situation, she had too much trouble to fully comprehend what she was seeing for the panic to set in, and instead she just stared in disbelief, as this clone of her put on her necklace, seemingly unaware of her presence.

After a while of watching herself admire her appearance in one of the other mirrors, the other her finally acknowledged her, smiling at her, and coming closer. They thanked her, telling how nice it felt to have a body, and gave non-genuine apology about putting her ”in there”, after that, they left.

That was as much of a real explanation Rose ever got, the impostor came back to visit her time to time, telling her about all the things she had done as her, reminding her about everything she could no longer do, but never explaining how and why this happened, or even what exactly it was that happened, no matter how much Rose begged and pleaded, in fact, they seemed to enjoy her desperation. Eventually these visists stopped, the body-thief covered Rose’s mirror with a black cloth, and that was the last time Rose interacted with anyone.

Rose didn’t know how long she had been in this mirror, she had no sense of time, she needed no sleep, no food, no water, nothing ever happened around her, there was nothing to do in there. She had lost count on how many times she had screamed for help, hit the mirror in hopes of somebody hearing, how many times she had curled up and cried until she could no more. She had walked more than many do in their lifetime, yet she always found herself at the floating mirror, there was nobody coming to help her, there was no way out, she was alone.

She sometimes wondered how she hadn’t lost her mind, was this place keeping her sane? Was sanity tied to having a physical body? Or was it hope, hope that someday she would get her body back? Because she knew it was still out there, as she could sometimes feel things, pain, pleasure, the physical anticipation for delicious food, it was torture, a reminder of what she was missing, but it also gave her hope.

If she had to find anything positive about this experience, guess it had given her time to think, to really reflect on herself, reflect on who she was, how terrible she had been to many. Seeing that foul thing that stole her body live as her, to take her place without anyone noticing, it was a punch to the gut.

And so, she had promised to herself, to the world, to any god that may be listening, that if she ever gets out of there, if she is given a second chance...she will cherish it, she will be better, she will never again treat anyone poorly….she teared up again...she’d give anything to get out, or to even have someone to talk to.

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