House of Mirrors

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, and Meira lay on her bed of her apartment, scrolling on Instagram.

She swiped her thumb a few times down the length of the rectangular glass, resting her other fingers on the hard plastic behind it.

Once something caught her attention, she rested her thumb on the glass and stayed there for a few moments. She stared at the image, now occupying most of the screen.

Big, bright slabs of light from outside penetrated the slits of Meira’s blinds, inviting themselves into her room and scattering across her bed without permission. Birds cheerfully chirped in the background.

Meira’s eyes were magnets to the screen, taking in every pixel of this picture before her. It was of what appeared to be a family: a husband, wife, and three children. It looked like a family photo.

They look so happy, she thought to herself. It must be nice to be them…

Suddenly, Meira felt a weird sensation, a warmth, shower her. Finding herself losing her breath, she began trying to breathe more intently. Losing that battle, she closed her eyes and took one deep breath. That seemed to work. Her breath finally flowed regularly again, but when she opened them again, she was no longer on her bed or in her bedroom.

She frantically looked around, dismayed. She was standing in the corner of a small room with bright, artificial lights overhead. Standing in the center of the wall diagonally from her was a tripod and camera. Across from it, sitting in matching clothing a few feet from the wall where she stood was a family. A man, a woman, and three children.

Her eyebrows raised, she stared at the group, wondering if they would turn and look at her in just as much confusion. They didn’t.

“There, are you happy, now?” The man said to the woman. “You finally got your family photos. Now, we’re like a real, American family.”

“Hello?” Meira called out to them.

“Yes, Tim,” the woman responded, “I’m glad we did this. You should be, too. It brings us closer…”

“Umm excuse me?” Meira tried again and waved in their direction. “Hello?

The man sighed deeply. “Closer?!? Linda… Aren’t you tired of pretending?”

“What are you talking about, Tim. I thought you wanted this just as much as I did.”

Meira didn’t understand what was going on. She knew she had called out for any of them to hear her, and yet no one answered her. Not only that, but she suddenly felt like she was invading what sounded like a private family conversation. A family. The same family she had been watching in the Instagram picture just a few moments ago.

“No one ever wanted this as much as you did,” the man said.

“Oh really?!? No one wanted this as much as me. That’s real rich.”

“‘Real rich’?!?” his voice began to elevate. “Gosh, you’re even talking like them!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she rolled her eyes.

“Sure you do. You want to fake like we’re sooo in love and like we’re this great, blissful union, when you know that’s far from the case.”

“Shhh! He’ll hear you,” she warned.

“Oh, he won’t hear,” he said, “He stepped out for a smoke break. Besides, we’re paying him to take our pictures. I’m sure he doesn’t care about anything about our,” he raised his hands and made air quotes “‘family’ squabbles.”

Meira couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had seen this family in their pictures on Instagram for years. They always seemed like the epitome of family perfection. The successful accomplishment of the American dream. And, most of all, they always looked happy.

They looked happy, fulfilled—the couple seemed madly in love with one another. The children always seem to radiate joy and delight.

And yet, here she was hearing that there seemed to trouble in paradise. She didn’t want to eavesdrop on such a private family moment but also couldn’t resist that they didn’t seem to notice her.

The man continued. “I’m honestly sick of pretending. And I would think you would be, too.”

“Yeah, Linda,” their youngest child—a 4-year-old—inserted. “Definitely no one wanted this as much as you did.”

The other two kids eagerly nodded in agreement.

“See, Linda, even they agree!” the man gave a frustrated laugh.

“Well then why are we all even here? If you think you’re now above this life, then why did any of you agree to it?”

“I thought I knew why,” the man said, "But now I’m questioning it…”

The oldest kid, a 9-year-old, chimed in. “We thought it was the right thing… but then… I get what Tim means. It’s things like…this….”

“What do you mean ‘things like this?” the woman asked, in disbelief. 

“All of the pretending!!” Tim repeated.

“Look, in order to appear like a typical, human family, we have to do typical, human family things,” she said. “And typical human families take family photos!”

“Well, I’m so tired of this,” the man said, “Being the ‘typical human family.’ Humans stink. Why did we even agree to this again?!?”

“You all know why. It’s going to elevate our race. We infiltrate the little humans, see how they live, and report back to the home planet.”

“Is it even worth it anymore?” the 9-year-old asked. 

“Of course it’s worth it,” the woman replied adamantly. “We complete this task, and each of our families are taken care of for eons.”

Meira’s head was spinning. She shook it several times and tried to feel for the wall behind her to keep her balance. 

“Hey! Who’s back there?” The man suddenly called out in Meira’s direction, and they all turned to look.

Meira’s eyes grew wide and her heart doubled in its beating. She felt herself losing her breath again. 

The five rose to their feet and began walking in her direction.

“Excuse me?!” The woman shouted. “Can we help you?!?”

“I ummm,” Meira stammered as they got closer. She began sinking deeper into the corner, terrified. “I’m sorry, I just uhh—“

“You just what?!?” Shouted the 4-year-old.

Meira closed her eyes, covered her head, and took a deep breath.

When she opened it, she was back in her bedroom, laying on her bed.

Her breath flowed normally again, but her heart was still racing. She looked around, checking to make sure she was really where she thought she was. The cheerful birds continued chirping outside.

“What the hell?” Meira said, her phone still in her hand. “I must’ve fallen asleep. That was a hell of a dream.”

The image of the family was still on the screen, their stare in the camera and their smiles seeming even more intense than before.

“Weird…” Meira said and soon fell back into her soothing habit of scrolling.

Her thumb moved up and down the screen slowly, passing by different posts of images. It rested on a selfie of a beautiful woman dressed in a bikini, smiling with bright, blue waters and white sand behind her.

She was an old classmate of Meira’s who seemed to live such a fun, adventurous life of travel. A life Meira often admired. They were never friends, in real life. But once Meira caught a glimpse of the woman’s lifestyle through her pictures several months back, she had been feverishly following her page since.

She’s so beautiful, Meira thought to herself. And so lucky. What a life to have. If only…

The words couldn’t reach their end before Meira again felt the same warm sensation as before come over her.

Her breath became shallow, and again, she closed her eyes tight and breathed in deeply.

Even before she opened them, the scent of salty air swam through her nostrils. Her eyes slowly raised and saw that she was now standing on a beach—the same beach as in the picture.

And nearby, the same woman in that picture. Meira couldn’t believe it.

She didn’t fear as scared this time—it was hard to in this scene. Both the beach and the woman were breathtaking.

Instead of trying to call out to the woman, Meira just lingered around, watching her.

The woman, Jade, took another selfie of herself—similar to the one Meira had seen— and then continued to walk along the shore. Meira followed from a good distance behind, looking around to see if anyone else noticed her or noticed her noticing Jade. No one seemed to.

Meira had long admired how much it seemed Jade traveled by herself and was able to visit all kinds of interesting places. She seemed fearless, adventurous, and clearly rich because she was always on the go, off in far-away lands, and often seeming to live a life of luxury. 

Eventually, Jade walked over towards the boardwalk and alongside the shops and restaurants. There was something odd that Meira noticed as Jade went on her walk. It seemed she also wasn’t really engaging with the people around her. Not only that, but it seemed the people around her weren’t at all acknowledging Jada’s existence. Not even an “Excuse me!” when passing by, a smile, a nod, even a “Bless you” when she sneezed. Nothing.

Meira had thought that Jade traveling by herself was risky but also cool and interesting. But now that she was seeing what that looked like in practice, she wasn’t so sure. It seems awful lonely, she thought to herself.

During Jade’s walk, she went to the edge of a long pier—the beautiful, very-blue ocean glimmering in the background.

Before Meira knew it, Jade stepped off of the steep pier, seemingly on purpose. Meira’s body automatically went into response mode.

“No!!” Meira shouted and tried to reach out for her.

Was this what was really going on with Jade all along? Meira wondered in those few seconds. Jade had seemed happy and fulfilled, living literally her best life with all of the worldwide traveling and all. Completely living it up in a glamorous lifestyle, but it was all just a front.. And maybe the great loneliness had really gotten to her, to where she now wanted to end her life?

A different kind of horror washed over Meira’s face. As she looked on, she saw that Jade actually had not fallen into the water as expected. Instead, she was above the water. She was…levitating. 

With the same warm smile on her face she sported in all of her photos, she pulled out her phone camera and began shooting pictures of herself in front of the breathtaking, high-altitude view behind her.

Meira again began losing her breath.

“Crazy, isn’t it?” An older man said as he casually walked by, pulling on a cigar. “My sweet, precious little Jade girl died a year ago, from a rare form of cancer. She always wanted to see the world,” he said with a choke in his throat. “Now, she finally has been able to.”

“What?!” Meira gasped, looking at the woman again. When she looked back at the old man, she saw that he had vanished. She looked around her and didn’t see him anywhere in sight.

“Oh my goodness,” Jade suddenly spoke in Meira’s direction. Meira looked behind her, to see if she was talking to someone else and realized it was directed to her. “You’ve come, to keep me company?!?” Jade continued and quickly moved toward Meira, extending her hand out for Meira’s.

Meira backed up so fast, that she fell onto the sand—her heart again nearly beating out of her chest.

“It’s okay,” Jade said, “I won’t hurt you. Come with me…”

Meira continued to back away on the ground, furiously shaking her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

When she opened them, she was back on her bed.

Immediately, she began searching for Jade’s name on Google and Facebook. It didn’t take long for her to come across a tribute post by Jade’s dad, from a year ago, sharing exactly the same kind of information he had shared with her on the beach.

Completely freaked out, Meira threw her phone down on the floor. Her breath again quickened. What was happening? She tried to make sense of it.

Slowly, she bent down to retrieve the phone. She looked at Jade’s selfie on the beach again, dated and posted just earlier that day.

“It can’t be…” Meira whispered.

Meira didn’t even know Jade had died. In the years since, she had posted many pictures of herself in all kinds of places. Now, Meira knew why. She had access to every part of earth, in ways real, living people—especially those without money—never could.

She could go wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted, at no cost at all to anybody.

She continued staring at the image, trying to put more of the pieces together. As she looked on, her feed refreshed. Now, she was looking at a picture of a couple at dinner. They were both dressed up and sat with a full spread and two glasses of wine between them.

It was a couple whose posts she had seen many times before and longed for the love they seemed to have. 

“No…” she said, as she again felt the warmth take over her.

She was in the restaurant before she could throw the phone down again. Warm scents of steak and bread filled her senses. Soft, classical music crooned in the background.

“I love you, Snoopy,” the man lovingly said to the woman.

“I love you, too, Pooh Bear,” she answered back.

“Whew,” said Meira to herself. “At least they’re what they seem…”

The man continued. “Well, if you do love me, then why the hell would you wear that slutty shirt today? I told you to take it off.”

“No…” Meira said again.

“I’m sorry, babe,” said the woman. “I like this shirt.”

“It makes you look like a whore…” he hissed, “Which, I mean…I know you can be one, but—“

“Babe—“

“What?!?” He chuckled. “I’m just sayin’, if my lady is going to be spending time with me, she needs to look like a lady. And not a whore. I didn’t marry a whore. The mother of my children isn’t going to be a whore.”

The woman’s eyes moistened, her spirit deflated.

“Babe, I should be able to wear what I want to wear,” she tried to assert.

“Look, girl, don’t argue with me. We were doing fine. Don’t make that side come out of me…”

“I’m just saying, babe.. I’m a grown woman. I think I can decide what I want to wear…”

His eyes began to darken the more she defended herself. Then, the hair on his arms and legs darkened and thickened. It grew until there were no more skin left.

As the woman saw this, the hair throughout her body also grew but into a fine, lighter brown.

He had transformed into a wolf. She had morphed into a deer. And the hunt began. He ferociously sailed after her, with a deep, raging thirst for blood in his eyes—his mouth drooling. And the terrified deer took off as he chased.

“No!!” Meira shouted. “Stop!!” 

The wolf halted in his tracks, began sniffing, and looked over in Meira’s direction.

“Oh God, no, please,” Meira cried as he nearly pounced her. She covered her head, crying and trembling. Suddenly, the chirping birds filled her ears, and the lavender scent of her bedroom in her nostrils.

Meira knew in her mind that she was no longer in the restaurant, but she couldn’t shake the terrified feeling of being targeted by that man—by that beast—just a few seconds before.

Gradually, she looked up and around her room. She saw the phone and looked at as if it were a fungus-infested rat.

She grabbed her pillow and violently swept the device off of her bed and on to the floor, where it slid under her desk.

She felt her heart still racing.

She took a deep breath, this time with her eyes still open, and, for the first time, heard a unique beauty in the song of the birds.

She got off of her bed, walked over to the window, and pulled up her blinds to let the sun shine through more fully. Its rays were the brightest she had ever seen. Peering out her window, the grass and trees looked greener, the sky bluer than she had ever noticed before.

She turned and eagerly left her room and apartment and walked outside. 

The cool breeze caressed her skin. She smelled the sweet scent of the rain from earlier that morning. The sun shone on her face. She felt its warmth, and before she could even think about it, she closed her eyes, but this time, her breath remained steady. She breathed deeply and felt a rare peace.

When she opened them, she was still outside her apartment. She began walking the sidewalk of her neighborhood, taking in more of the scene that surrounded her. The pink and yellow flowers, the squirrels hopping along the top a fence and between branches. A neighbor mowing his lawn.

And the birds. She observed the two of them perched on top of her building, still singing their little hearts out.

As she walked, she passed by a young teenage girl sitting on a bench, staring at her phone.

She heard the girl sigh under her breath. “Why can’t I look like that…” she said. “I want to so badly…”

“No you don’t,” Meira said to the girl. “Be careful what you wish for.”