Vanity Mirror

“Good morning, Sunshine. Another day, another dollar. Are you ready for the insanity?” She leaned into the mirror studying her reflection. “Wow, you look exhausted,” she told herself.

***

“Hey!” MI Jane got defensive. 

No sooner did the words come out of her mouth than she felt the pressure of her supervisor’s hand on her shoulder. Just the slightest bit of a squeeze and then release. Enough to make the point. She was out of turn. Her job was Mirror Image Jane, nothing more, nothing less.

***

Jane turned away from the mirror to take off her nightgown, giving one short glance into the full length mirror on the back of the door before stepping into the steaming hot shower. The day was going to be insane at the store, no time to waste. The dreaded Black Friday was upon her, the crowds would be enormous.   

***

MI Jane slumped in her chair, being relieved of her duties for a few minutes. She turned to the MI next to her, sitting stoically in her chair being the good little reflection that she was. How did these MI’s do it? It was unbearable. Looking past her neighbors on the left and right she saw the hall go on into infinity in both directions. An endless line of Mirror Images sitting in their straight back chairs facing their own window. 

A thought occurred to her. Being the vanity mirror reflection was bad, but working the full length bathroom mirror would be a nightmare. Especially the morning after Thanksgiving. How much stuffing did Jane eat last night? She suppressed a giggle and immediately felt the pressure of her supervisor on her shoulder, this time a bit tighter, held for a bit longer.

Her window steamed up, she sat back to think, to plan her escape. 

***

One last look to adjust her elf hat before leaving for the probable stampede. “Happy Holidays!” She practiced her greeting to her freshly made up face. 

Her reflection looked back, little jingling bells hanging from her earlobes, the same earrings she wore year after year for the holiday season. The jingle rang out with every move of her head, still hearing it in her sleep for months into the new year. 

***

Noooo, not those bells again. I can’t. I … Just … Can’t …

***

One last visit to the toilet, one last hand wash and sanitize, one last swipe of her deodorant. It would be hours before her first break if she was even able to take it. 

Humming a holiday tune she bent down to check for extra toilet paper under the sink, the bells jingling with every move. Suddenly she stood up, surprised at the silence. 

Peering into the mirror over her sink she saw the earrings were missing. What in the world? She was wearing them just seconds ago. Looking frantically at the counter and floor, then shaking out her hair did not reveal anything. Where did they go? With her heart racing she checked the sink, fearing that they had spiraled down the drain. How was this possible? She had no time to ponder. Checking her cell phone, she saw it was time to leave. Black Friday was calling. Earrings or not.

***

Mirror Image Jane was ready to burst. She almost couldn’t contain her laughter. Clenching those earrings in her fists was hilarious. Her rebellion pleased her more than words could express. So far, no squeeze on her shoulder, no threat from her supervisor, no demotion to an even worse reflection.

Her thoughts went back to her early days. Before. She actually had a life on the other side of the glass, free to live and follow her every whim and desire. She pictured the runway, her walk perfected after years of practice. She had been a rising star. 

Afraid of dropping those cheap tacky earrings in her sleep she slipped them back on, shuddering slightly. A far cry from the diamonds she wore once upon a time when life was good. 

***

“I survived, Rufus. I got through another Black Friday. Now it’s pajama and movie time, my love. We have three whole days off. I’ll just freshen up a bit before feeding you dinner and letting you out. Just you hold on one little …”

Jane’s voice faltered and stopped.

Silence.

Raising her hands to where her earrings usually sit, she felt nothing but the fleshy lobes, heard nothing but her beating heart rather than the familiar holiday jingle.

She blinked, held onto the sink for support and leaned in closely.

***

“Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit.” Mirror Image Jane realized in an instant her mistake. She forgot to take off those cursed earrings before Jane got home. She was officially screwed.

***

She smiled. Her reflection smiled back. She stuck out her tongue, was met with her tongue sticking back out at herself. It was her reflection, but it wasn’t. She shook her head watching her earrings shake on her reflection’s head, imagining the jingle if it weren’t on mute.

“Explain yourself,” Jane demanded.

“I’m being punished,” came the shocking response.

“Your crime being what exactly?” 

“Vanity.”

“Go on.” 

“I was a super model back in the day, very successful, in high demand.” 

Jane watched her reflection recount the tale, the most bizarre conversation she could ever imagine. Her reflection telling her a story about her previous life? No one would believe her. That’s because it wasn’t possible. But yet…

“Tell me more,” she encouraged this reflection who suddenly looked nothing like herself except for the earrings dangling off her lobes, her earrings. Which she wanted back, by the way.

“I was obsessed with myself. I worked out for hours every day examining my body from every angle fixing what I couldn’t change with a nip here, a tuck there. My hair and makeup done by the pros. Clothes and jewels designed for me to showcase on the red carpet.”

“Sounds like quite the life,” she thought of herself in her elf hat greeting haggard customers coming in to save a dollar on slippers to give as gifts.

“It was wonderful,” Mirror Image Jane confessed, beginning to look like her former self but an older version. Still beautiful as she aged well in her true self.

“So, what went wrong? Why the punishment?” 

“Like I said. My vanity. It took center stage over everything else. Nothing mattered but my reflection in my mirror. I began to mistreat the people around me, thinking I was better than them. I turned into a monster.”

“I see. I am your punishment. Staring at a middle-aged woman in her bathroom is how you are doing your time? Seeing me at my most vulnerable, mocking me, stealing my earrings? Anything else you would like to confess to?”

“I’m so sorry, it really isn’t like that …”

Jane watched in amazement as her reflection faded slowly, the words becoming inaudible until she was finally staring through a piece of glass hanging on her wall.

***

“This will leave a mark,” Mirror Image Jane winced in pain as her supervisor dug her fingers into her shoulder to no avail. The damage was done, she failed at her assignment. 

“How many times did I warn you about your behavior?”

“Many times. Many, many times.”

“But yet you continue to disobey. Do you think this is a joke?”

“No, I do not.”

“You will be transferred immediately.”

“I understand.”

***

Checking the time on her cell phone Jane was surprised it was almost the end of her shift. One last task to do, she thought, relieved. 

Going in and out of the dressing rooms she organized the rejected items of clothing to be returned to the racks. Reaching the very last room she pulled open the curtain and found it spotlessly clean. 

“What a nice surprise,” she thought with delight. About to turn back to exit something shiny caught her eye. “What in the world?” She bent over the bench under the mirror and gasped. Her earrings. The jingle bell earrings that had gone missing that crazy night. That night she thought she had lost her mind after the Black Friday shift. She picked up the earrings and held them in her hand looking at her reflection.

Slipping them on, one ear at a time, she watched her reflection do the same. She gave her head a small shake listening to the familiar jingle. She smiled. Her reflection smiled back. Then winked.