Picture Perfect

Although there had been a nice, cool breeze the whole day, the crumpled paper that smacked her in the face with that sudden gust of wind was totally unexpected. It caught her so off guard in fact, as she stood posing for the picture with her family, that she didn’t even ask for a retake, despite her face being half covered by the scrap. Not that she would have asked in any other circumstances.

She framed that photo, choosing to hang it by the front door. She made sure to at least glance at it when leaving for work, or going to pick up her kids from basketball, karate, swimming, whatever it was they were into at the moment. But, more often than not, she would stand in front of it, and look at her younger self, standing to the left of her husband, as their two children sat on the ground, smiling toothlessly at the camera. Her husband smiled too, a satisfied kind of smile that seemed to say “all is well with the world”. She wasn’t sure if she had smiled, and there was no way of knowing now, because her face was covered by that scrap of crumpled paper. 

She wasn’t sure what made her sadder, that she wasn’t able to smile with the rest of the family in that picture, or that no one but her seemed to notice. Not even after she hung it by the door.

It was on one of these particular days, when she decided to stand there, looking at her missing face, that she decided she had had enough. She looked at the car keys in her hand, and in a fit of rage, threw them at the framed photo, shattering the glass into tiny little pieces. The keys bounced towards her feet, and she picked them up, looking around for the next best target. Her eyes caught the tall, white vase sitting close to the doorframe, and her arm took aim and threw the keys once more. This time, the keys just hopped off of the vase with a loud ting. She decided to try again, but the same thing happened the second time. She then kicked the vase with a strength she didn’t know she had, and that did the trick. It first flew against the wall, and then exploded into pretty little pieces of sparkling fragments and shards. 

This newfound energy was now overtaking her, and she decided to go for a walk. Walking turned into running because her legs just couldn’t shake off the intense sparks that were pulsating through her. She could feel her hair getting loose and strands coming out, and she could sense the strange looks coming her way from strangers, but nothing ebbed the waves of energy she was feeling. 

She kept increasing her speed, which is why she didn’t see the red bricked wall that seemingly popped out of nowhere, until it was too late. Her head thudded into the wall before the rest of the body caught up, and she needed a minute to figure out what happened, In that moment of dazed confusion, she registered that her forehead was bleeding, and her eyes were getting sticky with the slow but steady drip of blood.

She didn't let that slow her down though. The strength she had felt at home was leaping back into action, and she quickly got to her feet. Right when she was about to take off again, she noticed that there was more to the building than just the brick wall. It was a strip mall with stores, barber shops and a nail salon. Her eyes went to the nail salon, only because she could see the door was slowly opening. 

As the door opened all the way, a dark figure stepped out. It was hard to pick out any details because the person was cloaked from head to toe in what seemed like a black hooded cape. It was a musty black that seemed to have a layer of dust covering the outer layer. The shadowy figure eyed the cut on the women's head, and motioned her in. 

“I know what is happening, even if you don't.” a deep, gravely voice struggled out of the cloak. 

“I - uh-”

“Your eyes have already told me all I need to know. The regrets and broken dreams, the unspoken words, the frustrations.” The salon was dark, and seemed to get even darker as the words kept coming from the mysterious figure.

“What would you say, if I could make an offer that would let you change your life, choose a different life, if I may?” 

“ What do you mean?”

“It's the people, isn't it? That is where your hopelessness is coming from. So just pretend they never existed. I can give you a new story, transfer you to another chance at life, with different people, people who will encourage your dreams, let you speak where you have been silent.”

Normally, the woman would never have ended up in a dark salon, with an even darker shape, listening to things that made no sense. But, on this day, there was something strange within her, urging her to sit on an empty seat close to her, and actually think about the offer put before her.

She thought about the built up frustrations that had begun to crumble her with its weight, and the dreams that slowly slipped away from her, unnoticed, except for the occasional pang of pain she would feel when she was on her own.

But then she thought of the hugs her kids would give her, at least when they were little. And the way their eyes would light up when they saw her at their games, their tournaments, or anywhere else they needed support. Would she be able to start over, knowing she would never see that again?

“What if- could I start over with this story?”

“What? Why would you want to go through all of that rejection again? You know things would be exactly the same the second time around!”

“Couldn't I know that I'm starting over? Knowing what I know now?”

The cloaked figure snickered. “That's not how works dear. If you turn back the pages in this story, your mind also goes back to that point. In fact, the only thing that would stay the same as your body, except maybe heal that cut of yours. You will end up in past circumstances, which means everything external to you will be the same, but your body will be the present one”

“Let me think about this.”

“Take your time.”

The woman thought, pulled between the possibility of a new beginning, going back in time, or keeping the life she had now. What if there was another way?

“Could I take anything with me?”

“You mean, to your new beginning?”

“I mean, if I were to go back in time.”

“No, I've already said this.”

“Can I have a piece of paper and pen?”

“For what?”

“I just want to write down a few things, to help me make a decision.” 

The cloaked being produced a rusty pen and a single piece of paper from somewhere within it's cloth. The woman took it and sat for a few minutes. Then she wrote down:

You are stronger than you think.

Your opinions matter.

You matter.

Leave while you still can.

She took the paper and folded it up. Then she told the dark figure, “I have made up my mind. I want to go back in time. What are the next steps?”

“Hmm…give me a minute, just tell me what moment you want to go back to. And then wait for me to tell you when you can leave. Once you walk out, you will walk into that moment.”

“ I want to go back to a picnic we went on. My husband and my two children. It was 5 years ago, to this day. I want to go back to the point where my husband had asked a stranger to take a family picture of us on his phone, and when I protested, he took my arm and got me to stand with him. I want to be there right before all this happened.”

The cloak seemed to get even darker for a few minutes as the figure muttered something under its breath. Then a guttural “GO!” came out of the form. The woman crumpled the paper she had written on and put it in her mouth. Then, before the figure could say anything, she ran out of the shop.

She walked right into the park where their family had gone for a picnic. There was something soggy in her mouth, and when she pulled it out, she realized it was a folded piece of paper. What the hell? She was still wondering how it got there, as she opened up the folds, when she felt her husband pulling her arm. 

“I've gotten this nice stranger to take a pic of us. Come quick!”

“Can you wait? I was doing something.”

“Don't embarrass me.” he muttered, in a menacing whisper.

He pulled her arm strongly, causing her to lose the piece of paper. She quickly grabbed it, crumpling it in the process. All of a sudden, a strong breeze caught the paper again, and blew it in her face, before carrying it away.

“All done! Check to see if the pic came out nice. otherwise I can take it again.”

“No worries, I'm sure the picture was just fine.”