Mirroring

I

I cannot recall how I ended up in a small foreign town on Easter night. I do not even remember where this town was, what it was like, or what kind of people lived there. I only recall the Easter evening and the ritual with which the folks there celebrated Easter, or so I assumed. No one told me, nor did I ask anyone, if they believed in the same God as we did in my home country or if they had heard about the resurrection. I discovered everything later.

I cannot recall how I ended up at the seaside. People were gathering there slowly. I joined them as well. I remember their hazy figures but not their faces. There were not many of them. I did not think there was any cruel ritual of execution or sacrifice left in the world, but that is what I witnessed that evening, for the first and probably last time.

The death-sentenced person was a young, thin, black-haired woman. She was wearing a white gown. Her hair was down in front, and I could not see her face. All I could notice was her unusually pale skin.

The young woman was walking toward the sea. I knew that once she embraced the waves, she would never return. It was impossible to read her emotions, but I got the impression that she was waiting for death indifferently, or maybe I was wrong and her hair was thrown down over her face so that we could not see fear or sadness in her eyes.

The young woman entered the sea silently and began to carry out the punishment. It was bizarre. All of this seemed more like complicit suicide than execution or sacrifice. While she was suffering, people were just watching. Her agony lasted too long. From time to time, her thirst for life would overcome her. She would try to leave the water, only to continue battling with her hunger for life.

At some point, I started observing the audience, and I noticed that everyone was crying quietly to themselves. Some of them were watching the young woman, who was on the verge of death, while others were looking down. But no one, none of us, attempted to save her.

I used to think of such rites entirely differently. I assumed that everyone there was either there to watch the show or to execute the sentence. Here, it was different. They appeared to be offering the victim their support as they accompanied her on the final journey while sobbing in silence.

When would the tortured soul, longing for life, depart the body? It was so distressing to watch the struggle between death and life. After some time, the woman vanished into the water. That is how it all came to an end.

People stood with their heads bent for a while and then silently started moving toward the city. I remained there all alone for a while. It was getting dark, so I decided to go home. Suddenly, I realized that I did not know how to get there. Fear gripped my entire being. I was all alone on the outskirts of a completely foreign town.

All of a sudden, something completely unexpected happened. The body was propelled out of the water and began to move in the air. I was so terrified looking at this scene. I wish I were in the world of dreams, but all of this was happening, and I never woke up.

Slowly, the woman's body fell to the ground. Her entire body and face were purple. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and turned her face toward me.

II

Despite wanting to run away, I stayed for some reason. For me, she looked horrific. Now that I look back, she was not scary at all. She was stunningly beautiful, but I did not notice it as I saw a purple face for the first time in my life.

I stood frozen, staring at the strange creature. Fear slowly vanished, but my curiosity did not. I could not wait to see what would happen.

For a brief moment, the alien gave me a blank stare. It seemed like she was trying to recall who she was, where she was, and what had happened. Slowly, delight began to fill her large eyes, and all of a sudden, she smiled broadly at me.

I was hesitant to respond with a smile. All I did was shake my head. A weird creature unexpectedly turned to me and said, 'We're going to your house'. Her voice was both commanding and extremely kind.

I intended to reply that I would not bring her to my home. I loved living alone and did not want some ugly creature as my roommate. But then I remembered that I did not know how to get home. Meanwhile, the creature was confidently moving along the path. She would undoubtedly know how to get me home. There was no other option; I had to follow her. In the end, I decided to stay quiet for now and create an excuse to make her leave once we got home.

We walked silently for a while. It was already getting dark when we left the town. One star at a time, then another, and eventually the entire sky was covered with stars. It was such a magnificent sight! The creature looked up when I pointed to the sky. She started staring at the stars with such amazement that I realized that she had never seen a starry sky before.

Our brief nonverbal exchange gave me some confidence, and I finally found the courage to speak up.

"How did you discover where I live?" I finally asked.

"I do not know where you live. But the moment I saw you, I felt your longing for home. And now I am trying to reach the place where that feeling is coming from".

I was not expecting such a response, but perhaps nothing would surprise me anymore.

"Why don't you return to your town? Can you recall what happened? Or why do you keep following me?''

"I remember everything. This is why I am unable to return to my house. Let us agree. I will take you to your place, but you promise that you will shelter me".

"I have a request too. You must tell me your story, but without hiding anything from me. If you tell me everything honestly and explain what I witnessed at the seaside, I will let you live with me".

"Let's head over to your place and have coffee. And I swear I'll tell you everything afterward".

"Deal! Do you have a name?"

"I used to have one, but I think you should give me a new one''.

"I will give it a thought''.

Following that, we engaged in a lot of small conversations, and we learned that we were both huge fans of coffee. I promised to make her my favorite breakfast this morning. On our way, we passed numerous stunning lilacs. That was the creature's first encounter with flowers, and she was amazed. In her town, there were no flowers or yellow dots in the sky (she referred to stars as yellow dots).

I decided to call her Aaina.

III

We walked until dawn. When I felt that I was too exhausted to move, Aaina turned to me and said, 'We have arrived.'

I looked around and became confused. This was not my home. Or rather, it had once been, but it had been years since anyone lived here.

"Why are we here? It's been a while since I've lived here''.

“I've been honest with you about the fact that I have no idea where you live, but the feeling that I was following brought me here. Shall we enter or not?"

 I nodded in agreement, and we walked inside. There was a silence, the kind of silence that exists in abandoned houses and has not been disturbed by the human voice in years. Everything was covered in dust.

I decided to look around the house. I was even more confused when I entered the kitchen. The entire kitchen was covered in huge black stains as if they had been purposefully applied. Later, I discovered a dead bird in my bedroom that had already turned into a skeleton. It must have flown in through the hole and been unable to leave. So that is where the stains in the kitchen came from.

We cleaned the whole house. After that, I bought some food and coffee at the market. While drinking coffee, we had a lot of small talks, and I could not wait for Aaina to start telling me her story. She kept her word and spoke up.

"This ritual has been existing in our town for centuries. So much time has passed that even my people have forgotten where and how it all began. Every year, any of us can give ourselves up and transform into another form of being. However, this happens much more rarely, as only a few people dare to give up their own present lives on purpose.

It is neither punishment nor sacrifice. You chose this path yourself. People do not have the authority to name a "Chosen One'', and even if they did, I am sure they would not sacrifice anyone. My people love each other far too much.

Usually, almost no one manages to transform. Everyone who chooses this path probably believes that he is an exception and has the power to do so.

You may have noticed that only a few people attended today's ritual. Most people are unable to watch such a sight with their own eyes and prefer not to attend. When the inhabitants are certain that the soul of The Chosen One has left the body, they return to the town and come back to the seaside at dawn. If the body was not carried to the shore by the waves, it means that he was able to transform. But much more often, once every few years or perhaps once every century, one sunrise is incredibly tragic for us. When we see a lifeless body brought by the waves to the shore, it is as if we lose faith in the miraculous and think we are all responsible for what happened. The thought that this sunrise will not be like that for my people gives me immense joy.

I would like to ask you something. Do not forget that I will gradually fade and weaken so that I can become part of eternity. Be prepared for it and try not to get too used to me''.

IV

That is how Aaina and I met and started living together. So far, I had no idea how long I would stay in my hometown and had not gotten in touch with anyone yet. I knew that Aaina's stay was temporary and that her body would eventually fade away and merge with eternity. I was not sure what was going on with her or what the transformation meant. What I knew was that my human mind would never be able to comprehend this.

We used to walk around and talk a lot. She would tell me about her town, and I would show her mine. There were no flowers or stars in her town, but many things were going on that I had never heard of, and she would ask me not to tell anyone anything.

I remember the moment we became aware that Aaina's body had begun to vanish. I went shopping on my own and bought her a stunning floral dress. She loved the dress and immediately changed into it. While watching herself in the mirror, she became confused all of a sudden and looked at her hands. I also looked and saw that her purple body was paler than usual. For a moment, sadness seemed to settle in her eyes, but it quickly turned into joy.

Two weeks after our meeting, Aaina was already feeling very weak, and I could see her slowly fading away. She was no longer able to take walks with me in the sunshine, but as soon as the sun rose, I would open the windows, and the entire house would be brightened. She enjoyed sitting by the window. She would stare at the sunset without looking away, but as soon as the sun went down, I could see the sadness in her eyes. Every night she would go to bed with the hope that the sun would rise again the next morning.

I was not sure how many more sunsets I would see with Aaina, but I slowly realized that I did not want her to fade away.

She was so weak after one month of our first encounter that one morning she was unable to get out of bed. However, she soon discovered other small pleasures. As soon as the sun rose, I would raise the curtains in her room and bring her hot coffee. Once, on my way home, I passed a flower shop and saw numerous flower pots for sale. I chose lilac since I recalled Aaina's very first reaction to it.

When I got home that evening, I found Aaina extremely sad. When she heard my footsteps, she looked at me, and I saw that her eyes were full of tears. She burst into tears as soon as she saw me. I got concerned and sat next to her, waiting for her to calm down.

"Today I realized how much I miss my town'', she said at the end, after she had finally calmed down. " More precisely, I have already been missing it a lot, but today I had the strongest desire to go home. And it makes me extremely sad to know that I can't go back there. More importantly, that was my choice; nobody pushed it. I was aware of the price, but I naively believed that I would not look back.

You know, these days I am thinking that even if I am really weak, such a longing would certainly give me the strength to return home, but I am afraid of what would happen there. The Chosen One is never seen again by our folks. This is the rule, and nobody has ever broken it. Our people have no right to take back The Chosen One. But does the fact that something has never happened before truly mean that it will never happen in the future?

Perhaps I will be the first among the transformed ones to head back home. Maybe my people, like me, will break the rule and accept me joyfully. Furthermore, I have a feeling that these are my final days and I will soon be gone, which makes me desire to return home even more.

Is it, however, a true transformation? The transformed ones have no desire to go back home. They do not fantasize about transforming back into their original form of existence. Still, from time to time, this longing vanishes, and I am once again overcome with delight that I have been enlightened".

One day, Aaina attempted to leave the house, but she could not cross the yard. She felt embarrassed when I found her lying in the yard. She assured me and herself that she did not want to return home sufficiently; otherwise, she would be able to.

V

On the fortieth morning, as soon as I woke up, I sprang up to make coffee for Aaina and raise the curtains in her room. I was hoping to find her in a nice mood. I entered her room, and she was not there anymore.

I got so nervous. I had no idea what to do. I opened the closet, checked under the bed, and went out to the balcony, but she was nowhere to be seen. Then I quickly put on my robe and rushed outdoors, hoping to find her. I looked for her for a long time but could not find her. I went back home in the hopes of finding her letter. I looked around the entire house but did not find anything.

I never found out what happened to Aaina. Did she succeed in entering eternity, or did her homesickness grow stronger and give her the strength to return home? Did her society welcome her or reject her? I would never know. Maybe someday I will come up with the final chapter of her story, but not yet.