The Alluring Reflection

Julie was not just an average girl. She was fat and was considered ugly in the eyes of her classmates. The school she was studying in was a little bit out of the ordinary. The interior of the school was full of mirrors. All the corridors had mirrors. Every room had at least one big mirror. There were mirrors that also operated as digital billboards that displayed announcements, school events, and even club activities. There were also hi-tech mirrors that offered touchscreens. Every student were already accustomed to having a large mirror in their classroom. The mirrors indeed made the school a more spacious environment. But another reason was that the Headmaster of the school had a great fancy for mirrors. You had got to take a look at the whole collection of antique mirrors of the Headmaster's office.

Julie did feel a little out of place as she happened to be the only girl who was obese at school. Whenever she saw many of her schoolmates making friends or going out with the school beauties, Julie thought to herself that beauty was skin deep only and what was important came from within. Ironically, her parents did not think so for they always complained that Julie was merely a lump of meat sitting on her armchair, wasting her youth on junk food and computer games. Candy, chocolate, and junk food were simply irresistable to her. She did attempt to put on a diet for just three days and yet it was a hellish experience for her and yet she did not lose a single weight.

But all that began to change when Julie entered an antique shop as she was strolling aimlessly in the shopping district just outside her school compound. She chanced upon a quaint little pocket mirror. It seemed out of place in the antique shop as it looked brand new and had the design of some popular mascot. So it should be made no more than three years ago. There were many other items that stood out of place in the antique shop. After all, shops like this would do anything just to stay afloat. But the cuteness of the pocket mirror and its cheap price captured her attention and drove her to buy it without the slightest hesitation.

Back home, Julie looked at herself in the pocket mirror. Immediately she was both shocked and mesmerised by her reflection. The mirror showed her a different person. She had a pretty face. While Julie wore glasses, her reflection didn't. What's more, her reflection did not have fat cheeks.

"Could this be me?" Julie said to herself, taking a careful look at her reflection. "I always know that I had an inner beauty but this is insane." She spent almost an hour doing nothing but dazing at her new look that was confined within the frames of that pocket mirror.

A downpour occurred the next morning when Julie was on her way to school. Although she had an umbrella, the strong wind did make a mess out of her hair. As she was about to take out her pocket mirror and a comb to tidy her hair, she heard a crack. This occurred at the same time a group of teachers passed her by, including Ms. Christina Green, the Head of the Mathematics Department. Julie slowly and carefully took out her little mirror from that pocket and already a few shards of glass fell out to the floor. Julie did not recall a single moment when she accidentally bumped into something that would cause significant damage to her mirror. She unfolded her pocket mirror and did not see any cracks. Not even a single scratch could be found on the surface. However, it only showed Julie's old self. The casing of the pocket seemed as if it had undergone accelerated aging. Lots of the coating had come off.

But when Julie went to the washroom, she was astonished, so as did the rest of the girls in the washroom. Her new self had appeared in the washroom's mirror and her slim, splendid figure was revealed. Julie brushed her hair with one hand. Her reflection followed suit, except that it was performed more smoothly and elegantly and made all the girls around her filled with wonder. When she came out of the washroom and was in the mirrored corridor, the guys who saw her reflection were immediately bewitched and began asking for Julie's contact number and autograph. And soon, Julie became the most popular girl in school in an instant. What is this feeling, Julie thought to herself. She had never been in such high spirits before. But when Julie left school and went back home to have another look in the mirror. Julie became her plump, mundane-looking, bespectacled version of herself in the mirror. Perhaps all the mirrors in her school had become enchanted. Another thing to take note of was that Julie failed to notice the reaction of Ms. Christina Green. She was pale with fright when she looked at Julie's reflection. But Julie did notice a nervous tone in Ms. Green's voice whenever she taught her class.

This had been going on for a month. Julie's version in the mirror was still the beautiful version. Julie was still the most popular girl at school because of it. But Julie became more anxious than before. She resolved to work hard on improving her looks. The reason was that she was frustrated whenever she talked to the guys at school, they couldn't turn their eyes off her reflection. She wanted people to look at her, the real Julie, not her reflection in the mirror. Before she commenced her ultimate endeavor, an old janitor came to see her. The janitor claimed that her reflection looked exactly like a student she knew several years ago. Her name was Diana and she was known as the princess of the school. She had always been the center of attention wherever she went. But she died falling off the school balcony. The police concluded the case was a mere accident. The janitor took one of the school's oldest annuals and flipped over to a page that had a class photo with Diana in it. And how right she was. Diana was the exact copy of Julie's mysterious reflection. Then, Julie spotted a familiar name next to Diana. It was Christina Green. Could it be the Christina Green, the head of the Mathematics Department, Julie said to herself."Yes, indeed." said the old janitor, "I remembered that they were best friends." That explains the nervousness of Ms. Green, thought Julie."Diana also had a handsome boyfriend, " the old janitor continued, "He was also very popular among girls at school and was the Captain of the rugby team. However, he didn't show up at Diana's funeral or show any signs of remorse after that. That goes to show that his love for Diana was merely based on her pretty looks. Boys and men alike, they were indeed heartless and unreliable."

Despite having heard such a tragic story, Julie still continued to pursue her ideal self. She went on a diet, did more exercise than usual, learned how to apply cosmetics, and even tried wearing contact lenses. She actively discusses with the girls at school on current lifestyles and fashion magazines. In a month, Julie was able to achieve her desired figure. And she was more than pleased with her own results when she looked at herself in the mirror at home. For she looked exactly like Diana, her ideal self, the legendary princess in the school's history, without the use of any plastic surgery. While Julie was admiring her complexion using her pocket mirror on her way to school, a sense of uneasiness had struck her. And it wasn't the first time. Some time ago, Julie saw her reflection in the mirror at school was slightly off and she couldn't find words to put it. But back then, she brushed that sense of uneasiness aside as her schoolmates at school still admired her. However, this time, the current sense of uneasiness was too heavy to ignore. Something bad was going to happen. Julie immediately ran to her school compound, towards the washroom, ignoring all the friendly smiles and greetings from her schoolmates and her teachers. Julie looked at her face in the mirror and her premonition was right. The mirror showed the fat and mundane-looking Julie like she used to be. Julie began to feel dizzy and fainted. When Julie woke up, she looked at the mirror. This time, she did not find any reflection, no reflection at all, of herself in the mirror. She looked at her arms and then her thighs. They were as thick and coarse as before she got that pocket mirror. And when she came out of the washroom, Julie noticed the wordings on the door of the washroom inverted. That's not all, every word on billboards, and posters, they were all inverted. Julie took out one of her textbooks and opened its pages. The text was inverted as well. What was scary was that she saw no one at school. Everything was silent. Where am I, Julie thought to herself. Then, Julie finally spotted a person. It was Ms. Green. Julie saw her entering a room and shut the door behind her. "Ms. Green!" Julie shouted. She ran towards the room, opened the door, and saw no one, much to her astonishment. Has Ms. Green vanished into thin air, thought Julie. Or was it my hallucination? Then, despite the school she was in seeming empty, she could see on the other side of the mirrors in the corridor, people running in a particular direction. Julie followed them. They lead her to Ms. Green's office. There appeared to be a commotion occurring on the other side of the mirror. Julie opened the door and walked in. There was no one there but everything was in a great mess. There were big words written in red: I HATE YOU! CHEATER! MURDERER! CHEATER! MURDERER! MURDERER! CHEATER! DIE!!! What was terrifying about it was that the angry words in red were not inverted. Julie looked at the mirror in the office and saw many students, teachers, and even a few policemen gathered around. And there sat at the desk was the lifeless body of Ms. Green covered in blood. What's more, in a distance within a crowd, Julie saw her reflection, or rather, her ideal image being a separate entity of her own, and noticed a rather sinister smile on her face.