Reflection...

I reached through the dark...

Grasping for the other side...

Seeking what I could not find...

A mirror stood in its place...reflecting the simplicity of my face...

Time seemed to slow as I gazed...watched... the stranger in the mirror....

Barely recognizing myself....the creases and wrinkles...the dryness of the skin...and the paleness of the eyes....

It was the eyes that creeped me out the most....

Hollow...weak...color almost gone... like the life had been drained from her...

I reached up and touched my face watching the person in the mirror touch her own cheek...

Who have I become that I don't even recognize myself now....?

Who is this lost looking girl beseeching me from the other side...?

With such a look of despondency ...loneliness....and pain...

A single tear cascaded down the cheek...such sadness within...

I wiped away the tear and heard a soft echo... a whisper surrounding me...from the stranger on the other side, I am broken....into a million pieces and been slain on the inside...I am nothing but an empty shell now...

I looked at her....sadness filled my own heart as all the memories began to flood back...

The rejection...broken trust....heartache...

I know you now......I touched the mirror and saw life spark in my reflected eyes...

I was all of a sudden angry....years of letting this weigh me down..whither me to nothingness on the inside- No. I looked at my tattered self in the mirror and repeated again with complete assurity...NO

I wiped my tears away and looked at my reflection hard...and made the mirrored version a promise... You will be made anew....BE different and thrive...you're stronger, smarter, wiser and ever changing within. I will not let you stay this way...you will be set free...

I took a deep breath and turned from the mirror, Its time to stop looking at the mirror...at who I used to be...at what everyone else sees....its time to DO me and begin anew...