The Mirror with a Mask

Every morning John Edward wakes up and kills himself three times in the mirror. What Mr. Edward does not understand is why there is still an image left of himself after all these years?

Every day he wakes up, looks himself in the mirror, stares deep into the eyes of this stranger, takes his gun out and shoots himself in the mirror. Some days he would do this joyfully with a sneer on his face and kill his image, other days he would just shoot himself mercilessly as he repentantly despises this image of himself, counting all the days that led to this revolting moment.

Every day he would repeat this morning ritual, but he could see his thoughts having a deeper effect. He saw cracks appearing on his mirror as if it couldn't bear such suicidal thoughts anymore, another day he could see his image vanish for a moment or two, but he thought all of these could be delusions of his exhausted mind.

It was a dark and cold day of September; Mr. Edward woke up, took his gun out, walked to the mirror, looked at himself with mournful eyes in the mirror; but as he tried to reach for his gun he found himself in a dreadful situation, there was a stranger with a gun pointed at him! This was no ordinary stranger, he resembled himself, he was the same size and height of Medway but he was more like a silhouette, a silhouette made of all the hatred and fears that he put on the mirror for years. It was his own image, standing in front of him with his own gun pointed at him. What used to be a mirror image was now alive and this creature who used to be a reflection of himself had unveiled its mask and came to reality with its fearful face. He took a step forward; Mr. Edward could feel the bleak breath of this ghastly creature on his face. He was paralyzed by his own very thoughts, he remembered his childhood and all the moments he played in front of the mirror, he could not believe that there was a monster hiding behind his image for all these years. He came face to face with Mr. Edward and repeated the word "Smile". Mr. Edward stood still, he could not understand the demand of this monster. "Smile" shouted the monster. Mr. Edward smiled with all the fear in his heart, his image was satisfied and vanished; And so Mr. Edward smiled whenever he saw his image, he smiled every morning, he smiled when he met someone, he could see his image following him everywhere, even in other people's eyes. Mr. Edward’s image paid him more visits, every time with something new, he gave him a tie to wear every day, a suit to match his smile and a hat to hide all his fears. For years he obeyed every wish of his image. He was no more afraid of his image and started to see the beauty hiding behind his master. Mr. Edward had became the perfect man.