Genre: Absurdist fiction
Rating: 13+
Word Count: ~1400
The bedroom was not entirely dark, but dimly lit only by the screen of the computer. A young man in his late twenties sat in front of it. The facebook page on the firefox browser refreshed itself, showing some new updates from his friends. A friend of his got married and had uploaded his wedding pics. He clicked on the pics and browsed through the album, liking each one of them at the same time. He stopped at one of the pics that showed the groom. His friend looked handsome, smart, thin, with a bright smile, in that picture. He ran his palm around his cheeks, feeling the thin layer of beard on his face. His hands then slided over his tummy grabbing his love handles. He tried to smile, but the faint reflection on his computer screen disagreed with his own sense of aesthetics. He proceeded to like the picture in the album and move on. Just then rays of light broke through the curtain on the window. The time was 6 AM. He stood up sluggishly, and he moved his body without any real sense of purpose towards the large mirror kept in his bedroom.
The reflection was thin, handsome looking and he gave a bright smile. The reflection even waved at him, but he wouldn't acknowledge it. He simply walked into the mirror and the reflection copied his actions and came out. After they switched their positions, the mirror began to show cracks in many places. The reflection began to stretch its hands and legs. Then it moved to the bathroom, brushed its teeth, shaved and had a bath. After it came out, it made some breakfast for itself and ate it, before it went to work. The reflection came back home at 7.
"Yo! Hows your day been inside the mirror?", the reflection asked.
He came near the mirror but did not respond.
"Do you want to know how awesome a day I had today?", the reflection continued.
He stood there motionless, expressionless.
"Well, let me tell you anyway. The project that I have been working on for the past 5 months, well, its finally launching tomorrow. Not only that, I am also expected to give an investor presentation of the project tomorrow. If all goes well, we could be seeing promotion both in title and salary. How cool is that? By the way, do you remember Susie from finance. I think she is a little bit interested in us, as she asked me out for coffee today. She is smart, bright and was fun to talk to. We discussed about the latest novel from ..."
"Can we just switch places already?", he interrupted, his face still expressionless.
The reflection gave up and stepped inside the mirror, and he came out. After they switched, the cracks in the mirror disappeared. He went back to the computer, and placed an order for pizza online. He went to his company site as he waited for his pizza. He searched for the employee named Susie. Susie from finance was first on the list. She was cute and from the picture he guessed that she was quite well endowed. His pizza arrived and he had a specific routine with the delivery boy. The delivery boy would place the pizza on the doorstep and collect his tip from jar kept beside the door. After the delivery boy left, he would come out and grab both the jar and the pizza. Both him and the delivery boy went through this routine. He opened the pizza box beside his computer and began eating, as he continued to read Susie's profile on the company website. Then, he searched her on facebook, twitter and other social media websites. He found several of her pictures online and also several posts and blogs that she had written.
After dinner, he went to youporn, browsed through the many genres in the selection list and finally chose one. Among the many videos, he selected one that had a female who looked quite like Susie. He went on the grab the tissue, as he played the video while imagining an interaction with Susie. After the deed, he washed up and began browsing netflix to binge watch some tv shows. And another night spent. At 5.30 in the morning, he heard some children being noisy outside. He peeked outside to see some children playing cricket early in the morning. He went to his computer and clicked on his calendar to find out that it was state holiday but not a national holiday. This meant that the schools were closed but its not a company holiday. Just then, a cricket ball came through the window and smashed into the mirror. The mirror cracked. He jumped out of his chair and moved quickly towards the mirror. The reflection in the mirror looked chubby with a beard, a bad hair and a gloomy face. He tried to get inside the mirror but couldn't. He slumped down in complete shock. Before he realized it was already 7 AM and he was going to be late for office. He quickly put on some clothes and went to office.
As he walked around, he could feel stares all around. The stares that wondered who this person was. As he went and sat down in his cubicle, his neighbour slid his chair towards him.
"Dude, is that really you? God! you look awful, what happened?"
"N.. Nothing", he responds with his face down and trying to start his computer up.
"Nothing? You look way worse than when you began to work here. I thought you had really brightened up in the past few months. This is a complete reversal in just a day. Wait! Don't tell me! BREAK-UP!", the neighbour began nudging him with a smile as he asked, "Did some one turn you down or something? Dude, you shouldn't get so serious about such things".
Just then the manager swung by, the neighbour took that as a cue to return to his cubicle.
"Hey! How are you?", the manager asked. "You don't look so good. Are you ok?"
"Y.. yes, I am fine", he responds again with his face down.
"I hope you are. By the way, you better clean yourself up before the presentation, I don't want the investors looking at you like that", the manager warned.
"P...presentation?", he had a puzzled look on his face.
"Don't tell me you forgot! Today's the big day, you will be in line for promotion so better not mess it up! I will see you at the conference room later" and the manager walked away.
The conversation with the reflection yesterday slowly dawned upon him and he realized what the manager was talking about. He continued to feel the stares from around the room. It felt uncomfortable, stuffy and it was increasingly becoming harder to breathe. He ran out to the corridor. As soon as he reached the corridor, an elevator opened and he jumped into the elevator. He felt far more secure in that narrow elevator than he did inside his office. The elevator stopped at the roof top. The door opened to an empty roof. He stepped out. The loneliness at the roof top, away from all the gazes and expectations had the cold warmth that he sought. He also knew however that this won't stay for long, as he will be soon found out and pried away from this heaven back to that hell. He pulled out a small paper out of his pocket and wrote something on it with a pen. Then, he walked close to the rails, climbed over them. He took a look below. He could see the mirror there down below without any cracks and his reflection waving at him. He was elated and he jumped towards that mirror.
For the better half of the day, the area outside the company building was abuzz with sadness and confusion. Police had cordoned off the area near the body. The chalk outline on the floor marked the spot, while the body was already taken towards the morgue. The police waited for the autopsy report, but they were fairly certain that it was a suicide. However, the interview with the colleagues was strange. Everyone of them thought that the victim was doing quite well within the company and was up for promotion. And even stranger was the suicide note that they discovered that simply said, "I can't be Me."
Rating: 13+
Word Count: ~1400
The bedroom was not entirely dark, but dimly lit only by the screen of the computer. A young man in his late twenties sat in front of it. The facebook page on the firefox browser refreshed itself, showing some new updates from his friends. A friend of his got married and had uploaded his wedding pics. He clicked on the pics and browsed through the album, liking each one of them at the same time. He stopped at one of the pics that showed the groom. His friend looked handsome, smart, thin, with a bright smile, in that picture. He ran his palm around his cheeks, feeling the thin layer of beard on his face. His hands then slided over his tummy grabbing his love handles. He tried to smile, but the faint reflection on his computer screen disagreed with his own sense of aesthetics. He proceeded to like the picture in the album and move on. Just then rays of light broke through the curtain on the window. The time was 6 AM. He stood up sluggishly, and he moved his body without any real sense of purpose towards the large mirror kept in his bedroom.
The reflection was thin, handsome looking and he gave a bright smile. The reflection even waved at him, but he wouldn't acknowledge it. He simply walked into the mirror and the reflection copied his actions and came out. After they switched their positions, the mirror began to show cracks in many places. The reflection began to stretch its hands and legs. Then it moved to the bathroom, brushed its teeth, shaved and had a bath. After it came out, it made some breakfast for itself and ate it, before it went to work. The reflection came back home at 7.
"Yo! Hows your day been inside the mirror?", the reflection asked.
He came near the mirror but did not respond.
"Do you want to know how awesome a day I had today?", the reflection continued.
He stood there motionless, expressionless.
"Well, let me tell you anyway. The project that I have been working on for the past 5 months, well, its finally launching tomorrow. Not only that, I am also expected to give an investor presentation of the project tomorrow. If all goes well, we could be seeing promotion both in title and salary. How cool is that? By the way, do you remember Susie from finance. I think she is a little bit interested in us, as she asked me out for coffee today. She is smart, bright and was fun to talk to. We discussed about the latest novel from ..."
"Can we just switch places already?", he interrupted, his face still expressionless.
The reflection gave up and stepped inside the mirror, and he came out. After they switched, the cracks in the mirror disappeared. He went back to the computer, and placed an order for pizza online. He went to his company site as he waited for his pizza. He searched for the employee named Susie. Susie from finance was first on the list. She was cute and from the picture he guessed that she was quite well endowed. His pizza arrived and he had a specific routine with the delivery boy. The delivery boy would place the pizza on the doorstep and collect his tip from jar kept beside the door. After the delivery boy left, he would come out and grab both the jar and the pizza. Both him and the delivery boy went through this routine. He opened the pizza box beside his computer and began eating, as he continued to read Susie's profile on the company website. Then, he searched her on facebook, twitter and other social media websites. He found several of her pictures online and also several posts and blogs that she had written.
After dinner, he went to youporn, browsed through the many genres in the selection list and finally chose one. Among the many videos, he selected one that had a female who looked quite like Susie. He went on the grab the tissue, as he played the video while imagining an interaction with Susie. After the deed, he washed up and began browsing netflix to binge watch some tv shows. And another night spent. At 5.30 in the morning, he heard some children being noisy outside. He peeked outside to see some children playing cricket early in the morning. He went to his computer and clicked on his calendar to find out that it was state holiday but not a national holiday. This meant that the schools were closed but its not a company holiday. Just then, a cricket ball came through the window and smashed into the mirror. The mirror cracked. He jumped out of his chair and moved quickly towards the mirror. The reflection in the mirror looked chubby with a beard, a bad hair and a gloomy face. He tried to get inside the mirror but couldn't. He slumped down in complete shock. Before he realized it was already 7 AM and he was going to be late for office. He quickly put on some clothes and went to office.
As he walked around, he could feel stares all around. The stares that wondered who this person was. As he went and sat down in his cubicle, his neighbour slid his chair towards him.
"Dude, is that really you? God! you look awful, what happened?"
"N.. Nothing", he responds with his face down and trying to start his computer up.
"Nothing? You look way worse than when you began to work here. I thought you had really brightened up in the past few months. This is a complete reversal in just a day. Wait! Don't tell me! BREAK-UP!", the neighbour began nudging him with a smile as he asked, "Did some one turn you down or something? Dude, you shouldn't get so serious about such things".
Just then the manager swung by, the neighbour took that as a cue to return to his cubicle.
"Hey! How are you?", the manager asked. "You don't look so good. Are you ok?"
"Y.. yes, I am fine", he responds again with his face down.
"I hope you are. By the way, you better clean yourself up before the presentation, I don't want the investors looking at you like that", the manager warned.
"P...presentation?", he had a puzzled look on his face.
"Don't tell me you forgot! Today's the big day, you will be in line for promotion so better not mess it up! I will see you at the conference room later" and the manager walked away.
The conversation with the reflection yesterday slowly dawned upon him and he realized what the manager was talking about. He continued to feel the stares from around the room. It felt uncomfortable, stuffy and it was increasingly becoming harder to breathe. He ran out to the corridor. As soon as he reached the corridor, an elevator opened and he jumped into the elevator. He felt far more secure in that narrow elevator than he did inside his office. The elevator stopped at the roof top. The door opened to an empty roof. He stepped out. The loneliness at the roof top, away from all the gazes and expectations had the cold warmth that he sought. He also knew however that this won't stay for long, as he will be soon found out and pried away from this heaven back to that hell. He pulled out a small paper out of his pocket and wrote something on it with a pen. Then, he walked close to the rails, climbed over them. He took a look below. He could see the mirror there down below without any cracks and his reflection waving at him. He was elated and he jumped towards that mirror.
For the better half of the day, the area outside the company building was abuzz with sadness and confusion. Police had cordoned off the area near the body. The chalk outline on the floor marked the spot, while the body was already taken towards the morgue. The police waited for the autopsy report, but they were fairly certain that it was a suicide. However, the interview with the colleagues was strange. Everyone of them thought that the victim was doing quite well within the company and was up for promotion. And even stranger was the suicide note that they discovered that simply said, "I can't be Me."
