The Image in the Mirror

The Image in the Mirror
For Chris

Once upon a time there was a young man in desperate need of a companion. All his life he had been alone and his desire to be wanted and loved and to love someone else was overpowering. Every day he roamed to the earth, and his journeys took him to far places, but his search remained in vain. Then one day, while passing through a little meadow, he happened upon a small castle. Weary from his travels, he hoped to find friendly lodging from its proprietor. The proprietor did indeed prove be as gracious as the young man had hoped, and to his delight, was a beautiful enchantress. She fed him and gave him comfortable accommodations and tended to all his needs. So wonderful was her hospitality that the young man could not bring himself to leave her. He had hoped that after all of his searching, he had found the companion he had so longed for in her.

The enchantress, herself, like the young man, was alone in the world, and she was pleased with her boarder. So much so, that she never wanted him to leave her, so, she gave him a beautiful amulet to ware around his neck. This amulet gave the young man a wonderful sense of self worth and value, and the feeling of being needed. For the first time, the young man felt complete, and he was grateful to the enchantress for giving him what it was that he wanted. So grateful was he that he promised to never leave her.

After a while, however, the young man’s gratitude and commitment to the enchantress was not enough to suffice her jealous and possessive nature. She was sure that her amulet did not possess enough power to secure his love so she locked him in a small room with a door made from a mirror. Faithfully, the young man allowed her to hold him prisoner, but his spirit began to grow restless. The enchantress would often appear to him in the mirror, but she was no longer real, only an illusion. He began to plead with her to let her to let him leave the room, but she denied him. She would only remind him of his promise to her and threaten to take away his amulet if he ever left her. The young man, still ingratiated for the gift of the amulet and her companionship, would back down to the enchantress and vow to stay in her possession.

Days would pass, and the young man would spend his time waiting for his enchantress to appear to him in the mirror and watching the world pass by from his small barred window. On a few occasions, a person would pass by the window, and the young man would call out to that person in hopes to gain some company and conversation. Behind the bars of his prison, he would reach out to the world that he could no longer touch, but his restraints prevented him from securing any true friendships. Anyone that stopped to converse with him would never stay for long because they had no way of getting close enough to him to create a meaningful friendship, or, were chased away by the jealous enchantress.

One day, a lovely young woman passed by the young man’s window, and as became his custom, he called out to her. Curiously, she answered his call. She was amazed and saddened at the young man’s predicament and questioned the nature of his imprisonment. The young man explained to her his situation and commitment to his beloved yet jealous enchantress.

“And what do you get from this arrangement” questioned the lovely young woman.

“This” he said, pointing to his amulet. “She has given me the sense of self worth and she needs me”

“I see,” replied the young woman. “And where is your enchantress?”

“There”, he said, pointing to the mirrored door. “She comes to me in the mirror and keeps me company on occasion”

The young woman, who was very discerning, looked into the mirror, but only saw the reflection of the imprisoned young man. “So,” she said, grasping for clarification, “it’s the image in the mirror that’s keeping you prisoner?”

“Well,” stammered the young man, “yes, I guess you could say that…”

The young woman nodded in understanding, for she understood more about the nature of the young man’s imprisonment than even the young man did.

The young woman visited the young man often, and she found him to be a wonderful person and a good friend, even though his imprisonment limited her ability to get close to him. The young man, as well, found comfort and solace in the company he kept with the young woman and began to realize that she felt the same way. Even more importantly, unlike the enchantress, she did not come to him as an illusion.

“Doesn’t it bother you that you have to be alone to please your enchantress” asked the young woman one day.

“But I’m not alone,” replied the young man with a smile “I have you”.

“Have me?” laughed the young woman “You call this having me? You have yet to touch more than just the tips of my fingers!” Then the discerning young woman realized that although she was a source of comfort to the young man, she had to be much more.

“Why don’t you leave your prison?” she asked the young man, already knowing the answer to her own question, but she knew he didn’t.

“Because I am kept here.” He retorted.

“By the image in the mirror?” she questioned looking passed the young man at his reflection in the mirror. Again she already knew the true answer to her own question.

“Yes” said the young man.

“And what would happen if you left?”

“My enchantress would take away my amulet, and besides, I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to.”

“Why” redirected the young woman.

“Because I can’t get out!” explained the young man, a bit frustrated with his friend whom he knew to be fully aware of his situation.

“Why can’t you get out?” relentlessly questioned the young woman.

“Because I don’t have a key!” he shouted at her, irritated at her seeming denseness.

The young woman only responded by leaning into the bars of the small window and reaching her hand out “Yes you do,” she said extending her finger to touch his amulet. “And I’ll be waiting out here for you if and when you so choose to use it” Then, once again, she looked passed the young man to his reflection in the mirror and pointed towards it, “Look! There is your capture now!”

The young man jumped in fear thinking that his enchantress had chosen this moment to visit him, catching him with his lovely young women. But when he turned to face the mirror, he only saw his own reflection.

Confused, he turned back to his window to question his friend, but she was gone. So, he waited, but she did not return. After many days of being alone, he realized how much he missed his friend. She had given him nothing but her time, her company and her acceptance, but somehow those things seemed to be far more real gifts than the amulet that hung around his neck and the distant interactions with his enchantress. The longer he went without seeing his friend, the more he felt his loneliness. He grew increasingly more depressed with each day, and he began to resent his enchantress who demanded so much of him by imprisoning him yet gave him so little in return. It became apparent to the young man that he did not find in the enchantress the love that he really wanted and needed but still he refused to leave her, even if he could, because the alternative of wondering the earth once again was frightening to him.

So, there, alone in his room, he stayed, thinking about the wonderful friend he could not reach and the last moments he had spent with her. Her last words to him were a riddle and he ran them over and over through his head. He thought that she purposely had played a cruel joke on him making him think that his enchantress was there right before the young woman left him. He could not understand why she had done that or what she meant about his amulet being the key. He just kept remembering seeing his own reflection when he turned to face the mirror… and then in one moment after so long a time of thinking about it, he realized the young woman was referring to his own image.

Touching the amulet that hung around his neck, he walked up to the mirror and faced his reflection. It seemed as distant, for a brief moment, as the image of his enchantress when she appeared there, but then he realized that unlike his enchantress he was really there. After all this time, he found the person he had been looking for, and he never even had to go anywhere to find him, he had always been right there, and he was looking at him! This realization finally gave him the courage to want to leave his prison. He knew now that he never had to search again. Giving his amulet a hard yank, he broke it away from his neck. Using its power of self worth and value, he held it up to the mirror and a keyhole appeared, a keyhole in the exact shape of his amulet.

With the power of self worth and value, he opened the door to his prison, and walked out. He searched the castle for his enchantress, but he only found empty rooms, and he realized that she was never really real so, he left the castle. Like she had promised, his lovely young woman friend was waiting for him, and, to his delight, so were many others who had passed by the window of his prison. He knew now that upon finding himself, he would never find himself to be alone again.

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