Reflections — the beginning

I’m an old mirror. I’ve reflected the lives of many people. I have seen things, and I have shown things. As a plain mirror, I never let my thoughts and feelings corrode what I showed. I never distorted images for my own purposes. Or at least, I tried not to. But I must admit, there were times I reflected things in a certain light and hid things. There were times I displayed things to achieve my selfish desires. Please do not think less of me. I may be a plain mirror, supposedly exact in my reflections, but I am not infallible. Neither am I void of emotions. Unfortunately, I am not a god. Here’s an account of one of those times. It is about a boy. A boy named Toyese.

When the Awofesans moved to their new home, I was one of their later purchases. I was carried through the house, catching glimpses of its grand splendor. There was a brief squabble about whose room I was to be placed in, the options being Toyese’s or his elder sister Tolu’s room. I think the original plan for me was to be in Tolu’s room because I was taken there first and propped on the wall, loosely I might add. I observed the parts of her room that I could see and was struck by the amount of character it portrayed. Her walls were bright pink with paintings of rainbows, clouds and a thunderstorm. She had posters of cute cartoon figures on the wall opposite me, followed by collection of dark posters of weird creatures. On the floor, there was a scattering of dolls, teddy bears and legos built into the most amazing of things. There was such a meld of personality in that room and while I was taking it in, Tolu jumped in front of me staring absentmindedly at her figure while she chatted with her parents. She was in middle of rejecting me, claiming my design did not match her plans for her room. It was then concluded that I be taken to Toyese’s room.

Toyese’s room was a stark opposite of Tolu’s room. At first glance, there was nothing special about it. The walls were a cross between grey and blue with no posters or painting upon them. I could see some of his shoes tidily arranged in a shelf and he had some books scattered on his bed. While I was being placed on his wall, Toyese barely looked up from the book he was reading. In fact, he remained engrossed in his book for the majority of that day, barely moving and remaining fixedly in my sight. Because of this, I had ample time to study him that first day. Although more than half of his face was covered by his book, I succeeded in seeing the rest of it during the moments he snuck glances at himself through me. He kept on sneaking glances at himself, almost as if he expected to see something different with each glance. But as a true plain mirror, all he ever saw was his curious eyes staring back at him, imitating his every expression. Then Tolu exploded into his room, already talking animatedly as though they had been conversing prior to her entry. He took one last look at himself, with which I noted the change in his eyes from curious to excited, and hurried towards Tolu to engage her in conversation.

They discussed everything. They argued about the strength of characters in the book Toyese was currently reading. They covered topics that seemed completely random like what they would do if they were the leaders of a mountain tribe. Their conversations intrigued me and they spoke at great lengths, the energy and excitement never diminishing. They spoke and played until late at night when their parents came in and sent Tolu to sleep. As she left, I noticed the excitement drain from Toyese’s eyes as he went to bed slowly and somewhat lethargically. Forty five minutes later, I saw Tolu sneak into Toyese’s room and their banter continued. It was a joy to watch their bond. They spoke with light in their eyes and lit up the night. This sort of behaviour repeated itself many nights and I was the only observer, fortunate enough to witness the beauty of two souls completing each other. It was also at one of these late night meetings that tragedy struck. But fear not, this is not a completely sad story…