I looked before me into a face, and it stared at me, vacantly, lifeless.

The lips tried to smile, but seemed more like a scary grimace.

Unsettled, I tried not to avert my gaze, although something pulled me to do so. My fear overtook me, and I was shaking out of control—this face, so familiar, on the other hand, so foreign.

I peered once again, hesitantly, with trembling fingers, I touched the reflection and started crying wantonly.

©2025, Vasiliki Papadopoulou.

_{Picture ©: In front of the mirror by Dimitris Mytaras}

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