The you you see

Prompt: Mirror
The you you see

Asa Kelleher
As you walk through the world you often see yourself through the lens of a puddle or a shiny piece of metal. You see yourself in these reflections but you’ve changed. The reflection of you grows as well. Is it living its own life in there, you wonder? Is the you that you see the same you each time or is it really just your imagination? One day your positive, the you that you see in your reflection has changed, more than usual. It’s gone down a different path, an alternate root of life. You grow together, but still on your own. One of you might become a successful doctor earning six figures while the other might never make it out of highschool. 

This divide grows. You become separate from yourself. In a way the you you see is an alternate version of yourself but in a way you're not positive that you are not the alternate version of the you you see. This scares you. Is this you you’ve started to spend so much time on figuring out really just the procrastination free version of yourself? Or are you simply the one who made one wrong decision setting in motion the spiral that would lead to widening the divide between you and the you you see. 

One day you sit down in front of the you you see, this time they are found in a large, expansive mirror, stretching from floor to ceiling of an endless wall. As you study the you you see you become centered. After what feels like forever of watching someone else who is somehow yourself live an entirely different life it’s as if it is still you. You and the you you see start to become one again, and now you are sure that you’re the you you see.