Mirror, Mirror

You know how the internet is full of videos of animals that fight their reflection? For Jo, mirrors had been an enemy when she was forced to look like a doll for family events in her childhood. But they had since evolved into an ally that helped her to not stick out. It’s more difficult than you’d think. Looking nice enough that there is no gossip behind your back, yet not so nice that you attract too much attention. It was also lucky that people back in school did not care as much about fashion as American movies might suggest. All this time, she never really felt seen in mirrors. It was as if they only allowed her to do quality control on a costume that was crafted for her surroundings. It also fitted the shortening of her name. While “Jo”, without her standing there or the name attached to a picture, would cause initial confusion, it wouldn’t paint as much of a picture as Josephine. Josephine sounded like a doll with a frilly dress, whereas Jo was able to blend in anywhere.

And now it was time to blend in, in a new city. The move brought new surroundings and an old little flat. The previous owner had died and their niece, who was good friends with Jo’s parents, had agreed to rent it out to Jo for her studies. It was nice and central and a lot of the old furniture was still intact. Including an old mirror. It was pretty dusty, so you couldn’t clearly see your reflection, but it just needed to be properly cleaned.

Jo started uni the next day and overslept thanks to her alarm not going off. She quickly put on jeans and a shirt in neutral colors and grabbed her bag. While passing the mirror she could have sworn she saw something bright red in her reflection. But before she could go back to take another look in the mirror, her feet had carried her out the door and her hands closed the door.

Just in time, she entered the presentation for the first-semester students. Next to her was a girl who, for lack of a better description, looked like a unicorn. She had colorful highlights in her blond hair and matching clothes. After the other orientation events, she went back to Jo and invited her to hang out with some people at the riverside. Jo agreed and when she mentioned that she had forgotten to bring a jacket, she was quickly pulled into a thrift shop. Her new friend seemed to fit right in and before Jo could even look for the most neutral jacket they had in this sea of unique items, she had a bright red leather jacket thrown at her. Since she didn’t find any reason to argue, she ended up buying it.

She had a great time, met more new people, and got home shortly past midnight. When she was about to take off the jacket, she remembered the flash of red in the morning and cleaned the mirror. She saw her reflection and she liked herself in the jacket. It was a great jacket. And even though it wasn’t her normal style, it somehow felt right, and the mirror somehow highlighted that.

In the following weeks, Jo noticed the mirror giving her suggestions whenever she passed it. Sometimes it was an outfit, sometimes accessories, a hairstyle or make-up. Eventually, the mirror started showing Jo exactly as she was, without suggestions and, for the first time, she felt seen in a mirror.