Look in the mirror.

  It is the face of a stranger.

  "Not so", you say. "That is me. It is my face reflected in the mirror."

  And from one angle, you are right.

  Do you remember that old visual gag. The one where a character steps infront of an open doorway, and another character plays the part of the mirror reflection. And the first character is such a bumbling fool that they do not even realize that their "reflection" does not even match their dimensions. And we laugh at the disparity or at the foolishness of both characters. At one for thinking the other would ever believe the lie. And at the other. For believing it.

  You no doubt see where I am leading us, intelligent meat that you are. Your mind already conjuring the many justifications against my point of view.

  You think of me as a one trick pony. "This again." But I do beseech you. If you consider yourself to be someone who values truth over peace of mind.

  Find a mirror.

  I want to show you something.

  ---

  What color are your eyes? You don't have to be precise, what's the ballpark figure for your eye color?

  Mine are brown. A little fact for you. To build trust between us. Now it's your turn. What do you see in your eyes?

  Look away. Trace your facial features. You no doubt have some opinion on them. Maybe you like some over others. Maybe you even dislike some over others. Maybe you like them individually, but feel off about the whole. Maybe you're indifferent to your face overall.

  Your face isn't for you after all.

  Faces are like funerals. They're held in the name of the deceased, but they're really for the living.

  Your face is for other people.

  We worry about our faces, some more than others. We worry about what our faces say about ourselves. Do I have a kind face, a trustworthy face, an evil face? Do I have a face only a mother could love?

  We look in the mirror and in the camera and to other people to figure out our face. And with good reason. Our faces make or break us. Looking good can mean the difference between rejection and success. You can deny it, say that personality and sociability counts as well. I never denied it. But personality needs time, and sociability takes effort. A good face is quick.

  Do you have a good face?

  You have eyes, presumably, if you're reading this. Eyes vaguely in the right place we hope. A nose too, perhaps. A mouth certainly. Is that enough for a good face? A good face, one that makes the difference.

  Check the mirror. Is that a good face?

  Smile. Better or worse?

  It's too fake. I can tell. Something around the eyes. Too stiff.

  Relax. Try again.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  There, see. You don't smile with your eyes. You look cold. Like a liar. Like someone with a bad face.

  Lose the smile. Try again, this time involve the eyes. Get some laugh lines around your eyes.

  Are you even trying? You look so tired. Aren't you happy? Why do you look so sad? You should smile more. But not like that.

  Maybe you should do some facial exercises. Stretches. So you can smile properly.

  Try again.

  What's wrong? Tired of this? Maybe bored?

  What do you expect if you didn't even find a mirror, if you didn't even commit. Do you even want to understand? Aren't you afraid? Of not knowing? Of not seeing what it is everyone else sees when they look at you?

  Funerals are for the living, your face is for others. But wouldn't you want to know what your funeral is like? Or maybe you're tired of it, tired of putting on your own funeral everyday. I can relate. But needs must when the devil drives. And the devil drives all of us. So brush your teeth, comb your hair. Pluck, poke, and patch up the wounds. Because your face is for others.

  You are a walking funeral. Make sure the flowers are fresh and ready for mourning. And cover the mirrors. It would not do to see the dead in the glass.

  Yes, you have your eyes and nose and mouth, all in more or less the right place. Or so you hope. After all, your face is for others. You can't be sure. You know what you want in other faces, but you don't know what other's want in your face.

  'I think therefore I am.' I can think. Even thinking that I don't exist is an act of thought. If I can think, I must exist.

  Is there a reason you haven't gotten a mirror yet? Is it a good reason? I'm sure it is. There's always a good reason. Did you come up with that reason or did meat?

  Have you ever looked yourself in the eye? Really looked? Looked at yourself like you were someone else, trying to understand this person in the mirror.

  Reached out to judge how far the person in the mirror was... an arm plus the reflection's arm...

  Looked at their expression like it was aimed at you... expressionless, like you don't even exist...

  It's hard to do it. The mirror is for us afterall. It's part of a loop, like pain.

  Touch something hot and react by pulling away.

  Look in the mirror and react to the information provided. Change your posture, or fiddle with your hair, or smile.

  What if you didn't though. What if you just.. looked. Waited for the other person to do something first. What if you gave your reflection permission.

  What if you decided to be the reflection.

  Absurd of course. That's just your reflection. You are you and it is but a shadow of you. Or so says your brain. Meat. Ever so happy to make observations and judgements of mere glances of others. Somehow unable to do it when looking in the mirror. But aren't you curious? What do people see when they look at you? Who do they see when you're not watching? Is it the same person you see when you look in the mirror? How can you be sure?

  Take another look. Take a closer look. What color are your eyes? Are the the same color as before? Can you be sure?

  When you look into your reflection, how can you know that your reflection isn't looking at you? Trying to tell what color your eyes are. So it can get them just right.

  There was a time before mirrors you know. Before mirrors and cameras and perfect reflections. When we used to see ourselves at a remove, warped and distorted by water or metal. We never saw ourselves with the clarity we do now. What does that do to a person, to an organic being. To see itself - perfectly mirrored. To look into our own eye, like it's another person. Are we the same as the person in the mirror? Is that us?

  Does it have our soul?

  Do you see your soul in the mirror? The famous light behind the eyes? Is it in the left eye or the right eye? Circling the colored iris, or in the black hole of the pupil. See it twitch slightly as the light changes and your head moves. Is that a flicker of the soul in there? Is that... it is... your soul. The mirror has your soul.

  Take a step back now, and watch your soul step back. Look your soul in the eyes, just between, and see how it looks right back. Is this what others see? Do they see your soul as well, or just the shell? The meat?

  Take another step back and take in the whole of it, of you. The eyes and the face and the torso and the limbs. Watch as your soul does the same. Observing you with the same blank expression you have. Is this what others see?

  Take another step back if you can. Your soul is so distant now, in the small of your eyes. So far away, inside the you on the other side of the glass. If you look away, willl it stay there, in the glass, or will it come with you. It must come with you, it's yours after all. But then again... you spent so long staring into that glass, into your face. You stood infront of something you were never meant to see, something you were never made to see. No part of your evolution accounted for this, no part of your brain was ever meant to experience your own face in such sublime detail, such sharp, clear focus. You saw your soul in your eyes. You were never meant to see your own eyes. It was meant for others.

  You are a living funeral.

  ---

  Blink. You are alive. Your reflection is a reflection. And your soul, if you have one, if such a thing exists, can only rest in your own body. Of course.As a matter of fact, you have not even looked into a mirror yet, regardless of what the writer of this... thing... has asked of you. How could you have, given that you have only two eyes, both busy reading.

  Interesting though the thought might be, you have no fear that looking in a mirror would steal your soul. How absurd to even consider it. After all, for the premise to be true, if anything else could ever be true, you would have to have stared into a mirror. A reflection of your soul.

  Any emptiness you feel, any desire to fill a hole in yourself though web novels and manga and shows and movies and work is simply the result of... what? Capitalism? Mental illness? Boredom?

  Never mind. This was a mediocre way to pass the time. You should move onto something else now. A different novel perhaps. Or maybe a different app entirely.

  Then again, you have been staring at a screen for a while. It may be time to take a break.

  Yes... After this chapter ends. I'll take a break. Close the device, watch the screen fade to black and...

  Oh.

  Isn't it funny how you only notice your reflection in the screen when you turn it off?