MIRRORS

It was a bright Sunday morning and the opening day of the WAHAHA amusement park. It was said to be the most modern of its kind in the country and consequently, only a few lucky schools had gotten hold of the pass for the first day through lucky draw. The air was sweet with laughter and in every corner of the park excitement bloomed in full cry but even the atmosphere of happiness; some people were knee-deep in doing their bad deeds again. This would be lovebirds, Tony and Sonia. Both were prefects and possibly because of their status in school, they considered themselves a cut above other normal people. Bullying younger kids, making fun of other students was their habit and even hear they were no better. Suddenly, Sonia sees her classmate Rani going in the roller coaster with her two friends, Monty and Jimmy and calls out to her jeeringly,

“Are you going to ride the roller coaster, Rani?”

“Yes, Sonia. But why do you care?” asked Rani.

With the utmost disdain she could muster in her voice, Sonia replies,

“Just be careful for the roller coaster might break down under fat Monty’s weight”.

Tony, who had kept a sneer on his face until the insult was said, now roared with apparent and obvious mirth. Then, Tony took Sonia’s hand in his own and led her to his favorite place in the park, The Mirror House. There they looked at their reflections in different types of mirrors and depending upon their reflections insulted others and exulted about how perfect they were. Tony, upon looking into a concave mirror quickly remarked,

“Yuck, I look so fat and ugly here, just like Monty”

“And I look, in this convex mirror short and scrimpy, just like Jimmy. I am just so glad that we are not like those fools Tony. Oh! How I love being the perfect person.”

The comment had barely been uttered that the ground beneath them vanished and they got plunged into a dark hole, and after falling for a few seconds landed untidily but safely on some sort of glass floor and all the mirrors had suddenly vanished. Puzzled beyond belief the pair ran out as fast as their legs could carry them only to find that they were in some different place. The amusement park was still there but no people were present. All the houses were shiny as glass, and seemingly they were made out the glass rather than bricks and cement. Barely had the two got over their hysteria of seeing a place as if carved by magic, they were suddenly startled to hear a voice behind them. They turn sharply only to find themselves face to face with a short square type talking mirror. The stupor which the two experienced when they saw the talking mirror is indescribable, not to mention the fact that they were stupefied to see a large crowd behind the mirror man, only that the crowd seemed to be made out of different shaped glass humans instead of normal people, but they soon got over it and demanded with anger why they were here and how they had gotten here. The mirror explained,

“We heard you two say you were perfect and thus have been brought here to prove your worth. One of you will have to complete a challenge in front of the lenses of judgment and only then will you be able to get out of here.”

“Challenges? Bring them on so we go home quickly,” said Tony scoffing and cracking his knuckles at the same time.

Tony and Sonia were in for another surprise. Their three challengers were none other than Rani, Monty, and Jimmy except that they were reversed. Fat Monty was skinny, short Rani was fat and Jimmy the tall one had become short. The first challenge was arm wrestling and the two had the option to choose any one of the trio as their first opponent. Tony went first and chose Monty as his opponent thinking that a skinny version of the fat Monty would be much weaker and an easy foe to defeat. But he was in for a shock. Monty defeated him like a knife slicing through butter. He asked stumped,

“How could a skinny version of Monty be strong enough to defeat me?”

“I had always been stronger than you, Tony, fat or not. I am the school shot-put champion after all.” Monty retorted with a smile. Disheartened and sad, Tony sat down on the pavement with his head in his hand. Sonia then told him that she could still save them by winning her challenge which she was confident she will as it a race. Tony instantly cheered up and started to discuss with her whom she should choose as an opponent. Finally, she speaks up,

“I choose short Jimmy.”

They both start to run but soon Sonia is overtaken by Jimmy who wins the race easily. Sonia gasped and sputtered for breath, and she looked astonished and surprised that she lost for she thought herself.

“How….how did I lose!? Sonia exclaimed. “You didn’t even have your long legs this time.”

“You don’t have to be tall to win a race, Sonia.” Said Jimmy exasperated. “The world’s running champions are not always the tallest of men.”

Sad, Disheartened and shocked at their loss, both wander away from the challenge podium and sit at the pool. Suddenly Tony says,

“We shouldn’t have underestimated our opponents. If we wouldn’t have, we would never have been stuck here for the rest of our life.”

“I always thought that we were perfect but now our realization will not get us home,” replied Sonia with tears in her eyes.

“Hey guys, look at those two.” Said Jimmy laughing “Looks like they could use some cheering up.”

“Let’s push them into the lake, maybe they will feel happier after a swim.” Suggested Rani.

The three of them grab hold of Tony and Sonia, and toss them into the pool, disregarding their pleas to not do so. But as soon as the two hit the water, the world went dark again, and they were sucked down a hole which suddenly appeared in the pool, and after a few seconds of falling and screaming in terror, Sonia and Tony are flung on the floor of the real world’s mirror house. They look around in astonishment, and then start to jump in joy at having come back safely. Then Sonia asks, a little baffled,

“But, How? We never got past the challenges.”

“The pool!” Tony exclaimed after some seconds of thought.

“It was the lens of judgment. It saw we realized our mistake and were repentant for it, so sent us back home!” exclaimed Tony, as they made their way out of the mirror world, and towards the roller coaster.

Suddenly Rani and Monty come around the corner, their real versions, and ask,

“Have you guys seen Jimmy?” they both inquired.

“Why what happened to him?” asked back Tony puzzled.

“He has disappeared. One minute he was making fun of two kids about how short they were and then he vanished into thin air.” Monty replied. “He vanished around the mirror world. So do you know where he is?”

“Oh! Then I guess there’s no need for worry.” Said Tony.

“He will turn up in some time, or at least, as long as it takes for him to repent.” Said Sonia smiling.

“What are you two talking about?” asked Monty perplexed, but the two just walked away chuckling.