The Mirror by J. Morris (read dune txt) 📕

The room grew silent as she performed her rendition. Most were smiling, a sign that Mary took as meaning she was singing beautifully, but in fact most thought it was a bit amusing, others felt sorry and embarrassed for her; watching this young woman obviously affected by alcohol and trying to sing but failing miserably. Some patrons looked at each other as if the sound was hurting their ears. Mary was in a world of her own as she put her heart and soul into the chorus, completely off key, somehow singing in multiple keys at the same time.

‘…..Coz I am your laaaadyyyyy, and you are my maaaannn
Whenever you reach for me, I'll do all that I caaaann
We're heading for something, somewhere I've never beeeeen
Sometimes I am frightened, but I'm ready to learn
About the powwwerrrr of loooovvve……’

              When the song finished the room was dead silent. Mary smiled, convinced that they were dazzled by her raw talent. After a few seconds Adele applauded enthusiastically, and one or two others clapped lightly.

“Thank you,” she said into the microphone. “That song has special meaning for me.”

She staggered a little as she went back to Adele at their table. Mary’s face was beaming. She was on a high.

“Well done, Babe!” said Adele, not wanting to discourage her after she had taken such a huge step by getting up there.

“Was I good?” asked Mary excitedly.

“You were bloody fantastic!” replied Adele.

Mary beamed with pride.

“Can you wait here while I go to the ladies'?” Adele asked.

“Want me to come with you?”

“No,” replied Adele. “Someone will take our table. Stay here, Mary. Don’t Move. Ok?”

“Ok.”

           Adele disappeared into the crowd and Mary took a sip of her drink. No one else had gotten up to sing Karaoke, and the dance music had started up again. Mary was nodding her head and tapping her foot to the beat as she looked around at the other patrons.  She noticed a few of them glancing her way and obviously talking about her. A couple of guys approached her.

“Hi,” said one.

“Hello,” said Mary.

“We were just wondering where you learned to sing like that.”

“Oh, I’ve never taken lessons,” replied Mary, smiling. “It’s my natural voice.”

“Well,” he said, “maybe you should. You sounded like a fucking ham sandwich.”

The 2 guys laughed to each other.

Mary was speechless and on the verge of tears.

“Hey,” said the other as he put his arm around her shoulders. “Do you want to dance?”

“No,” she said, trying to shrug his arm off.

“Well then, how about a quickie out the back?”

“No, I’m not like that,” said Mary cringing, wriggling, and trying to push his arm off her shoulder; getting more upset by the second.

“Well, someone that looks like you shouldn’t be so fussy. We’re the best offer you’re likely to get.”

Mary felt as if her heart had just been ripped from her chest. She burst into tears and ran from the bar. She jumped in the first taxi in the rank.

“Are you alright?” asked the cab driver.

“I just want to go home,” she sobbed.

She gave him the address and cried the whole trip.

           Mary entered her apartment and threw herself on the bed and cried into her pillow. What a disaster, she thought. Oh why did I go there? How could I think I’d fit in? Her phone rang for the third unanswered time, and she heard the third voicemail notification. She finally listened to the voicemail. She knew it would be Adele.

“Mary, it’s me. Where are you? Are you alright? Please call me and let me know you’re ok.”

Mary sent her a text message.

“I’m sorry Adele. I’m ok. I’m home.”

           She lay there for 5 minutes or so until she got herself together. She looked over at the bedsheet on the mirror and went to it. She needed Danny. She needed him to tell her it was ok. She pulled the sheet aside just enough to peek through and saw Danny lying on the pillow, tears streaming from his eyes.

The movement of the sheet caught his attention and his eyes darted to the mirror. He looked horrified. The mirror suddenly turned opaque and Mary could no longer see through it. She realised then that just as they could see each other when they so desperately wanted to, it could also work in reverse. Danny obviously didn’t want Mary to see him in such a distressed state.

Suddenly Mary’s problems seemed so insignificant and small. So what if she can’t sing. So what if people think she’s ugly. Danny doesn’t, and his opinion was the only one that mattered.

 She only caught a glimpse of Danny, but she saw the haunted look in his eyes, and she knew he was hurting much more than she was. About what, she didn’t know. She only knew that she wanted to help him. She wanted to hold him and take his pain away.

          Mary would never know the horrors and the terrors that tormented Danny’s mind…the images that returned regularly to haunt him. The vivid memories of his time in prison. Danny had promised to tell her everything but he knew he could never share those memories. He could never pass that burden on to someone else, especially a loved one.

            The drive to prison in the van was the first indication of his time ahead. Two other prisoners shared the ride. They were huge and menacing. Danny thought they looked like biker gang members, covered in tattoos, even their faces. Danny realised his gang, the ‘Southsiders’ was just like a bunch of kids compared to real criminals. They stared at him the whole way without saying a word. One blew him a kiss several times, making Danny feel uneasy.

On arrival at the prison he was processed and taken to a room where they made him strip and bend over, telling him to expose himself for inspection for contraband. The guards then turned a fire hose on him. Danny had never felt so afraid and humiliated.

They gave him his prison uniform and when he was dressed they led him through the main corridor of the cell block to his cell.

As they passed other prisoners Danny was subjected to threats of violence, cat-calls, whistling.

“We’ll be paying you a visit tonight, Sweetheart.” shouted one, and he blew Danny a kiss.

 “Looks like you’re in for a good time here Jackson,” said one of the guards.

They arrived at Danny’s cell where he met his cellmate “Jim”, who was lying on his bed reading a book.

Jim was about fifty years old, hardened looking with his muscly arms covered in tattoos. “Hi, I’m Danny.”

“Shut the fuck up. The top bunks yours. Never talk to me while I’m reading.”

“Sorry”

“I said don’t fuckin’ talk. Are you deaf?”

Danny shook his head. His life had collided with harsh reality. The 1ST day of his 2 months in hell had begun.

CHAPTER 8

            It was Saturday night. Danny was waiting at the table when Mary removed the bedsheet. They both smiled. Their tables were still at the mirror where they had left them and they sat, gazing at each other affectionately.

Whatever had caused Danny’s distress the night before had obviously gone, and Mary decided not bring it up in conversation, unless he himself raised the subject. She was just glad to see him happy again.

“I had an idea today, Mary” he wrote.

Mary looked at him, expectantly.

“This is so hard, all this writing’ he continued. “What if we try and hear each other through the mirror? We can see, maybe we can hear too.”

“But how?”

“Mary, what if we concentrated so hard, so deeply, on hearing each other speak.”

Mary shrugged. “Ok,” she wrote.

“Ok, just start talking,” he wrote. “About anything, but concentrate on speaking to me. Really concentrate.”

Mary took a deep breath and began. “Danny. Hello Danny. Can you hear me? Come in Danny.” She stopped after 20 seconds or so. Nothing.

Danny did the same, just saying random things.

Still nothing.

He wrote and held it up. “Harder, Mary. Concentrate hard, as if you’re trying to send your words directly to my mind as well as through your voice.”

Mary concentrated, and began saying the words out loud as well as in her mind, imagining sending the words directly via some kind of ESP, directly into Danny’s mind, staring intensely into his eyes, wanting more than anything to hear his voice, and for Danny to hear hers.

Danny put his ear against the mirror. He could just make out a soft murmur. He excitedly nodded to Mary. He gestured with his hand to keep going. Mary kept talking, a little louder than before. Danny was beginning to make out the words she was saying.

“Mary. Please Mary. Please hear me,” he began saying into the glass. Mary stopped talking to listen as Danny kept repeating his words.

“Yes! Yes!” she said excitedly, nodding to Danny.

They stopped and gazed at each other. Danny sat down close to the mirror and Mary did the same. Danny put his face closer and so did Mary.

“Can you hear me?” he asked in a slightly louder voice.

Mary nodded. She could faintly hear his words, but watching his mouth as he spoke made it easier to understand. They kept talking, saying random things, talking about events of their day. The more they talked the clearer their voices became until after about 10 minutes they could hear each other at their normal speaking volume.

They stopped and stared into each other’s eyes, grinning like idiots.

   “I didn’t want to tell you this on a piece of paper,” he said.

  “Tell me what?”

   “I love you Mary.”

An ecstatic tingle shot through Mary’s entire body. “I love you too.”

They put a hand to the glass. They leaned across the table and kissed.

“You have the voice of an angel, you know” he said.

“So do you,” she replied, and realised her mistake. “Oh god, I’ve done it again haven’t I? I’m so stupid sometimes.”

“No you’re not…you’re beautiful. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”

Mary could not have been more in love than she was in that moment. “I don’t care what you’ve done, Danny. I don’t care about what you were before. I only care about the person you are now. The guy I love. Tell me again. Tell me you love me.”

“I love you Mary.”

          In Mary’s mind the stars and the planets had aligned themselves at that very moment. This was exactly where she was meant to be, with the love of her life. Fate had brought them together. Hearing Danny say he loves her released an overdose of pleasure hormones into her brain. She felt as if her heart was being gently and lovingly caressed like an angel’s harp. The feeling was almost a spiritual experience.

       “What do you see in me Danny? You could have any girl you want. Why me?”

Danny pondered her question.

“I don’t know exactly. Everything, I guess. It’s not just one thing. That first night when I saw you I just knew you were the one. I’ve never wanted anyone or anything as much as I want you. I see you, Mary, and you’re all I want. You’re everything to me.”

“You’re my first real boyfriend, you know.”

“That’s so hard to believe.”

“It’s true. No one ever looked twice at me. That’s probably my fault to a large extent. I’m not really very sociable.”

“That’s because you undersell yourself. Remember that corny line I fed you. About being a flower still in the pod?”

“Yeh,” said Mary with a grin. “That was definitely corny.”

“But it was the truth. I look at you now and you glow. You light up the room.”

They looked into each other’s eyes.

“I love you Danny.”

“I’d die for you,” he replied.

Chapter 9

            Over the following months the relationship between Mary and Danny grew. Never in her life had she believed she could be so happy. She