Quiet Obsessions | Teen Ink

Quiet Obsessions MAG

February 27, 2012
By directorchick419 GOLD, Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania
directorchick419 GOLD, Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania
15 articles 0 photos 15 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I'd wanted to stay on that porch with him until the sun shone bright on both of us, but i didn't. I stood up and walked down the steps. I'd rather chase the sun than wait for it." from I am the Messanger by Markus Zusak.


We all have our quiet obsessions. Something that grabs our eye, holds our attention, our heart. Something we can't help but look at. I'm not sure if it's because we are looking for something, or if the something is looking for us. But regardless, we all feel it. That pull, that whisper that softly beckons us. That perverted wonderment of an object. The invisible strings that bind us to the inanimate. Even in the object's absence, we feel the strings tightening, drawing us back toward it.

Those quiet obsessions vary as much as the people who harbor them. We never speak of them, but I can tell by the look in people's eyes. The way they look at stars, or a gun, or a book. The way they pause in front of a window. I recognize that look, because it's the same one I have every night.

I have a quiet obsession. I don't speak to others about it. I've always had it, but at the same time I seem to discover it anew every day. Still, I am strong. When I am around others, I can ignore it, until I am alone.

My obsession is mirrors.

Mirrors – not my reflection. I used to think that was it, but then I realized that I don't even think twice when I catch my reflection on a spoon or in the window. But when I see a mirror, my heart stops. My breath is released. And there is only a mirror. One mirror in all the world. Beyond the edges of the mirror is nothing, but I am content to live in the mirror.

I suppose it began when I was a girl. My mother would sit me up by her vanity and brush out my curls each night. And she would whisper these stories about magic mirrors. As I grew, so did the obsession. I would sit for hours in front of the bathroom mirror and just stare. Eventually, I would move, and I'd watch as the girl in the mirror did too. I'd feel control.

The girl was my puppet. I had the power to help and hurt her. I could make her laugh. I could dress her up and make her beautiful. But that wasn't what made me powerful. I could cut off her hair. I could strip her naked. I could make her cry. I could make her bleed. I thought I had the power, but ­really it was the mirror. Because without it, I had nothing.

The obsession deepened when I bought a full-length mirror. I'd press my body against it and feel the cold glass blending with the warmth of a body. I would take in everything about myself. Every perfection, every flaw. The mirror told me things no one else would. It revealed myself to me, and for the first time, I was introduced to me. The mirror was the sum of me. The truth of me. And that's when the mirror became God.

I got a hand mirror. I would stand in front of the bathroom mirror and hold the hand mirror just below my eyes. Then I would stretch my hand from my reality to the next. I would reach through myself, touching different times. And in it were boundless spaces people said did not exist.

The worst of it was when I woke at night. I would stand in front of the mirror, waiting for it to speak. It never did, but I was patient. After 150 nights of looking into the mirror, it did. It said, “Look closer.” After that, I was captive. Every free moment was spent in front of the mirror, listening, looking.

The end began at the carnival. On a rare outing, I went to the traveling carnival. I just sat and watched people until I heard someone comment on the mirrors at the fun house. I leapt up and my heart pounded. I called out to the mirrors and they led me to them. Frantically, I made my way through the fun house, stumbling toward the voices of the mirrors. I tripped into the room.

My eyes met a sight that would haunt what was left of me. I stood looking into a warped mirror. I was short and fat. When I began to back away, but I backed into another mirror. Spinning around, I gasped; this mirror showed me with a swelled head and virtually no body. I began to run, the mirrors taunting me. Images flew by – tall, lean, pear-shaped, upside down. Finally, the last and largest mirror showed the ever-familiar reflection. I screamed loudest then, because I no longer believed it was true.

That night, standing in front of the mirror, I knew fear for the first time. The mirror's honesty had been faulty. How could I know what I was looking at was real? How could I know I was real, if the mirror was the only one who confirmed it, and the mirror was really a liar?

I stared into the mirror, and it laughed. I screamed and threw my head against it. Cracks like in ice split it, breaking my image into fragments. I gasped. I ­finally recognized myself. In the shards. In the broken places. Pieces fell into the sink, and I still saw my reflection in them. Every perfection and every flaw. With shaking hands, I picked up one. The ­mirror, mocking me, said one last thing. It was something I knew was true through the years. It was a truth so impactful it would fuel a quiet obsession for over a decade.

The mirror said, “Careful, child, glass is sharp,” as I dropped the bloody shard back into the sink.


The author's comments:
What's your quiet obsession? Do you own it, or does it own you?

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JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 22 comments.


AshhKel BRONZE said...
on Jul. 24 2014 at 3:21 am
AshhKel BRONZE, Brooklyn, New York
4 articles 0 photos 10 comments

Favorite Quote:
"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone." - Ronald Reagan

WOW! The first sentence captivated me from the start and I couldn't divert my eyes. Very, VERY well done! 

on Dec. 15 2013 at 8:57 pm
directorchick419 GOLD, Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania
15 articles 0 photos 15 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I'd wanted to stay on that porch with him until the sun shone bright on both of us, but i didn't. I stood up and walked down the steps. I'd rather chase the sun than wait for it." from I am the Messanger by Markus Zusak.

Thanks so much for the feedback everybody! 

on Aug. 13 2013 at 2:30 pm
SkippyPeanutbutter SILVER, Utrecht, Other
9 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Happiness can be found, even at the darkest of times. If one only remembers to turn on the light." -Albus Dumbledore
"We're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?" -the Eleventh Doctor

Wow... That's all I can say.

on Aug. 2 2013 at 11:05 am
ViraDash BRONZE, Sungai Petani, Other
1 article 0 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
Sometimes, evil drives a minivan.

Nice and cool.

on Jul. 15 2013 at 11:23 am
MorningStar921 PLATINUM, Cheshire, Connecticut
21 articles 0 photos 42 comments

Favorite Quote:
"They made their own choice. They chose family. And, well... isn't that kinda the whole point? No doubt - endings are hard. But then again... nothing ever really ends, does it?"
--Chuck, 'Supernatural' Episode 522

OMG... Loved this!

UniqueChild said...
on Jul. 6 2013 at 5:58 am
authorgirl is very talented and is going to be a very successful and well known author someday

on Jun. 16 2013 at 9:44 pm
ChrisJ PLATINUM, Rochester, New York
24 articles 15 photos 289 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Awesome. Great. Really loved it and read it again. Any tips?

on May. 30 2013 at 5:57 pm
Sissybug2012 PLATINUM, Union, Missouri
36 articles 0 photos 128 comments

Favorite Quote:
"the greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return." -MOULIN ROUGE (song lyrics)

i like how dark it is and it's so well written. you should check out my poem "paranoia"...

on May. 18 2013 at 9:46 pm
Snow_White BRONZE, Fairfield, Connecticut
3 articles 0 photos 5 comments
This is amazing! It was like a snowball, getting bigger and faster with every word! Good job!

on May. 18 2013 at 8:50 am
Ray--yo PLATINUM, Kathmandu, Other
43 articles 2 photos 581 comments

Favorite Quote:
God Makes No Mistakes. (Gaga?)
"I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right." -Liesel Meminger via Markus Zusac, "The Book Thief"

Amazingly written. I loved the way it ascended from simplicity to that amazing, amazing end. Well done!

LunaLives GOLD said...
on May. 17 2013 at 1:41 pm
LunaLives GOLD, South Bend, Indiana
17 articles 0 photos 237 comments

Favorite Quote:
Because I can!-Me "Life is a choice and death is a decision"-Lil Wayne

This story was better than Cinderella.

on May. 17 2013 at 1:29 pm
@LindsayB I totally agree! This piece was completely captivating. Keep writing :)

C.Tessa SILVER said...
on May. 15 2013 at 11:51 am
C.Tessa SILVER, Los Angeles, California
9 articles 0 photos 22 comments

Favorite Quote:
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
Christian Nestell Bovee

2 Timothy 1:7

the poem was written really good. I want to read more from this writer.

lulu_Over said...
on May. 12 2013 at 5:09 pm
Wow, I am truly amazed.

on May. 11 2013 at 1:24 pm
writingriver05 SILVER, Boise, Idaho
8 articles 0 photos 28 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Reach for the moon, even if you miss you'll land amongst the stars."

This is a wonderful poem! I hope you dont stop here, keep onwriting!

Pusheen612 said...
on May. 9 2013 at 11:43 pm
Pusheen612, Lake Oswego, Oregon
0 articles 0 photos 9 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn," -Anne Frank

This is the perfect example of a first person writing. You read what the character is really thinking. I like it!!

LindsayB said...
on May. 9 2013 at 3:27 pm
This was fantastic. I was a little skeptical at the beginning-it seemed dramatic. But once you began talking specifically about the mirrors it drew me in. The story was haunting and extremely well-written.

on May. 4 2013 at 9:02 pm
WinstonSmith BRONZE, Columbia, Missouri
3 articles 0 photos 32 comments
  This is impressive.

on May. 3 2013 at 9:00 am
Alex_Mac BRONZE, Osler, Other
3 articles 0 photos 16 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!”
― Audrey Hepburn

 It was beautifully disturbing and I loved it.

sarah98 BRONZE said...
on May. 1 2013 at 5:01 pm
sarah98 BRONZE, Holyoke, Massachusetts
1 article 0 photos 405 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to write for yourself and have no audience than write for your audience and have no self.

this is so powerful and amazing.