My friendship with Vicky was an everlasting battle. For almost a year, Vicky found pleasure in making me lose interest in everything I did. Vicky was a new student at school. I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to cling onto me. Looking, my reflection stared back at me from the closet mirror. I was smiling at the mirror, but my reflection wasn’t. I did not think much of it, and brushed it off. She had an undesirable aura. She reeked of death and sadness. Although I knew she would only do harm to me, I liked her ways. She was a carefree, crazy and fearless person. She had no responsibility in the world. As for me, I was the complete opposite. I had so much to do.

     “Why are you even going to swim practice today?” asked Vicky,      

      staring at me intently with her large brown eyes filled with  

      mischief and rebellion. I scratched my head and fiddled with my

      sleeves.

     “I don’t know, my mom wants me to go.”

     “How lame. How about we just go to my house and chill?”

     “Okay… I guess you’re right.”
Vicky
           Was a dementor
Ruined
           Was my social life
Everything
           Was hopelessly joyless
I
           Was my own enemy
Dreamed
            I of the light

     Sitting on Vicky’s couch, I felt no remorse. I was in an abyss of darkness. It was unexpectedly pleasant. The darkness helped me ignore the outside world. Living up to society’s expectations was exhausting. How do you manage your time? You’re so talented, I wish I could be like you. But, I wish I wasn’t. All my talents, I wanted to throw away. I decided that I did not want to live my life pleasing others. I was going to live for myself. Vicky made me realize that. Then again, why was I still in the darkness?

     The atmosphere felt heavy and gloomy. It had been two months since Vicky had last annoyed me. I thought she was gone, but she was always there, haunting me with her thoughts and presence. Her long black hair reflected sunlight, the same way a bat is afraid of the light. Her dark makeup covered the majority of her face, making her eyes seem like two pieces of coal. Her make up was almost as dark as heart. Yet, there was something about her that made me reluctant to stand up to her.

     “Would you stop sulking around like that, and come to the mall? I don’t care if you have homework. Just forget about everything, all your responsibilities, and let’s go do something else.”
I took my glasses off, and wiped them. I stared closer into my glasses, and I saw her again. My reflection. She looked at me with disappointment. Looking at the ground, she disappeared, walking.

     “Hurry up, the taxi is almost here. Make your mind up. What’s  

      taking you so long?”

     My shoulders were heavier than usual. I looked at my shoulders, and saw what was weighing me down. On my right shoulder, a miniature version of me sat on my shoulder, covering her face. She was dressed in white, and her hair was as silky as the finest clothing from China. Tugging, the darkness added weight to my other shoulder. She was draped in a long black gown, as dark as night. She was as pale as a ghost. In her hair, was a wilted white rose. I felt a connection to the rose, but I did not understand why. It spoke to me. Reaching out to me, were the leaves. They softly wrapped themselves around my cheeks. “It’s time you let some light into your life. You’ve been in the darkness for too long,” said the rose. There was something beautiful about the rose. Even though it was rotting and dying, it still had faith. The girl dressed in white looked at me intently with her light colored eyes, twinkling with hope. She was pushed off my shoulder by the darkness. That was the longest she’d stayed on my shoulder, before she’d be overpowered by the darkness.

     “I don’t know Vicky… It doesn’t seem right.”

     “Are you seriously doubting me? Wow, when did you have the  

      time to build up all this courage as to have a voice for yourself?  

      Shut up, and let’s go.”

     “Okay.”
Vicky   
         Felt defenseless
Almost
         Overcome her, did I?
Was
          I finally free?
Defeated
          Was she?

     I was a volcano. All my emotions were boiling up inside of me, ready to explode. I had had enough of Vicky instructing me what to do. She was a vacuum cleaner, managing to suck away everything that I loved or cared about. The very thought of Vicky made my emotions begin to heat up again. I was sitting on my bed, thinking about how I had let Vicky brainwash me into something I didn’t want to do, again. For the fifth month in a row. I put my hands to my face, and pulled down on my cheeks. Sam Smith’s music somehow seemed to make everything better. Along with a box of tissues. My volcano wanted to erupt. But something was denying its request to erupt. The little girl dressed in dark was pouring water over the volcano. She did not want me to erupt. Fearing, she urged me to succumb to Vicky’s instructions.

     “Its time you let yourself erupt,” said the girl covered in white.  

      Her face illuminated in the dark.

     I had to resist her urge to put my fire out. Fire was spreading throughout me. Fast. I was not Vicky’s toy, or her puppet, and she was not my puppeteer. I was my own person. Vicky, the monster, had burrowed her nest in me for too long. She found the dark inside me and prospered in me. Parasitical. She fed on my negativity, which only encouraged her to continue. I lied down on my bed, and looked at the ceiling. My reflection in the light bulbs was different this time. My reflection was staring at me, with a stare so penetrating, that it sparked something inside me. Anger. Anger and hope. Vicky’s timing was impeccable.

     “We’re ditching school today, get in the car, we’re going out for

      a walk.”

    “No we’re not.”
     Vicky turned around slowly. She looked at me with a menacing  

     and bewildered glare.
    “Excuse me?”
    “I am not going out with you. Forget it. I’ve had enough of you.    

    You’ve ruined my life for the past five months, and I am not

    letting you ruin any more of my life. You’ve controlled my life 

    for far too long. You targeted me, because I was weak. Because I    

   was incapable of standing up for myself. Because I was in self-  

   doubt. I’m not the same person anymore. We’re done, Vicky.

   Done. It’s best you leave.”
       From the depth of her shady soul, she let out an ear piercing shrill. Looking closer, her image started distorting. She was disappearing. Her face was paler than it had ever been. I had managed to let her go from my life, and as I let her go, the negativity had abandoned me. Although a part of me would be missing, I was beyond content that Vicky had left. I was not a puppet anymore. My strings had been cut. I was my own person. Her mask had been removed. She…It was not who I imagined it would be. It was gone. After five months, the little girl dressed in white, had finally overcome the influence of the girl donning the black. After five months, my volcano had erupted. After five months, the rose started to come back to life. After five months, my reflection finally reflected me, reflected how I felt.

      I smiled for the mirror as I was getting ready for my best friends party after swim practice, and the mirror smiled back at me, with a soft smile. She sighed back at me. But it was not a sigh of pressure, like when the two girls continuously fought on my shoulder. It was a sigh of relief. It was finally out of my life. I climbed out of the abyss of darkness which I had found shelter in for so long. Now that it was gone, I could finally see the light.

Vicky
        Is not Vicky
Is
        She who she really says she is?
Depression
        Was Vicky.