ALTER EGO

                        

                    You push your hair back, straighten your clothes and face the stranger in front of you. You stare into his eyes as you try to contemplate his story. You observe him as he stares back at you, looking on intently. You notice his flaws, his imperfections and everything that god made wrong in him when something catches your attention. His eyes, you notice the way his eyes gleam as if they were telling you something. You raise your hand trying to reach out to him but you can’t. You try to speak but nothing comes out of your mouth. You move a step back and he moves with you. You try to deny what’s in front of you as you look back at the mirror. A part of you want to forget what you see. You close your eyes trying to escape the reality. A harsh reality you are not ready to accept. You question everything about yourself. You open your eyes and ask your reflection,

“What have I become?”

When did you become so ignorant that you lost your own identity? You got so distracted trying to please the people around you, trying to fit in with the rest of the world that you forgot who you really were. You were so busy trying to please the people around you that you never noticed the person in front of you was slowly fading away. You got lost in the sea of approval. You pushed the passion you had so deep inside, you forgot it every existed. You were living in the world of someone else for so long, that you mistook it as your own. You were told to follow the norms of the society, so you did. Every step you tried to take forward you were pushed back and criticized. So you stopped. You stopped trying.

You take one last look at the stranger in front of you. You look into his helpless eyes, trying to find something to hold on to. Afraid to hedge out of the rules you were told to follow, you give up. You turn your back to your reflection and carry on with your life, pushing your identity deeper and deeper inside.

-JUVERIA IQBAL