Hall of Mirrors

The group of women gathered, politely curious, at the entrance to the hall of mirrors. The guide beamed broadly at them, beckoning them closer. They shuffled forward shyly. He tipped his hat to the bright-eyed, giggling women in the front row in a grandiose gesture of goodwill. A woman near the back craned her neck to see him. He waited for the murmurs in the group to dissolve and let a breathless pause linger.

“Welcome!” he said. His voice was deep and resonant. He smiled at the crowd, thrust his chin forward, and sharply adjusted his black sateen coat. “Welcome to the Hall of Mirrors, where you will see yourself like you’ve never seen yourself before! Prepare to be dazzled and amazed.” With a deft step to the side and an exaggerated flick of the wrist, he motioned the first few women through the silver glittering curtain at the entrance.

The women obediently entered. Their eyes widened as they gazed around the narrow, well-lit hallway. They clustered, whispering nervously, near the curtain. The guide brushed past them, bumping one of the women on the outside and sending a ripple, a soft shudder, through the huddle.

The guide, positioning himself in front of the crowd, said, “Don’t be shy! Come, step forward, take a look. You won’t be disappointed.”

The women peered past each other, staring down the corridor. It glowed slightly with the antiseptic white light of an examination room. The walls were lined with mirrors, placid and smooth. The hall fell silent. No one moved.

“One of you must want to take a look! This is the Hall of Mirrors, after all. Anyone?”

One woman in the group, an intrepid brunette with oddly unremarkable features, boldly stepped forward. She glanced to her left and stifled a gasp. Removed from the group, she was a single form in the mirror. Her body was grossly deformed. Her face sagged, jaw gaping stupidly as if weights were stacked below her tongue, straining her frenulum until it might tear. Her limbs were enlarged, swollen to plump, round appendages hanging from her body like overripe fruit. Her body was enormous, the heavy trunk of a tree. She stared, rooted to the carpeted floor.

She stood beside the guide, but he did not acknowledge her. He faced the gaggle of women, arms extended. “Let’s continue on, shall we?”

Pivoting on his shiny black shoes, he led the crowd forward. It rolled ahead in one continuous, indistinguishable wave. The brunette remained, eyes glassy, an expression of horror frozen on her plain face as she looked in the mirror. One woman near the back of the group glanced at her. A worried expression flitted across her face and she moved as if to touch the brunette, to snap her out of her transfixion. But the rest of the crowd was moving, beginning to abandon her. She allowed it to swallow her in one slow, smooth forward motion.

The group followed the guide down the hallway, eyes collectively glued to his charismatic face. He entertained them with vapid, witty anecdotes and unctuous flattery. Between monologues, he persisted encouraging them to look in the mirrors. “Ladies, I promise you, it is an experience like no other. No? You won’t look? Ah, you must simply want to give me the pleasure of gazing into your beautiful eyes. Well, I suppose I can’t protest that.”

The woman at the back who had briefly contemplated returning for the brunette grew bored with the guide. Like the group, she had not dared look at the surrounding mirrors, but, disinterested and restless, she let the crowd pass. Still looking ahead, toward the exit instead of at the mirrors, she steeled herself to turn. Squeezing her eyes shut, she rotated until her body was facing the mirrors. Then, with a small surge of courage, she opened her eyes.

The woman stiffened. Her heart plummeted in her chest as she stared at the reflected image. She was unrecognizable even to herself, a monstrous, grotesque creature oozing an unidentifiable fluid from bluish skin, bloodshot eyes spinning crazily in sunken sockets. The woman could not tear her eyes away from the false reflection. The group moved ahead, following the pleasant echo of the guide’s voice. The two women were left behind.