Only The Inside

Penelope was made entirely of mirror. Her eyes were mirrored, her hair was mirrored, her skin was mirrored, even her clothes were mirrored.

It was the strangest experience to be made of mirror, for everyone who looked at her saw only themselves, yet did not realize it.

There was Suzy Schnozgrass who told Penelope what an ugly nose she had. Yet the whole time Suzy was actually criticizing her own nose!

Finnegan Filth said Penelope’s clothes were dirty and torn, when in truth she wore shiny, mirrored clothes. Finnegan’s were the ones with grime.

And Rudy Rudester thought Penelope was cold hearted and cruel, but really Rudy was the meanest kid in school.

Penelope grew up with everyone’s opinion of what was wrong with her, except none of it actually was. Over and over and over again, people would criticize her for what they saw in themselves.

Over time, though, Penelope started to believe them. She started to believe that perhaps Suzy was right and her nose was ugly. She washed her clothes every day, but Finnegan always said they were dirty. And she started not wanting to join in with others to protect them from her cruel, cold heartedness that Rudy went on and on about. It was better if she stayed away.

The more Penelope believed these things, the more her life changed. She was lonely. She was embarrassed by who she was. And she was sad. Even her mirrors became a little less shiny.

Then one day, as Penelope was sitting alone, a tiny faerie landed on her knee. She cried out, for the faerie’s reflection was quite distorted in the mirrored bend of her leg.

“What are you?” Penelope asked, peering down at the creature.

“What do you see?” the faerie asked.

“I see you,” she replied.

“And what am I?”

“You are ugly and disfigured and probably mean. You look like you’ve been put together wrong, so you are not who you are meant to be.”

“Who am I meant to be?”

Penelope opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

The faerie stared up at her, letting the silence hang between them.

At last, Penelope said, “I don’t know, but you are not what I see.”

“Are you?” the faerie asked.

“Am I what?” Penelope wondered.

“Are you what you see?”

“I-,“ Penelope started, then stopped. She didn’t know how to answer that question.

With great compassion, the faerie said, “My guess is you’ve only looked on the outer side of your mirrors.”

“Is there another side?” asked Penelope.

“Yes!” cried the faerie. “The inner side!”

Penelope couldn’t figure out, for the life of her, how to see the inner side of her mirrors. She twisted this way and that. Raised one arm, then a leg. Bent her elbow, and her knee. Wiggled her nose and waggled her toes. It was no use.

The faerie looked on in amusement. Interrupting Penelope’s contortions, she said, “be still and close your eyes.”

Penelope did, but all she saw was black with a few white spots. This is dumb. She thought. Why am I listening to this odd little faerie?

“What do you see?” The faerie asked.

“Nothing. Blackness.” Penelope felt delight in proving the faerie wrong. She was what she thought she was and that was it. This is getting ridiculous, she told herself.

“See yourself standing inside your mirrors,” the faerie said. Penelope sighed and rolled her eyes under her closed eyelids. “See a light shining out from your soul, illuminating the inner-facing mirrors,” it went on, ignoring Penelope. “What do you see?”

Penelope wanted to say she saw nothing. But that wasn’t exactly true. She didn’t see, but she did feel one tiny movement. Her curiosity won, and she focused on that feeling. It was all the energy her inner mirrors needed.

“I see a shooting star,” she grudgingly admitted.

“Good. The images will come faster now, once you’ve seen the first one,” the Nook said.

 “I see a golden sunrise. And now I see a twirling dancer and music flowing everywhere. Wait - I see periwinkle! That’s my favorite color! There are strange lands I know I'll visit someday. I see the milky way stretched across the indigo sky. I see books I could write, and a harmonica. I see myself riding on a horse!”

The faerie smiled.

“I can do all this?” Penelope asked.

“Now you see you,” the faerie replied.

“If I am all these things, why haven’t I seen them before?” Penelope demanded, not ready to let go of who she thought herself to be.

“You were looking in the wrong place,” the faerie said, “simple as that. Now you know how to look and where to look and what is true.”

“My nose isn’t ugly?” Penelope asked.

“No,” replied the Nook.

“And my clothes are not dirty?”

“No.”

“And I’m not cruel?”

“No.”

“And none of that was mine?”

“Not unless you wanted it to be," said the faerie. “You are not what the outside reflects onto you. You are the beauty and the strength you saw. You are only the inside.”