Dream

The girl frustratedly brushed the hot tears off of her flushed cheek. She slipped into the bathroom and looked at the mirror. Nothing. A blank wall stared back at her. A face, hanging by a black ribbon, expressionless, bored its glassy, porcelain eyes into her, laughing.

You have no soul, it whispered.

"I do have a soul," the girl replied firmly. Don't listen to it, she told herself, closing her eyes tightly.

You have no reflection, the face laughed.

The girl squeezed her eyes tighter, but a small tear trickled out of the corner. She wiped it away furiously, and opened her eyes again. But the only face in the mirror was the mask on the wall, laughing maniacally, its voice echoing off the tiles of the small room. She whirled around and snatched the mask off the wall, its plain, face reflecting the light from above, showing no sign of the person holding it.

"I HAVE A SOUL!" the girl screamed at the silent mask. But the laughter hadn't stopped. It filled her head and bounced inside her skull. It burned her heart and tore her apart, until finally she could stand it no longer. She threw the face against the wall, splitting it in half diagonally between its eyes. It lay on the cold tile, still and expressionless. But the laughter remained. The girl fell to the floor, tears pouring from her shut eyes like blood from an open wound, and screamed.

The laughter would never go away...