Reflection

Robert Gordon looked at himself in the mirror, considering whether he needed to shave. His hair was naturally quite fair and so he did not show that much regrowth even though it had been two days since his last shave. As he would be going to a job interview that morning, he thought he had better shave. So he lathered up his face, pulled a tentative grimace and began to remove the light fluff that softened his jawline.

Shaking off the excess soap and rinsing the razor every couple of strokes, soon he had removed all but the few awkward hairs that grew underneath his nose. He considered leaving them unshaved but feared someone would think he was emulating Adolf Hitler and his tiny moustache.

He took a deep breath and looked at his reflection, he pulled a few faces not quite managing a winning grotesque twist, gurning was not his forte. The reflection copied each facial contortion but when Robert stopped face pulling and picked up the razor once more to attack the last few hairs under his nose – his reflection continued to pull ever more hideous images. Each face was uglier than the one before. Robert started back from the mirror, he ran his hands over his face, feeling it in repose and not fixed in some horrendous expression. The mirror showed his eyebrows close to an upturned screwed up sneer of a mouth.

Needing to hurry Robert carefully trimmed the hairs under his nose without glancing in the mirror. He washed his face and dried it with a towel. Then he turned away to get ready for his interview, clean clothes were already laid out. He dressed quickly only turning back to the mirror to adjust his tie. The man in the mirror now looked fairly composed and ready for an important interview. He felt quite proud of himself and straightened his back, admiring the way his jacket showed off his broad shoulders.

As he turned away once more, the mirror still retained the image of his face, ignoring the correct picture of the back of his head moving away. Robert picked up his briefcase and locked his apartment. He sauntered down the High Street, thinking how smart and dapper he appeared in the shop windows as he passed, until he glanced back at his face. In its place was the ugliest of the mirror’s contortions. He touched his face again and watched as his hands identified the same face in the window as being attached to his body. He screamed, he now resembled a gurning gargoyle. As people came to his frightened screams, he wondered how he was ever going to get any job with a face looking like that.