Identities page 3
By BethanyBallet
“Who is This Woman I Feel Staring Back at me?” I started my new job
on Monday. I stood in my bathroom fixing the curls in my hair. But as the
last curl fell, I began to stare at myself; I didn’t look like me through
my eyes. I didn’t feel like me through my skin. I didn’t sound like
me in my head. There was someone else there. Then I felt a terrible pressure
on either side of my temples and everything slowly went black. I came to
consciousness when I was at work, in the middle of a paper I was typing.
I believe it was a pamphlet for Wednesday’s service. I knew exactly what
I was supposed to be doing, I knew exactly where I was, and I knew exactly
what was happening. I just had lost all recollection of how I’d even
gotten here and what I’d been doing for the past four hours. I looked
at the clock, which read 12:43. I was supposed to be here at 8:30.
I stopped typing. I stopped breathing. I went and stared at myself in the
bathroom mirror. The next thoughts that went through my head were something
like… Well whom
do we have here? Who are you?You know me. I am you. I’m just… I guess
you could say… vicarious. I’m
stupid. I’m going crazy. There’s no way I could be having this conversation
with myself. I can’t be having this conversation with myself…Oh shut up. You know exactly what’s happening.
How did you get here?I can’t tell you…
but you can remember.Tell me how! Flashes
of my past began to fly through my head and I felt dizzy.Then
it went silent.
I splashed water on my face and went back to work. I felt alone the rest
of the day.
On my way home from work I was at a stoplight. I took a glance at my rearview
mirror and there was a line of cars behind me. The clock read 5:07. The
light turned green just as I looked up. I barely pressed the gas and I
felt that terrible pressure coming again. Just as I began to slow down,
I slowly drifted away from my body and the car began to accelerate…
And thats all I have so far.