I stare at myself in the mirror.
Steel blue eyes.
Balding ginger hair.
Bushy, untamed beard.
Old glasses.
A band tee that no one
Can read even if they tried.

But I stare into my eyes
Eyes that shake and search
For something,
Anything,
That could make me even
A little human.

I place a hand on the mirror,
Caress the reflection's hairy face.
"Is there...anything at all?"
I watch as it mouths the
Words but I still hear my
Voice in this small restroom.

"Is there anything inside
That shell you call a head?"
This time the reflection's mouth
Doesn't move as I ask the question.

- There is something in there
And that something is me -
The reflection's voice so smooth.
So cold and sharp like a nail
Scratching the surface of glass.
- I am the sickness that floats
Inside your mind.
I am the voices that you hear
On a constant.
I am the one that guides the blades
Over your flesh.
I am...

You -

The mouth curls into a cruel
Smile that not even my
Face could make.
The horrors I see in those now
Unwavering eyes startles me.
How could such a thing exist
Inside me?
How could such a thing be me?

"No!
No, you are not me!
I am not you!"

I punch the mirror and instantly
Feel my blood pour from
Fresh wounds.
Glass shatters and falls,
Causing even more of a mess
In front of me.

"You are not me!"

Ignoring the pain shooting
Through my mangled hand,
I peel off a shard of glass from
The web of mirror in front of me.

"I am not you!"

I begin to slice at my face,
Starting with my cheeks
And working my way around
My forehead and temples.
Blood blinds my vision
And pain shoots around My now butchered face,
But I continue carving myself
Like a child with a pumpkin.

The reflection laughs from
All around me.
I can't escape that laugh.
And yet...

I dig the tip of the glass into
My tattered and torn flesh
And push it in deep.
Angling the shard,
I feel chunks of my face
Fall off into the blood soaked
Sink.

More laughter pierces my mind,
This time it is followed with
A simple yet fatal message...

- You can't kill me because
I'm already inside you -