Reflection
Dark blue, like the Mediterranean Sea, but endlessly more turbulent. Tsunami’s of emotion whirling around in them, crashing their destructive violence onto the already battered shores of his soul.
Dark blue and slightly slanted, the eyes look like a lost and frightened puppy’s, pleading for a place to call home.
Not his…
Long pale eyelashes cast tiny shadows on glistening wet cheeks.
Dark blond eyebrows are drooped in a frown.
Not his…
Errant bangs of fair hair create a protective curtain in front of a finely carved face.
Not his…
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“Noooooooo!”
A desperate forlorn cry like a trapped animal facing his mortal enemy struggles past his vocal cords.
The face that is not his, is shattered into a hundred shards, pieces of a puzzle never meant to be made whole again.
Red colours his fist, tiny glitters between rivers of red attest to embedded shards.
Scars.
Marks.
His…
Dark blue stormy eyes travel from the blood on his fist to that on his shirt, see past it as memories flash by in a wild dance of chaos.
Memories of the insane world he was born into, that he had tried so very hard to escape.
His…
The mental image of a pair of soft, warm, brown eyes with magic twinkles within.
A magic look that had set him free.
His…
-
The sharp sounds of sirens pull him roughly from his musings. He looks up sharply, fear and defiance shining brightly in stormy dark blue eyes.
He will never return to the Institute! He would rather die free, fighting till his final breath…
Unbidden, the brown twinkling eyes flash briefly before his mind’s eye.
Would she miss him?
Doubt creeps stealthily up at him from the shadows of his mind, clouding his heart, freezing his soul.
He is replaceable.
Easily replaceable.
When he was about six years old, they had first explained it to him. He had been very bright, and could generally understand the scientific aspects pretty well.
But he hadn’t understood their reasons.
He still doesn’t…
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A knock on the motel room door startles him to a near-heart attack.
The sirens are silent…
His bloodied hand shakes and the gun nearly slips out of his unsure grasp.
He will never return to them!
Never…
Drawing in a shaky breath, he steels himself and pulls open the unlocked door…
The gun falls from his suddenly powerless hand and thuds harmlessly on the cold floor.
A pair of soft, warm, brown eyes twinkle their magic at him.
Suddenly he’s on the floor, cradled protectively in her tight and loving embrace. A warm feeling is born in his cold and shattered heart, spreads through his entire body on tingles of magic. He no longer feels the cold of the floor anymore, nor the cold of his doubt.
His soul is at peace…
His heart is home…
His and his alone…
-
Feeling relaxed and refreshed, he awakes at the sound of sirens.
They no longer frighten him. Many pleasant memories featuring soft, warm, brown eyes now shield him from the terrors of his past.
The same twinkling eyes that now gaze lovingly deeply into his.
“Happy anniversary!” She whispers as she leans over to plant a teasing feather light kiss on the tip of his nose.
She offers him that radiant smile that is uniquely meant for him, that makes his heart flip-flop in his chest.
“Happy anniversary…” He says, his dark blue eyes following her as she slips out of the bed and retrieves a brightly wrapped gift.
Smiling softly, he grabs his own present from under the bed and they swap gift wordlessly, but endlessly lovingly.
“You first!” He insists and she’s happy to obey.
A delicate golden heart-shaped hanger glitters and sparkles in the early morning light.
He helps her put it on. “My heart belongs to you. I give it for you to keep.”
Unshed tears glisten in her overly bright eyes.
“Thank you, my love…” She whispers and indicates he should open his gift next.
Out of the cheery bright wrapping he retrieves a mirror of strange beauty, consisting out of hundreds of shards carefully puzzled and glued back together.
Slender elegant fingers other than his own glide gently over the mirror’s surface, tracing the barely visible seams that are the only sign of its broken nature.
“Cracked maybe, but no longer broken. Scarred maybe, but no longer distorted. This mirror is beautiful, unique and whole again…” She whispers in his ear, sending warm tingles of magic coursing along his spine.
His voice is raspy. “Except for one little piece. My heart I have given to you…”
Her fingers guide his to one of the mirror’s many fragments, one that – now he watches more carefully – has a slightly deeper colour than the rest.
She smiles. “And that one missing piece I have replaced by my own heart….”
Soft, warm, brown eyes twinkle their magic at him, give him the courage to look directly into the mirror.
-
Dark blue eyes, like the Mediterranean Sea, calm water with tiny sparkles created by the sun’s reflection, look back at him.
And he accepts what he sees.
He is a clone.
Not a unique individual, but a copy.
To replace the original.
Or rather: the previous copy…
His eyes, his face, his genes are not solely his.
Just a specific series of base pairs in a double helix.
And if he breaks, like an overused toy, they’ll simply created another one.
But, contrary to his predecessors, he has learned of love and faith… and they had helped him escape.
She had helped him, foregoing a promising medical career and a carefree life. She had mended what was broken. Because she saw the uniqueness in him.
He lives a life that they created, but that now belongs solely to himself.
He is who he chooses to be.
A free unique spirit…
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