One day I looked into the mirror and rather than seeing my own reflection, I saw that of a chubby little girl. She is in her pigtails and uniform. Her face looks so innocent and clueless about the world out over there. She was going to school. Next, I see is the reflection of her at the school. She seems to look happy. Her nuns and teachers take utmost care of her and many like her. Oh!!! I suppose she loves dancing. Maybe that's why she is doing some cute little dance steps. Her family admires her innocence. She giggles as her cousins tickle her. Her giggle looks more like a song to me. I too admire that cute little girl. Next I see is she going to the market with her mother. People look at her adoringly and bless her. Excited, she looks at her mother who smile backs at her.
Now I see a grown-up version of her. She resembles me. Her face is so adolescent, calm and mature than before. I could gaze ambitions in her eyes. She now is going to her coaching classes. On the way she discusses some problems she is facing in a particular subject with her friend, until a bike stops in front of her. Before she could react, something splashes on her face. It makes her burn, scream and faints into shock. She is rushed to hospital. The atmosphere in the hospital is pretty tensed. The mother who used to smile at her is now crying, crying in pain that her daughter is going through. Doctors claim it to be a case of acid attack.
She is now a young woman who not only resembles me. Oh God! That's me on the other end of the mirror. The only difference is that I don't have a burn on my face. She is staring at me helplessly. She cries, sobs and screams in pain and restlessness. She is trying remove the burn from her face and is failing every time she tries. She keeps screaming and looking for help in my eyes. But I stand here horrified. I scream too.
I scream only to realize that it was a nightmare. A nightmare which if had turned into reality in my past could have changed my present and the future drastically...
