by Nicholas A. Levack

Created on: July 19, 2011

Staring into the rippling pool, I saw my face as I would in a broken mirror. My features were distorted with the convulsions of the water’s surface, exaggerating my jaw to give me a blunt, orc-like appearance, or inflating my dome to appear as a disdainful extraterrestrial.

Just as the water would calm, I’d plunge another rock into the depths, quaking the pool once more and twisting my image further. I did not want to see my face as normal eyes would, I wanted to gaze upon how I saw myself within, to see the sickening, twisted visage that would hopefully do my corruption justice.

However, I was soon unsatisfied by my broken reflection. Lifting a larger, heftier rock, I thought first to devastate the surface with a greater impact, but realized an alternative. Lowering the stone to waist height, I arced it upwards to my face, striking the cheek bone with severe force. Amidst my grateful agony, I registered the sickening snap of bone, but I continued my efforts, bludgeoning my face for moments on end, each vengeful strike paired with a brutish grunt, a sound I hoped added to the effect of unveiling the vile creature my exterior had concealed.

Satisfied, I dropped the stone, scarlet with blood, by my feet. I gazed with effort – for my right eyelid had swollen shut – into the pool, agony outweighed by the satisfaction and anticipated misery of revealing my true self to the world. My flesh was ravaged, blood pouring from several open wounds; my remaining teeth were skewed and chipped; and my previous bone structure was ruined at its foundations.

At last, the world could see me as the monster within.

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