• It was a regular school day,
    the typical overload on tests
    in the hardest of classes,
    but that wasn't the problem.

    It was a slow day,
    not many people to talk to
    as the usual days went,
    but that wasn't the problem.

    It was a routine kind of day,
    the same girls talked
    of the same gossip,
    but that wasn't the problem.

    But there was one problem.
    The part of the day that she dreaded.
    The end of the school day.
    Dragging herself into the bathroom
    to get one last glance at herself...
    She couldn't help but cry.

    All the work she puts up with,
    all the friends she wanted so badly,
    all the gossip she wanted to be in on,
    lied in that mirror.
    It taunted her.

    That mirror.
    That sinister reality.
    It told her how repulsive she looked,
    how manly her facial features were.
    It couldn't get any worse.
    No wonder she broke down everyday.

    If she just hadn't made life so hard on herself,
    if she just had a friend,
    if she just had a fairer face,
    maybe a feminine feature or two,
    some long nails,
    some long eyelashes...

    Not the split ended 4 years of hair
    or the bleeding chewed up nails
    or the yellow teeth,
    the odor of a dog,
    the shedding of a cat,
    the cramps of a horse,
    the voice of a mouse,
    the face of a mirror.

    A harsh mirror that said the same thing every day,
    the routine of that mirror.