The Obscure

Stand up, take off your shirt. Stretch out your muscles, you've lain dormant for a long time. Kick off your shoes and peel off your socks. Walk out into the living room and turn off the lights, turn off the TV. Come back out here, turn off these lights, finish your drink. To bed? You wonder, For a walk? your other side responds. Neither, a part of yourself from deep within that you were as of yet unaware of states. It's time to brush your teeth, you think. You walk into the bathroom and stand there, facing the mirror.
You realize you look like the picture of madness. Your brow is furrowed, your eyes wide open and blazing, your mouth caught in an unholy scowl and every muscle on your bare body is tensed; your hair is everywhere. The blackness underneath your eyes has extended so far with fatigue that you look like a combination Raccoon/Bank Robber; you are unshaven, unwashed, your face is coated in grease and stubble, with stray hairs clinging to your skin in the humidity.
You stare deeply into your own eyes. Then you look yourself over. Hideous, you think, Simply Hideous. How is it that this monstrousity could have weasled it's way into the arms of an Angel? It's like the princess kissed the frog and instead of a Prince got a pile of shit to marry.
You look at your nose, large, takes up almost all of your face. Broad, riddled with blackheads and dialated pores.
You look at your mouth, caught in that scowl. A jagged pink scar across the crude and disgusting sculpture that is your face. After a moment's observation, you see the mouth begin to smile. First a pompous, overconfident smile. You think to yourself, what does this guy know that I don't know? For you are seeing in the mirror a different person. You look in the mirror and you see not yourself, but a clone.
The overconfident smile turns into a grin, lips bared grotesquely back over disgusting, dirty, yellowed teeth.
The grin turns into a laugh, at first just a mean-spirited chuckle, but after a few moments of observation it turns into all out uproarious laughter. You see the clone shaking with mirth, all of his naked muscles tensing. Your fists clenched you stare at him as he laughs at you, as he mocks you, and you think of how you'd like to wrap your hands around his throat and choke the life out of him. Turn that disgusting laugh into a final gasp for air before you send his rotten soul down to the depths of hell. He knows, too, he knows that you think it and he laughs more. He is shielded behind his protective wall of glass, you cannot reach him, you can only stare and fantasize.
He laughs, and laughs, he laughs for what seems like ages. Laughter is contagious and after a few minutes you find yourself laughing too, although probably not for the same reasons. You laugh as you imagine his mouth opening too wide with laughter and the top of his head falling off, you laugh as you imagine his blood spewing through the air like a crimson sprinkler watering some macabre nightmare lawn.
You laugh together maliciously for what seems like ages, and then you begin to settle down. Then you look closely, the clone looks closely at you. You realize that you've never been attractive in all your life, as the clone realizes that he also has never been attractive in all your life. Simultaneously you realize that you'll never be attractive, not in a thousand lives. Your mouths pull down in a frown.
How is it that this monstrousity weasled his way into the arms of an Angel?
You step towards the mirror, as close as you can get. You can feel your body swaying around in a circle. You lean close to the clone, you say in unison, "You know your fate."
The clone's eyes open wide in astonishment; and then narrow tightly in malice.
Again you repeat, "You know your fate."
The clone's eyes widen as if he has seen the meaning of life for the first time, and as abruptly the narrow once more.
Together you say yet again, "You know your fate."
You find yourself squinting back at the clone.
"You know your fate."
The clone's brow furrows with intense concentration and you feel the line of your own jaw tightening with rage.
"You know your fate."
Again and again this is repeated, for an eternity you stand there telling each other
"You know your fate."
Suddenly you again gain control of your eyes. The clone goes to squint at you, to tell you again that you know your fate. After slight hesitation your eyes remain fully open. He tries to overpower you, tries with all his might to squint down. Both of your bodies are shaking, muscles rippling, hair flying; but your eyes remain fully opened.
The scowl appears once more on your face, and you realize this clone is a bastard straight from the depths of Hell itself.
"Dear God", you pray, "Please send me release from this burden, please free my soul from this trap that has been created for it, in accordance with your will, Heavenly Father."
You find yourself staring at the clone. You find your body swaying around in circles. He tries to narrow his eyes and you resist. Harder than the first time; you feel your hips bucking out towards him, and your eyelids pressing down with all their might. You pull yourself free with more effort than you have ever expended in all your life.
You go to move your hand and find it is immobilized. With great effort you manage to free your hand from your wrist, then your wrist from your arm, then your arm from your shoulder.
You lift your hand slowly, and looking the clone directly in the eyes, you slap yourself in the face. Full force, palm of hand, across the cheek. You slap, and the clone, being a clone, slaps too.
This enrages him, he runs off in a huff to see if he can find someway to get back at you. It is just you and your reflection now. You turn to go to bed and remember you have yet to brush your teeth.
You pick up your toothbrush, squirt out some toothpaste and brush your teeth hard. You spit out blood, spit, toothpaste, and water. You rinse your mouth out fully, and you turn to go to bed once more.
You catch the clones eye one last time in the mirror. This time, you laugh at him.
He has lost, he has lost forever. He no longer rules over you. You laugh goodnaturedly at him, give him a wink and a thumbs up, and walk out of the room. You crawl onto your bed, pull the blankets over your head and go to sleep. Dreaming once again of laying peacefully, in the arms of an Angel.