The Woman in the Mirror

She watches droplets of water slide down her bathroom mirror as steam billows out the hot shower.  She takes her right hand and wipes away the water, just enough to see her face.  Even though she can make her features out a bit more, the steam soon envelops the mirror to hide her face just enough to where she can barely recognize herself.  She knows it’s her, she knows that she’s there, but she doesn't recognize the woman staring back at her.  She chuckles sadly as she thinks about how this scene reflects her current state of mind.  She doesn't recognize who she is anymore.  She has turned into something that she swore that she would never be.  She is doing things that in her youth she turned up her noise at others for doing.

He was charming, he was sweet, he was caring, and he was a scoundrel.  Of course he hid the last part, but by the time that she realized that, she was hooked.  His very presence was a drug, and when she was away from him too long her body went through withdrawals.  He didn't sweep her off her feet, he overtook her in a tidal wave. 

She takes a towel and wipes the mirror again only this time she sees more, she sees the physical marks, the undisputed evidence of a toxic relationship.  The black eye and busted lip, the end result of his most recent violent outburst.  She gently caresses her stretch marks with a slightly crooked finger.  He broke it when she tried to block him from striking their son.  She glances down at the track marks on her arms, reminders of her poor attempt to cope with her own private hell.

She steps into the shower and curls up into a ball and lets the water pour over her body.  She tries to scream but no sound comes out.  The only sound that she can manage is a pitiful whimper, like a small wounded animal, she is too weak to do anything else.

Her heart is broken, she has become the very thing that she has sworn she would never be, her mother.  She swore that she would never be that weak.  She thought she was smarter.  She believed she was braver.  She was full of pride with no pity.  High minded, with no consideration.  Self-righteous, with no compassion.  But oh how the mighty have fallen.  Tens of thousands of dollars spent on education and she was still just as stupid as her mother when it came to men. 

So how does this story end?  Honestly I don’t know because this isn't my story, it’s yours.  The question isn't how does it end, but how do you want it to end?