blogwithvalor

Fiona stared into the mirror as the makeup artist applied some powder to her cheeks, nose, and forehead. She quietly sat there looking deep into her own eyes repeating her character’s history in her mind. This was her method for getting into character, a simple meditation on history, wants, and desires that were not her own. Her expression grew solemn. Her character in this movie had lived her whole life struggling to survive. The whole world seemed to work against her. Her parents abused her mentally and physically. When she finally ran away, she bounced from house to house always running from someone. People constantly tried to take advantage of her, taking money or trying to force themselves upon her. Now she had a job and a small apartment to herself, but life had ground much of the happiness out of her. So Lily didn’t smile much. At least that’s how Fiona viewed the character.

Lily’s face seemed to stare back through the mirror into Fiona’s. Fiona’s hair was down. Lily covered half her face. Fiona’s makeup made her pale, and the dark eyeliner gave her a haunting stare. Lily wanted to make people uncomfortable talking to her. Fiona’s clothing was baggy and dark. Lily wanted to fade into the shadows whenever she could.

As Fiona looked at Lily in the mirror, she heard Lily’s voice in her mind.

“What are you looking at?”

Fiona turned around. The makeup artist had left the light-tent they’d put together for her on set. She was alone.

“You’ve been staring at me for like half an hour. Don’t act like you didn’t realize.”

She stared back at the mirror and this time Lily was staring intensely back at her.

“So… what do you want?”

“I’m… I’m sorry. I was just getting into character.”

“You wanna be like me? You… a prim and pampered actress think you know what it’s like to be me?”

“Hey, my life isn’t perfect.”

“Oh, let me guess. Someone’s paying you to pretend to be me. Someone else dressed you and did your makeup. I’ll bet you draw everyone’s attention in everyday life. You’ve probably got a hot boyfriend and another one on standby when you eventually dump him. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to live like that.”

Fiona felt like she’d been slapped in the face by this girl in the mirror. She looked downward into her lap and started to cry, and Lily started laughing.

“Oh my god! What a sad sack of shit you are. This is probably your go to whenever someone says anything that doesn’t praise the ground you stand on. Wah, wah, wah. Feel bad for me. Hashtag life is hard.” Lily raised her hands up pretending to take a selfie, while holding a peace sign next to her face.

Fiona looked at Lily imitating her, a caricature of her really. As she stared at the mocking image in the mirror, she clenched her fists.

She spoke quietly, “You’re not even a real person.”

Lily dropped her hands from the selfie pose and stared blankly back. “I may not be real, but it’s not like people like me don’t exist. You pretending to be one is a joke.”

Fiona gritted her teeth.

“There are women like you out there, but you’re still not like them. You’re a figment of a writer’s imagination put on paper to fill out his fantasy of a girl. You do realize where we end up, right?”

Lily had become quiet and stared back. Her brows scrunched together, an inquisitive look on her face.

“You end up with the guy that creeped you out at the coffee shop. He’s the main character. Not you. Our director wrote you in to be his trophy.”

Fiona was leaning towards Lily, who sat there. A morose look on her face as she stared at the ground in her mirror world.

“Why are you doing this?” Lily’s eyes turned towards Fiona into the real world.

“Because I need a paycheck and true passion projects are few and far between. This is going to pay rent and allow me to time to write my own short film. Then I can finally do this on my own terms.”

Lily smiled at Fiona through the mirror. “Whoever you write, can you make her sock a guy in a coffee shop? For me?”

“Yea, I can do that. For you.”

A tear fell from Lily’s eye. Then Fiona raised her hand to reach through the mirror to catch it and watched as her reflection copied her every movement again. She smiled at her reflection, the face of Lily that was also hers.

Fiona fixed the makeup smeared by the tears she and Lily shared. She left the light tent and headed to her place on set, determined to represent Lily as best she could.