Just Me, Myself, and I (Part 3 of 3)

(Before reading the conclusion of this story, please read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)

I found myself at the doors again, but only one option remained. Opening the middle door I found it was not of wood. It was a door of glass.

I found them bickering. On my right, one with shoulders hunched under an unseen burden, knees buckling from the weight of it, and a notebook hugged against her chest as if she was afraid of it being crushed. On my left, the other stood as if her feet had grown roots and with hands on her hips it was not hard to imagine her a broad, towering mountain, though a paint brush still graced her wild hair.

The sound of tangled words made my left ear ache; words upon words poured out with resonance, but they left her lips so quickly they tumbled into a cacophony together. Hushed murmurs of words brushed my right ear with warm air; spoken gently, but I found myself straining to discern their meaning. No matter what, the words never ended on either side, whether they were a waterfall crashing upon me or a single, constant drip of rain tapping my forehead.

“Stop!” I cried out.

For once the words did as I said. I turned myself around to face the two of them and for once they were identical on both the left and the right; eyes wide in unexpected astonishment and lips shut in silence. For once I opened my lips instead.

“Neither of you can talk,” I snapped.

My finger shot out to the right. She nearly jumped off the ground and her once placid eyes now filled with nervous fright. “Where are you when I need to find the right words? There must be thousands upon thousands in that book! But when I need them, all you do is mumble and slip into your hide away. If I cannot hear a single word, what good is it too me?”

Her blue eyes were downcast clouds heavy with rain as she peered out of her notebook. On the left, the other snorted with a laugh.

“And you!” I nearly shrieked as my attention turned to the left. “You with your wanderings and running! So ready you are to shout and laugh, but vanish moments later. How am I supposed to find you? You’re never there when I need you the most; when I am lost in the sea of other voices around me!”

Her gaze lost its luster as she looked down, her head hung in shame, and her feet kicked at the ground aimlessly. I turned my back, unable to look at them. If only I was not ensnared here with them! We were shackled together the three of us; one without the other a far off impossibility.

“But we are you,” she whispered through the silence.

“You can’t lose yourself,” the other agreed.

I turned back around to find only one. She stood there in the vastness, leaning on one leg with her hands casually resting at her sides. Her brushed curls playful fell to her shoulders and she wore a soft smirk on her lips. She stared at me with earnest warmth, but I could see the spark of curiosity underneath the blue irises. I was staring into a mirror.

“Hello,” she greeted me.

“Hello,” I replied with a sigh. With one word all of the burdens were expelled from my chest.

She laughed—it was more of a chuckle. It was carefree.

“Had a bad day?” she guessed, as she raised her eyebrows.

“I’m just glad to see a familiar face,” I confessed.