⚓ Mirror, Ship and Bottle
First Draft Created: 2024-05-13 19:40
Last Updated: 1 month, 3 weeks ago
This mirror.
Shaped like a ship, constructed of well-cut slivers that make up each section.
It seemed appropriate that it would be located exactly above the large, ornate glass bottle with a similar, yet three-dimensional ship, also of glass, fixed within. My father had used that glass bottle to fill with clear blue liquid, to exactly the point where the partially elevated ship could appear to be floating on the water.
The mirror. And the bottle.
All of this was very symbolic, as I found myself somehow back at this "lodge", this boutique hotel my parents owned.
Why was I back here?
I had decided to give it one more shot. Christmas with the "family", though I no longer felt comfortable using that word - "family" - for them without the quotes.
But here it was.
The mirror, reminding me I could never be the person I truly was around them, only what they wanted to see.
The ships, symbolising the freedom I felt I would never have, until I had left them, and that prophecy had come true.
The bottle, like the glass force field that seemed to surround me whenever I was in this place or at their house... no, not only when I was visiting, whenever I even SPOKE to them.
The other day I had received a birthday wish from my mother, via text, the one place I hadn't thought it necessary to block her.
"Won't you come over for Christmas this time?" she pleaded in her message.
I would have said no. But a friend had offered to come with me, for emotional support.
But here I was, in the lobby.
With the same old people.
I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and suddenly my mind was made up.
The realisation that I didn't actually need to be here after all.
This place was no safe harbour for me.
Turning on my heel, I strode back out through the lobby, towards the entranceway.
My journey lay elsewhere.
I would take my chances on the open sea.
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