see-saw
Summary
I. The Star(t)
Rain pitter-patters against the window slowly, pacing Bora’s heartbeat. It’s not like she particularly enjoys this type of weather, in fact she can’t recall having a preference at all. She simply loves days that make her feel at peace and it seems as if today is one of those, which is enough to make her push off her lilac bed sheets from her body with excitement at the tip of her fingers.
If one passed by Bora in the street, it would be hard not to look – on any normal day the girl was drop-dead gorgeous - but more than that, she carried this purple aura that shone mysteriously in the midst of a city filled with anxious people. Some would even say she looked like something out of a cartoon, especially in days when her cheery eyes were adorned with glittery stars.
Bora lived in her own world, filled with water puddles made out of cotton candy and the most surprising purple constellations.
It was safe to say she was special. Nobody ever seemed to fully understand the wonderful ways in which her brain worked, pointing out things her family and friends’ gazes would never fathom to catch. Almost as if life came directly from her own sight.
It all had started when she was little and her mother bought her a full-body mirror. There were rumours that, if you were to stare for far too long into a mirror, you would be able to contact with demons in other dimensions. Silly child’s play, one might say.
And most were truly terrified of that - except for little Bora. She had developed the habit of sitting in front of her new treasure while colouring, uncaring of said tales. However, Bora had always been a smart child and quickly picked up on the differences which had soon started to show themselves: how her walls looked yellow in the mirror, how the moon lamp on her bed-side table turned into a sunflower.
By the time Bora was ten and pretty sure she was old enough to tell reality apart from dream, destiny decided it was time to play the ultimate prank on her.
A black-haired girl with yellow hair pins and denim overalls had then stared right at her from the other side of the mirror, in a room she couldn’t recall as her own. How was it possible? Weren’t mirrors supposed to reflect what was looking into them?
Both girls moved forward until their hands met on the mirror, making a wave travel on its surface.
“Sunny?!” had been the last thing Bora heard before the mysterious girl disappeared, being replaced by an image of herself.
That night, the little girl’s dreams were made out of lilac and yellow shooting stars, raining on a sky under which two grown-up women laughed while holding hands.
----
Sunny was a soft-hearted yet strong person, the complete personification of the colour yellow. However, since she had looked into the eyes of that foreign girl, something devoured the insides of her chest and left a hollow space instead, lone dirt to a dried river.
The sun-bright girl then decided to dedicate every second of her life decoding her dreams of purple starlight and trying to communicate with said force of nature through her mirror – no human can play such game on their own though.
On the day she finally hit the age of sixteen, one of her eyes was coloured purple all day, courtesy of the universe’s mercy. Nobody was capable of seeing it besides herself; it did not hurt nor did it change the world’s appearance… It was just there, begging her to listen carefully yet to no avail.
When nothing happened on her seventeenth birthday, Sunny figured she was just endlessly doomed to have unexplainable feelings of adoration towards the girl on the other border of the mirror without ever knowing who she was. She only knew her name - Bora, how majestic - and wouldn’t dare to ask anything else. Last time, it had costed her a constellation shaped wound on her wrist that later had healed into a glowing scar.
Still, the young woman would spend her weekends locked up in her room studying the known galaxies and parallel worlds where Bora could possibly live.
Then, as her twentieth birthday came by, yet another miracle happened… She saw Bora, but not on the other side of the mirror. She was right there! With those adorable glitter stars under her eyes, purple skirt matching her defined lipstick, and Sunny really wanted to sigh - because she was right there. Hands on each sides of her face, the best birthday present known to mankind.
She closed her eyes, not wanting the moment to pass. After feeling the soft touch of plump lips against hers, she heard a whisper that had her immediately opening her eyes.
Unite beyond the other side of the mirror.
Bora was gone.
Sunny kneeled on the ground, staring right back at her shifting orbs, both coloured purple and spilling golden tears.
The mirror wasn’t working anymore.
II. Glass Butterflies
Bora only gets to see Sunny again two years later. At that point it felt quite natural to see herself on the mirror - but as her skin glows dusty shades of gold once more she feels something, as it was bound to happen all along.
She hadn’t understood Sunny’s desire to decode the mirror’s secret until that day when she accidentally travelled through it. She had been hit with an overwhelming need to kiss the other girl, like it could help them with something…
It felt like being complete at last and Bora couldn’t help but fall in love on that precise second.
Despite those strong feelings, the world proved to be far too big of a machine to bend at the willpower of such small creatures. When the image stopped working like it had done before, Bora told herself to get over the mirror girl and the childish fantasies that came along with her. The world goes on, as they say.
Now that she was back again, it was overwhelming - the universe had given Sunny this mesmerizing purple wavy hair that balanced in orbit when she moved to stare back at her.
And just like when they were little, both girls hesitantly walked forward, step by step, until their fingertips touched the mirror as one digit. It waved, then became bubble-gum thin, popped… and allowed both women to hold hands.
The paranormal traces that had followed them around al day (most would argue all life) disappeared as Bora pulled Sunny into her own room.
“Tell me you figured this out already,” she pleaded as the body that had fell on her began to get dragged towards the mirror once more, that same old panic pulsing through their veins to the sound of one same beat.
“I promise you I will, I love-” Sunny yelled back until a strong sound burst, allowing Bora to see herself again on the mirror.
Why was it that after all these years, after wishing upon so many stars, Bora was still fated to the same tragic ending?
----
I love you - those were the words Sunny wanted so bad to yell, let them travel like the fiercest of comets only to land softly on Bora's ears.
She was so close… All the investigation she had done about paranormal phenomena and parallel universes, it could never be in vain. If she had let other forces drag her life out of her hands before, that was on her – but not anymore.
Without hesitating, her trembling fingers stretch to hold another old book about cosmic myths and diverse creatures. It was a curious world, this one; so many sightings of supernatural creatures and accidents but barely any respect for the ones living them.
Sunny sighs and closes her eyes for a while, hoping they will miraculously get humid enough to continue reading for some more hours, for the energy she keeps losing to return and bring her beloved with it.
For years she had considered telling someone about Bora - most likely her mother, who was a strong believer in other worlds and life forms. That surely would make her a little more open minded to such an insane tale; but was it enough to have her fully understand such a deep and dark side of her daughter, hidden from her view thus far?
Sunny never dwelled on it for too long.
From what she had discovered so far, the only possibility was that Bora didn’t live in the same world as she did. That obviously complicated the whole meeting up business… But at that point, Sunny would sacrifice anything to solve this mystery.
It wasn’t just about the feelings they shared, but about the situation in itself. Were there more people like them in any of the infinite galaxies? Was there a such a multiverse of lost souls?
Out of nowhere, a big book with a yellow cover caught Sunny’s attention. The title read Butterfly Platforms in distinctive silver letters. The book was visibly captivating and she found herself unable to not judge it by its cover.
Inside there were dozens of testimonies of people who claimed to be glass butterflies, each of them a tale similar to hers. Somehow, through alternative platforms, certain worlds would form soul twins. Those were bound to be connected continuously through time and space, reincarnating as soul twins yet again in different bodies until they met and broke free.
It was a curse, sugar-coated with love in all is glittery glory… and now it was time to break it.
III. Supernova
Bora had been standing in the same place for three days now, camped under the ever-changing sky. Sunny commanded her to such grass field and she was dedicated to wait for as long as it took. Even if it ended her, Bora would sit through storms and volcanoes next to that bright mirror abandoned in the middle of nowhere.
It clearly had to be the right place. Even after another week passed by, Bora was still convinced that Sunny had made the right discovery and that they were closer to meeting. Otherwise, why would such object stand in the middle of the dirt for years yet manage to look so crystal clear?
It had to be magic, the kind that had involved her since a young age. She could smell it in the air, like sunflowers and marshmallows – the perfect mix of nature, where Sunny and her could meet as one.
Still, as time kept passing by, she couldn’t help but wonder how many of these soul twins had truly succeeded.
Would the ghosts of the ones who sat there before her be flying around? Was this all just a bland excuse of two mad girls who were trying to justify their behaviour? Where did their fiction end, give space to a real tale of living art?
Avoiding tears, Bora started humming the lullaby her mother used to sing her to sleep with. Maybe waiting forever wasn’t actually a choice for her; perhaps it was her life mission.
After two weeks of waiting, Bora decided that going home once in a while for an extra hour or two couldn’t possibly hurt their current situation. It was frustrating, how even the stars started looking pitiful and boring after so many nights of only having them as company.
She had lived all of her life fascinated with everything the sky provided, whether it being soft rain or angry thunder… and now it really felt like all the adoration was going to waste.
It was time for the full moon when Bora decided to let her eyes flow, surround the mirror that had started to look foolish in the middle of knee-level deep green grass with a river of her lilac tears.
It was time for the full moon when golden spirals exploded from said mirror, lighting up the night like the fireworks Bora herself felt exploding inside her stomach, building in her mouth and electrifying her lungs.
It was time for the full moon when Sunny appeared right in front of her, tears of her own accompanied with a wet laugh.
Right then and there, Bora thanked Mother Nature for not failing her after all the unfair questioning she had went through. After all the mystery and the madness, she could tell it was the end; the dream she had of two grown-up women laying under a starry sky was coming true.
It was just them and the world, which maybe wasn’t that cruel after all.
--------
Sunny had never personally experienced a supernova but she liked to think that Bora shined just as bright, right at the moment their bodies united in their own explosion.
Years of unspoken emotions and forbidden touches resumed in cherry sloppy kisses that neither of them would forget, even after their existence had evaporated from all parallel galaxies they belonged to. Perhaps by then they would too be another story written down somewhere.
“I love you,” she whispered, softly holding Bora’s cheeks with her shaking fingertips “I’ll love you endlessly, even after this magic fades away and we disappear, my spirit will forever love you wherever it lies,”
Bora was speechless, glitter-shiny tears falling on top of Sunny’s hands, but they knew what it meant. It was a silent mutual agreement that everything would be fine – the same spirits that separated them had allowed them to be together at last, thanks to all of those who had suffered and fought for this same moment.
Before any of the girls could question themselves about what would happen from that day on, their bodies dissolved into moonlight and connected. Each cell overlapped and formed one being, exactly the same as them.
Mirror images, undistinguishable from each other, made to fall in love and unite on the same plane of existence.
It had felt like blinking, a simple second from her full eternal life and Sunny was back. Her body was covered in golden sparks, whose light seemed to be powerful enough to shine forever. They subsided but remained, looking like the infinite starry night sky that she had just witnessed moments ago.
Her calm behaviour vanished as soon as her mind thought of Bora, forcing her to look up so quick she felt blood rush through her already rosy cheeks. Sunny allowed herself to calm down again once she saw the love of her life standing there, admiring her new found lilac kissed skin.
Looking around, all the star-crossed lovers could fathom was an endless sea of white, gradually tainted with colours withdrawn from other human-like beings that were soon coming into their line of sight.
Both women held hands as a girl with transparent wings and pink eyes landed in front of them, charming smile adorning her facial expression. Her cheeks had tiny fuchsia flowers on them; Sunny noticed how one of them wilted only to quickly blossom in the next second as if she were God herself.
“Welcome to our garden, dear glass butterflies. You are safe now,” she whispered in their ears, the smell of roses strong before she flew away as graciously as she had landed the first time.
Sunny and Bora learn that this is their life from now on - together throughout a small portion of eternity until they reincarnate again on a randomly chosen planet to live their fate as mirror images destined to unite again… Just as the book had planned.
Their human forms live on until their destined deaths come, but their souls are immortal and destined to return to the Garden every once in a while, if they never fail the task to come together while on their physical state.
Sunny worries about her family for a while, whether they will tell the difference or not, but she decides to block such thoughts and use her time wisely.
In the end, if we do believe in destiny and the way it sets our life, if it comes to be the way we wished upon stars, why not live it through? Even if it disobeys logic, even if it completely goes against the rules we were taught during our mirror-clad childhood…
If we don’t hurt anyone in the process and live our life happily, then it should be fine; that’s what Sunny concludes as Bora kisses her cheeks as many times as manageable in a temporary eternity, whispering sweet nothings in their destined place in the Garden.
This is a story about self-discovery, about pain, patience and happiness - but most importantly, this is a story about the magic of love and how Sunny and Bora will survive though it all as long as the universe allows them to.
THE END
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