Reflected Glass

The Glass Border is a wall that stretches as far as the imagination. Darim is drawn to it and meets someone from the other side. That’s when the Glass Border turns into an obstacle he must overcome.

The birds were chirping. They filled the air with their happy tunes, hidden from sight by the green leaves of the surrounding trees. Darim walked through the peaceful woods, hopping over tree roots and brushing against bushes to make them jiggle. It was a perfect day.

He came across a rather large tree and circled around it a few times. There would have had to of been three of him to get his arms all the way around it. He smiled and laughed. From his pocket he pulled out a piece of black chalk. Drawing was his favorite hobby, so he always had a few pieces handy.

The chalk scratched against the bark of the tree as he drew. Soon enough there was a small picture of himself holding a flag that proclaimed, “My tree!” He laughed and scampered off.

After a few minutes of walking the trees began to thin out before they disappeared entirely. In front of Darim was a large expanse of land and in the distance he could just make out a wall of glass that shimmered in the sunlight. It cut across the land and seemed to go on forever.

His people called it the Glass Border. No one knew why it was there, where it came from or who built it. What was on the other side was another mystery because no one could get through it. The glass was unbreakable. The Elders would tell horror stories about what was on the other side to scare the children. They would talk of monsters and terrifying creatures that were able to pass through the glass and that would come and steal away bad little boys and girls that didn’t listen to their mommies and daddies. That was why most people stayed away from the Glass Border.

Darim wasn’t afraid, though. He had been to the Glass Border a hundred times before because it fascinated him. He wasn’t sure why, but the wall drew him to it, so every chance he got he would sneak out of his village and go to it.

As fast as the wind he ran to the glass wall, the blades of grass tickling his bare feet as he went. By the time he reached his destination he was panting, but he smiled as he gazed upon the wall. The glass was beautifully made, as smooth as silk without a mark or a scratch on it.

He delicately placed his fingertips on the glass followed by his palms. He leaned in close and let out a breath of air and watched as fog marred the glass’s perfection. With a turn of his head he pressed his cheek against the surface and relished the cool feel of it against his skin.

He stood there a while with his eyes closed in complete contentment. When he opened his eyes, however, his peace was replaced with confusion. Further down the Glass Border he saw a shape, possibly a figure of a person. What surprised him was that the shape was on the other side of the glass.

With cautious steps he drew closer and as he did the shape became more pronounced and he realized that it really was a person. Excitement ignited in his veins and he threw caution to the wind as he dashed to the stranger.

As he approached the person saw him and seemed just as surprised to see him. He came to a stop just in front of the person and the two stared at each other in awe. The stranger was a man and seemed around his age, but was slightly taller. With two arms, two legs and soft eyes the man appeared very much human. Not like the monsters in the stories Darim had heard his whole life.

The staring lasted for as long as Darim could take. He decided to break the awkward moment with a smile and a wave.

“Hi, I’m Darim. Who are you?” he asked.

The man stared at him, his brows drawing downwards. He tilted his ear toward Darim and cupped it. Realizing the man couldn’t hear him, he spoke louder.

“I’m Darim! Who are you!?” he yelled.

Now the man’s lips pursed and he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, making Darim sigh in exasperation. He hadn’t known that the wall made it so sound couldn’t carry over to the other side. He thought and thought of how to communicate to this mysterious person from the other side when an idea hit him.

With an excited grin he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of chalk. He held it up so the other man could see before beginning to write on the glass. He had almost finished the second word when the man tapped on the glass to get his attention. When he blinked at the other the man pointed at the word and shook his head.

Darim stared at him in confusion, not understanding. The man pointed at the word then held up his hands so they were parallel then moved them around each other. He then mouthed one word. Darim stared hard at the man’s lips as the word was said again. His eyes widened when he understood. The man was saying, “Backwards.”

From Darim’s side his writing was correct, but from the other side it would appear to be backwards. Darim hit his palm against his head and rolled his eyes. Of course. With an apologetic look he set to writing again, though a bit slower. He had never made it a practice to write backwards, but when it was done it read,

“Can you write?”

The man read it and then nodded. Darim pulled out a second piece of chalk from his pocket and looked upwards. While the Glass Border stretched on forever in width it did not do the same in height. Darim could see the top of the glass a few feet above him and he pulled back his hand. With a mighty throw he sent the piece of chalk sailing over the top of the glass and it landed next to the man.

The man gave it a curious look before bending down and picking it up. With it in hand he looked to Darim expectantly. Darim smiled as he put his chalk to the glass surface again and began to write.

“Hi, I’m Darim. What’s your name?”

The man smiled and began using his own chalk.

“Hello, Darim. I’m Talence,” he wrote. “Nice to me you.”

“Same here. I had no idea there were people on the other side,” Darim wrote excitedly.

“Nor I.”

“What’s it like on your side?” Darim asked.

Talence raised a brow before scratching his chalk on the glass.

“You want me to write all about my land?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“That will take a while.”

“You have a better idea?” Darim asked with a chuckle. “I’ll write about my side too, if you want.”

Talence smiled and nodded.

“I’d like that.”

So they began to write and write. They wrote of what their lives were like, about where they came from, their family, their friends, what they did for fun and soon the glass wall was filled with their scribbling. As they wrote Darim was pleased to find that life on the other side of the glass wall wasn’t different in the least. Talence seemed happy to learn the same.

“I think I’ve told you everything,” Darim wrote after a long, long while.

“As have I,” Talence replied. “What shall we do now?” he then asked.

Darim thought it over then smiled and gave a suggestion.

“Can you draw?” he asked and drew a little smiley face next to it that resembled him.

“A little,” Talence said, drawing his own smiley face.

“Let’s draw then!”

The wall was slowly filled with not only writing, but with little doodles as well. There were pictures of people and silly creatures and it seemed like the two had an infinite amount of ideas on what to draw. They laughed and talked more in between drawings and Darim felt like Talence was not a stranger, but a friend he had known for years and years.

Darim was brought out of the drawing session by a crow cawing in the distance. He looked up and was shocked to find that the sky was no longer blue, but a mix of oranges, pinks and reds.

“It’s getting late,” he wrote almost sadly.

“Yes, I should be heading back,” Talence wrote back with the same lack of enthusiasm.

Darim didn’t want to leave, but joy sparked back in his eyes with a thought and he began to write again.

“Will you come back tomorrow? We can draw more.”

Talence’s lips turned upward and he nodded vigorously.

“Yes, I’d like that very much. I’ll come back around the same time.”

“Me too. Goodbye, Talence.”

“Goodbye, Darim.”

They parted ways with reluctant hearts. When Darim reached the tree line that would lead him back into the woods he glanced back. He could just make out the small, dark figure of Talence in the distance and wished they had a little more time. With a sigh he treaded back to his village, his feet dragging the whole way.

Many days passed and on each of them Darim would leave his village, run through the woods and return to the Glass Border. Sometimes he would arrive first and anxiously await the arrival of his new friend. Other times he would find Talence patiently waiting with a soft smile that was just for him.

Darim loved his time with Talence. They would draw together and seemed to have endless things to talk about. Going to meet Talence soon became his obsession and when he was back home all he could think about was his friend on the other side of the glass. But while his visits with Talence made him happier than he had ever been before, a great sadness began to burrow in his heart and grew day by day. It wasn’t long before Talence took notice.

“What is wrong?” he wrote, stopping halfway through a drawing of a cat to ask.

“What? Nothing,” Darim wrote.

“You’re sad. Tell me why,” Talence insisted.

Darim sighed and looked away from Talence’s imploring eyes. Finally he relented and began to write what was troubling him.

“I’m sad because I want to be with you.”

Talence simply blinked at him then laughed.

“But you are with me. We’re together everyday.”

“No, I mean I want to be with you without a wall of glass separating us,” Darim wrote. “I want to be able to touch you to know you’re really there, go with you anywhere I want to and hear your voice as we talk.” Tears misted over his eyes and he sniffled. “And I can’t.”

Talence’s smiling face crumbled into that of sadness and he nodded.

“I want that too.”

They sat together in silence for a long while. Then something happened. Darim’s sadness was replaced with determination. He stood up and began to write fervently.

“I’m going to find a way through the glass!”

Talence stared at the writing in shock before getting up and writing back.

“But that’s impossible. No one can get through the glass.”

“I’ll be the first one to do it then,” Darim wrote stubbornly.

“How?”

Darim had his chalk against the glass, but could think of nothing to write. How was he going to get through the glass?

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something. Just you wait.”

That night Darim went home and while he lay in bed he concocted a plan on how he could get through the Glass Border. He went to sleep with a smile, thinking he had found the perfect solution.

The next day he found Talence waiting for him at the glass wall. This time, however, Darim had not only his chalk, but two shovels.

“What are those for?” Talence wrote on the wall, staring at them curiously.

Darim set down his tools and took out his own chalk.

“Well, people say there’s no way to get through the wall, right?”

“Right.”

“Then we’re not going to go through it, we’re going to go under it,” Darim wrote with a victorious smile.

“Under it?”

“Yep, I figure we can just dig a hole right underneath the wall and slip under it.”

“Will that work?” Talence asked.

“We won’t know until we try. Now stand back.”

Once Talence was at a safe enough distance Darim took one of the shovels and, with all of his might, launched it up and over the wall. Once it landed Talence picked it up and Darim wrote two words.

“Let’s dig.”

They set to work. The heads of the shovels dug into the ground mercilessly, removing clumps of earth as they went. They went on and on, digging in the same spot. To Darim’s great confusion, though, no matter how far they dug there seemed to be no end to the wall. It just kept going down into the ground further and further.

After Darim and Talence were tired, sweaty and had literally dug themselves into a hole Darim heard a tap on the glass. When he broke his concentration to look up, Talence was already writing.

“I don’t think this is going to work.”

Darim let out a dejected sigh.

“I know,” he wrote. “I’ll come up with something else.”

The next day Darim went to the wall pulling a wagon that was filled with big blocks. Talence stared at him oddly when he made it to the wall.

“Now what in the world are those for?” Talence wrote.

“They’re for my new plan,” Darim told him. “We can’t go through the glass. We can’t go under the glass. So I’m gonna go over the glass.”

“Over it? Is that even safe?”

“You’ll be on the other side to catch me,” Darim wrote with an unwavering grin.

“Do you think it will work?”

“Well, I was able to throw the chalk and the shovel over the wall, so why wouldn’t I be able to go over it?”

“I don’t know about this. I don’t want you to get hurt,” Talence wrote, concern showing in his face.

“You worry too much. It’s not that high. I’ll be fine,” Darim assured him.

With that Darim began unloading his blocks as Talence watched anxiously. Darim stacked the blocks on top of each other, arranging them so that they resembled stairs. When the final block was in place he climbed up and up, carefully standing on the last step.

After making sure he was steady he reached up for the top of the glass, hoping to grasp it and pull himself over. To his dismay he found that his fingertips were just out of reach. Even standing on his tiptoes didn’t help. With a defeated sigh he climbed back down. He didn’t understand. By his calculations the amount of blocks he had brought should have been enough.

“Can’t reach,” he wrote on the wall sadly after his feet found firm ground. “I’ll have to go get more blocks.”

“Can you do that tomorrow? Let’s just draw today,” Talence replied and Darim saw him glance at the makeshift stairs uneasily.

“Why not keep trying today?”

“It looks unsteady and dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt. Please, let’s just draw today.”

Darim was touched by Talence’s concern and it made him want to get over the wall that much more, but he conceded.

“Okay.”

The next couple of days Darim brought more and more blocks and his stairs grew higher and higher. However, no matter how high he made it he could not make it over the wall. His fingertips were always just out of reach. It was as if the wall was growing to match him, to mock him. It angered Darim enough that he was determined to make it over and beat the wall.

One day, when his stairs held him several feet off the ground, he stood at the top staring at the wall edge that was still just out of reach. He had had enough of building and, for him, it was now or never. He crouched down low, his eyes never leaving his objective. With as much force as his legs could muster he leapt up.

He reached as far as his arms would go and he brushed the very top of the wall. His fingers tried to curl but gravity pulled him down too soon and he landed back onto his stairs.

A yelp pierced the air and he wobbled as his stairs shuddered and wavered irritably. He stood completely frozen until his landing settled. When it did he let out a sigh of relief, but stared up in determination. He wouldn’t quit.

He jumped again and again his fingers just touched the top, but he could not grab it. With his second landing the stairs shook worse and he flattened himself against the glass to keep from toppling off. When the tremors stopped he breathed deeply again. As his heart hammered in his chest he became aware of a thudding noise and with his ear against the glass he knew it was coming from the wall.

He peered downwards to see Talence at the bottom hitting his fists against the glass. He was shaking his head as he shouted over and over, but Darim was deaf to the words. He knew Talence wanted him to stop for fear of injuring himself, but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t.

Again he set his eyes to the top of the glass. He would reach it and make it over to Talence. He just had to. He put everything into his next leap, all of his desire and hope and he jumped higher than either of the last attempts. But Fate was cruel. Before his eyes he saw the edge of the glass rise another inch, preventing him from getting his fingers over it and gravity took hold of him again.

This time he would not be so lucky. His feet hit the step hard and it shook greater than any time before, and to his horror a block near the middle wiggled out of its hold. The rest soon came after.

Darim screamed as his tower of blocks crumbled and he fell downwards towards the ground that rushed up to meet him. The air rushed from his lungs as he hit the bottom and pain danced through his body as he tried to regain his senses. He had held onto a sliver of luck and had landed on his fallen blocks instead of the ground. While the blocks weren’t much softer, they still made the difference.

The blocks shifted as he sat up and he batted away the ones that were nearly on top of him. With a groan he put a hand to his pounding head. It didn’t take long for him to realize that the pounding wasn’t coming from his head, but the wall. He looked to see Talence hitting his fists against it again. When their eyes met Talence began to write.

“Are you okay?”

Darim nodded, just to ease Talence’s fears.

“Are you hurt?”

He gave a shake of the head this time, not wanting to tell Talence about how much his body ached. He arose from his bed of blocks and went to the wall as Talence continued to write.

“Please don’t try that again. Don’t ever do something like that again.”

“I won’t,” Darim assured him. “The wall got taller when I almost had it, so I can definitely say that climbing the wall isn’t going to work. I’ll think of something else.”

Talence wrote one word.

“No.”

“No? What do you mean no? Don’t you want us to be together?” Darim asked and his heart ached just as much as his body with just the thought.

“I do, I want that more than anything,” Talence replied. “But not at the cost of your safety. You were lucky this time, but who knows if you’ll survive the next plan you come up with. I want to be with you, but if it means losing you in the process I’d rather just keep you with glass between us.”

Talence pressed his palm against the glass in a spot that wasn’t covered by the writing. Darim did the same, his hand placed over Talence’s. He wanted so much to feel the soft skin of Talence’s hand and the warmth that would come with it, but all he felt was the cool smoothness of the glass and he hated it. He didn’t want to worry Talence but he wasn’t giving up. He would never give up.

That night Darim tossed and turned in his bed, trying to find a solution to his problem, but there were little ideas left in his head. He could not go through the glass. He could not go under the glass. He could not go over the glass. What else could he do? He jolted up when the answer came to him. He knew exactly what to do.

The next morning he went to the Glass Border, but his attire was different than ever before. Sturdy leather boots adorned his usually bare feet. A thick cloak covered his shoulders to protect him from the elements. And on his back was a pack filled with food, water, and tools.

Talence looked him over carefully and with great suspicion in his eyes.

“What are you up to?” he wrote on the glass.

“I’m going on a journey,” Darim replied.

“To where?”

“To wherever the Glass Border ends.”

“What?”

“I cannot go through, under, or over the glass. The only option I have left is to go around it. The Glass Border must end somewhere and I’m going to find it,” Darim wrote proudly.

“What!? That’s insanity! The Glass Border goes on forever and ever. Everyone knows that.”

“Everyone also thought that no one could possibly live on the other side of the wall and yet here you are before me.”

Talence looked like he wanted to argue, but Darim’s point made his hand still.

“How long will you be gone?” he wrote instead.

“For as ever long as it takes,” Darim replied.

“I’ll go with you then.”

“What?”

“I want to go with you, we’ll travel together along the glass and when we find the opening we’ll be together that much sooner,” Talence wrote with his loving smile.

“No. Don’t come with me.”

The smile vanished and was replaced with perplexity.

“Why not?”

“I’d rather you stay here. Just stay and wait for me. With just the thought of you here I will search that much faster and I want to surprise you when I return and I’m on your side. Besides, there’s no point in us both being travel worn and weary. Please, just stay.”

He knew Talence was conflicted, but his friend simply sighed and nodded.

“Okay, I will stay here. I’ll wait for you here everyday. I promise.”

Darim smiled and was relieved. The real reason he didn’t want Talence to go was because he feared that the journey would be dangerous. He had never been outside of his village before, so he knew not what lurked in the world. He would rather face the unknown alone rather than put Talence in peril along with him.

After lengthy goodbyes and farewells Darim was off. He walked with his hand on the glass wall and kept peering over his shoulder at Talence, who grew smaller and smaller until he was out of sight.

Darim walked and walked and walked, always with his hand on the glass, hoping to reach some sort of end. He traveled with heavy, unwavering steps, always keeping his eyes staring ahead. Soon minutes turned into hours, hours turned into days, days turned into nights, and the days and nights turned into weeks, but still he kept going.

The earth beneath his feet changed as he went. He traveled over meadows, deserts, mountains, wastelands, swamps and plains. Still there was no end to the Glass Border. Darim came out of his walking trance when his feet sank down into something new.

He blinked and looked down to see that his travel worn boots were partially submerged in sand. Pass the sand was a great expanse of water. The ocean. He watched as the waves playfully lapped at the land, tasted the sea salt that coated his tongue and took in the smells the sea had to offer.

He should have been happy. He had never seen the ocean before. It was majestic and beautiful and he should have been filled with awe and wonder. Instead he was filled with numbing despair because even the mighty ocean could not stop the Glass Border. It cut through the water fearlessly, rising above the glittering surface and disappeared off into the horizon.

“No,” Darim said as his heavy feet dragged him to the waters edge. “No, no.” When the water gently touched his boots he fell to his knees, leaning back as he cried to the heavens, “No!”

His greatest fear now taunted him like a mischievous demon. There was no end to the Glass Border. It went on and on, separating one half of the world from the other, separating him from Talence.

Darim sat there for a long while, sobbing. He let his tears roll down his face and drip down into the ocean. Now there was no hope of him ever being with Talence. He could not go through, under, over or around the wall. He could do nothing.

Finally, when his bones began to shiver from the icy water, he stood up. He gazed at the ocean a moment more before turning his back on it and going back the way he came. Back to his village, broken and defeated.

When Darim returned to his home he slept for a full day and night. His body too exhausted to do much else. When he recovered enough strength he made his way back to the Glass Border, to find the one person he wanted to see most. At first he thought no one was there as he approached, but as he got closer he saw a form on the ground.

Talence lay on his side, his eyes closed as even breathing passed through his lips. Darim kneeled down and studied Talence lost in sleep. The first smile Darim had had in ages lit up his face. Talence looked so beautiful and peaceful. Darim placed his hand against the glass wall. He wanted nothing more than to run his fingers through Talence’s hair. Except he couldn’t, all he could do was tap the glass with his finger and watch as Talence began to stir.

Talence’s eyes fluttered open and he blinked away the grog that clouded them. It took a moment for his eyes to focus on Darim, but they widened when they did and he shot up. His face was so full of joy and he shouted something. Even though Darim couldn’t hear it he knew it was his name that was shouted and warmth spread in his chest to know he could bring Talence so much happiness with just his presence.

Talence searched his pockets until he pulled out his chalk. Words were frantically written on the wall.

“Darim, you’re back! I’m so happy! I’ve waited for you here every day just like I said I would. I knew you would come back to me. I missed you so much.” His smile fell as his eyes went from Darim to the wall between them. “You could not find the end of the wall?”

Darim shook his head sadly as he took out his own chalk.

“No. There is no end. It just goes on and on forever, just like you said it did.” Darim had to pause to wipe at his eyes that misted with tears. “I traveled so far and for so long and it was all for nothing.”

“Please don’t cry,” Talence begged.

Darim gritted his teeth and stood. He paced back and forth as he tried to reign in the rage that coursed through him.

“How can I not cry?” he wrote when had enough control. “I have tried over and over to get to you, but there is nothing else I can do. This wall keeps me from you and I hate it. I hate it!”

Such a look of sadness came over Talence that it nearly broke Darim’s heart.

“I hate it too, but maybe we should be happy with what we have. We have our writing and our drawings. Maybe that’s all we were meant to have.”

“That’s not good enough!” Darim wrote, nearly breaking his chalk with how hard he was pressing it into the glass. “I want you. All of you. I want to wrap my arms around you and never let you go. I want to hear your voice and let your laughter fill me. I want to spend every second with you, not this stupid wall! I want it all because�"” He had to stop to place a name to the emotion that had been growing in his heart from the first day he met Talence. The answer came swiftly.

“Talence, I love you.”

Talence stared at the words before looking into Darim’s eyes and Darim was shocked to see tears roll down Talence’s cheeks. He brushed them away before his chalk was back to the glass.

“I love you too, Darim. I always have.”

Darim read the words and so many emotions swelled in his chest: Happiness, sadness, joy, despair, bliss, agony. He thought his heart would surely burst. The man he loved, loved him too, but they could never be together. In a fit of anger he pulled his fist back and rammed it into the glass as hard as he could. Pain blossomed over his fingers and knuckles. The pain was soon forgotten when he saw that cracks had formed in the glass. A spark of hope flickered, but it soon died when the fractures disappeared one by one until the glass was whole and perfect.

Darim leaned his head against the wall and cried. The glass was truly unbreakable, unlike his heart. He was content to stay there and cry out his misery, but a tap on the glass made him sniffle and open his eyes. What he saw made him blink in bewilderment. There were two words in front of him and they read,

“Kiss me.”

Darim rubbed at his eyes with his arm and took up the chalk in the hand that wasn’t throbbing painfully.

“What? How can I kiss you with a wall between us?” he wrote.

“Kiss me anyways,” Talence replied. “Kiss me and maybe for one, wonderful second it will be like the wall isn’t there and it will feel like we are truly together.”

Darim read the words over and over again. He wondered if it would be possible to lose himself in such a dream, but he wanted to all the same.

“Okay.”

They moved to a part of the wall that was clear of all writings and drawings, to a part where they could see each other perfectly. Talence placed both his hands on the wall and Darim covered those hands with his own. His heart pounded in his chest. He was about to share something so deeply intimate with Talence and even though there was a wall of glass between them he still felt a happiness he had never experienced before.

Talence was the first to move forward and Darim followed his lead. He closed his eyes and leaned in until he felt the cold glass touch his lips. At first he felt silly, but soon he lost himself in his fantasy. Instead of glass against his palms he felt the smooth, touchable skin of Talence’s hands. Instead of a chill touching his mouth he felt Talence’s soft, supple lips. He could have stayed lost in his fantasy forever. That was until the fingers he thought were only imaginary laced with his and held onto his hands tightly.

Darim gasped and jerked back, but the hands didn’t let go and came with him. When Darim opened his eyes he couldn’t believe what he saw. Talence’s soft eyes were staring into his own with no wall of glass in front of them. Darim then realized the fingers that were laced with his belonged to Talence and it was no trick of the imagination at all. They were really holding hands and standing together with no obstruction.

As one they turned to stare at the wall, never letting go of each other for fear it could all be some sort of trick. There stood the wall behind Talence as solid as ever, but now the two were on the same side.

Talence turned back to Darim and they stared at each other in amazement for several long seconds. Darim was the first to come out of his stupor. He let out a cry of pure joy before wrapping his arms around Talence and hugging him with everything he had. Tears of happiness swelled in his eyes as he felt Talence’s arms go around him and a moment later lips found his own. They kissed each other desperately, as if they were thirsty men that had found an everlasting oasis.

When the frenzy of their long awaited union went down to a simmer Talence touched Darim’s face with his fingertips as he peppered kisses along Darim’s lips, cheeks and chin. Talence then pulled back, his mouth opened and the voice Darim had been waiting to hear, for what felt like his whole life, issued from Talence’s lips as he said,

“Hi.”

 

=================================Reflected Glass End

Author's Note

This is the first oneshot or short story I have ever written. I did it about a year ago and had a lot of fun with it. I got inspiration for it from this video created by a talented artist on DeviantArt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvjZ6VkLuCM It's a beautiful video, but also quite sad. Obviously I gave my story a happier ending and had two men. I hope you enjoyed it and I'd love to hear your thoughts!