SOMEHOW DIFFERENT
By Miriam H. Harrison
Content Warnings: None.
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They met at the pond. There, in the light of the full moon, Anna looked into the water and saw herself, somehow different. A trick of the light, she thought. But try as she might, she could not understand the change, subtle yet certain.
so strange she said aloud
to see myself
not quite myself
I feel
something uncanny waits
something uncanny waits her reflection confirmed
I feel
not quite myself
to see myself
so strange
Had her reflection truly spoken? Anna doubted herself. All around her, the night was silent. Yet in the water, her reflection studied her. She saw her confusion reflected there in the moonlight – much the same, yet different. She had heard before of witchcraft and trickery in the light of the full moon. She had also heard of lunacy. But which frightened her more: magic or madness?
as tricksters she said
the moonlight and water
confuse me, cast
spells of uncertainty
perhaps
Her reflection pondered.
perhaps it said
spells of uncertainty
confuse me, cast
the moonlight and water
as tricksters
They considered each other, considered possibilities. It was strange for Anna to think that some other self lived there in the moonlit pond. Stranger still to think that – to her reflection – she was a mystery to be solved.
am I strange? she asked
I wonder
I look at you
in the water
while I am here
on land
to me, you are
strange
​
strange her reflection said
to me, you are
on land
while I am here
in the water
I look at you
I wonder
am I strange?
Anna realised how little she knew. She had never questioned the inevitability of her life on land. She had dreamed so many dreams, but always with her feet set firmly on the ground. She had never stopped to wonder if there was more to dream, elsewhere.
I wish I knew what it is like she said
living there, in your world
I wonder how it feels to be always
in water
no longer spending all my days
on land
imagine what else waits
where you are
I wish I could be there
​
The eyes of her reflection gazed back, bright and earnest.
I wish I could be there that self replied
where you are
imagine what else waits
on land
no longer spending all my days
in water
I wonder how it feels to be always
living there, in your world
I wish I knew what it is like
When at last the moon set, she left, not quite as she came. There was no more strangeness around her. The path twisted in its usual curves around the trees and rocks. Everything around her was as it had ever been. Only she seemed out of place. The same, yet somehow different.
​
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Miriam H. Harrison:
Writing from the boreal forests and abandoned mines of Northern Ontario, Miriam H. Harrison writes poetry and short fiction that vary between the eerie, the dreary, and the cheery. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.
http://Miriamhharrison.wordpress.com