Abby stared into the mirror and met her own callous eyes. 

"What do you want?" she yelled. Her reflection grinned wickedly, though the real Abby was doing no such thing. "You're evil. Just go away!"

[i]Evil? [/i]

The voice was stronger now, and more familiar. It was hers. 

[i]If I am evil, then so are you, for we are one and the same.[/i]

"No - we can't be!" shouted Abby. She was messed up, but she wasn't a monster. Her sins were born of boredom, not cruelty! 

[i]Why do you deny it? You know what you are capable of. Speak the truth - are you not wicked and detestable?[/i]

Abby opened her mouth as if to speak. But, this time, she said nothing. There was no confession that she was a failure, no admission that she was pathetic. Something about the image before her caught her attention. It was the girl's eyes - her eyes. Even filled with malice as they were, there was something familiar about them. 

She closed her eyes, tried to remember. Slowly, a picture formed in her mind's eye. It was a photo, one that had been taken before her parents had died. Back then, she had still been, free of the sorrow that awaited her. Her brown eyes shone with hope and innocence. 

When Abby's eyelids lifted and she gazed into the mirror again, she saw that glow. After all this time, it wasn't gone. There was still hope.

"No," she said, voice growing strong, "No, I'm not." If the mirror thought she would go down without a fight, it was in for a big surprise.