The mirror lies
This is not her.
That creature in the mirror is nothing more than an illusion. A fake. A poor copy of the real.
These eyes, the hair, the body lines,… none of it belongs to her.
It simply can't be.
The mirror lies, she thinks.
Unconsciously, she reaches for the pendant on her neck, tracing the outlines that shimmer a faint shade of green in the moonlight. No, this isn't her, she thinks.
A small breeze blows through the room, and makes some of her locks dance on the wind, making it flow around her like a deep-green waterfall. Still, it's wrong. The color, the length, the way it falls limply back against her body when the breeze disappears… just wrong. Shouldn't it…?
A sigh.
Slowly, she places a hand on the cool surface of the mirror, and is almost frustrated as the stranger in the mirror does the same.
But maybe, after all, it would only be only natural that a creature that never should have been on land, should look wrong.
She reaches down, brushing of some imaginary dust of her pants. Her fingers linger on the fabric, feeling the long, slim legs underneath it. Legs. How did she end up having legs anyway?
Her place is in the sea, amongst the fish and the other mermaids. And what did she do?
She ran away, leaving behind her kingdom, her people... her friends. Seeking refuge on a land that was not her own. Taking an identity based on nothing but lies. Living in a human form, a shameful cage of flesh, reminding her every day that she disgraced her title of a princess of the sea by pretending her life to be another.
Her hands have curled into fist, and her nails dig into the tender flesh of her thighs. And even though it hurts, she knows that such a pain is nothing compared to the pain the other people she was around must be feeling at this very moment.
She slowly straightens her back, and her eyes travel upwards to the reflection of the mirror, until she once again looks into those grey eyes she doesn't recognize. Soon she feels frustration rise again, and she looks down once more.
No, this isn't her, she thinks as she turns away, and she wonders why the mirror lies.