The woman in the mirror looked disheveled and exhausted, but she couldn't peel her face away. Mirrors had become, of late, a subject of renewed interest.

Sharona gaped at herself. Had she always had those dark circles under her eyes? She moved a little closer to the glass, staring into the olive orbs. She grimaced at her sunken cheeks and pale complexion. Stress was certainly taking its toll.

"I think I'm going crazy," she informed her reflection. It blinked and scowled back. She had a monster of a headache.

She pulled her springy curls into a ponytail and twisted a hair band around them with pronounced irritation.

She leaned forward over the sink, until her nose touched glass. Her eyes looked strangely closed. Like drawn shutters.

"What are you doing to yourself," she mumbled.

The woman on the other side was lucky they were separated by a wall of glass when she replied with a frustrated, "Surviving." Sharona nearly broke the mirror, and God knows she didn't need 7 years of bad luck. Not on top of everything.

She gawped at herself in astonishment.

"At this rate, not for long," she added sarcastically, and could have sworn she saw her reflection shrug when her own shoulders were quite definitely motionless.

"It's a hard lesson, survival. You've got too much on your plate." The other Sharona narrowed her eyes accusingly. "You can't worry about Adrian's sanity and yours too."

She had a fair point.

"Maybe you should think about quitting. Or at least taking a good, solid vacation. You need to focus on school, and your own life, and you can't do that if you're busy worrying about whether or not Adrian's vacuum is working again."

Sharona gave her head a little shake – half in response, half in an attempt to pull herself together. "I can't quit. He needs me." She watched her eyes roll.

"You need to quit babying him. He's in his forties, he can cope. Besides, how are you supposed to pick up anybody when you're tailing a grown puppy all the time?" Sharona in the mirror waggled her eyebrows.

Mirror Sharona could be a real bitch after midnight.

On the right side of the mirror, Sharona stifled a yawn. Her head throbbed dully.

"I'll be fine. I need Adrian just as much as he needs me."

Did her eyebrow always arch like that when she was skeptical?

"All I need is a good night's sleep and a few painkillers. I'll be fine," she reiterated. The other Sharona shrugged.

"Just saying. Take care of yourself honey."

Turning away from the mirror, Sharona rubbed the goose bumps on her forearms and flicked the switch on the bathroom light.

"I will."