[MALICE IN YOUR POCKET]
[i can't see clearly.]
[there's something in my eyes, i can't get it out.]
[i take a look at myself in the mirror... that's me?]

MEMY2B - the-rogue

i've been careful not to let them get too close.

surely they have their suspicions about me, and who can blame them?

a random creature shows up right as they're about to begin their
investigation, almost gets stabbed but shrugs it off without
hesitation, and decides to join them with no strings attached?

i know more about this than either of them do, i have to.

i know the layout of this place, i've been here almost every
night in my dreams.

i know where that key is, and it's not the one we picked up
a moment ago.

i know about the maze, i know it's...

it's watching me now, isn't it?

[HE STARES AT A RANDOM POINT IN THE ROOM.]

i don't see it there, but...

[HE HEARS A WHISPER, AND TURNS TO FACE WHERE IT CAME FROM...]

it knows what i know... surely.

[...ONLY TO BE FACING HIMSELF IN THE MIRROR.]

i've been sitting in front of this mirror for quite some time.

being here is making me increasingly more anxious about this whole
thing.

is this the right path for me to be going down?

am i dragging myself deeper, and taking those two with me?

does wander know about this?

i'm paranoid, i can't stop thinking about every little thing going
wrong.

i can't stop thinking about what would happen if green and blue
boy were to figure out what my deal was.

i can't stop thinking about what they would do if i told them
everything i knew, about this place, about me.

...what do i know about me?

i've been sitting in front of the mirror for quite some time.

we come back to the regular variant often because those two
like to go out and get fresh air or whatever.

i follow, of course, but never really join them.

i always come down here and sit on the couch, spacing out,
"dissociating" as wander would call it... but this time, i'm
face to face with "myself."

i don't really know what i'm thinking about right now, to be
honest... these have all just been scattered thoughts while
i try to process everything that happened before i left.

i don't like thinking about that.

i try to think about who i am as a person instead, but i...
don't really like thinking about that, either.

usually i just go by whatever i feel like i'm "supposed to
be," but that isn't really healthy for me.

i still do it though, despite fully knowing this.

...i do a lot of bad things while knowing that they are
bad though, so is that really a surprise to anybody?

i've been sitting in front of this mirror for quite some time.

the longer i look, the less i begin to look like myself.

eventually, the shape in the mirror is unrecognizable...
is that meant to be me?

who is that, in the oversized red shirt and baggy pants
holding the key reflecting red?

who is that next to them, in the clean, orange button-up and
freshly-ironed black slacks holding a tape recorder in one
hand and a notepad in the other?

who is that, far in the back, the creature curled into a
ball with an indecipherable appearance knowing that
their true self hasn't shed the husk of what everyone
else expects them to be?

and who is that next to them, the... wait, i know who that is,
that's my sibling.

i open my eyes.

i've been sitting in front of the mirror for quite some time.

maybe i should go back to the others, they're probably
wondering what i'm doing here all alone.

i catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror as i'm leaving.

♪ — what-creatures-are-fiend-and-wanderer-(you-decide)
original: 12 ruined (the hanged man) - RENREN

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