Not much of anything was making sense anymore. Even on the rare occasions, she felt that her thoughts were drawing her closer to an answer, all too often the fog of uncertainty seemed to suddenly thicken and blur the path before her. It was a maddening, unending circle of confusion and questions. Yet, for all her internal anguish and torment, for all the sleepless hours she spent desperately trying to seek the truth behind it all, a darker, more troubling, and turbulent question lay bubbling. Did she already know the answer?

The constant hazy mist of thoughts would only seem to truly clear when this one question managed to fight its way to the surface. A slightly uncomfortable, awkward sense of knowing would wash through her at such times, but it offered little in the way of comfort. During these rare intervals, the simple questions of why, how and when gave way to the more disturbing one of 'if?'.

At these moments, she almost yearned for the anguish of trying to resolve what appeared to be an impossibly complex enigma of reason. The way in which her mind seemed to simply freely accept it as just 'being,' was in itself a cause for worry. The simple acceptance that there was no deep, complex enigma to be solved, and only the consequences to be considered, meant she was left now only with her apparently unlimited imagination. She would close her eyes tight, and fight to dispel the growing urge to contemplate and consider the possibilities, and instead return to the more 'scientific' pursuit of a cause. Sometimes her wish was granted, and her mind would rescue her, but all too often her interventions were too late, or too weak.

Now, as she sat looking directly into the mirror, she saw the familiar stranger staring back. They looked at each other, each seeming to be urging the other to back down. Suddenly she saw the face before her cast a knowing grin. She turned her head away, taking a deep breath, but then found herself turning back, and at once, felt at one again with the reflection before her.