Evil Eyes

The man washed his face at the bathroom mirror. The water dripped down his cheeks as he took a deep breath.

***

“Why do men stare at themselves in the mirror when they do wrong?”

The old man pondered a moment. “They are asking themselves a question. They are asking, ‘How could I?’”

The boy sat up in his bed. “Maybe they expect to see something change, like the painting in the story.”

“You see”, said the old man, “Evil isn’t shown on the faces of men, or in the picture of Dorian Gray.”

The boy stared into the fire.

“Then how do you know if you are good or bad?”

The old man smiled.

“You ask yourself without a mirror.”

The boy closed his eyes.

***

The boy in the mirror had long been forgotten, but the man in his head haunted his brain.

– By Randall Evans.