Chapter Six

“Have you ever wondered if the person in the mirror is truly your reflection? Or, are you merely the reflection of the person in the mirror? Could it be that both you and your reflection exist independently of one another?”
 
Day 4, dusk, rose garden. 
 
His white shirt stained yellow, the man worked in the rose garden, drenched in sweat. From afar, the garden’s foreman waved, signalling the end of the workday. The man retreated to a small wooden hut at the edge of the garden and took a slightly rusty whisky flask and a clean shirt from his bag. After changing, he opened the flask, hoping for a sip, only to find it empty. With a wry smile, he muttered to himself, “Ah… Well, time to find an old friend.”
 
As night fell, the bar’s neon sign flickered on. The man pushed open the wooden-framed glass door, made his way to his usual spot at the bar and called out to a familiar figure. 
 
“Hey!” 
 
The bartender turned, “Ah, you’re here. Haven’t seen you in a few days. Early tonight?”
 
The man simply smiled without answering, handing over his flask. The bartender returned a knowing smile, and refilled the flask with the cheapest whisky from the shelf. The man placed two crumpled notes on the bar and took back his flask.
 
“You look a bit sunburnt,” the bartender remarked. “Been working hard in the rose garden, have you? Let me make you a cocktail - on me!”
 
Nodding in thanks, the man sat on his usual stool by the wall. As the bartender turned to mix the cocktail, the man glanced around the empty bar. His gaze settled on a full-length floor mirror facing the bar. In the reflection, he saw a woman entering. She carried a man’s jacket. A sense of déjà vu came over him. He was momentarily dazed.
 
“Hey!”
 
The bartender called out.
 
“Has that woman ever called you?” 
 
The bartender’s voice snapped the man out of his daze. 
 
He looked at the bartender, then around the bar. It was just the two of them.
 
The bartender then placed a pink cocktail for the man on the bar.