Please review with your thoughts, please and thanks.

Oh, and I need your opinions... I wrote this with the intention of continuing this piece. This was meant to be only the first chapter. But after reading through it again, I realized this could work as it's own stand-alone piece, like a one-shot. So, what do you think? Should I continue or leave it at this? Lemme know, por favor!

The image in the mirror stared back at me. I'd seen it many times before, but it didn't belong to me. It belonged to someone whom life had given too many undeserved chances. That was why I had to get rid of that image. I had to show everyone that I was not what they all thought I was.

Cool metal touched my fingertips and I felt my racing heart relax. This shouldn't feel so natural. It wouldn't feel so natural had it not have been what was meant to be. I pulled my father's hand gun from my coat pocket. It looked just like it always did: silent, waiting. I put it to my head and looked back at the image in the mirror. Such a strange image. I placed my finger on the trigger.

Then, just as fate would have it, a small body walked around to the sink beside me. I could hear a toilet flushing from the stalls just around the corner. I stood still, keeping the gun right where it should be. The small body glanced at the image in the mirror before reaching out and turning on the faucet. I scrunched my brow but kept still. Could she not see what was about to happen?

The water ran for a moment before the girl reached out to the soap dispenser. Pushing it once, then twice since nothing came out, I could see her glance over at the soap dispenser in front of me. She looked up.

"Excuse me, could you pass the soap bottle please?" A small hopeful smile tugged at the edges of her lips. I didn't move. I couldn't; I was quite baffled.

I watched her look from me to the soap, then back up at me. The smile stayed, although dampened just a little. I didn't know what to do.

"Can't you see what I'm doing?" I asked slowly. Curiosity and awe were eating away at me. Perhaps this was all just a dream... maybe I really didn't have a gun in my hand. Perhaps I'm just imagining things. The girl's smile renewed then, and I knew I wasn't in a dream.

"I can," she reassured. Her voice was smooth and calm. One might even say it was rather sweet. The smile must have given it that effect.

I blinked and tried to clarify. "And you don't care? You aren't going to tell me to stop?"

"If I told you to stop, would you listen?" She looked once more from me to the soap. "The soap?" she asked again, politely.

I was quite certain this wasn't how things were supposed to happen. I frowned but reached for the soap with my free hand anyway. What else was I going to do? I passed it to her and she thanked me with the sweetest smile one could muster.

She finished washing her hands, seemingly unaware that I was even watching. She walked around me to the paper towels and proceeded to dry her hands.

I couldn't understand the completely untroubled spirit that hung around her. It bugged me. She tossed her paper towel in the trash can and moved to the door. I spoke up quickly, my voice hinting at incredulous.

"So that's it?"

She looked up at me, surprised. After a brief moment she spoke, "Did you expect me to say something else?"

The line made me choke. "Well... y-yes..." I stammered.

She moved away from the door, taking a step back towards me. There was a look in her eyes that I couldn't quite explain. "Whatever is happening in your life must be awful. I'm sorry you feel like you have no other options and no other reason to stick around. But if you don't mind me saying, you must be beyond help. Anyone who goes so far as to hold a gun to their head certainly doesn't think much about the opinions of others. I am most certain a stranger telling you to give life a second chance won't make you heed their words. Rather, I think those words would just make you feel even more alone, even more like no one understands. No one understands just how bad your life is... especially not someone whom you just encountered and whom knows nothing about you. Therefore, there is nothing for me to do here." She looked at her wrist-watch and her face relaxed. The look in her eyes disappeared in turn and was replaced by this out-of-place sparkle. "I must be going now. My English teacher would start to wonder..." And with that she gave me a final smile and walked again to the door.

This most peculiar feeling welled up inside me as she spoke. I couldn't explain why, but I couldn't just let her walk out of my life just like that. "Wait! Before you go... my, my name is Caitlynn..."

She smiled once again, that sweet smile; it was a smile that told the world she had absolutely no cares and no concerns. "That's a pretty name," she said sincerely. Then she nodded her head, dismissing herself, and pushed her way out the door. Just before it closed I heard her say, "See you around." Even without seeing her, I knew she spoke it with that sweet smile. Her voice smiled at me through the closing door.

I looked at the mirror again, most completely unsure. The image I saw had the world's most pathetic, helpless look on it's face. I felt ashamed and dropped the hand with the gun back down to my side. Then I turned from the mirror. I couldn't look at it anymore.