[ WP ] A magical mirror shows your reflection and your future soulmate . You only see your reflection .

The mirror was like any bathroom mirror. It was one of those cabinet mirrors that only allowed you to see your shoulders or higher at a certain height. If you were anything below five feet tall, you were out of luck. My family was tall, so it did n't matter. 
 
 It was a huge gimmick for the party. My grandparents still did n't know how they came across such a thing. They bought it at a junk yard sale from a traveling carnival that was retiring. My grandparents were amazed to see their reflections when only one of them was using the bathroom. When they did some research about the carnival, they discovered that one of the most favorite tents was one with a mirror that showed the viewer their soulmate. 
 
 My grandparents knew they were soulmates already, but after a couple of months they still remained smug. 
 
 As is typical for a large family, we celebrate birthdays in groups. Every quarter, there's cake and burgers and beer. It was the first time everyone had gotten together since Nana and Grandpa got the mirror, and the cousins were fighting each other for the first glance. None of our parents dared to look. How would they explain it to their partner if it was n't them? Would it matter? 
 
 I was last in line in the hopes I would n't be goaded into looking at the mirror. I hoped that they would call us outside to sing `` Happy Birthday [ insert your name here ]'', but I was n't so lucky. 
 
 `` Come on, Eliza! Go on, before we have to go back downstairs!'' said Mary, giggling. She was the youngest and the most optimistic of us. She knew I had a pretty bad breakup recently, and she wanted to raise my spirits. Plenty of fish in the sea and all that. 
 
 I rolled my eyes and tried to pretend that I was n't curious. I walked through the wall of cousins and closed my eyes as I stood directly in front of the mirror. It was just tall enough to view my head and neck, but nothing else. 
 
 I opened my eyes. Nothing. 
 
 `` Well?'' asked Colin, the oldest. `` What do you see?'' 
 
 My mouth was dry and there was a heaviness in my heart that I did n't want to look at more closely. What happens if my previous relationship *was* my soulmate, and that's why it's only me in the reflection? What happens if it's just me, forever? Tears prickled in my eyes, but I kept them at bay. I was going to be strong about this. It was only a stupid mirror, anyway. What did it know about true love? 
 
 But as I was about to tell my cousins, one of my Uncles called for us to come back downstairs for cake and presents. Cake seemed to be more important than my inner turmoil, so my cousins' attentions were briefly transfixed on the promise of sugar and chocolate. 
 
 We gathered around the huge round table. It sat eight people, and besides the grandparents who were getting on in their years, those whose birthday it was were the ones who sat down. There was an empty seat, and I realized that one of the birthday people were missing. 
 
 `` Where's James?'' I asked, surprised I had forgotten Colin's younger brother. He and I were closest out of the cousins, but the breakup had really hit me hard and I had n't been very present lately. 
 
 `` He's coming up from the University, and is apparently bringing his roommate,'' said Nana. `` They'll be along shortly, but he asked us to not stare at him too openly or make jokes about his height. Apparently he's really self-conscious about how short he is.'' 
 
 EDIT: grammar and spelling
