Tears

He was looking at his gloomy face in the mirror. It was so unusual. He was not used to seeing himself such way. He always used to see a happy, smiling face whenever he faced the mirror. Today was different. This made him uncomfortable. He knew what was making him feel this way. He wanted to change it but unfortunately did not have any control over it. He tried to force an smile on his face by pulling his cheeks by both his hands, thinking it will fool his mind and make him believe that he was happy. It did not work. He tried again with no success. At this point couple of tear drops rolled from his eyes betraying his efforts to fool himself to being happy. He so much hated those tears then, because they were making his efforts go waste. He wiped those tears from both his palms.

He again stared at the face in the mirror. He had wiped off the tears, yet they left their mark on his face. They made his cheek wet. He again pulled his cheeks to bring and smile on his face and again few more tear drops appeared from his eyes. This time he could not stop the flow. He let them flow this time. It made him feel better, he realized. The flow of tears was making him feel lighter, as if the weight in his heart was flowing out with tears. He kept looking at his crying face in the mirror. After a while tears stopped. He was feeling better. He wiped his face with water. Looked at himself again in the mirror. He was smiling. He did not have to put any effort this time to bring that smile on his face. He was actually feeling lighter.

He said to the face in the mirror, "it's OK to cry sometimes", smiled again and looked away.