QHO-0005: The Mirror He Wasn’t Meant to Have

Barbie-Pink Compact Mirror, circa late 1990s.

It was glossy pink plastic, with faint glitter still visible along the rim. The kind of compact sold for 99p beside plastic tiaras and jelly rings. Lid scratched, hinge worn, but it still snaps shut with a satisfying click.

Found buried under a jumble of old toys: Action Man; matchbox cars; a worn-out Game Boy cartridge. It shouldn’t have been there, and yet it was wrapped in a pale blue sock, like someone had tried to protect it from both scratches and discovery.

One imagines a boy sneaking it into his pocket, heart hammering, or opening it under the duvet, checking not for blemishes but for glimpses of who he might become.

Or want to be.

Or already was.