(Illustrated & original text by Diving Cat/Translated by Linda Chen) 


Ask yourself, is the you in other people's eyes the true you?

Are you courageous enough to accept the incomplete self.

The Jigsaw

1 

"If I were to give you an advice, you'd better go see a shrink". Emily slapped the door and ran out.

Karl hatefully looked at the pieces of glass on the floor and started to ponder. Two years ago his ex-wife fled the house with their kids. Now, the same story goes on again. 

Emily was the first woman who was willing to approach Karl since his ex-wife left. Karl was notorious for his bad temper and rudeness. He had no friends around him, and even his employees mocked at his harshness behind him.

Therefore, when Emily accidentally bumped into Karl's life, they became couple in a natural manner. Emily was a fat woman with freckles all over her face. Being with Karl seemed to be her luck. She tried her best to take everything of Karl, except for one weirdest thing.

There is no mirror in Karls' house. He not only hated mirrors but forbid others to have mirrors. Karl believed that the mirror reflected the unreal space. Whenever he looked at himself in the mirror, he could not help trembling as if the ever-extending world inside hided many unknown fears.

This night, when Emily was dressing herself for a party and carefully take out the mirror she hided under the bed, Karl caught her with the mirror with her happy face. He shouted in hysteria, grabbed the mirror and dropped it onto the floor.

After that night, Karl return single again. He decided to close this shop temporarily and had a good rest. He left for his hometown where he left for a long time, wishing to rearrange his mind.

Karl was 54 years old. He left his hometown since he was young, and he could hardly remember what happened when he was a child. In his old house, he made a decision which even surprised himself – Accepting Emily's advice and taking mental therapy.



2
 
The doctor gave him a jigsaw, telling Karl that when he concentrated on this mission, his mind would somehow be soothed. Playing jigsaw helped him listen to the voice from his heart and face himself in subconsciousness.

Karl started with the 100-piece jigsaw and gradually moved on to more difficult level. There was a heavy snow storm outside this night, but Karl was alone playing the jigsaw in the house. He seemed to hear somebody knocking on the door and left this chair to check. However, there was no one at the door.

Karl continued with his jigsaw. Soon after, the knocking once again appeared, and this time it sounded more rapid.

Karl went open the door, and he was shocked to see another him, the 5-year-old Karl. But that person wasn't him, he was Jitter, his twin brother. The 5-year-old Jitter stared at Karl, and Karl thus understood everything. He sorted out why there were always two baseball uniforms hang on the storeroom in the attic in this childhood, and why his parents always looked at him with melancholy.



3 

On an evening 50 years ago, there was the same snow outside the house. Karl's father was still working in town. His mother had to go out and buy grocery for the dinner, so she left the twin brothers, Karl and Jitter, at home.

At the beginning, Karl and Jitter played quietly in the house. The two 5-year-old boys were at their vigorous years. After a while, they started to feel bored and played hide and seek outside the house. When Jitter counted to 100, Karl sneaked into the house quietly.

Jitter knocked at the door begging Karl to let him in, but Karl gave him a wry face, saying "I will get caught if I open the door."

It was warm inside the house, and Karl fell asleep unconsciously. Jitter outside the door got quiet gradually as well.

Suddenly, Karl was waken up by his mother's screaming outside. He opened the door and saw Jitter's frozen body curling on the door steps.

Jitter has died. After Jitter's death, Karl fell into illness. His parents looked at him in melancholy, so afraid to lose another child.

What was worthy being celebrated was that Karl recovered from the illness finally, but he forgot everything about Jitter.



4 

This night, those memories came up all of a sudden. Did that familiar body knocking at the door helplessly ever feel disappointed with the one he trusted the most? Did Jitter die lonely in such sadness? Karl missed Jitter so much. They were once playing under the tree and rolling in the snow. They though they would grow up together. However, Jitter would never come back.

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