What’s Your Name?

I put my pin straight, long, blonde hair into a messy bun and yawn. The hours of driving feel endless. I look at myself in the side mirror, my pale, plain, paper-like face and my emerald eyes looking right back at me, I look away only for a moment. I look back at myself, my short curly light brown hair are springs hitting my tan face. I quickly look away again.

The only sound I can hear is the snow falling onto the windshield and the rhythmic sound of the wipers wiping it away. Marcus wanted me to meet his parents during winter break. So we drove from Virginia to a quaint town in Connecticut that I had never heard of — John Griefs. When I was researching about it, I saw some peculiar reviews from locals and visitors. Be careful while driving in! Stay in your car until you have made it to your destination! I assumed the warnings were related to some potential crime going on in the area, just looking out for us tourists. This place made me feel like a whole different person! What confused me about that review is that the reviewer gave just one star. It must've been a mistake.

It had been four hours of nothing. Fields and fields of snow-covered grass. Finally, something caught my eye. Ice cream in 2 miles. Ice cream? In this weather?

“Do you want to stop, Dana?”

“Sure,” I say as I fiddle with my bright red curly hair.

We arrive at a small stand with no cars. Empty, nothing. We pull over and walk up. “Minty’s,” the big bright light up sign says. It smells like death, almost unbearable how bad the stench is.

“Do you smell that?” I say.

“Smell what, Sarah?” Marcus says.

I tuck my blonde hair behind my ears. “Oh, never mind.” 

The window slides open. The smell gets even worse. “Hey, welcome to Minty’s.” The girl looks like a Barbie, but not the ones you see nowadays; the ones that were like the 1950s with a tiny waist and a bold red lip. But her teeth are repulsive, brown like dirt; gums look rotten, pitch black.

“What’s your name?” she asks. I pull my long straight hair into a ponytail.

“I- I don’t know” Why'd I say that?

“Great, and you spell that A-L-E-X, right?”

I hesitated. “Y-yes.”

“And what can I get you, Kayla?”

“One chocolate scoop, please?”

“Okay, coming right up!”

A few moments later, she hands me a small paper cup that has a name spelled out in black sharpie, E-L-L-I-E.

“Thank you!”

I look down and see the ice cream, completely melted, mold growing, bugs crawling around inside. It loses its shape and collapses into a reflective liquid similar to water. I look into my reflection and see my face morphing into different shapes. I change to a different person every second. Brooke, Sarah, Carly, Amarissa. A new identity fills me. New memories, different clothes, unique interests. Who am I?